Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal • October 26, 2015 www.wbjournal.com THETICKER In The File Katherine Fairbanks SHOP TALK $47M 9,600 n Difference in earnings for Framingham's MetroWest Medical Center for the first half of fiscal 2015, compared with a year earlier when the hospital was in the red. $12.35M This interview was conducted and edited for length by Christina P. O'Neill Special to the Worcester Business Journal 4.5% >> n The statewide unadjusted unemployment rate for September. Source: EMC Source: Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development Source: Center for Health Information and Analysis TITLE: President and CEO, DirtyGirl Disposal RESIDENCE: Millbury EDUCATION: Worcester State University, Quinsigamond Community College Source: Bloomberg.com n Estimated severance package Office Depot CEO Roland Smith would receive if Staples' plans to merge with its competitor are approved by the Federal Trade Commission. K atherine Fairbanks knows a thing or two about branding — and business survival. A lifelong Millbury native, she has 20 years of experience in rubbish disposal through the family business, Millbury Rubbish Removal (MRR). In 2006, a dif- ficult divorce put MRR's future in question, not to mention the future of Fairbanks and her three chil- dren. In March 2007, Fairbanks' brother and staunchest business ally died in an auto accident 10 days before the divorce decree was revealed in her favor. Fairbanks launched DirtyGirl in 2009, with a mission to empower women by helping them obtain commercial drivers' licenses. This year, Fairbanks said, sales will just about reach six figures. What was the first building block of this new company? Once I did my research, and trademarked DirtyGirl Disposal, I reconditioned an MRR truck that my brother had helped me keep from being repossessed. I put the DirtyGirl logo on, took out a bank loan and bought 13 containers in the color purple that I had trademarked as the DGD color. In 2009-2010, I had a truck and 13 containers, but I had no idea how to get customers. Also, I was the only truck driver back then, working for MRR and truck driving for DirtyGirl. I was trying to build a company, do networking, marketing and branding, and I didn't know how to get customers. So [early on] we kind of wallowed in nothingness. I think we had $5,000 in sales for the [first] year. What changed the company's prospects? In the spring of 2011, we set up a booth at the Worcester Home Show at the DCU Center. We were the only trash company there. People would walk by our booth but wouldn't stop. We would have to really reach out. I would go out and get someone and say, 'I see you peeking …' So it was just telling the story. Shortly afterward, the telephone started ringing. The idea was really well received, and DirtyGirl started working. We went from $5,000 in sales in 2009, to $15,000 in 2010, to $30,000 in 2011, and it was great. How did you handle the growth? I started recruiting girls to get their commercial driver's license (CDL). We didn't have the workbase yet, and there were no women to drive. I thought, if I do suddenly take off by chance, there's no one to sit in the driver's seat but me. So I put together a class of six women, and four of them got their CDL. I designed the curriculum; they got their permits and developed their driving skills. Girls started out seeing that they could do this, and we've gotten lots of media attention. Has the customer base come around? I still haven't transformed the whole customer base. When I or one of the girls pull into a job site, contractors will stop and they'll watch, as if to say, "I wonder if she can really do this." Talk about pressure. You know you have to do it right because you know they're watching, and you have to repre- sent every other woman who's going to drive by doing a good job. What's in the future? I hope to go national with DirtyGirl. I have a couple of leads right now. I want to sell licensing, so that other women can see what a great model this is. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that only 5.4 percent of commercial truck drivers are women. There's a problem there. We've had pushback from men who say the women-driver-only concept is dis- crimination. I know the laws. In Massachusetts, I can have up to six employees without being affected by the EEOC of 1962. Before reaching that threshold, I intend to go before the federal court and apply for a declara- tory judgment which would enable me to hire just women for drivers of DirtyGirl. I may hire men for other roles. But DirtyGirl was created to provide an opportunity for women, and commercial truck driv- ing is one of those opportunities in which women are not being represented adequately, and that's why DirtyGirl was created. n Drive, she said On WBJournal.com Go to WBJournal.com to watch a video clip from our interview with Katherine Fairbanks. n The number of people Hopkinton- based EMC, which Dell will acquire for $67 billion, employs in the Bay State. Katherine Fairbanks, president and CEO, DirtyGirl Disposal P H O T O / M A T T V O L P I N I

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