No Barriers Stopping This Over 60 Entrepreneur

Yvonne Graber

IT’S HARD TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT!

Ever since I was about 13 years old I have always found a way to make money whether it was

baby-sitting, crocheting fashion hairpieces, or selling costume/fine jewelry, I was always

entrepreneurial. I also had a flair for the arts. I wanted to be an interior designer. So after

graduating high school at 16 years of age, I applied to Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)

Was accepted and got my degree in interior design. I worked in the residential field for three

years and then was offered an opportunity to enter the children’s fashion world and so it began.

I spent 25 plus years in the garment industry, climbing the corporate ladder to eventually become

Director of Manufacturing. I constantly had to prove my value in a male-dominated industry. I

traveled all over Central America to manufacturing factories, overseeing production and quality

control. Traveling to these remote areas was often difficult and uncomfortable, but necessary. I

prevailed, thus gaining the respect of the factory owners and their employees.

As I began to see the future of the garment industry in the United States shrinking, I knew I had……

to change careers and reinvent myself. Finding a new career path where I would not face age or

sex discrimination as well as being recession proof. I had some technical savvy and the foresight

to begin to focus my energies toward a new and growing field computers. In 2000, I went back to

school on the weekends for six months to complete coursework as a Microsoft Certified Systems

Engineer (MCSE). I got A+ Certificated as well. To gain experience I took a job doing telephone

tech support with wages of $9.00 per hour, from a previous six figure income, it was quite the

struggle. I often cried as I drove to work. I worked there for one and half years until through a

friend I secured a position at IBM as a field technician and worked there for almost two years. I

had been working nights for IBM and then during the day I had begun to set the wheels in

motion to begin my own business……

 

I started Computer Community Hospital (CCH) because I knew that I could service clients…..

differently than other companies, since I was not a “geek” or a “nerd.” I had been “the client” for

many years and was often made to feel stupid by the IT people who were servicing computers for

the companies for which I worked. I knew IT service individuals who projected this superior

attitude, and I knew that was not what I wanted to do. When I decided to go into the computer

business, I promised myself that I would not make people feel stupid, that I would educate them

by explaining what they needed to know in terms they would understand. I have achieved a high

level of success due to my philosophy of “Putting the human touch back into a very

mechanical world.” I wanted to make a difference, and I know

Category: Passions Over 55