This week the Hermantown Star (April 22 issue) is focusing on the women in the business world. We do this once each year, but we think about it all the time. In fact, at the Hermantown Star it’s hard not to since we are five women and one man working hard to bring you the news! It’s safe to say women are very important to this business.

As I was growing up it was just a fact of life that I would some day go to college, get a degree, find a job, marry and have children. Who thinks like that? Women, that’s who!

Now, I’m not going to put men down. They play an important role, and I will never deny that. My husband works hard to make a living and I know for a fact that some days he could really picture his life differently. Like with a larger portion of his own paycheck, in a nice fishing boat somewhere quiet. But that isn’t the life he has. And I’m not focusing on men in this column anyway.

Women really do make the world turn in so many ways. If you are in your 30s, like me, or younger you know what I’m saying. Who were your teachers while growing up? Mostly women. Who were the nurses at the clinic? Mostly women. Who were the people who made you food every night, did your laundry, kissed your boo-boos, disciplined you, drove you to soccer/hockey/dance/ piano/etc., etc., etc., and waited while you did your thing?

Most likely it was a woman.

And so many women these days do all of these things after they work a full time, or at least a part time, job.

I will speak for myself here. Before I had Jaxon two years ago I worked at least 40 hours every week. Sometimes I worked up to 60 hours depending on what was going on around town or what special issues we had for the paper. I often volunteered for a variety of organizations and I was very involved with the Hermantown Chamber of Commerce.

Once I became pregnant I knew that I had to be Mommy first. I could never be a journalist first, mommy second. It’s just not me. But I knew I needed to still keep my job for two reasons—I needed time away from home to still feel needed in the work environment, and I also needed the money.

So now I work 24-30 hours each week, sometimes from home, with a two-year-old and a baby on the way. I clean the house. I do the laundry. I cook dinner. I do the grocery shopping. I do yard work. I pay the bills. Most importantly I take care of our children—I teach them, discipline them, love them, nurture them, feed them, change them, bathe them, pray for them and basically do what a mom does each day. I am, you could say, just like so many other women out there who manage to do so many different things every single day.

This isn’t about gaining major props. I don’t need a high-five. I do what I do because I can do it and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m a woman...watch me rule the world!

Janelle Verke is the Managing Editor of the Hermantown Star. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it