How I Built My Laboratory with Three Children at My Side

After attending dental technology school and working for a great laboratory for several years, I gave birth to my second child in 2005 and decided to set aside my full-time career and focus on my children. Three years later, just as the economy crashed, my husband decided to switch careers and go back to school full time.

Even though the economy was not ideal, I decided to open a laboratory in my house so I could be home with my children and support my family and husband’s education. The series of challenges and obstacles I faced in the years to come were a refining fire.

First challenge: I didn’t realize that being a young female lab owner would present such a problem but, in meeting after meeting, I was constantly criticized, turned down and even told ‘you’re just a little girl, what do you know?’ I realized I was going to have to work harder to show what I knew and learn dentistry inside and out. Once my children were in...