Being named one of Springfield Business Journal's Most Influential Women doesn't mark the beginning of the honorees' efforts in business and the community, though some are beginning their careers and others have been in the professional sector for several years.
After 10 years of naming Most Influential Women - the 2009 class brings the count to 200 - it's also clear that the influence of these women continues long after they are honored, sometimes in different jobs.
Leaving the Ozarks
Kristin Kubitschek has changed jobs since being named one of the 2008 Most Influential Women, but her focus - helping others and making the world a better place - hasn't changed. In 2008, she was public relations director for Springfield-based Convoy of Hope, a nonprofit that responds to disasters and sponsors community outreach programs worldwide.
She wasn't looking for a new job, but Kubitschek said an opportunity found her as she was reconnecting with high-school friends on Facebook.
In May, she relocated to Colorado Springs, Colo., where she now works as field communications director for Compassion International.
The Colorado-based group works through 26 international offices to release children around the world from poverty.
This is primarily accomplished through sponsorship programs, she said.
"It was a God thing. I can absolutely say that," Kubitschek said, noting that her previous jobs and her education - including a master's degree in organizational leadership from Evangel University - prepared her for what she's doing now.
Her team collects raw media - such as stories, video and photos - from Compassion International's global staff, and organizes them in a shared database for marketing.
"I am no longer the workhorse, the one churning out all the (public relations) product," Kubitschek said.
"I manage a team, and we work closely with a staff of international communicators."
Kubitschek already has traveled to Ethiopia to see Compassion International's work firsthand.
Plans call for a trip to Thailand in February, and she also may go to Peru in November.
"I met a girl in Ethiopia ... and she had just graduated from college - and keep in mind she was sponsored all those years by Compassion International - and at age 22, she had already started an orphanage in her community," Kubitschek said.
Staying in the nonprofit sector
Pat Reiser, a 2006 Most Influential Women honoree, took some time off after stepping down June 30 from her post as president and CEO of Family Violence Center.
She's back at work in the nonprofit sector, this time as a campaign fundraiser for United Way of the Ozarks, and she said her job will become full time in October.
In addition to helping United Way make the push toward its $3.5 million 2009 campaign goal, Reiser also is chairwoman of United Way's Speakers Bureau.
"We set up speakers from our United Way agencies for companies' United Way campaigns ... and then they set up ways for their employees to donate to United Way," Reiser said, noting that her job also entails speaking in the community about the organization.
Public speaking, however, is nothing new to Reiser, who was a speaker for the United Way bureau in her role at FVC.
She left the organization, she said, because she felt she'd met the goals she set for herself and for the center, which helps women and children who are affected by domestic violence.
"It was just time for a new hat," she said.
Even though the campaign goal is large - especially given economic conditions - Reiser is confident that the goal will be met.
"These individuals who work here, and the volunteers throughout the community do a fantastic job," Reiser said.
"United Way ... answers so clearly to their financial obligations and it's so well-managed that we can reach these goals," she added.
Back to her roots
Sometimes, however, external circumstances bring about a job change, sending women back into familiar working territory.
Such was the case for Mary Craven, who was executive assistant to then-Missouri First Lady Melanie Blunt when Craven received Most Influential Women honors in 2005.
Craven worked in Jefferson City until former Gov. Matt Blunt left office in 2008.
After taking a five-week breather, Craven joined the staff at DoubleTree Hotel, 2431 N. Glenstone Ave., where she works as director of sales and marketing, overseeing efforts to bring in guests and bookings for the hotel's 201 rooms and roughly 10,000 square feet of meeting space.
"I originally started out in sales after college, so I've come back to that," she said, noting that she spent nine years at KOLR-10 TV and in radio prior to her job in Jefferson City.
Still, she said her work at the governor's mansion has some applications to her present position.
"The experiences I had with the Blunts gave me so much experience with business that I probably had not had in my previous jobs," Craven said.
Personal relationships drew her to DoubleTree, owned and operated by O'Reilly Hospitality LLC.
"I knew that I wanted to continue working, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do," Craven said.
"I know that (O'Reilly family members are) good people, personally and professionally."
Her new job also affords her the ability to continue volunteering in the community, including serving on the board of the St. John's Foundation for Community Health and planning a fundraiser for Isabel's House, Crisis Nursery of the Ozarks.
