Mary Boecker

I definitely attribute my success to the people around me that are supporting me. My mom has been an entrepreneur her whole life, running a candy and gift shop back in New Jersey for more than 40 years, so I've watched her believing in herself, trying different things, and getting back up even when things are hard. My friend Jessica gave me the idea of starting a business. My colleagues and friends who are entrepreneurs outside of corporate have been helping me, listening to me when I get frustrated or when I'm struggling with something, lending an ear or a helping hand. I think it also speaks volumes that I've been so successful because there truly is a need. There is such a need to serve the beginning to intermediate women golfers, the regular woman who just wants to start and get into golf. Nobody is serving her, and so I'm hoping to be that person that can really make a difference.

The best career advice I've ever received is that small changes, when done consistently over time, lead to astounding results, or small improvements, that is. I've had some really great bosses and mentors over the years. I think that's a quote by Robin Sharma: the small improvements, when done consistently over time, lead to astounding results. I just always think about that quote because when you have a big dream or a big vision, it doesn't happen overnight, and it's really, you have to be committed, so committed to that vision to even work on it when you don't think the work you're going to do today is going to result in anything huge, or like, you're not going to see an immediate result tomorrow. I think that that is hard. It's hard to maintain the motivation and the energy every single day. So I just come back to that quote because it helps me remind myself that with the work I'm doing with Queen City Links Ladies, I'm laying a foundation. I need to get the little things right, and I need to be moving in the same direction. It doesn't matter necessarily how fast I go, but I need to keep moving in that direction, because I've already seen so much positive impact. Sometimes I don't think something will have an impact, and it has a much bigger impact than I ever imagined, just by sharing my story and sharing small tips and things that women are not getting anywhere else. When I provide that, and then it makes a difference in someone's life, it gives me so much energy and more fuel to keep going. When I had this vision to start this business in 22, it was just let me just do one event a month and see what happens. I started small, and I kept going in that direction, and look at me now.

Health and well-being are really important to me. I've always been a very active and athletic person. I also enjoy running and have completed 3 marathons, 2 in Chicago and 1 in Indianapolis, and I'm hoping to continue running half marathons for the time being. Being a mom to 4 kids is central to my life, so I'm doing a lot of running around to different activities like soccer and track. I'm passionate about inclusion and equality, having been positively impacted by those efforts throughout my career in male-dominated spaces. Golf has become important to me not just as a sport but as something that replenishes me and gives me energy. It helps me stay calm, and mentally, you have to be totally focused when you're on the golf course. It's soothing, it's refreshing, like the ultimate mental exercise where you've got to almost be meditating and blocking out all the anxieties and fears from the rest of your life. I silence my cell phone and put it on Do Not Disturb because it's the one place where you're not on your phone with a million notifications all the time, and that allows you to really disconnect.