By Sarah Fay Campbell
Staff Writer
(click on image to see larger version)
"Don't ever underestimate the power of a group of women," said
Susan Peryam after being named Chapter Woman of the Year by the Coweta
Charter Chapter of the American Business Women's Association.
Peryam, who works in banking, has been a member of the group for 11 year,
and has served two terms as president. "We're a team that does great
big things," she said of the ABWA. "It's just a great organization
to be part of."
 Peryam
was named Woman of the Year during the organization's annual Awards and
Association Night. The winners of the club's college scholarships were
also recognized, as was Bank of Coweta, and "empowerment coach"
Karla Brandau gave a presentation called "Wake Up the Winner Inside."
There was also the annual tradition of a humorous sketch illustrating
the benefits of ABWA.
The ABWA scholarships were awarded to Newnan High School seniors Alex
Adan and Elizabeth Davis. The scholarships are open to al l high school
seniors in the county, said committee member Betty Boylston. It just happened
that both winners were from NHS. It was also announced that Allison Huggins,
who won a scholarship last year, won a Stephen Bufton Award through the
national organization.
"I think we have to put a strategy in place to renew ourselves every
day," said Brandau. You have to believe in yourself, and that belief
must "go right to your toes," she said. Say to yourself "I
am resilient, I can bounce back." There is a "self-renewing
and energizing quality that comes when you believe in yourself,"
she said.
Brandau talked about defining your self esteem. "Does self esteem
equal your possession? Does self esteem equal your performance on any
given day, or the praise you get on any given day?" She asked everyone
in the audience to breath deeply on her count. "We want to have nice
things, but we don't want to let ourselves get caught up in that,"
she said and no one ever gets enough praise. She asked everyone to pat
themselves on the back. "I think, in today's world, you have to be
good at patting yourself, mentally and emotionally."
She told a story of a lesson she learned from her daughter. Brandau planned
for her daughter to be a great musician; one day, when they were coming
home from piano lessons, they drove by a t-ball game in progress, and
Brandau's daughter said she wanted to play that. While Brandau hoped for
a great musician, instead she got a star athlete who won a basketball
scholarship to Duke University. "I went from the concert halls of
American to the dugout of America," Brandau laughed.
She learned a lot about winning from being involved in sports. In every
game, there's a 50 percent chance of losing. When losses come that often,
"you learn that resiliency about winning." She said. These anecdotes
illustrate the first tow of Brandau's "Winner Rules." The first
rule is to believe in yourself, and the second is to use your power or
choice. "Take your natural talents and what you do, and learn to
use it in a winning way," she said. "If you have your priorities
right, then you will be a winner."
Brandau's third rule is "Give Life 110 percent." "The
difference in being mediocre and being great is just that little bit,"
she said. "The 10 percent will make a difference in whether you win
or lose in life."
She had each person in the room to turn to each other and say "Good
morning, how are you," and have the other person answer in a negative
way. Attitude matters, a lot. "There's not a lot of difference between
a terrible day and a terrific day-just three little letters". "You
do have a choice in whether you're going to have a terrific or terrible
day."
Brandau doesn't say "I can't" anymore, "because I don't
want to feed my mind that garbage." Instead, she says "I'm working
on it."
She told a story about a tennis match she played in. She needed work
her high volleys and when one came at her, she tried to hit it, even though
it would clearly go out of bounds. She tried, and missed, and therefore
her team won. "When things aren't quite right, you make them right,"
she said. "Another thing I've learned-Miracles to happen."
After Brandau's presentation, the club gave a special award to Bank of
Coweta, thanking the back for its support of ABWA. The award was presented
to Bank of Coweta President Steve Stripling.
The evening ended with the sketch "Who Wants to be a Success in
Business," a game show hosted by "Regina Philbin." The
game featured multiple-choice questions about ABWA, and contestant Nancy
Granroos was even able to phone a friend and ask the audience for their
advice. In the middle of the sketch, there was a "word form our sponsors."
Several ABWA members showed off ABWA merchandise and named prices. The
"commercial" ended with the phrase "There are some things
money can buy-for everything else, there's the Coweta County Charter Chapter
of ABWA."
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