It Never Occurred to Me That I Needed Permission

The Women Who Made the Path Wider

I’ve been thinking about the women who made it easier for the rest of us to create our own paths.

Gloria Steinem helped generations of women understand that their voices mattered. She encouraged women to question expectations, speak up, and imagine lives larger than the ones others had planned for them. I loved her 'look' (way ahead of her time) and her confidence on stage.

Dolly Parton carved another kind of path—and I loved her for it. I loved her voice, but I loved her message just as much. She was feminine, funny, intelligent, ambitious, generous, and unapologetically herself. She built an extraordinary career in industries largely controlled by men, expanded into film and business, and then used her success to lift other people. Her Imagination Library, inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, grew from a small hometown program into one that gives millions of free books to children around the world.

Dolly showed women that we don’t have to become harder, quieter, or less ourselves to be taken seriously. We can be warm and strong. Creative and business-minded. Successful and generous. We can wear rhinestones while making our own decisions.

When I started Green Girl Recycling in 1998, I knew what I was doing wasn’t the “norm.” My parents had hoped I would become a teacher so I could have a secure future and a stable retirement plan. Unfortunately, if you’ve ever met me, you know that I have never felt especially comfortable being stable.

I’ve always been more inclined to rock the boat, notice a problem, and start figuring out how to solve it.

When I saw that people living in the mountains needed a real residential recycling program—one that accepted all their recyclable materials—I knew I had found my calling. Then I had to determine how to make recycling accessible, affordable, and easy enough that everyone could participate.

I never thought of myself as asking permission. I simply saw something that needed to be done and began doing it.

Women like Gloria Steinem and Dolly Parton made that a little easier for women like me. They opened doors in completely different ways, but both showed us the power of using our own voices and remaining true to ourselves.

Their lives remind me that meaningful change doesn’t always begin with a grand plan. Sometimes it starts when one woman notices a problem, believes she can help, and does one small thing every day to create a better future for everyone coming behind her.

It is an honor to help people recycle, and after 28 years, I still LOVE what I do. I’m curious, a little scared, and genuinely excited about Colorado’s new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program—how it may change residential recycling pricing and, hopefully, make recycling accessible to many more people. We are entering another new chapter, and I can’t wait to see where it leads. More to come soon!