October 8, 2003
Disability advocate receives accolades
Foley honored for work with disabled entrepreneurs
Carol South
Special to the Herald
Roseanne Foley received the Heidi Van Arnem Small Business Development Lifetime Achievement Award in August in Lansing. The award was given at the Achievements of Small Business Owners with Disabilities Second Annual Recognition Awards Banquet.
An advocate for people with disabilities becoming entrepreneurs, Foley was recognized for her years of effort championing the disabled and this cause.
"We were very excite for her to be given this award," said Jeannie Vogel, acting director of marketing and public relations for the Michigan Department of Career Development. "She's dedicated a good number of years to this endeavor and we're just extremely proud and excited that she was the recipient of this award."
The award had special meaning to Foley as she knew and coached Van Arnem, who died in 2001 of complications caused by her condition.
"Heidi was such a go-getter, a true entrepreneur: creative, hardworking," Foley said. "It was nice to be recognized, it is different because I am sort of removed from it now."
Foley profiled Van Arnem in her book, "Unlikely Entrepreneurs : A Complete Guide to Business Start-Ups for Individuals With Disabilities & Chronic Health Conditions." Self-published in 1999, Foley compiled all her knowledge about the topic into one place as a guide to help others. In addition to Van Arnem, Foley profiled seven other disabled entrepreneurs throughout the book.
A business major in college, Foley knew early on that she did not want to take the traditional corporate career path. Hearing a talk about the disabled succeeding as entrepreneurs captivated her 16 years ago. She jumped into helping others, which soon led her to a career coaching and educating people with disabilities about business start-up and ownership.
"I knew what I wanted to do and I knew that I had to be a part of this," said Foley, who also has an MBA. "I wanted to do something that had social impact."
"Ultimately I became executive director of the Handicapped Small Business Association, thought its name has since been changed to Disability Community Small Business Development Center," she noted.
One of the first people in the country to see that people with disabilities could succeed as business owners, she helped pioneer programs that have been modeled nationwide.
"A couple of years after I met Heidi, the movement was just getting started and I would get calls from all over," recalled Foley, who settled in Traverse City six years ago. "They would ask, 'What are you doing in Michigan?' We were charting a path for some people."
From graphic artist to medical transcriptionist to CAD/CAM, Foley has seen people with disabilities succeed at their businesses. She also knows of a millwork business owner who employs more than two dozen people and pointed to Van Arnem's successful travel agency and later an online business for people with disabilities.
"There are quite a few people with severe disabilities who run pretty big organizations," Foley said. "On of the things is that they have a different perspective and can see things a little differently, there are some definite limitations and some opportunities there."
Two school friends, both of whom struggle with disabilities, have also inspired her. One is a successful attorney and the other works for the United Auto Workers.
"They both live with enormous amounts of pain every day," Foley said. "They were a big inspiration to me."
Foley has shifted her career focus away from people with disabilities and now works with True North Experiences. As a trainer and coach there, she helps women with entrepreneurial aspirations.
"I think everyone has the potential to be an entrepreneur," she said. "I think it is a function of knowing who you are and your strengths and weaknesses and knowing how to fill those in."