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Red Bluff Daily News - Women In Business -Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 3 Jaimie Walberg believes it is important to give back to the community www.redbluffgoldexchange.com www.angelsamongusall.com 413 Walnut St, Red Bluff 530-528-8000 Jessie Woods Proprietor • Pawnshop • Music Store • Game Shop • Coin Dealer • New & Estate Jewelry A Fun Place To Shop 6 Stores in 1 ...A Spiritual Boutique Serving our community for 25 years NEW Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10am-6pm Sat. 10am-4pm By Julie Zeeb jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com @DN_Zeeb on Twitter Together, Bud and Jaimie Walberg have three businesses they run out of the Corning area, but if you ask her, none of them were what Jaimie had planned for her life. "We started this business out of a spare room (at the house)," Walberg said. "I had done two or three years at Butte College and Chico State and was going into nursing school when my husband's dad passed. Instead of going into nursing, my husband talked me into going into construction." At one point, she had considered child development prior to looking into becoming a CNA and was just a year and a half shy of finishing the requirements for a nursing degree, she said. "Life threw me for a loop," Walberg said. Raised in Corning since the age of three, Walberg's father had sold his construction business in the 1980s and bought a feed store, Corn- ing Mercantile Feed and Supply, in Corning, moving the family to the area. Walberg is a 1994 graduate of Corning Union High School and when she met her husband Bud he had a backhoe, but wouldn't tell her what it was he did for a living at first, she said. Together the pair presently owns and operates Walberg Inc, located on 99W in the Richfield area, as well as Red Truck Rockyard, which has decorative garden items, as well as Walberg Properties where they man- age several properties. Being a woman in a business that was predominantly men in the begin- ning of her career was tough even with having a background in being around construction her whole life, she said. She still remembers being seven months pregnant with her son Bobby and visiting a site in Oroville where she met a contractor who went out of his way to make sure she was comfortable, offering to go back and get equipment to give her a ride rather than make her walk. "He didn't treat me like an idiot and he was respectful," Walberg said. "I learned more from that older man than in the last 20 years of construc- tion. How you treat people matters." A sign sits in her office that reads stay humble, work hard, be kind as a reminder of that. As part of that philosophy, Walberg believes it is important to give back to the community and has made it her policy to give back to any of the youth who walk in and talk to her themselves when seeking a dona- tion. "It's one of my favorite parts," Wal- berg said of giving back as a busi- ness owner. "It's important to give back to things like our youth sports and rodeo." Asked for advice regarding being a woman in business, Walberg said it is tough being in business, espe- cially in one that is predominantly men, but not impossible. "You have to have confidence and determination," Walberg said. "De- termination to be able to get past (stereotypes). I used to be the only woman at some of the sites. When people say you can't do something, keep going. I used to be the only woman, but now there are some- times one or two others at the sites. I think the construction world has real- ized that some of the better bidders are women." For advertising information contact: Suzy Noble snoble@redbluffdailynews.com (530) 737-5056 Gayla Eckels geckels@redbluffdailynews.com (530) 737-5044 728 Main St., Red Bluff CA 96080 (530) 527-2151 www.redbluffdailynews.com Facebook: facebook.com/RBDailyNews Twitter: @RedBluffNews

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