By M. Paul Jackson
JOURNAL REPORTER

Betsy Annese says she learned a lot about how to run a business from her grandfather.

Her grandfather, Nicholas C. Annese, used to spend long hours in a factory when he was still a child, sweeping the floor and keeping a close eye on how the senior employees cut fabric. He was eventually promoted off of broom duty to a higher position.

Hearing stories about her grandfather's commitment to work help spur along Annese's own career, she said.

"If you work hard, if you're observant, if you study what's going on around you, you can be successful," she said.

The lesson paid off for Annese, who is president of Annese Public Relations in Winston-Salem. She has enjoyed a more than 30-year career in public relations, working for companies in Winston-Salem, South Carolina and North Wilkesboro.

But climbing the corporate ladder hasn't always been easy for Annese, a Pennsylvania native. She said she has sometimes had to face an ingrained "old boy" network that can sometimes make it difficult for women to succeed.

Annese's company provides public relations and marketing services for home-furnishing companies, as well as banks and nonprofit organizations. She started the company out of her home in the late 1990s.

"I just think the word has gotten around about us now," she says.

Some companies are already familiar with Annese's services. Her background in public relations has made it easier for smaller, startup companies to design a marketing plan, said Jon Obermeyer, the executive director of the Piedmont Triad Entrepreneurial Network, an economic-development group in Greensboro.

Annese's office has handled the marketing for the entrepreneurial network for about five years. The network manages the Growth Accelerator Program, a competition to help develop small businesses.

Some entrepreneurs can have trouble developing a marketing plan without experience.

"Her corporate experience kind of relates to the entrepreneur that way," Obermeyer said.

Annese also lets the network use a conference room in her office, so that the network can remain close to its contacts in Winston-Salem.

"Its little things like that that are very valuable to us," he said.

The public-relations office also has helped put Obermeyer's group in touch with an attorney who helps startup companies, he said.

Annese made a name for herself as a 16-year employee at RJR Nabisco. She was eventually named senior vice president for external relations at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International Inc., and also worked for the company in Switzerland.

Peggy Carter, the vice president of development for the Forsyth Medical Center Foundation, worked at RJR Nabisco with Annese for about five years. While working with her, Carter said she learned the value of keeping a sense of humor.

"I think Betsy is a fine professional," Carter said. "One of the things I have always enjoyed doing with her is brainstorming. I think we share a common position that two heads are better than one, and three is better still."

After spending nearly 20 years with Reynolds, Annese decided she wanted to strike out on her own.

"At the time, I was thinking 'What am I doing?' but you get to the point where you need a break," she said. "I really got itchy to start my own business."

To be successful at business, an entrepreneur has to know how to deal with employees and clients, she said. Annese often spent her days as a small girl following her father and her grandfather while they ran their own shirt-manufacturing company in South Carolina.

"I loved walking around the factory with them," she said. "I guess at that time I understood the importance of recognizing employees and interacting with them in a somewhat personal way."

Annese didn't start out in public relations. Like many people in the marketing industry, Annese originally worked as a journalist, working at The State in South Carolina, a large daily newspaper. She later became the city hall reporter for the Independent-Mail in Anderson, S.C.

Annese said she left journalism to make more money in another field.

Despite her successes, the road has not always been smooth. Annese said she has sometimes had to deal with male employees who occasionally had a poor view of female workers.

Annese was a high-ranking official for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International Inc., but at meetings in Switzerland, "when it came time to pour the coffee, who did they look to?" she said. "They would actually say, 'Betsy, would you please pour the coffee?'"

To succeed as a woman in business, women have to have a keen sense of their company and to help their boss as much as possible, Annese said.

"The way I think women are able to get ahead is just to be totally aware of their surroundings," she said.