One Woman To Another

Article by Jessica Johnson, Associate Editor, Timber Processing January/February 2016

It only took us 28 years.

I probably wrote six drafts of the article that begins on page 14. I had scribbled in the margins of my planner, on the back of my child’s report card and typed on my computer. For several days it felt like the elephant in the room wherever I went. There was this unseen, nearly insurmountable pressure.

In truth, there’s no more pressure on this than any other story I’ve written for Timber Processing. Or maybe there is. It certainly feels different because it only took us 28 years to name a female “Lumberman” of the Year. I’m the only female on staff, so obviously I fought hard to make sure I got the assignment. It was my “I am woman hear me roar” moment. My editor responded in the affirmative, “Bring home the bacon, kid.”

I traveled to Snider Industries in Marshall, Tex. and I sat down with Jill Snider Brewer and her husband Jimmy. I asked a million questions and two separate stories have been created. I’m really proud of what came about from just two girls at two very different points of their sawmill exposure having a conversation.

Above all else, Jill Snider Brewer inspired me. I’m a twenty-something young mother with a lot to learn about life and about sawmilling. She told me repeatedly she didn’t have all the answers, but the more I listened, the more I realized how much her comments about running a sawmill actually apply to real life.

Eighteen months ago I gave birth to a set of fraternal twin boys and from that moment forward my life has never stopped moving. I feel like I’m being carried down an old green chain moving from the choppy, crazy, sleepless baby days to the trying and exhausting toddler years.

When Jill, a mother of three, and I discussed raising kids while maintaining unconventional careers we both said we can’t live without meticulous plans. Knowing where we’re going to be, where our kids are going to be and who’s responsible for what is just part of the game.

My husband calls me “the glue.” Granted, he always remembers to say that when I’m away for a story five states over and he’s juggling the kids and forgets to send lunch money or sign the fundraiser form. Or there was my particularly favorite instance where the lack of “the glue” was evident—he sent one of our (at the time) 13-month-old sons to daycare wearing only one shoe.

When I spoke with Jill about the importance, and perhaps greater ineptitude of certain folks (read: fathers) on details, she laughed it off. We wound the conversation back to the topic of the day. I noticed how she was shy at first to tell me about her accomplishments and overall imprint on Snider Industries.

She told me she wasn’t so sure she wanted to accept the award at all. Throughout the interview she kept attempting to deflect the spotlight. Defaulting to her employees and her father as the real face of Snider Industries. “I’m always happy to be in the background, hopefully making everything successful,” she told me.

That’s when it all came full circle: A real leader, whether in the home, in the front office or in the filing room, doesn’t try to be in the spotlight; they only care about setting everyone up for success.

I’ve read nearly all 28 Man of the Year stories, and that’s one thing they all have in common: a desire to enhance their mill, their employees, their communities and the lumber industry.

It just took 28 years, and a woman, to articulate it.