When small business owner Julia Dannen immigrated to the United States from Russia in 2004, she had no college education or set career path.
But after moving from New York to Iowa, she put herself through college and started her own tax business.
In 2021, Dannen was named the Deb Dalziel Woman Entrepreneur Achievement Award winner by the state Small Business Development Center.
One of the things she was successful at was helping her clients in the Mason City area gain access to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans through the federal government.
It’s that type of entrepreneurship and inclusivity that America’s Small Business Development Center Iowa is hoping to promote and develop in others.
Dannen was in attendance during an Inclusivity Challenge Kickoff Event Wednesday morning at the Bioscsience and Health Science Building on the main campus of Iowa Central Community College.
Mark Madrid, associate administrator in the Office of Entrepreneurial Development at U.S. Small Business Administration, was impressed with Dannen’s story.
“She helped people in this area access government funding such as the PPP program, which is attached as forgiveness,” Madrid said. “As a small business owner herself, she was an advocate.
“If you take a look at where she started, walking to community college and where she is today — especially immigrating from Russia etc. — that is the American dream. Not only is she sustaining herself in this area in Iowa but she is helping those rural Iowa entrepreneurs.”
Dannen, a graduate of North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City and the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, owns D & S Services in Mason City. One of her biggest pieces of advice to other entrepreneurs is not to give up.
“Determination,” she…
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