Today we’d like to introduce you to Valarie King-Bailey.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I came from humble beginnings. I was born and raised on Chicago’s Southside. I was brought up in Chicago’s notorious Stateway Gardens housing project. My father was a construction worker and worked on the construction of the Chicago housing projects from 35th to 39th and State Street. As a result of his work on the project we got the “privilege” to move into the brand-new housing project in 1958. Growing up on the southside as a little black girl in Chicago was tough as you can imagine.
I attended substandard schools; Raymond Elementary school, Stephen A. Douglas Middle School, and Wendell Phillips high school in Chicago. I wasn’t the greatest student in grade school but in high school somehow, I woke up and figured out that if I did not get an education, I would be stuck in the projects. I had several teachers that took an interest in me at an early age and started to personally tutor me; buying books with their own money for me to read as a little girl. I remember one English teacher in particular, that was the first person in my life who told me that she thought I had potential and could do well and she encouraged me to get an education. She cautioned me that without an education, I was doomed to repeat the cycle of poverty. What she said made sense to me at the time so I took her advice. I started to excel in school. She personally tutored me. I graduated high school ranking number four in my class. I was a member of the National Honor Society and I remember for the first time in my life, I really felt like my life was on the right track.
Although I attended to Wendell Phillips High School; I was accepted to the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering. I was the only kid in my class to achieve that! Why did I want to major in engineering? I found engineering fascinating. One day in high school we had career day. A gentleman walked into the school and he was the first person that actually uttered the word “engineering” that I can recall in my young life. I had never actually heard of engineering as a profession. He was a civil engineer but a city planner. He began to talk about how roads, buildings, and bridges were designed and how his work as a city planner helped him to lay out many of the cities around the world. He talked about engineering, specifically civil engineering as a way to really help people and contribute to society. He told me that just about everything that surrounds us was designed in part by a civil engineer – the roads we traveled on, the toilets we flush, the water we drink, the air we breathe are all courtesy of civil and environmental engineers. From that point I was hooked!
I wanted my life to be meaningful and I wanted it to mean something to help people. I majored in civil and environmental engineering and was the first African-American female to graduate from the University Wisconsin College of Engineering in 1982. I never thought of myself as being the first of anything and I didn’t set out to do that. It just happened. After I graduated, I accepted a job at US Steel’s South Works plant on the southside of Chicago. This was my entrance into an all-male dominated world. Going into the plant as a new engineer was an experience I’ll never forget. Not only were they not used to having women as engineers, they definitely weren’t used to a black female engineer. Although I had challenges at the plant I began to volunteer for projects out of my job description at the plant. In school, I was particularly good at computers so when an assignment came up involving computers, I jumped on it and volunteered for the assignment. None of the older engineers wanted to do it because they didn’t know how to use computers. Idea. It was one of the most successful things that I did at the plant. I wrote a program that replaced heating systems in 64 different buildings around the plant. It was unprecedented at the time because the plant was losing $2 million a day in energy loss due to inefficient, ineffective boilers at the plant level. We ended up decommissioning the boilers and using alternate heating systems, which saved the company time and money. I saved the company over $20M! It was the first time I actually applied my knowledge as an engineer and got bottom-line results. Three years later the plant closed due to economic conditions from our new Mayor Jane Byrne. I found myself briefly unemployed and at that time. I vowed that I would get out of the manufacturing sector into what was then the new high-tech sector.
In 1983, PCs were just becoming popular. Apple was the company to beat. At IBM, the IBM XT and AP models were very popular. Many homes did not have a PC and mobile phones did not exist. Cellular phones were just beginning to come out but they were not in the hands of people like they are today. I began work with a company called Intergraph which at the time was one of the leading computer-aided design and drafting companies in the world. The company was based in Huntsville Alabama but had an office in Chicago with about eight people. It was one of the best jobs I had! While at Intergraph, I traveled around the world and was promoted and received numerous awards and honors for my work. I left Intergraph, they were at $1 billion in revenue. I saw the company grow from a small boutique firm into a major player in the engineering community. When I started with Intergraph they were at about $8 million in revenue.
After 13-1/2 years at Intergraph, I accepted a job with the new company called Documentum. My position was director of industry development for Documentum and they asked me to lead the development of their first off-the-shelf application. I assisted the development team with a concept for the product that managed standard operating procedures. The product was an enormous success. In the first year, we had anticipated selling maybe five copies – we ended up selling a record 20 copies of the software that year. The product today is still on the market!
I then went to work for Abbott Laboratories where I was Director of Document Management and Quality Systems. I was in charge of validating 64 systems around Abbott. This was a $16 million project and was so successful that I ended up reporting directly to the CEO of the company Miles White. I received Abbott’s Chairman’s award -the highest honor that Abbott offers a single employee. I received the award for an unprecedented 2 consecutive years for saving the company $40MM.
I held numerous other positions where I won awards and honors and achieved great success. In 2004, I started OnShore Technology Group in Chicago.
Shortly after starting OnShore, I participated early on in a business contest for women entrepreneurs called “Make Mine A Million Dollar Business”. The award was issued by a group called “Count Me In” which is a part of the Center for Women’s Economic Independence and co-sponsored by American Express. It’s like shark tank but except for women. Each woman participant had to three minutes to give a pitch for her business, explaining why her business could potentially be a million-dollar business. I pitched for this award in New York as to why my business could become a million-dollar business- that was in 2006. Today OnShore is a million-dollar business! Statistics show that less than 3% of women-owned businesses ever reach a million dollars in revenue. I was surprised to learn this. Now I have joined the ranks of million dollar woman-owned businesses!
I am a fierce advocate for STEM education; an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. I have established a scholarship foundation (OnShore Technology Group Scholarship Foundation) to pay it forward for disadvantaged youth across the city. With all of the issues we are facing in Chicago with senseless shootings and the negativity around the city, I wanted to offer youth HOPE to do something positive to with their lives. I volunteer through my church organization and have provided assistance in the form of scholarships, laptops, mobile phones and other tech gear to STEM kids with a passion to further their education. I just gave a scholarship recently to a young man who lost both parents to violence. He is an A-student attending college, but did not have a laptop. He received a laptop from the OTG Scholarship foundation.
One of the kids that I sponsored graduated from the University of Chicago’s School of Architecture and is now pursuing a structural engineering degree at the University of Illinois. Another student I sponsored has graduated with a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin. She now is one of the top sales representatives for Novartis. I could go on and on with the students that OnShore has helped. Many of the students have moved on to success in their fields. I want to raise more money and reach out more kids. I am also working with the George M Pullman foundation as a mentor and spokesman. The Pullman foundation offers scholarships to disadvantaged kids on the southside. It’s important that everyone understands where I came from and that even individuals born into poverty can have successful and productive lives. I was raised in Stateway Gardens housing projects now I live in Lake Point Tower in Chicago. It’s been a hell of a transition!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, the road has not been all smooth! I was passed over sometimes for deserved positions. I was sometimes harassed for my race in college (by black students and white students!) and struggled to receive the same pay as my male counterparts. I had to be over assertive to receive assignments and often had to volunteer since some managers did not want me to have the “plum” assignments. When I was aggressive, I was the B****. When men were aggressive, it was viewed POSITIVELY! This was frustrating! I had back-stabbing female friends and those who were jealous of my success.
Please tell us about OnShore Technology Group.
In 2004 I started OnShore Technology Group in Chicago. Our offices are located in Lake Point Tower – right across from Navy Pier! The company is dedicated to Independent Validation & Verification (IV&V) better known as enterprise software testing. We test very large enterprise systems for life sciences companies regulated by the U.S. FDA. We recently developed an application called ValidationMaster, which just won an award from CV magazine as the Best Validation Testing Software for 2017. This is hot off the press and we’re really proud of it! We’ve also won several awards and honors for validation software.
What sets us apart is our innovative approach to validation and our automated tools. We are technology experts and are at the forefront of our discipline. ValidationMaster is a game-changer and was developed right here in Chicago!
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Although we were poor, I had a great childhood! My favorite memory was riding my bike! I LOVE BIKE RIDING TO THIS DAY! Whenever my mom would allow, I loved to ride my bike!
Contact Info:
- Address: 505 N Lake Shore Drive, Suite 220 Chicago, Illinois 60611
- Website: www.onshoretech.com
- Phone: (312) 321-6400
- Email: vkbailey@onshoretech.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onshoretech
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/OnShore505
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valariekingbailey/
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