BY RYAN SPELTS • PHOTOS BY MELISSA SPELTS
It takes a special type of person to succeed in business. It takes hard work and grit because, sometimes, business is hard. Sometimes, you lose a key client or customer. Sometimes, people get mad at you for something that seems unfair. At other times, it seems that everything is just on fire and all you have is a squirt gun to try and douse the flames. Historically, women have had a harder time in business and had to fight for their rightful place. Today, in my personal observation, some of our most powerful business people are women business leaders. I am impressed every year when interviewing some of these amazing women at their strength and their passion for doing great things. These women don’t make excuses, and they get things done. I, for one, am inspired. This month, we have highlighted women from our community. Some are business owners, others are business leaders. They all play an important role in our local business community. We are honored to tell their stories and hope you will enjoy reading them.
Lizzy Badger
BY KENDAL RAE JENSEN
Lizzy Badger grew up in Washington state and is a lover of all things sports but focused much of her hard work and attention on golf and softball in high school. She also worked hard in school and graduated Valedictorian of her class. She attended BYU and graduated with a business degree and an emphasis in recreation management. She first worked in recreation in Lindon before being hired as the Roy City Recreation Manager. She modestly attributes most of her success to her boss Jody and her team of 54 part-time employees that help her run the city’s recreation programs and events. Whether she is painting fields, creating game schedules, ordering jerseys and prizes, filling Easter eggs for the hunt, or taking on the myriad of issues that arise in youth sports: she says she loves her job because of the opportunities it gives the kids in her program. The youth, along with her coworkers and the citizens of Roy, have become her family in Utah, and she loves the sense of community she feels here.
Raquel DeSilva
BY KENDAL RAE JENSEN
Raquel DeSilva has a bachelor’s in Business Administration and master’s in Counseling and Mental Health. For some time, her mentors had been urging her to spread her wings and try to advance her career, and, although she was hesitant to do so, she decided to apply for a job as the Executive Director of the new nonprofit called Family Promise. She got the job. Family Promise’s primary goal is to help heal families with hope. Sometimes, when you are in crisis, you don’t see options and don’t have hope.
Because of rising housing costs, families becoming homeless is a growing crisis. Family Promise helps recently homeless families get training, find an apartment, and get back to being independent. So far this year, they have helped nine families move from homelessness to independence. Raquel was also the recipient of the 2022 Ogden/Weber Chamber of Commerce Athena Award. She is a powerful contributor to our community.
Brittany Fowers
BY KENDAL RAE JENSEN
Brittany Fowers is not a Utah native. She was born in Virginia and raised in Florida. She came to Utah after meeting her husband, who served in the military and was born and raised in Utah. Brittany started at Roy City four years ago in the utilities department. She now works as an executive assistant and city recorder for Roy City. Although her work includes a broad spectrum of duties, she spends a lot of her time working on agendas for council meetings, assisting the mayor and city manager, managing social media platforms, and keeping records. She and her husband now live in West Haven, along with their three busy children and dog. Together they enjoy anything that will take them to the mountains, including hiking, camping, and scuba diving. Her favorite thing about Roy is the sense of community she’s felt here. Coming from a city with a population of 220,000+ people, she loves that Roy still feels like a small town and everybody knows everybody.