‘I’ll probably get in trouble for this one’ . . . and other Junetta Everett stories

Junetta Everett likes to say that she grew up as an only child even though she eventually had seven siblings.

That’s because when she was two, her teenage mother, who already had two other children, got divorced and asked her parents to take her daughter into their home.

A Texas native, Everett moved to Wichita with her grandparents when she was 10. Her mother lived here, though Everett continued to live with her grandparents through her senior year of high school.

“I was around my mom all my life,” she said. “She and I were best friends. She was my mom, and she made sure I remembered she was my mom.”

Everett credits her mother and grandparents for ensuring she was educated even though they were not.

Her grandmother “wanted to make sure I got what they weren’t able to get. . . . It was another opportunity for them to do something that they weren’t able to do in their own life, especially my mom.”

Everett became a dental hygienist and worked for nine years before joining the customer service department of Delta Dental of Kansas with the intention of eventually moving into professional relations, meaning working with dentists and their office staffs on issues such as recruitment, education and compliance.

Back then, Delta Dental had 15 employees, and Everett was one of two with clinical experience. Today, she is vice president of professional relations, and the company has 130 employees.

In addition to serving on boards at places such as Wesley Medical Center, Exploration Place and the Kansas Health Foundation, in January Everett will became the new chair of the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce.

She is the sixth female chair and the first black person to hold the role.

Everett discussed her historic appointment and what it means to her along with answering wide-ranging questions about her background, her goals for the chamber and how she doesn’t like the title chairwoman — or chairman for that matter.

Your grandmother never graduated from high school, but you credit her with teaching you many things. Like what?

She would instill leadership. “You can be anybody you need to be at any given time, and don’t let anybody ever tell you differently.”

Did you really believe that?

I did believe it because I tested it. I didn’t realize I was testing. . . . I wanted to be the best in everything, although I wasn’t competitive. . . . I’m not an athletic person, period. . . . I can barely run the treadmill, but I tested it by being in spelling bees . . . math contests . . . on debate team. . . . I wasn’t always the best, but I sure didn’t go down for lack of trying.

When you were growing up, what did you think you might like to be?

I always wanted to be a nurse, and I don’t even know why, but I always felt like they were helpful. . . . I wasn’t the best science student. . . . Over time I realized that I didn’t want to work on weekends or holidays, so I couldn’t be a nurse, and that’s a true story. So I changed to dental hygiene.

You switched from what was then called Butler County Community College to Wichita State University’s dental hygiene school in 1976, which somewhat foretold your future. Why was that?

That was the ultimate challenge right there. I think that’s what jump-started me in moving forward in leadership.

Why?

There was a professor. . . . She challenged me one day . . . saying, “Junetta, you might want to consider another profession.” . . . I asked why. . . . “Because this is not a field that people like you are in.”

What did she mean?

Her words were, “There are going to be people who will not want your hands in their mouth.” . . . I was like, “What?” I went to my mom, my real mom, and told her what she had said, and my mom — again, wanting me to succeed — said, “You tell her that I said, ‘Just watch.’ ” . . . I had that support to make sure that I made it through that program.

The professor also warned you that it would be an expensive degree, right?

I was disheartened, and I was determined to show her, so I give her credit somewhat for me being able to get through the program. . . . I was the first African American dental hygienist to graduate from the Wichita State dental hygiene program.

What did that mean to you?

You know what? Back then it didn’t mean anything. . . . It wasn’t top of mind. I wasn’t trying to be that person. . . . I just wanted to show (my professor) I could succeed in that profession. . . . Then I found out I was the first one in the state of Kansas. That didn’t mean that much either. . . . To me now, though, being the first of anything is fine. I just want to make sure I’m not the last, that’s all.

You and your husband, Victor, have created a minority scholarship at WSU’s dental hygiene school. Why?

I wanted to be able to help any other minority person who wanted to get in the field because it was predominantly white. . . . I didn’t want anybody to tell anybody else that it was too expensive for them to get in.

When a friend of yours was leaving Delta Dental, she insisted you apply, but why didn’t you want to?

I already had four kids with a set of twins and decided I didn’t want to work outside of the house anymore, but I went anyway, applied and was hired on the spot.

At what point did you become more active in the community?

2004 is really when I started. I was commencement speaker for Wichita State. That helped me to move forward to Leadership Kansas, which was in 2010. . . . That got me really excited about being able to communicate with all these other leaders around the state to the point where I started taking lots of classes. . . . I was just really interested in leadership.

You even started developing your own seminars. What’s an example of one?

P.A.N.D.A. Prevent Abuse and Neglect Through Dental Awareness. . . . We probably educate over 4,000 people in the state of Kansas on how you . . . identify and report child abuse and neglect. . . . I was able to basically hone in and practice on my speaking skills. . . . It was my program, and I knew it, so I could perfect it.

Eventually, you came up with your own philosophy on leadership. What is it?

Obviously, I believe that anybody can be a leader. It just almost depends on how you’re defining (it). If you think you’re a leader because you’re a vice president, that’s probably a fallacy. A leader is not in a title. It’s the activity.

Does it matter to you that you’re only the sixth female to lead the chamber and only the first black person to do so?

Yes, because this organization is 102 years old. Why in the world do we not have more minorities or women as chairman of the board?

And that’s something you discussed with chamber president Gary Plummer?

I said, “Gary, why do we not have more intentional diversity on our board?” It was just a question. I wasn’t being judgmental.

Eventually he asked you to lead a diversity program for the chamber. What did you think?

I didn’t know what that was going to look like or what they expected, but I agree to (it).

You convened a CEO round table that focused on diversity. What was discussed?

We didn’t just ask the questions. We brought in an expert . . . to sit and talk with these people to tell them what diversity is and what it is not. . . . It is not just all what you can see. . . . For the most part, people immediately think race. It’s not all about race. . . . It’s diversity in gender and age and diversity in industry, especially when it comes to the chamber. . . . Eighty percent of our members are small businesses, so they have to be included. I do believe that Wichita is a very diverse city, but we have to work on our inclusivity. . . . It cannot be an afterthought. It cannot be a check the box, we have a female, we have a person of color. . . . We shouldn’t even have to think about it. It should be automatic, but we’re not there yet. . . . It’s starting to happen.

You’d prefer to be known as the board chair because you’re not a fan of the words chairwoman or chairman. How come?

I will answer to it. It’s no big deal, but chairwoman is just a mouthful. . . . Chairman is just the traditional, accepted terminology. You see it on the cards, but I visually see chair man, and that’s just not the fact.

What are your goals as chair?

To figure out how we can level up, and that’s pretty much my theme, if you will. . . . Because everybody knows to level up, you’ve got to be improving — improving the current status . . . in a way that has to result in a positive shift. . . . I’m looking to the future. I don’t want to see the chamber as it was. I don’t want to look at it as it is. I want to look at it as it should — could — be.

How should it be?

That’s what I’m going to be . . . assessing with our current members. Number one, I think we should continue to be the convener of all business that impacts . . . pride in place, that impacts small business, of course, and we should be the convener for business that impacts advocacy. . . . We should be able to impact government.

How can you do that?

I’ll probably get in trouble for this one . . . but basically I’m kind of a bold, kind of a fearless leader driven by action and passion because I lead from the heart. . . . The chamber in its past has been perceived as being a very partisan, exclusive type of organization. It’s sometimes been perceived very right leaning more than anything else.

And you don’t want it to be, as you say, about the R and D, meaning about Republicans and Democrats?

You’ve got to focus on the B. . . . B for business. And if we don’t focus on the B, we’re not going to be able to change that perception that people have of us. . . . Now the good news is that I think we’re doing that.

Have you seen actual changes?

I’ve seen it firsthand. Heard it firsthand. . . . This has to be about the business of the chamber, and I agree with that direction that we’re going.

Other than the people of Wichita, what’s your favorite thing about the city?

We’re not doubting our limitations, and that’s the one thing I’m starting to see a big change forward. We are not limited. We will take a bold, fearless step in order to move to the next level. . . . I’m starting to see that position shift because the people in Wichita are having a change in thought.

So, Junetta is a unique name. Are you often accidentally called Juvetta?

Oh, yes, Juvetta. But mostly I’m called Juanita. I don’t know why.

Do you know the story behind your name?

My grandfather had a girlfriend at one time named Junetta. . . . He named me after an old girlfriend.

You have five sons, each with the initials T.J. And all but three of your seven grandchildren have the same initials. How did that come to be?

Don’t know where that came from, but it works. It works for us.

What’s something no one knows about you?

No one knows that I will play video games until the middle of the night. Well, my husband knows that, but that’s about it. It relaxes me. It’s just my way of winding down.

To clarify, you’re talking Candy Crush, not Call of Duty. But regardless, isn’t the next day really hard then?

I don’t require a lot of sleep. If I get four hours of sleep, I’m good.

And video games let you “level up” literally by scoring big and making it to the next level, right?

I’d be so happy. . . . Finally, I got some results here. Sound familiar? My pastime actually helped me realize I could apply that to my business world.