Terry Dunn believes that you are what you expose yourself to, and as she approaches the new year, two recent NAWBO international delegation trips—which have exposed her to new women, cultures, markets, governments and ideas—have her thinking bigger for her business.
This NAWBO Greater Raleigh member became an entrepreneur in 2019 after 22 successful years in human resources (HR) for a large pharmaceutical company. Prior to that, she worked in HR, starting as a generalist before discovering a real interest in recruitment and talent management.
“I had very clear-cut and measurable goals and could leave work every day knowing the impact I had made,” shares Terry. “I loved my job and the company, but I always wanted to try being out on my own.”
Getting Ready For Entrepreneurship
Terry began to prepare for entrepreneurship during her last several years in corporate America. She took courses on starting, marketing and financing a business through her local community college. She also pursued HR credentials (SHRM-SCP and SPHR).
Then when her company decided to outsource talent acquisition, Terry said to herself, “This is my opportunity. If I don’t do it now, then when?” She was nervous, but also fortunate enough to leave with a generous severance. She stayed through the end of September 2018 to transition the work.
“I felt like all the pieces were in place to make this work,” she recalls. “I was able to call on senior vice presidents and directors that I had previously supported who had gone on to do other things to let them know I was starting my own business.” Some of them became her first clients.
Terry was scheduled to travel to Kenya for a missions trip and had already put in a request for time off to do that. So she took the rest of the year to plan the launch of Tai-Lynn HR Solutions. “I was in Kenya on a safari when I came up with the name of my business,” says Terry, who also got an idea for her company’s unique logo.
In 1985, Terry began accumulating elephant collectables. The elephant is a symbol of wisdom, loyalty, strength and power. It relies on conscious thought and the virtue of patience to meet its needs, which is a powerful gift that enables the elephant to respond to situations in a calm and confident manner.
While in Nairobi, Terry came across a story about green elephants told to this little girl by her artist grandfather. He would create stories specifically for her and she would sit and listen, completely mesmerized. Her favorite was this:
Once upon a time, there were three young elephants and they were the children of a mama elephant who was yellow and a papa elephant who was blue. The children loved each other very much, but one day they grew tired of being green and looking the same. They told their parents this and were encouraged to express their individuality. The children were provided with paint and each one chose to decorate themselves differently. One chose to paint himself purple with pink polka dots. One chose to paint herself blue like her papa, but to add yellow stripes like her mama. The third young one looked at the paints wondering what color truly felt like her. Each brush that she picked up and readied for color didn’t feel right, so she just stared and stared at all of those colors. Her brother and sister were curious as to why she didn’t feel as inspired as they were to immediately change her color. When the mama and papa came to see what their little ones had come up with, their two newly decorated children proudly strutted in front of their parents to show them their new colors. Their littlest child stood watching quietly and when called upon as to why she remained green, she simply said, because I love being green and changing my color does not change me. I change me.”
Terry decided a green elephant would be part of her company logo. “Green is the color of life, renewal, nature, rebirth, growth and energy. During my time of transition, this story resonated with me because it is associated with harmony, freshness, safety, prosperity, abundance and balance,” says Terry.
Learning and Belonging With NAWBO
Tai-Lynn HR Solutions provides HR expertise to businesses of all sizes, including workforce planning, compensation and benefits, performance management, training and development, risk and compliance management and consultancy services.
Once Terry became a woman business owner, she reached out to Wendy Coulter—NAWBO Greater Raleigh’s president at the time. Terry had worked with Wendy on a previous marketing project. Immediately, Wendy said, “You have to come to NAWBO.”
Wendy invited her to a local chapter meeting and NAWBO’s National Women’s Business Conference in Jacksonville, Florida. “I went to NAWBO locally and nationally and have been a member ever since,” says Terry, who is now in her third year as Greater Raleigh’s Public Policy Chair. “There was so much I didn’t know and when I went to my first NAWBO meeting, it was a fast track of learning—teaching me what I didn’t know, but needed to know quickly.”
She also met corporate partners and potential vendors. Terry’s first bank account that she opened when she was 15 years old was with NCNB, now Bank of America. She was thinking about them for her business account, and it was cemented when she learned how Bank of America supports NAWBO and women business owners.
Validating Her Business as Woman Owned
Two years ago when the NAWBO Institute launched Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and Minority Women’s Business Enterprise (MWBE) certification, Terry registered as one of the first 100. “I was a fairly new business owner and had never gone through a certification process,” she tells. “I looked at the application and criteria and thought it would be a great experience.”
Terry says the process was easy. She had all the documents NAWBO’s certification team asked for in a notebook she keeps and with her husband, who has a background in accounting and is the company’s CFO. The biggest hurdle was proving that her husband wasn’t the business owner.
For Terry, getting certified was more about understanding how to go through the process. “I knew it would help me with certain procurement conversations,” she shares. “I wouldn’t be invited into the room without it. My second phase will be to understand how I can use my certification for the overall strategy of my business.”
Thinking Even Bigger About Her Business
International delegations have also been part of Terry’s learning and development. She attended the 2024 Global Summit of Women in Madrid, Spain, this past spring. “It was absolutely amazing so when I heard about the FCEM World Congress event in Sydney, Australia in October, I wanted to see what that was about, too,” she says.
“I’m not going on these trips to take a vacation, but to understand and solidify how I can use this information and expose myself,” she continues. “In order to be great, you need to expose yourself to everything you can that would be relevant to you and your business.”
Both were great experiences that now have Terry thinking about how she might one day take her business international. After all, HR and talent are international fields and Terry has previous international experience working for a pharmaceutical company with over 100,000 employees in 125 countries.
The FCEM event session Streamlining Your International Strategy: The Fastest Way to $1 Million in International Sales proved most valuable. The focus was on doing business beyond borders and taking your company global. “Cynthia Dearin encouraged us to do our homework and research,” Terry shares. “We were told to pick a country and think about how we as entrepreneurs want to amplify our impact on the international stage to reach more customers. She laid out a blueprint for international success.” After attending this workshop, Terry says she felt like she had gotten what she had come for.”
Terry’s advice to others considering an international delegation? Give one a try if you’re wanting to grow your business. She learned at both events that research shows women-owned businesses scale faster and are more successful when they go international. “Get on board the train if you’re wanting to scale and grow in a way you haven’t thought about before,” she encourages.
NAWBO International Opportunities in 2025
March 27 at 10 a.m. PT/12 p.m. CT/1 p.m. ET – Women Mean Business International Webinar Series (Virtual)
- Women’s Global Advancements – Fireside chat moderated by NAWBO CEO Jen Earle
- Registration coming soon
June 5-8 – NAWBO 50th Anniversary Celebration, Washington, DC
- International Ticket $597 with code: WBC2025INTL
- Wordly AI Interpretation services in general session and breakouts
July 3-5 – Global Summit of Women in Berlin, Germany
- ETIAS Requirements for American Citizens
- Code for 5% Off Registration: NAWBO25
- Registration: https://globewomen.org/globalsummit/
August 27-29 – AMEXME Congress in Cancun, Mexico
- Registration coming soon
November 4-7 – FCEM 72nd World Congress in Athens, Greece
- Registration coming soon