Lacey Powell

People often joke that life is like high school, and sometimes the comparisons are hard to ignore.

Lacey Powell became president of the Green Forest Chamber of Commerce at 25, but she said her relative youth didn't seem like a real factor to her. She relied on the same leadership skills she had used as president of her class at Berryville High School.

"I've always been confident of my leadership role," she said. "I'm very organized, and I like to plan." She said organizing projects with the Chamber called on the same skills she had used in planning events in high school.

Skills like that always come in handy. Before serving with the Chamber, Lacey had helped with Agri Day, and she laughed as she explained, "Once you volunteer with Agri Day, you're committed for life."

This former Bobcat has thoroughly turned Tiger, and she has immersed herself in her adopted town. Even when she had a Merle Norman franchise in Berryville, Lacey joined the Green Forest Chamber. "This is my community, and I want to support it," she said.

After high school, Lacey took computer courses in Springdale, before taking a job at the Circuit Clerk's office. She then went on to Alltel in Harrison for four years as a computer specialist, and Lacey lived in Harrison until she met her husband Kirk and moved to Green Forest.

When her son was born four years ago, Lacey took six months off before taking on the Merle Norman franchise. Now Lacey keeps up with the books at Powell Feed and Milling. She and Kirk are co-owners of the company, which has 50 employees in five locations. Lacey also does bookkeeping for her husband's excavating business.

Lacey started playing competitive basketball in fourth grade, and she had the luxury of being part of "a close group which mostly stayed intact through high school."

She was tall, and athletic, too. "I was good at basketball," she said simply. "And I love being tall. It's hard to buy jeans, but I was always okay with it." Lacey credits a good metabolism and regular weight training for her ability to maintain a trim figure more than 10 years out of high school.

Playing a team sport also helped develop Lacey's leadership abilities. "There's structure and discipline in athletics," she said. "We learned to work harder."

"My parents were very strict in teaching me respect for them and for others," Lacey said, but both her parents always encouraged Lacey to steer her own course. "I was very headstrong and independent as a child," she said. "It's part of my make-up." 

As a parent, she feels the responsibility of providing that kind of supportive environment for her son. "Everything children know, they have to learn," she said. "It's our responsibility as parents to teach them the morals and values we want them to have."

Although parenting takes a lot of work, no other job has that kind of rewards. "I love the satisfaction and joy he gives me, the smiles and the hugs," Lacey said.