Two ABQ Women Leave Successful Corporate Jobs for Entrepreneurship
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According to the National Women’s Business Council, from 2019 to 2023, women-owned businesses’ growth rate outpaced the rate of men’s 94.3% for the number of firms, 252.8% for employment, and 82.0% for revenue. In New Mexico, women-owned businesses account for just under 50% of all businesses according to the New Mexico Small Business Association Office of Advocacy.
Two successful corporate women in Albuquerque took those trends seriously, joined forces and are now running one of New Mexico’s largest sustainability businesses: commercial composting company, Soilutions. Dawn Dewey and her husband Justin bought Soilutions in 2021, while Dawn was the Senior Vice President at Dreamstyle Remodeling. She joined Soilutions full time last October. Trishelle Kirk was the CEO of Everest Cannabis Co and led Everest through a successful acquisition. After consulting with Soilutions, she decided to join the team full-time in late 2023 as a partner and together with Dawn Dewey, is leading Soilutions to new heights as a tech-enabled sustainability company driving massive growth.
Both women had major success in corporate America. During Dewey’s tenure at Dreamstyle Remodeling, the company went from $20 million to $200 million in annual sales, ranking as one of the largest home improvement companies in the nation. Under Kirk’s leadership, Everest Cannabis grew from a $5 million business with four retail locations to a $22 million company with 14 retail locations and in-house manufacturing in 4 years.
What inspired both women to leave their corporate jobs is the opportunity to be a player in the growing sustainability economy. Soilutions has developed a unique Landfill Diversion Program, where businesses and households send Soilutions their food and organic waste. That waste is turned into compost and products rather than to the landfill. The company now diverts more than 200,000 pounds of food waste per week through corporate partners including Whole Foods, Walmart, Bueno Foods and Pinon Coffee among others. Dewey and Kirk plan to continue to dramatically expand this program.
“This is the heart of the business,” Dewey explained. “We divert organic waste that would otherwise rot in the landfill, and using our scientific process we turn it into something useful: Mother Nature’s garden essentials – compost, soil and mulch.”
“We are helping support the depleted New Mexico soils by providing healthy chemical-free products for home and business use,” Kirk added.
Soilutions growth trajectory has been huge, and the team expects it to continue. When the Deweys bought Soilutions in 2021, sales had averaged around $700,000 annually for several years. With marketing and sales initiatives implemented, they closed out 2023 at $2.2 million, and plans are in place to grow the company to $10 million by 2026.
One early success Soilutions implemented to improve accessibility to their products is a partnership with Just Sprinklers to carry their bulk compost, soil and mulch products. That means instead of customers having to go to Soilutions’ production facility in the South Valley, they now have six locations throughout the Metro area where Soilutions products can be picked up. Soilutions also developed an online store to allow customers to easily order for delivery to their driveway.
As working mothers, their children often have an opportunity to experience and participate in the sustainability mission of Soilutions. This can include helping with test gardens, digging through piles of soil and looking through microscopes for beneficial microbes in the compost. Dewey is 38 with a 7-year-old daughter and a 4-year-old son. Kirk is 35, with a 12-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son. Both are committed to showing their children that you can be a successful entrepreneur and a successful mother at the same time.
“They have no concept that women can’t achieve in the workplace” said Kirk.
“We are unapologetically moms as well as business leaders,” Dewey added. “You absolutely can do both.”
About Soilutions
Soilutions was founded in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a bucket and a hose in 1996. What started as a regenerative compost company to help local farmers increase the soil vitality, has now grown to be New Mexico’s largest private compost and soil company; diverting millions of pounds of organic waste away from the landfill each year and providing premium composts, soils, and mulches to discerning growers, landscapers, contractors, gardeners, and farmers throughout the Land of Enchantment.
