Ask entrepreneur Wanda Gozdz what has helped guide, inspire, and sustain her throughout four decades in business, and Felician comes up repeatedly. “What I got from Felician was an education, a value system, integrity, and a sense of faith.”

Gozdz, a Lodi native now living in Florida, was in the first four-year class when Felician became a 4-year accredited college. She received a $250 a semester state scholarship and majored in education, which besides nursing, was the only other program offered in the early 1970s at the then all-girls school. She had her first son and worked briefly as a high school science teacher before deciding to go into business.

Over the decades, Gozdz has owned several diverse businesses, including some male-dominated ones. In her first job as a purchasing agent for a Lodi chemical company, she was fortunate to have found a mentor who taught her the business fundamentals and has remained a friend. That positive experience is why Gozdz is now involved with the Felician Falcons Fly Together Mentorship Program for Felician University graduates. Gozdz says having a mentor is critical for students starting on a career path, adding, “being a good mentor is also being a coach because you help steer them in the right direction by planting seeds, pointing them in the right direction, and giving them feedback.”

A defining moment for Gozdz came after another chemical company laid her off after seven years. She says the termination was the greatest gift they gave her, and she vowed that “if I ever work that hard again, it would be for myself and not a company.”

Gozdz took $200 and started W. Gozdz Enterprises, an information management, consulting & training services company that manages print and electronic information and communication resources for Big Six accounting firms, law firms, and law libraries. It was a niche market, and Gozdz says, “I made myself indispensable.”

To build up that business after a second son was born and she was going through a divorce, Gozdz started buying and reselling vacuum-formed signs to gas stations. It is where she learned the important lesson that no is an acceptable answer “because if one guy said no, I went across the street and asked the other guy if he wanted to buy one.” Not only is Gozdz not afraid of rejection, but with four brothers of her own, she is “not easily intimidated by men.”

That fearless attitude helped when Gozdz encountered resistance from a bank manager who asked her to bring her brother with her when asking for a loan to expand her business. “I told them my brother does not work for me and does not own my company, and I am not bringing my brother to get a loan.” Undaunted, she turned to a female bank officer who was impressed with her operation and approved the $2,000 line of credit.

The experience led her to join the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), where she advocated for women in Washington, D.C., and served on NAWBO’s National Public Policy Council, helping to pass legislation that supported woman business owners. She is proud of the changes she was able to make along with NAWBO in fighting for women to have equal access to credit. In 1995 Gozdz was awarded NAWBO’S Policy Advocate of the Year award and was named the Small Businesswoman of the Year. “Getting involved in public policy on a local, state, or national level is a critical responsibility for every person, every citizen.”

When Gozdz realized the computer revolution would diminish her information business, she pivoted yet again to start Golden Age Living, LLC, a consulting and interior design company that empowers the elderly to live independent lives in their home and work environments with an emphasis on sustainable design. As Founder and President, she has come full circle back to education because, as a Certified Aging in Place Specialist (CAPS), she educates professionals such as architects and builders who serve the senior market on how “they can help seniors modify their home and work environments and age in place.

A daughter of Polish refugees who came to America after World War II, Gozdz says her six brothers and sisters viewed her more as a mother figure than a sibling. “It was a hard life,” says Gozdz, who had many responsibilities as a child of immigrants and the first in her family to learn English. She has fond memories of her time at Felician, including being chosen to have lunch with Pope John Paul II because she could converse with him in Polish. “I remember he looked me right in the eyes and made me feel like I was the only person in the cafeteria as he gave me 100% of his attention. I do not remember what we talked about, but I do recall how he made me feel in his presence.”

Felician University honored Gozdz with an Outstanding Alumni Award in the School of Education on April 26 at Ray’s Place on the Rutherford Campus.