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Women choose to go big and stay in Erie

Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News Erie businesswomen, back row, from left, are: LeAnna Nieratko, general manager of the Whole Foods Co-op, Abby Skinner, grant writer for the City of Erie, Wei-Shin Lai, CEO of AcousticSheep. Front row, from left: Ashley Matson, director of the mother/baby unit at Magee-Womens, UPMC Hamot; Chanel Cook, outreach services manager for the Erie County Public Library; and Kristi Bailey, director of business development services for the Erie Federal Credit Union.

By PAM PARKER and SARAH GRABSKI

Erie Times-News

ERIE, Pa.– When others chose to leave, they stayed.

When female friends, colleagues and acquaintances continued to move to cities like Pittsburgh, Denver and Nashville to develop their careers and start families, these women chose Erie for their futures.

They chose Erie to plant their roots, to make their marks, to take their risks.

And perhaps they did it against the odds, according to Erie Vital Signs, a project undertaken by Erie Community Foundation, United Way of Erie County, the Nonprofit Partnership and the Erie Regional Chamber & Growth. In 2010, Erie Vital Signs indicated there was a “brain drain” — or loss of young people — in the city. It reported the Erie area had more brain drain than the national average, a phenomenon that had been occurring for about a decade.

But brain gain is taking its place. The median age of full-time workers in Erie County was 35.4 for women and 35.6 for men in 2016, according to the United States Census Bureau American Community Survey.

Take a quick look at most company directories in Erie County, and you’ll find the names of young 30-something females next to titles like chief executive, director and manager.

Why do they choose to stay in Erie? Why do they continue to choose Erie time again even though lucrative job offers may come in from bigger companies or other cities?

To kick off Women’s History month, the Erie Times-News asked women between the ages of 33 and 40 what made them choose Erie as home and what they hope for the future.

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