Tanya Keller appreciates the value of America’s free enterprise system after having lived in China’s highly centralized economy and then starting her own real estate business in Cheyenne.
“There’s a reason why everybody in the world wants to come to America,” Keller said. “We are what everyone wants to be because we have the freedoms, rights and liberties that many other countries don’t enjoy and get to have.”
One of the principles that sets America apart from China and other countries is its free enterprise system.
Thanks to American free enterprise, Keller, born and raised in a small, rural Oklahoma town and a stay-at-home mom until the children reached school age, has built a successful real estate business and become a community leader in Cheyenne.
But that free enterprise system in under threat, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s under threat from a small but powerful opposition of policymakers, political candidates, academics and organizations _ some who think it needs to be replaced and are spending tens of thousands of dollars to that end,” U.S. Chamber President and CEO Suzanne P. Clark said in her annual State American Business address earlier this year.
“They are sowing the seeds of doubt, and if they succeed, they will limit your potential, stifle our growth and undermine our future.”
Clark said the Chamber and its partners are determined to defend, protect and promote free enterprise.
The Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce is a part of that effort, highlighting the value of free enterprise in its daily mission to help build a more prosperous Cheyenne.
One of the Cheyenne Chamber’s key initiatives to foster free enterprise and the local business climate is “community development.”
“Quality of life is very important in today’s economic climate,” Dale Steenbergen, president and CEO of the Cheyenne Chamber, said. “A major component of a successful free enterprise system is a commitment to community development. At the end of the day the Chamber has a profound commitment to the `people’ component of our community as it drives our economic future.”
The Chamber’s community development work includes: sponsoring community beautification projects; addressing housing shortages; advocating for F.E. Warren Air Force Base and issues important to the U.S. military in general; sponsoring the first Wyoming Civics Bee competition among 6th, 7th and 8th graders this year; and mentoring future local leaders through its Leadership Cheyenne program.
Keller, who is among the graduates of Leadership Cheyenne, said the Chamber’s leadership program is critical because it helps encourage new leaders for local non-profits, boards and governing bodies.
“I think it’s really important for a community to have leaders and continually building leaders,” she said.
“You have to tap people who want to give back in your community because it’s people putting their passions together that I think helps build a great community.”
Since she and her family moved to Cheyenne in 2011, Keller has taken on community leadership roles, including rising to chairman of the local Chamber’s Board of Directors this year.
She also sits on the Board of Trustees of Cheyenne Regional Memorial Hospital as well as the Board of Directors for Coldwell Banker-The Property Exchange, which her real estate business is affiliated with. She is a member of Jonah Bank’s Cheyenne Community Board, and she and her husband, Trent, co-chaired the 2023-24 United Way of Laramie County’s fundraising campaign.
“I want to help give back to organizations and help them do better and be better, whether it’s a governing organization or a non-profit organization,” Keller said. “They need leaders in our community to help support them, and I really enjoy being at a place where I have the capacity to do that and give back.”
As a member of the Chamber, Keller said she learned the importance of knowing and understanding what’s happening in the community, especially when it comes to promoting and supporting business-friendly policies.
“Good business is going to bring people to our community,” Keller said. “I’m in the business of selling homes and selling businesses to people or for people. So it’s really important to me that we have a positive, thriving business environment. I don’t think I understood how important that was until I got on the board.”
This is just another reason why it’s important for the local and national chambers to protect free enterprise from government overregulation, she said.
For instance, Cheyenne adopted codes since she started her real estate business that were too onerous to the point of killing potential local business development because of the additional costs the city regulations caused, Keller said.
“There are really good reasons for some regulations, so I am not anti-regulation,” she said. “But I have just seen it become too much at points in my career.”
Keller said the city is listening to concerns about local regulations and getting better at working with businesses. America is still much better off than other countries, she said. In China, where enterprise is much more restricted than in America, the Chinese government operates a sophisticated spy apparatus to steal trade secrets from U.S. companies, according to the FBI.
“Even when I see regulation at its worst, I still think about how good we have it here compared to other countries.” Keller said. “Sometimes you see regulations start pushing in such a way that it almost becomes too much government, too much control, and I think our country has always been such a good mix of both. I think we just have to be careful not to take it too far.”
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