Women’s History Month: Janet Gott, first female Denison Mayor

DENISON, Texas (KXII) -Denison Mayor Janet Gott was sworn in as Denison’s first female mayor in May of 2018.

“She’s just so passionate and of course she loves Denison and you can see that in everything she does,” said Donna Dow, Denison Main Street Director.

Gott shares her story of how she fell into this impactful role.

“I was born, grew up here, and never wanted to live anywhere except Denison, TX,” Mayor Gott said.

But before she was mayor, Gott served on city council for five years.

“I looked for ways to serve the community but never even thought about city council,” Gott said.

This May marks Gott’s sixth year as mayor, “the things that have started while I’ve been mayor, i won’t necessarily be the one who gets to cut the ribbon when it’s completed but that’s not important, what’s important is that the ribbon gets cut.”

One of the projects Mayor Gott has had her hand in, is redesigning Main Street.

She’s not only overcome barriers in politics but throughout her career, ‘I went to work for Bag Corp. I was the first female Plant Manager, I was the first female Vice President, and I was the first ever female Vice President of Global Operations.”

Gott also worked at the Johns Manville Plant where she was also the first Industrial Engineer and first Plant Superintendent.

While she’s accomplished a lot of firsts, Gott credits another woman for her success, her grandmother, “she had the most amazing work ethic and she taught that to me.”

Mayor Gott hopes that young girls will chase their dreams just as she did, “every little girl should dream about what she wants to be and she should know that she can be anything she dreams if she’s willing to work hard enough to get there.”

News 12 celebrates the accomplishments of women year round.

We want every female to be inspired by stories like Mayor Gott’s.

It’s a segment we call, “Her Story”.

If you know a woman who’s doing remarkable work, we want to tell “Her Story”.

To submit a nomination, click here.

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