In life, Shelby Lewis has lived by a motto based on a quote from the movie “We Bought a Zoo.”

“All it takes is 20 seconds of courage and I promise you something phenomenal will come from it” are the words that have empowered her.

Whether she was going for a supervisor role or a managerial role for Walmart, she kept that in mind, and the positivity paid off, as she was given the chance to move up the ranks.

In 2021, she had an opportunity to take the next step up and become a store manager at Walmart Supercenter in Seymour.

Again, it took 20 seconds of courage to make the decision to apply, and she went through with it and was offered the job and accepted it.

Little did she know she made history.

Walmart has been in Seymour since 1987, and a male has always been the store manager. According to his family, Robert Wright Hayes was the first manager. Walmart provided information that other managers have been Marty Land, Chuck Cornelius, Steve Horsch, Steve Reynolds, Randy Ward, John Taylor and Sean Murphy.

In May 2021, Lewis became the first female manager of the store.

“I don’t have daughters. I actually have two sons, but I do have a niece,” the 36-year-old said.

“My dad growing up always pushed (her and her two sisters) and he said that you can be anything you want to be. You’ve just got to go out and work for it,” she said. “I think I’ve really taken that to heart and really just want to be the example for not just my niece but for people’s daughters, for people’s granddaughters that yes, you can be successful and don’t necessarily have to have a college education. You’ve just got to work for it.”

It takes just 20 seconds of courage, believing in yourself and having a support system, Lewis said.

“My husband still works for Walmart. He’s an overnight coach, and he has been a really big driving force,” she said. “He will always be like, ‘Shelby, you’re already doing the job. Stop holding yourself back. You mean more to people than you think you do. You mean more to associates than you think you do.’”

According to Walmart, 55% of U.S. its associates are women, 46% of the company’s management is women, 58% of the hourly-to-hourly promotions went to women and 46% of management promotions went to women.

Lewis, who is in her 19th year with Walmart, said she considers herself fortunate to work for a company that provides opportunities for advancement.

Her family moved around a lot when she was younger because her father served in the U.S. Navy, but once he retired and they settled in one place, she landed her first job — White Castle — at 15.

After two years there, she moved on to the new Walmart Supercenter in New Albany. Her mother was working there at the time and encouraged her to give it a shot. Remember, all it takes is 20 seconds of courage.

“When I was at White Castle, I felt like I had been there, done that, got the T-shirt,” Lewis said. “In fact, I remember standing over the fryer, I think I had turned 17 or maybe 17½, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ My mom had been working at Walmart for almost a year at that point. She talked about how great everybody was, how good the store manager was and how much she liked it.”

Lewis worked in the pet department for about a year and then became a cashier and worked at the service desk before going for a supervisor position. She went from being a customer service manager to the domestics department manager to the electronics department manager.

A zone manager position was introduced, and she held that over the front end of the store and then electronics. Next, she earned a promotion to salary manager.

Not only was the New Albany store special to Lewis for giving her a start at Walmart, but it became a family affair.

“During that time, my mom worked there, my sister had worked there and then my last day there was my youngest sister’s first day, so for one day only, all three of my dad’s girls all worked in the same building,” Lewis said.

Taking it a step further, she met the man who later became her husband at the store, as they were both zone managers.

After leaving the New Albany store, Lewis was an assistant manager at the Clarksville store for two years and co-manager in Corydon for two years before returning to New Albany as a store lead for about three years.

Once the store manager position opened in Seymour, Lewis jumped at the opportunity because it had been a goal to advance as high as she could.

“When I applied for and was selected to be one of the co-managers in Corydon, I really, really liked working with people and teaching them, training and supervising and mentoring,” Lewis said. “I loved that aspect of it, and I think within the first year of being a co-manager, I was really like, ‘OK, this is is something I could do for a long time.’”

As a store lead, she essentially was a store manager in training.

“When I went back to New Albany there for about three years, I had always looked up to other managers throughout my career and really appreciated them, and I wanted to be that for somebody,” Lewis said.

She also credits her success to a female leadership program within the company that was led by her current market manager who oversees southern Indiana and Kentucky, Toni Rodriguez. In 2014, she and other female Walmart associates were invited to participate in the BOLD program.

“We talked about different things — what it means to be a woman in leadership, women tend to only promote if they think they know the entire role altogether, just the differences between being a male in leadership and being a woman in leadership,” Lewis said.

At the time, Lewis said she knew she could be an assistant manager because she could lead a small group of people, but taking the next step was really scary.

After hearing from female guest speakers, though, Lewis was empowered and realized she needed to have that 20 seconds of courage.

“When I applied for the co-manager position, I went back and forth with myself, like ‘What about this? What about that? What about your kids? What about time at home?’” she said. “I was like ‘Twenty seconds of courage’ and applied for it, didn’t think I would get it and was very surprised when I got it.”

She also was influenced by her store managers in Corydon and New Albany, both of whom were female.

“Just working with them and having them as a mentor and learning and teaching, that also helped along the way,” Lewis said.

Since then, she has been passionate about leading the way for future female leaders in the company and community.

“I love to see people win, and I love to be able to help people, and not only just help associates advance their knowledge, advance their career but also be able to help in the community and be involved in the community,” she said. “I love to see the associates grow, and I love when everything comes together and being able to motivate them to go to the next step, to be better.”

Seymour associates have given back to the community by participating in the recent Night to Shine drive-thru parade at Seymour Christian Church, and the store sponsored the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce Teacher of the Year awards. Lewis attended the awards dinner to help present them.

“I wanted Walmart to mean something more than just somewhere where you can go and get your groceries,” Lewis said. “I really wanted us to leave our footprint in the community, and I wanted to be more than just a store manager of Seymour Walmart. I want it to mean something more, for the community to know that we are here, we see and we’re here to help.”

The store also has held associate-driven fundraisers for the Humane Society of Jackson County and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Jackson County.

“We’ve got a couple other things up our sleeves. We’ve got some things that we’re planning,” Lewis said.

Also coming up, the store will have a grand reopening in June following a big remodeling project.

“The store is going to look brand new. It’s a completely different layout,” Lewis said. “It’s going to be a $5 million investment into the store, into the community.”

Even though her mother and sisters have moved on to different careers, Lewis said she considers herself “a lifer” with Walmart.

She’s also proud because her oldest son just started working at the Clarksville store as an overnight stocker, and her youngest son is working at a grocery store near their home in Sellersburg.

“As soon as he gets old enough and he gets a car and stuff like that, he might,” she said of the possibility of him working at Walmart, too. “He says he won’t, but I’m sure at some point in time, give it a few more years, he might.”

As far as her own career, Lewis realizes she could go even higher. All it takes is 20 seconds of courage.

“I don’t have to stop here,” she said. “Our CEO and our COO both started as hourly associates. I just got back from another training program in Bentonville, Arkansas, at the home office, and even going and seeing that, if I wanted to go there, I can. If I wanted to transfer stores and move, I can. If I wanted to go into upper executive levels, I could definitely do that. It’s just the possibilities are endless.”

At a glance 

For information about Walmart Supercenter in Seymour, call 812-522-8838 or visit walmart.com/store/1033 or facebook.com/walmart1033.