50 years ago, Sally Gunderman was just a young woman with a million dreams in her heart and $400 to her name. Today, after five decades of working on a plethora of ventures, including her hospitality business, Cactus Cove, she gleams with the hard-won wisdom of resilience, the fulfillment of building a life on her own terms, and the undeniable pride of a woman who refused to be defined by limitations.
When she moved to Denver in 1973 with her husband, her three-year-old, and her five-year-old by her side, Gunderman was faced with a conundrum. "My husband said if we moved to Denver from Chicago, I had to work," she recalls. "I thought that would be hard with my children being so young, but I decided to do it either way."
Instead of taking a conventional role, Gunderman carved her own path after being denied employment because she was a mother of small children. In 1975, she took money from their modest savings to buy sample clothes and began selling them out of her home. "I sold those clothes for $20 each," she recalls.
"And I did that by appointment only, which worked out extremely well for me. It enabled me to be flexible with my schedule and helped personalize the customer's experience." That gamble was the seed that grew into five decades of entrepreneurship, taking her from retail fashion to Paris couture to Cactus Cove.
But her entrepreneurial path was often met by many hurdles. Gunderman was told flatly she could never be a stockbroker. "One of the men looked at me and said, 'Who would trust a 21-year-old woman with their money? You could be a secretary for seven years, go to school for another seven, and maybe in 14 years, you could be a stockbroker.'" These words would leave an indelible mark on her, especially when her male classmates were hired on the spot.
Years later, in 1982, when her clothing business was thriving, she purchased a historical home that then became her clothing boutique. She later went to the bank to get a home loan, which was refused to her without a male cosigner, even though she had a successful business. It wasn't until 1988 that a new law enabled women to apply for business loans without male guarantors. Before that, she relied on her resourcefulness, leveraging strategies like tax exchanges. "I never gave up," she shares. "I didn't scream, pout, or yell. I knew I had to figure out how to do it. So I did."
She later found herself traveling to Paris to buy high-end fashion during the 1990s, when women were more prominent in the workforce, eager for wardrobe options that reflected their positions. "I always had to be one step ahead, even if this meant showing up in a foreign country with no idea how to do business there," she says. "When things got boring, I had to find new ways to keep my customers excited."
Two lucrative businesses later, Gunderman found her true purpose. "I think I've done everything; now all I want to do is make people happy, which makes me happy," she says.
That desire gave birth to Cactus Cove, her beloved bed and breakfast in the peaceful Arizona desert, which today is appreciated for its hospitality, ambiance, and "a million-dollar view." Gunderman recalls how guests often arrive expecting beauty but leave feeling much more. "I always give people more than they expect. That's the key to business," she shares.
Despite her life's work, Gunderman insists that her true success lies in how she has lived. She raised two successful children, gleams with joy about her four grandchildren, and is devoted to her faith. But most of all, the throughline to her life's work has been her willingness to take time off, a principle she believes more entrepreneurs should embrace.
"I've taken time off to see the seven wonders of the world, and travel across Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America. It's really enriched my life," she states. "You can't see your life when you're in it. That's why I take time away to look at my life from the outside. And that's the reason I am where I am now."
Today, she has distilled her philosophy into her book, Sally the Survivor, where she shares lessons learned across the 50 years of business and life. Her message to women is rooted in her own experiences: "Don't give up. Don't let people knock you down. Be persistent, and always give more than people expect."
