Lorrie Rutledge is a local natural product manufacturer and distributor in Detroit Michigan. She began her journey over 20 years ago because she saw the benefits of thinking outside the box to improve her health and teach her family and friends the benefits of certain indigenous health choices. She joined the organic health community in the early 90’s before it became popular and was just a very small community in Metro Detroit. This decision helped her and her children avoid the diseases and illnesses that plagued her family from generation to generation.
She was born in Detroit Michigan to William and Mary Caldwell who moved from the south in the ‘50’s looking for greater opportunity for them and their family. Lorrie’s father eventually found work as an auto worker and retired after 40+ years of service. Her mother was a homemaker and part time domestic worker for most of Lorrie’s childhood and young adulthood.
Lorrie attended Detroit Public School from Kindergarten to graduation from Cass Technical High School where she first began her studies in Business Administration. She is a recent graduate of Henry Ford Community College where she earned her Associate in Business Administration.
Lorrie is the mother of two adult sons during her marriage to her high school sweetheart Mark Rutledge. Lorrie’s wonderful career opportunities in the workforce actually began when she was selected at Cass Technical High School to participate as a Co-op student at Detroit Edison in their Administrative & Technical Systems Department. Shortly after graduating high school and due to the enforcement of Affirmative Action, she was able to start a career at Detroit Edison in Steam Engineering and Power generation and earn a High Pressure Boiler Operator License, Third Class Stationary Engineer License and Journeyman’s card as an AA Substation Operator. These union job opportunities occurred during a time when very few women held these high paying skilled trade jobs. These positions gave her the understanding of the importance of skilled labor opportunities and taught her the value of Unionized Labor and Bargaining. It also helped shape her understanding of the importance of seeking balance in the workplace.
Lorrie’s current skill set and understanding of how to get things done is the result of the various positions she successfully held both personally and professionally as a single parent of two sons, as a woman in a male dominated profession, as a small business owner and as a caregiver to both her parents.