SKOWHEGAN — Cornville native and Skowhegan Area High School graduate Brandi Meisner got her start with the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce five years ago while working for the Higgins & Bolduc Agency in Oakland.

She soon joined the Chamber’s Marketing and Membership Services Committee, then was asked to be the chairwoman of that committee. From there, she was asked to serve on the Chamber’s board of directors and then to be on the Chamber executive board.

“The more you do, the more you get asked to do,” said Meisner, a community banker with Skowhegan Savings Bank.

Meisner, 39, has been picked to receive the 2018 Rising Star Award from the Chamber. The 56th annual awards banquet is scheduled for Thursday at Enchanted Gables in Oakland.

“Brandi is a no-nonsense woman of action that has many wondering how she does it all,” Chamber President and CEO Kimberly Lindlof said of Meisner. “Working full time, raising a family and supporting the family’s small business — phew — makes me tired just thinking about it. And to accomplish it all with such style and class. Brandi truly is a rising star.”

The Rising Star recipient must be under the age of 40 and in management or other leadership capacity within the business organization, according to Chamber guidelines.

The recipient must illustrate a combination of business success and community involvement.

Meisner is committed to bringing economic development to local communities and is employed by Skowhegan Savings as a community banker, according to information provided by the Chamber. Additionally, Meisner serves on the executive board for Main Street Skowhegan and is an adviser for the Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute. She is a graduate of Thomas College, where she received a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in business management.

She resides in Skowhegan with her family, with whom she enjoys spending time and traveling.

“It’s an honor,” she said of being named the Rising Star. “I believe in the Chamber and I believe in what they do. That community was very welcoming to me when I came there. I came from this area to begin with and started working in Oakland and I didn’t know anyone. That staff there was amazing.”

With a life in sales, that’s what you want, she said.

At Skowhegan Savings, Meisner lends money for mortgages, works with home equity, and makes small commercial loans.

She grew up in rural Cornville, in Somerset County, graduated from Thomas College and went to work as a receptionist at the Miles Carpenter insurance agency in Skowhegan for the first eight years after college and earning her master’s degree in business administration.

She soon got her license to become an insurance agent.

“That’s where I started my insurance career,” she said.

From the Carpenter agency, Meisner moved to the Varney Insurance Agency and then to Higgins & Bolduc before landing at Skowhegan Savings.

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