Volunteering for McHenry’s Pearl Street Market is what got Amy Humbracht involved in the city she grew up in, and eventually a job at the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce.

Now, Humbracht is president of the Woodstock Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a role she took over in September, and which her years in McHenry and 30 years in retail prepared her.

It was the community Humbracht found at the Pearl Street farmers market that made her apply for what was a part-time position at the McHenry Chamber.

“I love community stuff,” Humbracht said. “I got a sense of community from Pearl Street.”

The McHenry chamber job was to help create and manage the then-new “tiny shops” McHenry was working to build on its Riverwalk.

“I didn’t know I would have to raise a million and build a village,” when she applied and got the job, Humbracht said.

“We didn’t know how we how we were going to do it, but there was no question that we were going to do it,” Humbracht said. She started in the position in October 2022.

“We had no fundraising, no construction yet,” when she took the role, Humbracht said. She often had to explain what a retail incubator was – an opportunity for entrepreneurs to test their concepts in the market.

That first year had 19 small business owners applied for the shops. Construction started on May 1, and the Riverwalk Shoppes opened in July 2023.

Of those first 10 shops, five have a current presence in McHenry: Flextensions, Lumber and Twine Store, and Mad Soyentist Candle Company at Shop 3430, The Bumble Bread Co. on Green Street and The Trend Cellar Skateshop on Riverside Drive.

Once the shops for each season are announced, those shop owners receive weekly classes on running a retail business. Humbracht taught some of those classes, leaning on her 30 years in retail, much of which was with Estée Lauder.

She started by working at a makeup counter in Las Vegas, where her parents moved after her eighth-grade graduation in McHenry.

She went on to be a regional manager for a variety of those brands over the years.

She liked to “help other women feel good about themselves” while being taught skills in customer service and in “clienteling” – lessons she has passed on.

Clienteling is about a personalized relationship with customers, being an advisor and showing them the benefits of the products.

“That is what we do at the chamber,” Humbracht said, by helping their members build their businesses through events and relationships. “I thought this was genius, being able to cross over to coach and mentor people.”

At Woodstock, she will be working to grow membership, expand what is offered to them “and take what I have learned to help another community,” Humbracht said.

It was Humbracht’s positivity and warmth that made her the right fit for Woodstock, said Rebecca Rockwood, chamber board chairwoman.

The board is working on long-term strategic planning, Rockwood said.

“We are taking that vision and seeing where it will lead us in the next three years,” and where Humbracht will fit into that, Rockwood said. “We are looking at really being able to articulate and provide more value to our members and what they can expect from the chamber when they have a membership with us.”

Said Humbracht: “We will create more events to bring more people into Woodstock, and keep on doing what we are doing well.”