Paula Trenda was hired as the new West Concord City Administrator last month.
Paula grew up just west of Dubuque, Iowa and started college planning on being a nurse. She ended up with a BA in Public Relations/Speech Communication and a mini-masters certificate in Church Business Administration.
Her first position was in St. Paul in 1996 as an office manager/marketing coordinator for a start up medical device company. She spent eight years working there as an international meeting and tradeshow manager working with medical, pharmaceutical and scientific societies. This allowed her to travel to twelve different countries on three continents.
After the birth of her first daughter, she ceased from traveling and took the position of Parish Administrator. It was during this time that she honed her love for fine chocolates and became a Certified Chocolatier. This hobby led her to start a small business of gourmet chocolates and candies, named Curly Girlz Candy. The business created a “better for you” line of sugar free candies, which became very popular. They were invited to serve VIP’s at the Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis and were named 2020 Small Business of the Year in Minnesota. Curly Girlz Candy has sold their sugar free recipes and is closing their retail location, so Paula looked for new horizons and that lead to her position as the new City Administrator in West Concord.
Paula has two daughters, one is working on an agribusiness degree at Casper College, Wyoming and the other is a senior at Owatonna High School with plans for a career in the legal field. Paula’s hobbies are reading, traveling, cooking, baking and spending time with family and friends.
Paula was drawn to the position in West Concord because it was a good fit due to her unique background in non-profit administration and small business ownership. Her varied skills in marketing, finance, human resource and retail/customer service will be valuable as a city administrator in West Concord.
She is glad to be a part of a small community with so many things to offer the residents, such as parks, pool, library and the historical society/museum. Paula looks forward to working in this position for a long time.
