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and nonprofits that are outside of the box, very authentic to the brands and innovative.” Since opening her business in 2018, Graham is rejoicing in the small victories, admitting that it takes a lot of sacrifice and hard work to run a successful business. “But always prepare for the championship in the end,” she says. “We’re going to bring home the trophy.” In 2019, Graham’s business won the Minority Business Enterprise Of The Year Award. PPB spoke with her to learnmore about her work with the Florida State Minority Supplier Diversity Council and how she’s positioning her business for the future. PPB Tell me about your work on the Florida State Minority Supplier Diversity Council, and the Minority Business Enterprise Award your business won in 2019. Graham The council serves to create opportunities to connect minority-owned businesses to corporate buyers. You don’t have to be certified to be a member, but this council offers certifications for minority businesses enterprise that want to do business with corporate buyers. It is a very tough process to get the certification, but going through that process almost validates you as a vendor to do business with for the corporations. It is very intensive, but it does say you’ve got your stuff together, you’re running a legitimate enterprise—and we get recertified every year. This past year, we were nominated by Duke Energy, which is one of the largest energy companies [in Florida], because we did a promotional product order for them. It was a last-minute request and of course, we delivered. They loved it and they nominated us to be considered. I went in not expecting to win because the company we were up against was a very large company. We were announced as the winner at the gala. It was a surprise. I was just blown away and thankful for it. One of the reasons that we won was our ability to show growth and innovation over the timespan that we’ve been in business. We think of creative ways to get in front and win some of the jobs or orders locally, and now we’ve expanded nationally. I am talking to vendors right now for orders for the U.S. Open, so I am very thankful and grateful to see us grow. The award was a motivator, [it helped me see] that I was headed in the right direction. PPB As a Black woman business owner, what advice do you have for other minority entrepreneurs, especially young women? Graham Discover what your true talent is, like what you’re really good at. I think a lot of the time young entrepreneurs focus on the financial benefit versus finding what you’re good at and building from there. Don’t chase the money, although the chase is important. Don’t leave it off the table; you’ve got to get your “money bags.” Money bags are important because that’s the reason a lot of female business owners aren’t successful— they’re just want to get a shot at it, so they’ll offer things for free. No, no, no. Collect the bags, and people will respect you for it. You stand by the quality if you know what you can provide. The other piece of advice is find a mentor that you can learn from and not just in your particular industry. They can be a high-level business executive that, if you run into stumbling blocks, you can go to and ask questions. You can get advice and actually follow that advice. Be coachable. You can’t go into anything thinking you know everything. I feel like I learn something new every day. Be coachable and a lifelong learner. PPB What does 2021 look like for your company and what are you doing now to plan for it? Graham We’ll be the same company, but our focus is going to be very singular in markets for sports and education. With everything that’s happened, one thing that I realized is that your most loyal clients are just going to stick with you and try to find ways to help you out, and you have to just go with what you know. We’ve created a plan to drive down and be consistent down those markets. I do think that we are going to become a little more focused and that will help us be more innovative in finding those solutions. The other piece is layering more ecommerce into our business. Obviously, digital strategy is essential in the timeframe now and what buyers and consumers are getting used to, but I don’t believe that anything will supersede the relationship. You hear ROI a lot, but the ROR, the return on relationships, will continue to be at the forefront of our 2021 strategy. Kristina Valdez is associate editor of PPB. “Be coachable. You can’t go into anything thinking you knoweverything. I feel like I learn something new every day.” | SEPTEMBER 2020 | 87 CONNECT