An Homage to Mentors

Junior Achievement of Greater New Orleans, Inc. 's City Stars Soiree was held on November 4th. It was amazing. The awardees are doing great things. All of us at Susco are grateful to have been the presenting sponsor. I had the honor of giving some remarks. I tried to keep it to 3 minutes, and below is the longer version, which is essentially an homage to mentors.

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Larry ( Larry Washington ), thank you for the kind words. More importantly, thank you and the whole JA team for the agility, tenacity, and vision you used to not just survive the COVID pandemic, but to thrive.

I’d like to talk a little bit about mentors and their impacts on my life.

When I was 13 and struggling in PSAT prep, my father, my first mentor, was there in the evenings to help me push through.

Yeah, I know, I am a nerd.

In 2005, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I started Susco to help Louisiana businesses unleash their full potential, by developing intuitive business software. This software lets their employees focus on meaningful work. I didn’t know anything about business, but luckily my first client, Jude Olinger, was also a mentor. Who showed me the ropes of business.

When Susco became first-movers in 2009 in Louisiana for Mobile app development, a mentor helped us navigate these complicated waters.

When Susco decided to pursue government contracting, Manish Mardia was there to guide the way.

When we pivoted to developing enterprise software for the mid-market in 2014, Chris Reade was invaluable in helping me NOT have to learn everything the hard way.

In 2016, when I turned 39, I found myself overworked, fraught with anxiety, 120 lbs overweight, and not present with my family. It took a whole Tribe of Mentors to help me

discover my Why, create a vision for my life, cultivate gratitude, discover inner peace with transcendental meditation, and replace my negative coping mechanisms with positive ones (well, 90%). These mentors helped me level up personally and professionally.

Since 2019, Susco has been growing rapidly because we had become a go-to company for

complicated business software and mobile workforce apps for all types of Louisiana businesses, and nationally in the Property & Casualty insurance services space. However, we needed help managing our growth. Ben Luzynski, one of tonight’s honorees, helped me find the business system I needed to manage strategic initiatives at Susco, and it’s been a game-changer. It’s allowed us to stay on the Inc 5000 fastest-growing companies list for the past 3 years. Thanks, Ben!

In 2020, COVID hit. Like everyone, we went remote. Three months in, we decided to permanently stay remote. On the plus side, this gave us access to a nationwide candidate pool, allowing us to hire quickly while still hiring the top 1% of applicants.

However, there is a dark side to remote. We hired 10 people in 2020, and in the first quarter of 2021, 3 quit. Why? They all loved the company, and they all loved their boss, but each of them had suffered from something they didn’t share with someone.

One person didn’t like talking to clients.

One didn’t like working from his home office.

One didn’t like the writing portion of their job.

Because we only existed behind screens for each other, they suffered in silence for months before turning in their 2-week notice. These are all things we could have fixed.

I didn’t know what to do. What I did know is that I refused to let Susco be a victim of The Great Resignation. So, I worked with many mentors and Katie Greenman to develop a cutting-edge teammate engagement model.

We do a company-wide daily huddle where everyone shares something they are grateful for, someone they are grateful to, and any blockers they need help with. We collaborate with our teammates to help them create a vision for their lives, at work and outside of work. We check in frequently, not just on performance, but on how are they doing overall, and what the company can do better to support their lives and growth.

Because of this, we’ve been able to double our headcount in 2022 and maintain a 4.9/5.0 on Glassdoor and multiple Best Place to work honors.

In late 2020, I decided I wanted to go from being at a healthy weight to being a paragon of fitness. My goal was to inspire people by showing them it’s possible to go from the bottom 5% in outcomes to top 5% of outcomes in any area of life if they get their beliefs right and put in the work. My health coach opened my eyes to the power of a calorie-restricted carnivore diet, the proper training, and the right supplements to allow my body to fully represent who I am.

None of these accomplishments would have been possible without my many mentors. I’m looking around, and see an ocean of highly successful, and impeccably dressed people.

Just take a moment and think about who your mentors were.

Your Dad, your Mom, that amazing teacher, that coach.

Think about how that altered the course of your life for the better.

There are many children and young adults out there that don’t have those mentors. Junior Achievement fills that gap, providing the mentorship to allow these children to unleash their human potential and achieve the American dream.

This is why Susco supports Junior Achievement.

To the rising stars, I had the honor of being a rising star 11 years ago, back when my hair was naturally black. Being a business owner can be very rewarding but equally isolating. Being selected as a rising star for making a positive impact through business was deeply meaningful for me. It was both an honor and a call to action – to grow my business so I can give back.

Congrats to all of you, this is honoring you, and a call to action: to grow your business and to give back.

Pepper Baumer - Baumer Foods

Keith Esquerré - Perrier Esquerre Contractors

Brett Perrier - Perrier Esquerre Contractors

Kim Lewis - Ole' Orleans Wines and Spirits

Ben Luzynski - Watch Systems

Desiree O. - Badass Balloon Company

OTIS TUCKER, JR. enterpreneur I leader I giver - T.I. Contracting

I would now like to introduce the Chairs of the 2022 City Stars Soiree Committee: Caroline and Sabri Farouki.

#consciousleadership #consciouscapitalism