Women in Construction: Milestones to Millions Part 2

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios. It’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by Wbec West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:27] Lee Kantor here with Dr. Pamela Williamson. Another episode of Women in Motion brought to you by WBEC West. So excited to be talking about what we’re talking about this month, celebrating Construction Month and really getting into these Milestones to Millions series. So welcome, Dr. Pamela.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:00:46] Hi. Thanks, Lee. It is good to be with you again. I am so excited for today’s show. We have two dynamic women, um, that have quite a few things in common, actually. And so we have Dr. Giovanna Brasfield and we also have Cynthia Lamecker. I hope I got that right this time. And what’s interesting about both of them is that one, they have truly taken the journey from milestones to millions, but also they both started working for corporations. And so I’m excited to have them share their journey. Um, I’m going to start with Cynthia. Do you want to talk to us a little bit about how you started in the field of construction, which we all know is a very male dominated industry. How you started and built your way to the successful business owner that you are today?

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:01:41] Sure. Thank you very much again for having me. Yes, my my career did start off in construction. I’ve been in Las Vegas since 1997, and I worked for DuPont, and they had a series of flooring companies on the West Coast. So did that for about eight years. And then in 2005, Las Vegas started taking a downturn in our real estate market. I was involved with the acquisition of our company they had sold to another another entity, to be honest, didn’t love the corporate environment strictly after being through something that, you know, we experienced a lot of layoffs and then we moved, moved over to a different entity. I decided that I wanted to do something to where I had more control as to how we treated our people, our employees. At the time, my husband was building scenery. So what that means is the sets. So when you see any shows or any events and you see all the the facades, he’s been in that for quite some time. And he also worked for a large corporation. And at the time I said, you know, I think we could do this ourselves and do it much better. And, you know, we could get into this with our own set of ethics and, you know, really make a great business for ourselves. So we did that, and we started in 2007, was told no by about 30 banks when we were going to them ask for for SBA startup funding and then just ended up putting everything on the line.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:03:15] Finally was able to obtain a smaller SBA loan. And then we were off and running. So we started our our shop in 2007, the July 4th. Actually, he and I probably spent every waking moment here, you know, setting up our shop. I mean, I even remember it’s the heat of the summer here in Vegas, which is feels like it’s 118, but it feels like 150. And we’re out in the warehouse putting down flooring and and all of all of that. But, um, it’s been quite a ride since then. I think I’ve learned. I’ve learned everything from how to laminate something to how to stand up to the big boys when when the times are getting tough. So, um, that’s the beginning of our, our journey here. Um, we’ve had a really great run. We were able to weather the economic downturn that Las Vegas then, you know, saw shortly after we started, 0809 uh, survived that and, um, have just kept thriving. 2020 was also another another pain point for us. Um, but we’ve done a lot of work. We learned a lot of lessons from the earlier, uh, down downturn that we experienced in 0809. And I felt going into 2020, I felt bulletproof, but I wasn’t quite well, I wasn’t quite grasping how long we were going to need to to remain bulletproof.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:04:43] But, um, we made it and we’re still we’re still surviving. And I feel that a lot of that has to do with the people that we’ve surrounded ourselves from the very beginning. Um, I’ve had a, you know, if I ask someone to work for me, I don’t take that lightly. Like, that was one thing that I didn’t appreciate in corporate life was just the expendability of people. You know, they’re just a number, or this person is older, reaching retirement, so on and so forth. Um, for for me, it’s always been very important that if you give to me your life to work here and you put your, your family’s faith and everything in me, it’s my duty to make sure you’ve got a job. Um, so I’ve been very proud of the fact that since day one, we’ve been able to maintain that 2020. Unfortunately, I did have to lay off some people, but not everybody. I kept my crew, um, my main crew. But, um, I really feel like that’s that’s been one of the reasons why we’ve been so successful is we’ve always valued our employees. We valued, um, what that means to go get up every day and work for somebody and put their faith in your decisions that you’re making every day. So in a nutshell, I hope that wasn’t too long of an explanation, but that’s kind of a nutshell as to where we are now.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:06:02] No, it was great. Thank you. I’m going to ask Doctor Giovanni the same question. If you’d like to just share with us how you started, where you’re at today, and then we can get into some discussion questions.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:06:19] Thank you so much Dr. Pamela forinviting me to be a part of today’s conversation, especially when it comes to just women and advancement of women in this space of construction. So my circle is it’s quite interesting. It’s kind of full circle. I started off as a consultant helping the Small Business Development Center when it came to this initiative to help businesses get certified as a DBS. From there, um, I had a chance to work with some of the large major construction companies, from civil to commercial, and really helping them strategically include small businesses, workforce, youth engagement, charitable giving. And it has been such a journey working on many different amazing projects. Um, when we’re talking about large infrastructure, um, from hospitals, hotels, military facilities, civil, uh, roadway work. And my favorite one was the automated people mover project at the Los Angeles World Airport. But it was at a point where our country, as you know, and in 2021 was 2020, uh, was faced with such hardship. There was, uh, employees, there was organizations looking for more ways that they can be inclusive. It was height of social injustice. And I got many calls from large executives across the country asking about, is Dei real? Do we have to do anything? Do we have to say anything? How does this go away? You know, how do we engage our employees? I mean, the questions went on and on and it was quite eye opening, just eye opening in the need for more inclusive practices and more, uh, opportunity for me to really help multiple organizations. So at that time, I had a chance to jump mind and heart in, which was absolutely scary. And at that time, you know, I had a chance of serving as as Webbank board chair.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:08:13] And it was a hard, um, decision to leave and now become a WB, which was amazing to see the resources and support that Webbank West provides our women certified businesses. So now in this space, as a certified small Business WB, I have a chance to really work in helping multiple organizations pivot. Think about strategy, think about their employee resource groups engagement for retention of industry. But it’s been a journey. Um, and the beautiful part is that I’m still learning and growing as a consultant. So from, you know, RFP strategy, sitting down with the team and looking at geographic areas of organizations, maybe it could be hardship of the workforce in that area to figure out how they can have them on their projects, or even how to maximize various different scopes of work or NAICs codes for these large mega projects. And my new favorite initiative, where I’ve been asked by clients is to help them when it comes to their employee resource group. And so I’ve been focusing on women in the industry. So one of my clients, I’ve been helping them with strategic planning for their ERG, uh, where I’ve gone to Boston to talk to their executives. I’ve also helped them with allyship. And then this year, for, um, Women in Construction Week, we’re focusing on mentorship. So it’s been just a a great opportunity for me in this space by just raising my hand, which I never, ever imagined, raising my hand and answering the call to action when it came to an industry that just needs more inclusive practice and inclusive collaboration to really, um, engage more and build pathways for others into, um, overall opportunities.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:05] Now, I’d like to ask each of you, but I’ll start with you, Doctor Giovanna. When you first started out and this is now your business, it’s Brasfield and Associates. Put the shingle up and now you’re ready to begin. How? Um. How did you kind of come up with the positioning and niche that you were going to serve so that you, you know, could get, uh, you know, get some momentum quickly and get some wins early, like, or did did you were you ended up today kind of evolve over time or did you have a pretty good handle of, okay, here’s an opportunity, here’s my superpowers. This is where I’ll be able to really kind of quickly get going.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:10:46] Wow, Lee, thank you so much for that question. I think that’s I mean. It’s interesting journey. So literally when I was packing up my office, I left. I was serving as vice president for this large mega civil construction company overseeing the western states. And when I packed up my office, I was in the car ride home like questioning did I do the right thing? I answered the call to action. I jumped out there heart and mind, and now I gotta figure out how to sink. I mean, how to swim, not sink. And so I remember calling one of the people that I knew in the industry and I was saying, hey, you know what? My email address is going to change. I’m going to have a new one. And then at that moment, um, he responded and he says, doctor G, you’re free. And I said, yeah. And, uh, he says, we have this executive leadership training program that we need a Dei consultant to help us actually develop the training for executives across the country. We’re launching this new program. We haven’t fleshed out this one scope of work. We would love for you to lead the training. And we want you to participate in this leadership program. And now that’s, you know, Project Engage, which is a major, um, uh, any industry training for leaders across the country. So that was my first contact. And then from there I got another one to help another civil construction company.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:12:06] And the ball just kept rolling. And it’s been truly, truly amazing. So Brasfield and Associates has turned into now this premier diversity, equity and inclusion and accessibility consulting firm that focuses on inclusion for the small businesses and also workforce development and helping when it comes to social impact with charitable giving and contributions. And now I have a team. You know, first it started off with just me, but now I have operations, I have a communications, I have outreach, um, person, that coordinator who helps me going out to events. And my team truly excels in delivering customized solutions when it comes to strategy, trainings, employee resource groups. And then also, I’ve been a keynote speaker, which was something that I didn’t anticipate in my space as a small business, but I’m able to speak like I spoke at, uh, new Formas World Conference, which was streamed, uh, it was hosted in the US, but it was streamed throughout their different partners across the world, or even another organization where I had a chance to have my presentation, um, streamed to the United Kingdom in Scotland. And in May I will be going to Lean Construction Institute, Finland to do a keynote presentation in Finland. So it’s been one of these journeys where there’s such a need, where I’m focusing on Dei, but that particular one is going to be lean in to Dei, where it’s looking at lean practices. But the Dei lens, and again, it was just answering the call to action where this ball has been been truly, truly rolling.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:13:38] And the stuff that the interesting part is as a when I was corporate, I used to have all these, uh, recommendations to removing barriers for small businesses and what they should do, but it’s a whole different. Perspective when you’re in the driver’s seat of the car. The things that I used to say, be patient with your invoice processing means something so different now. I’m like, oh, so my takeaway in this space now is a stronger strategy for these large organizations, because now I get to feel that same thing and impact that I used to coach people through not knowing the other side of the heel of the mountain. And now I live it. So, you know, I’m more of an advocate. I’m a stronger advocate because I’m speaking from a point of experience, lived experience, whether it be good or those hardships that we have to overcome as small business owners. And I remember talking to one of them, for example, and saying, hey, you go through this all the time. This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life. I thought my doctorate was hard. This is really hard because it’s your baby. You wanted to grow. You want it to be successful. You wanted to change people’s lives. And the answer they gave me back was yes, doctor G. This is what we go through now.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:57] Cynthia, thank you.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:14:58] For that question.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:00] Cynthia, can you share, um, the beginnings and, um, how you found that niche and, and how it’s evolved over time?

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:15:08] Yes, absolutely. Um, we actually had a lot of relationships with the, um, the technical directors for, um, the properties on the strip, um, most importantly, Bellagio. Um, everybody over there was a really big champion for for what we were about to embark on. And, um, they gave us a chance. They they gave us a chance. And, uh, you know, we we spent a lot of time just getting our name out there. Um, Las Vegas is it’s big and it’s small. The especially the industry that that we’re in, it’s very small. Um, nationally, I feel like we all know each other. We all know who’s who’s doing what. Um, but but for us, you know, getting our, our start in, in the ballrooms of Bellagio was definitely where, where it kicked off. And then, you know, as people moved around city center opened up about two years later. Um, so that spawned Aria, which was another, uh, another big, big fan of our, our company. They brought us along with them. And then, you know, through time, we’ve, we’ve grown with, with the technical directors as they’ve moved around. Um, we learned a lot of lessons in the beginning as far as not placing all of our, our eggs in the basket of Las Vegas. Um, we know what we’re really good at. And, um, we decided to start branching out, um, into the West Coast. So it started off, we got into esports pretty quickly. Again, this is a small industry and you start meeting people. People start moving around. So with all the work we were doing down on the strip, it started, um, attracting a lot of our esports clients. So we started off with, uh, Sony PlayStation.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:16:56] We did E3 for them for several years. We recreated the Sweet Tooth truck, which was a fun and interesting, uh, uh, project that we had for a while. You know, still to this day get tagged in memes where people are like, do you remember this truck? And I’m like, oh, that’s great. We built that. And the little the guns, they don’t even know. Those are your Yoplait yogurt lids. Like it’s. So it’s fun to kind of see like where things have gone today. Um, but and in the meantime, you know, again, just from word of mouth, we, we started talking to, uh, the, the tank people. I don’t know if you remember the show tank, the fishing, uh, fish tank guys. Um, so we filmed a few seasons here, and it’s just all of this work just started pushing us in the direction to where we are now. Um, we just recently finished our most high profile, uh, project to date, which was the CBS stage that was out in the Bellagio fountains for the week leading up to the Super Bowl. And, uh, and again, it was fitting that it was in it was in the Bellagio because that’s where we got our start. So it’s been a nice feather in our cap. Um, you know, we’re rounding up year 17 in business, and it’s been the wildest, craziest, scariest, best ride of my entire life. Um, so that’s that’s where we’re going now this year, it’s, you know, bigger goals and, um, focusing on company development. We’re pushing about 40 employees right now. Um, so we’re just getting ready for the next our next move.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:30] Now, Cynthia, can you share maybe some advice for women that are getting into a male dominated industry like construction? Is there some do’s and don’ts that you’ve learned over the years?

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:18:41] Yes, I can and I hope I hope these sound okay. But you know, when I first started in construction, I was 21 years old and I was very lucky to have. Women mentors that were very frank with me. You know, I worked with superintendents and, um, they’re not the nicest at times, and especially if you’re a woman, at least in the early days, um, you really had to prove that you knew what you were, that you knew what you were talking about. But the biggest thing that, um, that I was, I was taught and that I lived by was just trying to keep my emotions in check. You know, whenever somebody was angry or they were trying to direct a problem at me, that wasn’t necessarily my problem. I just always kept my composure, kept cool, um, and didn’t didn’t back down. You know, like, I like to use the phrase telephone tough guys, you know, like, I would get superintendents screaming at me on the phone and cussing me up and down. And I’d say, you know, I’m going to go out. I’m gonna drive out there, I’m going to meet this guy. I’m going to meet him face to face so he can put a face to the phone that he’s screaming at. And I just felt like that. That helped me for for the rest of my journey, because now I’m not scared when times are tough. Um, I assess the situation, and I, we just deal with it. Um, as far as dealing with, with, um, a male dominated industry, I and even right now, you know, it’s a little bit like that in, in our world. But I just feel like if you keep your cool, keep your composure and deal with the facts, you can you can get through anything. And and I just try to never let never let anything hurt my feelings. You know, I always say I leave my feelings at home every day when I. When I leave the house.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:33] Doctor G.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:20:37] I would say, um, I guess I have two things that people have sold into my life that really kind of helped me. When it’s coming to the future leaders of industry and talking with women. I would say always perform, always deliver, which was from Rick Moore from Swinerton. Um, and then the other one is Big John Herrera of Second Call, who talks about always being in shark mode. And so what that means is when you’re in shark mode, you think about a shark, you’re fierce, you’re you’re swimming, you’re at the top of your game, you’re always hunting, you’re looking to take on, you’re free, but you’re also empowered. So I think about those two things that really have helped me in my career, meaning removing barriers. So because I don’t have a traditional background in construction, I fell in love with construction. It was almost like seeing the matrix. You know, you go into a room, you see these amazing renderings, these designs that are on paper, whether it be a hospital, hotel or even a elevated guideway project. And from there I’m like, wow, this has to become something. This has to engage local community members. This has to help certify small businesses, build impact and capacity, and I get to be involved in the process. So from that journey, truly, I think about shark mode, whereas I had to go in the room and be on top of my game regardless because again, I don’t didn’t have that traditional background in construction. So what I did was I lined myself with others with those two, um, kind of quotes in my head that mentors shared with me.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:22:21] I would align myself with others who were the experts in that space. So, for example, if I wanted to know about a construction schedule, I’m tapping into the superintendent, the project, or the area superintendent because they’re the ones are in charge. They know what’s going on. They know how to run their crews. They have the different scopes of work that they’re having. And, you know, in the next pipeline, they know what’s union trades. Crews are coming on when the work is finished. And to me, that was so helpful and understanding the overall progress made in order for me to really help the overall team with engaging the small business, with engaging the workforce and understanding those field dynamics at the ground root rather than just the office perspective. So I’ll put my boots on and I would go out there and visit him. Shark mode. People were like, well, I didn’t know you knew that. And I’m like, because I take the time to really develop again. It’s always perform that Rick Moore quote and being in shark mode, staying ahead because most people funny enough, I don’t know if you know this. I mean, Cynthia, I don’t know if this from your experience, but most people don’t read the details in the contract. So when you go into the room. Absolutely. Yeah. Right. It’s I is shocking. I’m getting believe it. So all I would do is just read the contract and know the details and the policies and they’re like, wow, you’re so like. And I’m like, hey, I’ll be shark mode, right? Always for.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:23:48] And she.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:23:50] Yeah, you’re you’re correct on that. You know, as long as as you’re performing that that’s that’s the ticket. You know, I think that um, many times, you know, and let’s be frank, we run across a lot of people that they they think they know what’s going on and they don’t. And it’s really easy to to pinpoint that right away. And I feel like those, those that know you kind of stick together and, um, and exact, like you’re saying, with contracts, sometimes I feel like I could probably like, squeeze something in there, and I know they’re not going to see it. I know they’re not going to see it, but, uh. Yeah. No, I, I agree, you just you’ve got to perform. And once, once you’re a proven performer, then a lot of the other things, they don’t happen as often. Um, and and again, just not shying away. You know, I like to think we, we do all the scary stuff. We do all the heavy lifting, you know, like when, when I tell people what we do, they’re like, oh, like trade shows. I’m like, no. Have you seen, like, a 40 foot long whale hanging above your head when you went to CES? That was us.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:24:54] Like, we’re we’re never afraid to say no, but but it’s the same thing. Like we’ve had to we’ve had to gain our clients trust by proving that we know what we’re talking about, proving that, you know, safety comes number one. When we do anything we engineer, we over engineer some things. Um, and we’re just we’re all about the details. We, when we perform bids, our bids, they spell out exactly what you’re getting, exactly what your finishes are and how much. You know, that’s another thing too, that that we see happens is sometimes somebody will say, oh, this is going to cost X. And then the projects finish. And it was the project was blown to to pieces. The budget was, um, we, we do our best to not do that. So we’re always into the details. Um, and just delivering, you know, if we say we’re going to be there at 3:00, we’re going to be there at 245 waiting for you, you know, and we’ve and we train everybody from the top down that way.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:25:52] You raised a good point, Cynthia. You talked about not being afraid to say no, right. And looking at the details of the contract. And I think about, I mean, so I’m on the earlier part of my journey and you have all this years of experience, which is awesome. And I think about even as a new person coming into business, this one client was was having a conversation with me and I’m like, okay, I’m going to submit my proposal for scope of work. And, you know, I’ll price it accordingly based on the the details of the RFP. And so she’s her response to me was, well, we usually don’t pay our, our small businesses for work up front on the pre proposal stages. And I paused and I just was like unfortunately I didn’t go into business to to operate in such fashion. And I said I’m not sure I can’t speak for other businesses. And I think this is where the experience, like you said, like you do all this major work and it’s just having that ground to stand and say, you know what, if something’s not right, no, it’s okay. Right. And I told her at that time I’m like, well, I can’t speak for other firms, but I can speak for my firm and this is how I operate. So I love to hear, you know, just especially with your your years of experience in doing these large projects and how you said you can’t be afraid to say no and looking at all of those details because they make a difference, you know, when you the contracts can talk about insurance and people don’t know, they might get excited about this value and not see all these heavy risks that eat into the value that they would have made off of the project because of the carrying the insurance a certain level, rather than negotiating those terms.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:27:27] Right, right, right. You’re absolutely right. You know, I, I think there’s an art to saying no, because, you know, it’s the exact opposite of what you ever wanted. When you’re starting a business, you want to say yes, yes, yes. But if it’s going to cause the the product to suffer, your mental health to suffer, um, your employees to suffer, you’ve got to be able to find a delicate way to tell a client. No, you know, we just experienced that in the last two months. You know, this the Super Bowl is is going to be you know, we’re not going to see that in Vegas for a while. And, you know, we’ve seen so much activity that we cannot forget about the clients that brought us here. You know. And while there’s a lot of new work out there, you know, it was difficult kind of navigating because we didn’t just do Super Bowl. We also still had New Year’s Eve, we had CES. And literally 24 hours after Super Bowl ended, Chinese New Year and all of these, all of these events are very, very important to the to our end clients, you know, so we did have to say no a bit, but it’s never no, you know, it’s no. And here’s why or no, we we always try to offer solutions. And, and honestly that has helped us for future work. You know we’ve had clients come back and say you said no to this project three months ago. And we appreciate that you were honest and didn’t take it on and completely, you know, kill this event. We have another one, you know, and I think people appreciate honesty, especially now, you know, I, I see it all the time where we all rely on our vendors, especially if you’re in construction, you know, you, you, you rely on those suppliers.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:29:13] And if they can’t deliver, you’ve got a big problem, you know, and I think that being able to just be transparent with clients and especially with money, that’s another one a lot of people don’t like to take a lot like to talk about money. I tell people all the time, if you’re going to go into business, you better get real comfortable talking about money because there is nobody else. There is no one ahead of you to call. There’s no well, let me check my boss. You’re it. You’re it. Like I actually have a picture of Jesse James’s hand where it says pay up, suck on his hand in my office. So when people come here and I meet them for the first time and they’re like, well, what do you do here? I’m like, I do a lot, but that I collect money, you know, and I make sure that my business is is healthy. You know, we we do custom fabrication. So when we get people and to be honest, we don’t get it a lot anymore. Like in the early days, people would hem and haw because we always require a deposit, especially on anything that we’re, we’re building because a lot of these items are one and done. You know, once I cut that piece of wood, it’s it. So, you know, in the beginning a lot of people were like, well, you know, 60%.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:30:19] You’re like, well, it’s custom and it’s it’s our policy period. You know, there doesn’t need to be an explanation. It’s what you need to to run your business. And then same thing for us. You know, we don’t have an opportunity to lean anything like in a traditional construction sense. So once our last semi leaves, that’s it. You know, if I haven’t collected. There’s a chance I may not be able to. And I don’t take that chance. You know, there’s too much at stake. And, you know, like you’re saying a lot of people just don’t understand in business, especially with. Construction. You’ve got to have the heaviest of insurance policies and they’re not cheap. You know, I’ve got to have I’ve got 70,000ft², got seven welders running right now. I hope you can’t hear them, but I’ve got seven welders on the other side of my wall, you know. So it’s like this stuff costs money and payrolls every Friday. So I just think, you know, like I was trying to say earlier, just, you know, not being scared of of the important parts of business and money is one of them, you know, it is money is one. And and being able to service your clients to the best of your abilities, which even means the times that you won’t be able to service them. You just need to be able to be up front, let them know, and they’re way more appreciative when you do that rather than taking it on and it just being a disaster.

Lee Kantor: [00:31:38] Now let’s talk a little bit about goals and aiming higher. A lot of folks that get into business when they’re first starting out, I find that they don’t dream big enough. How important is it, um, to have kind of those big dreams and aim may be higher than the expectations of people around you a lot of times. Uh, does, uh, Cynthia, you want to take a stab at this? Uh, uh, because you’re you’re coming off that big, uh, milestone achievement of the Super Bowl.

Speaker6: [00:32:08] So, yes, it’s everything.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:32:11] It’s everything. I tell people that all the time. You know, when when we first started up, I can’t tell you how many people were like, you’re crazy. This is going to happen. That’s going to happen. I was like, well, that’s fine. I want to find out for myself. And those things that they warned us about didn’t happen. You know, and I think that it people don’t dream big anymore. And that’s and that’s sad to me because if you’re not pushing for the next, the next big thing, then, then what are you doing? You know, like in the beginning it was, oh, I can’t wait till we do $1 million in revenue. And when we hit that, it was like, okay, now I can’t wait for, you know, we would we would start looking at clients or shows or events that were, you know, I’m calling it my bucket list. Um, you know, you had to put a target on some of those and some of the backs of those things, or else you’ll lose sight of what you’re doing. You know, I, I always say the Super Bowl was won when we first started. I was like, I know that we’ve made it when we did something big for Super Bowl and we just did that.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:33:14] So I have my eyes set on something else, the last one, but it’s like you have to do that if you don’t set goals. What are you doing? You’ve got to do that. And there is no such thing as too big. I feel like, you know, again, in the beginning, everybody was like, oh, that’s cute. You know, you have a little shop and so on and so forth. No, we’re now in, you know, of course it’s my opinion, but I feel like I could justify it. Or one of the biggest scenery companies in Las Vegas, you know, I we’ve touched everything that exists on the strip, pretty much, um, done a lot of shows, met a lot of great people. And, you know, I feel like we’re just hitting our stride, you know, again, we’re 17 years in. My big thing now is I’m trying to get get the people that have worked for us. I’ve got a lot of people that have been with us more than ten years. I want them to start working on their retirement plan with us. I want them to start taking the torch. I’m ready to start passing that on, which is very scary as a business owner. But it’s it’s paramount, you know, again, it’s a goal.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:34:20] I had goals as to how long I wanted to do this. I had goals as to revenue numbers, um, metrics. You know, we’re talking really about giving back to the community. And I’ve lived. I’m a military kid, so Las Vegas is the closest to home that I’ve ever had. I’ve never lived anywhere in my whole life as long as I have here. And so it means everything to me to be able to do things in our community. Um, and we’ve we’ve been very, very blessed the last few years. You know, even coming out of the pandemic, everybody was like, oh, are you guys okay? Is this. I’m like, oh yeah, we’re innovative. But you know, chips are down, but we’re going to figure it out. And we did. We built a studio. Um, we talked about dreaming big during the pandemic. I spent a lot of time in my home office thinking, all right, what are we going to do? We went and got contractor licenses. We went and turned one of our suites into a studio, and all of a sudden everything started taking off. So there’s nothing wrong with having big goals, is what I’m saying. You put your heart into them and something’s going to stick.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:35:23] Thank you. Raised such a good point. I mean, think about there’s that saying that big man used to say, you know, if you shoot for the star, you know, shoot for the stars, shoot for the moon, then you’re amongst the stars if you miss. So those kind of like strategies are so needed just to think big as a small. I mean, as a growing business, I won’t even say. And I’m like hearing your story 17 years and I’m like, whoa. As I look ahead in my road, I’m like super excited because I feel so empowered and motivated by your own story. And you’re right. Every year. Thank you. Yeah, you’re doing some amazing things. And then Super Bowl super excited. But um, yeah, every year so far I have set my goals big, big big. Just thinking outside the box every annual goals and five years out. What does that look like. Look at percent ratios. I look at revenue. I look at, um, industries and just things that I want to accomplish for the me and the team as I continue to grow and even structure like changing structure, what does that look like? Um, for new locations, placement, there’s a conversation I’m having upcoming with Denver and there’s one with Vegas. So it’s like, okay, scary goals, but goals nonetheless, because you have to think big in order to grow and take the risk. Like you said, you took this risk to change your your one of your facilities out and voila, now it’s return on investment. Beautiful. So I’m super excited to have that experience. Hopefully soon.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:36:51] Yes. And I and I and I’m sure that I’m sure that you will. And you said something like scary goals. I know it sounds a little cliche, but I always say if it doesn’t scare you, it’s not worth it. Like you’ve got to be scared and excited at the same time. You know, I feel like, you know, I say this all the time that I if I were to die tomorrow, I’d be okay with that because I accomplished a lot of the scary stuff. And then it trickles over into your personal life too. You know, I done a lot of things that pushed me so far out of my comfort zone, but they helped me grow. And those, you know, my my hobbies have also helped me as a leader, you know, especially, um, I know I keep not trying to bring up negative times, but I think it’s important for people to share, you know, how you do get through negative times. I think that you’ve got employees, they look to you, you know, you’re the one when I say like, oh, yeah, I got to call somebody else. You’re the one that’s at that top. So you’ve got to be able to show that. That you got this. Yes. It’s scary. And yes, they’re on this boat with you and there’s a hole in the bottom, and something fell out the back. And the waters are doing this, but you’re at the head of that boat and you’re telling them this is where we’re going.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:38:03] Buckle in, but we’re going to be okay. And, uh, and, you know, sometimes in the back of your mind, you’re like, God, I hope we’re going to be okay. I’m going to sell myself on it. But you’ve got to you’ve got to be able to you got to be able to sell your scary to your employees as well. You know, again, I’m going to use the Super Bowl. I think I was probably asked four times over the course of that project, because we built that in eight weeks over the holidays. I had welders out there day before they went filming live. The whole time the guys were like, is this really worth it? And I’m like, yeah, it absolutely is worth it. You’re building a stage that the whole world is going to see, and not for a five minute halftime show. We’re out there all week. Drew Barrymore’s coming tomorrow, so let’s get this done. You know. So again, you know when when you do have a scary goal like that, you really got to sell yourself on it because you’re going to get questioned. People riding with you are going to say, are you sure about this? You’ve got to be able to say, yeah, I am. I know it’s scary, but yeah, I’m sure about this.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:39:06] Okay. I think that confidence makes a difference when you’re all in and you’re like, we’re gonna do it and we’re gonna be successful at it. The team seems to be like the momentum. You can see the momentum and the excitement that they’re a part of the change, the impact. And then once you continue as a leader to continue to rally and support. I mean, I mean, I’ve had those moments, like you talked about those moments where I’m like, man, am I going the right way? Am I doing the right stuff? This is hard every day. Like what I have to when I kill, I eat kind of thing, right? Yeah. New contracts are great.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:39:37] Absolutely. Our hunter. You’re your own hunter. Every day I tell like I. We have a painting in our conference room that is that it’s a bunch of people wearing, like, you know, professional suits, but they all have, like, war paint on them, and one’s got like, a a, you know, deer on his back and they’re all looking at a city and it’s like, that’s that’s life. You know, it’s either we eat or someone else eats, right? You know, and. Right. And I think that, um, especially like I’m going to keep referring to this projects, it was tough. You know, it’s hard to keep people motivated over the holidays, you know, and um, especially with construction, like my type of construction is a little bit different. I always tell people we work when no one else wants to, you know, like New Year’s Eve holidays. And, um, one of my departments worked 31 days straight. The last day they had off was New Year’s Day. And, um, I thought it was really important. At the end of this, we all went down to the to the structure on the strip. I pulled them all in front and I said, look at what you guys just did. And to see like a bunch of grown men, ironworkers that are all still dirty because they’ve been working that morning, kind of take their hats off and look up. And they went, wow, this is amazing. I never thought I could do this, you know? So then once you start showing the people around you that they can do hard things too, you know, they they start buying the Kool-Aid, you know, they’re drinking the Kool-Aid. They’re like, yeah, this is great. I love doing hard things. So, you know, I always think it’s it’s it’s the the best motto is just keep it, push and get these big, big scary goals. Because once you accomplish them, you do feel like you’re on top of the world and you’re like, yeah, what’s next? That’s exactly what I was asked before. Here. They’re like, what’s next? It’s like, well, we’re coming up with it.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:41:31] Right? Right. And I remember talking to this other consultant where she still has the job and she does consulting on the side. And so we were talking about she’s like, you do this 100% of your time. And I just kind of looked and I was like, yeah. And she’s like, I’m always scared to do that, to give up the the corporate job to do that 100%. She was I said, well, to me, I had to believe in myself enough to jump 100% in so I can know I gave it 100% try. Good effort. I brought people in that could help me with my weaker areas to really think about things strategically, long terme, or even operationally right when it comes to billing and finance and putting together packages. So she’s like, I just can’t believe, you know, she’s like, I’ve always thought about it, but I haven’t. And I get more proud because I’m like, wow, these lights are on because I had a contract.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:42:22] That’s right, that’s right. But but you’re all.

Speaker6: [00:42:25] In a contract.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:42:27] But you’re all in, you know, and that’s like you said, you jumped in with both feet. That’s the only way. You know, you’ve really got to work your dream every day. And it’s it’s rewarding. As difficult as some of the hardest days are, like you just said, it’s rewarding when you look around and you’re like, I did this, I did this, I put all these people to work. Or like you’re saying, the lights are on because of me, the internet’s because of me, you know? So but it’s fun. Like, I would not trade this life for anything. You know, the hard, like I said, the hard days. That’s just part of the package. You know, it’s growth. Hard, hard things make you grow. They, you know.

Speaker6: [00:43:07] So indeed, it’s a.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:43:09] Stretch, right? The stretch.

Speaker6: [00:43:11] The stretch I love it I love it.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:14] Now, Cynthia, who’s your ideal client? Uh, who out there is that perfect fit client for you and your firm?

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:43:22] That I don’t already have.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:24] Okay.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:43:25] Ah, well.

Speaker6: [00:43:27] You know, dream big.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:28] Aim high.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:43:31] Um hmm. That’s a great question. I feel like we’ve got we’ve got an incredible Rolodex right now. So I, I don’t know, I feel like we’re we’re working with all the, the industry leaders that we’ve wanted to work with. Um, you know, right now, I think. As far as, um, is there.

Lee Kantor: [00:43:52] A type of client? Is there like a, you know, is there an industry type that you would like to get into or that you haven’t already, or it’s just a matter of in order to grow, you just need more work from each of your existing clients.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:44:06] Um, yes. I think in order to grow, we we have to. We’re trying to pick which industry or I’m sorry, which facet of our industry we like best. Um, you know, our heart will always be with the, um, you know, Las Vegas and the shows that we have here. But as far as, as clientele, we actually do have, um, a lot of great clients that spend a lot of time, um, with, um. Working on inclusion and working with small businesses, diverse businesses, women owned businesses. And those have been great. You know, we’ve got, um, a couple, I call them corporate corporate clients, you know, bringing me back to the corporate world. And they’re they’re great to work with. You know, they’re they’re understanding about things. Their deadlines are are great. Um, and they’re realistic. So I feel like at this point of the game that’s, that’s kind of where we want to go, you know, the, the big crazy things you see on TV, those are fun, but they’re bloodbaths to get through, you know, the, the, the, the, like keynote speeches that come through here. We do a lot of what we call corporate industrial. So if we’ve got like a drug, a drug company coming out and they’re, um, launching something new, we’ll do the set for that. And those type of clients have always been fun to work with.

Lee Kantor: [00:45:30] So if somebody wants to get Ahold of you, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:45:34] It’s steakhouse LV. Like Las Vegas. Com and our Instagram page is is pretty active. We we do our best to put up the work that we’re, that we’re creating. Um, unfortunately we signed a lot of NDAs. So some stuff we can’t put up. We do a lot of auto dealership or, I’m sorry, auto manufacturers. So we get to see all the cool new stuff where it comes out. So but our website does does cover all of the big ones and it covers what we do now.

Lee Kantor: [00:46:04] Doctor G, who’s your ideal client? And, uh. What? Who would that be? What? Is there a niche that you want to get into? Is there an area that you’d like more business in?

Speaker6: [00:46:16] I’m all, you know.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:46:18] So initially when I started, it was only construction. Now I have some, um, architecture firms reaching out for inclusion efforts. And then it’s been telecommunications. It’s been technology, it’s been education. So it’s been an evolution of industries. When I again when I started, I was so narrow minded, I was thinking I would be in one space. And now I see that the conversation practices and kind of policy, I mean, assessments are across industry. And he’s taken that core foundation and applying it to each organization. Kind of like customized because each one is so uniquely different where they are in the overall Dia journey. Some are a little further along. I remember one client asked me, hey, we we we know you work with this other company and we want you to do a training just like that here. And I paused and I and they said, we only have like a week and a half for you to pull this training together. Our leaders are involved and engaged. And I said, let’s stop. Leaders are involved and engage a week and a half to prep a whole training. That would be a two and a half day training, really. How involved are your leaders and how supported are your leaders? And so she paused and thought and I said, plus the other organization you were referring to that I worked with because I gave her a client list. The other organization that you’re referring to, they have ten years celebrating their employee resource group to support women in industry.

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:47:37] You are launching your program to support women in industry. There are two different spectrums of the effort for inclusion. So it’s not a cookie cutter type model that needs to be applied. It needs to be customized based on where you are in your journey. And so that same question to answer that lead would be all industries, because each organization is as such at a different point in where they are in the Dei journey, whether they want to help me look externally when it comes to project pursuits or deliverables, or even serving as serving as the owner’s representative, making sure that the contractor and is meeting requirements, that’s one role, or even internally when it comes to employee retention. You know, our industry as a whole has a huge, huge shortage at some capacity across the country. And it’s really looking at how do organizations retain workforce so that they can build some of these amazing projects and whatever dollar value. And so it’s helping those companies think, um, for the education they have EEO policies I’m helping. I have a couple of conversations right now. Oh, and I’m also speaking on this upcoming, uh, the California Community College Foundation has a women’s caucus. I’ll be speaking in March 8th for that event. Again, it’s just these different industries for me to really strategically look at, of how to help everyone elevate.

Lee Kantor: [00:49:00] And is there a website they can go to to connect with you.

Speaker6: [00:49:04] Or learn more?

Giovanna Brasfield: [00:49:04] First and last name your great question, Lee. It’s my first and last name. So it’s not doctor. So that’s Doctor Giovanna Brasfield. So com so Doctor Giovanna Brasfield com or of course my favorite is LinkedIn. I get many different messages on LinkedIn. If they can’t remember Giovanna Brasfield, they’ll search me out there and give me a quick message. Um, from there. And then we’ll connect about opportunities or even just to to know what’s going on in industry or research that they might be looking for.

Lee Kantor: [00:49:38] Good stuff, Doctor Pamela. What a show.

Dr. Pamela Williamson: [00:49:43] You know what? It was a fantastic. I want to just emphasize just a couple of things that were shared, because both doctor G and Cynthia dropped some major nuggets, and I want to make sure our listeners walk away with them after listening to the show. Um, I think my favorite one was have clarity in your yeses, but also have clarity in your nose. And so I think that is such great advice, because you definitely need to know why you’re saying no and be able to discuss that no with your client. I think another one that is one that we hear a lot, but I just also want to kind of bold it and highlight it is, you know, dream big, have stretch goals, be able to measure your success. And Cynthia, I think one of the things that you said, which I love, which which was around your story about bringing your your team together to see what they accomplished. You know, I think it’s so important to celebrate those accomplishments, um, not just internally, but also let the world know about your accomplishments, um, by sharing what you guys do each and every day, it just helps to build the confidence and the others that are watching you, especially for newer entrepreneurs and even for people who are just thinking about starting a business. Um, just seeing and hearing about your success just helps them build their confidence and make that decision to step out on their own. More valuable and more realistic. So thank you guys. Thank you guys for being here. Thank you for sharing your story so openly, Lee, and thank you for being such a fantastic host.

Lee Kantor: [00:51:29] Well, this was a great show and it was so important to hear from all of you. You’re all doing such important work and we appreciate you. Thank you for being part of this.

Cynthia Lamecker: [00:51:39] Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity.

Speaker6: [00:51:41] Thank you. All right.

Lee Kantor: [00:51:43] This is Lee Kantor for Doctor Pamela Williamson. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion. No.