Women's History Month - Recognizing Local Heroes
“What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple. Whether you are willing to do it, that’s another matter.” – Peter F. Drucker
It’s funny how we look for heroes in movies, sports, reality TV. shows, online and in books. We parrot what they and our immediate sphere of influence says about success, and are willing to buy thousands of dollars in motivational and ‘how to’ materials yet never pay attention to the rich knowledge and wisdom of our local achievers. The saying ‘familiarity brings contempt’ comes to mind. She doesn’t have her own talk show, or he’s never appeared on late night. So why should I listen? What if I told you some of the leaders in South Florida’s construction, consulting, commercial cleaning and concessions industry owe their start to being provided with the blueprint for acquiring federal, state and local government contracts by our featured businesswoman of the week?
Sylvia Y. Grinan learned about serving her community, hard work and diligence in the from her mother Sylvia C. Grinan a leader in Florida’s civil rights movement and the first Black-Hispanic woman to integrate the Hillsborough County school system. It would play a major role in her becoming one of the top investigators for the Florida Commission on Human Relations. The FCHR was created to eliminate discrimination in the workplace. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, who was the first woman to Chair the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), would oversee the FCHR and monitor it and other state organization’s like it, in order to progress in combating discrimination.
Sylvia would later be appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles to the Florida task force to also create a one stop certification process. She was appointed by the Florida Department of Transportation to participate in Unified Certification Program (UCP) task force to also create a one-stop certification process.
After working for the Broward County Government t Office of Small & Disadvantaged businesses for nearly two decades she retired in 2005, a year after opening Grinan Diversity-Inclusion Consulting Services (GDICS). Her firm specializes in consulting small and minority owned business on how to: 1.) Acquire Federal and local Government contracts. 2.) Create a start-up structure for your business. 3.) Follow up on all applications submitted to the respective counties to ensure your business fulfills all legal requirements. 4.) Assist with completing and following up on necessary Vendor application requests submitted to the city/county to procure contracts.
We salute Sylvia Y. Grinan for her tireless service to the Florida business community and will be honoring her at the Girls to Women ‘Little Black dress Party’ charity event on March 30th.
Upcoming speaking engagements:
- City of Hollywood’s Office of Business and International Trade, presents “Get Certified to do Business with Federal, State and Local Agencies” workshop on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Workshop will be held at the Hollywood Branch Library, 2600 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, FL 33021 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.
- Lauderhill Regional Chamber of Commerce Business Institute Presents:
The 2nd Annual Small BusinessHands on Certification Workshop
PRICE: $175 (MEMBERS)/ $200 (NON-MEMBERS)
PLACE: 5581 W. Oakland Park Blvd. (Multi-purpose room 135) Lauderhill FL 33319
- Receives a community leadership award at Girls to Women: ‘Little Black Dress Party’
Date: Friday, March 30th, 2012
Place: Off The Trax Restaurant & Lounge – 1595 W. Oakland Park Blvd.,
Local business leaders that Sylvia has assisted in becoming major players in South Florida: Dwight Stephenson - Stephenson Construction; Cheryl Dickey – Dickey Consulting; McKinnley Financial; Claudia Williams – Concession station @ Hollywood, Ft Lauderdale International Airport; Sherry Rudolph - Legally Clean.
