Personal Branding for the LGBTQ Professional

Categories

general
Business
Allies
Interview
Community

Archives

2023
October

2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2015
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January

2014
December
November
October
September
August
July

March 2024
S M T W T F S
     
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31

Syndication

Listen to this great (and entertaining) interview with Heather Cox as we discuss -

• Supplier Diversity

• LGBT Business Certification

• Certification as a marketing tool

• Buying from each other

I had a chance to sit down with Heather Cox of Certify My Company recently and ask her a series of questions around supplier diversity and certification. We talk about LGBT certification, women-owned certification, disability-owned certification, veteran-owned and minority-owned, etc. She teaches us about NAICS codes, the Small Business Association and her past experience as an acro-gymanst! Hit the play button above or head over to iTunes to listen to her answers.

This week I am talking with Heather Cox, the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Certify My Company, which is a diversity certification business. She helps women, minority business owners and LGBT businesses that qualify; certify their businesses to become part of the ranks and privileges that certification brings.

Welcome to the show Heather are you ready to get started?
Before we get into the heavy topic of supplier diversity and certification I have to ask you - how did you get from being a acro-gymnast, tight rope walker and juggler to working in the diversity space?
Now that we have a bit about your background lets get down to basics. On this show and on my blog I bring up supplier diversity and certification quite a bit. My goal is to demystify this for my audience. Could you share what exactly supplier diversity is and how it can benefit the business owners listening to this?
So now that we have a foundation of what supplier diversity is, could you elaborate more on what certification is and what the process looks like with a specific emphasis on LGBT?
So let's talk about misconceptions. I imagine you probably get statements like "I don't want to get business just because I am a woman or just because I am LGBT?" Can you address that for those listening? And talk about any other common misconceptions that
Oftentimes when I speak with business owners the thought of going through so many hoops to be certified seems daunting, could you share a bit about how CMC can make that process less painful?
It's evident that you love what you do and are very knowledge in this space. If you could give one piece of advice to businesses owners who are considering becoming certified what would it be?
Back in February I had Jennifer Brown of Jennifer Brown Consulting on this show and she spoke about how she uses her dual certification both as a woman and LGBT to her advantage in her marketing. Could you share one piece of advice or nugget of wisdom with the listeners on how they could leverage their status in their marketing efforts?
On a similar note, as an entrepreneur yourself. What is one piece of business advice that you would give to your fellow entrepreneurs listening?
And our final question of the day - and this question always yields interesting responses. What is one thing about your business that you are really excited about, right now?

Links discussed in the show:

WBENC - Women's Business Enterprise National Council
NMSDC - National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC)
USBLN - USBLN Business Leadership Network
NGLCC - National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce
WOSB - Women-Owned Small Businesses
SBA - The US Small Business Administration
NAISCS and SIC codes
UNSPSC Codes
SAM.gov
Jennifer Brown Interview
Next webinar

Here are the many ways you can get in touch with Heather:

Certify My Company 
Twitter 
Facebook
Heather on LinkedIn
info@certifymycompany.org
Check out the sponsors of this podcast, the Human Performance Academy, at Mentalcompass.com

Listen to the episode by clicking the play button below!

Direct download: gay-business-marketing_epi-59_Heather_Cox_Certify-My-Company.mp3
Category: -- posted at: 12:05am EDT