PTAC Advises and Intervenes to Aid MWBE Certification
Lauren R. Fleshler (dba Easily Said & Done) is a sole proprietorship founded in 2014 and specializing in customer experience, simplified communications and business strategy.
“It’s not just what we communicate that matters, but also how. Clear, compelling content and experience enable audiences to understand, comply, and apply our clients’ information, training, and resources. By simplifying complex information, ideas, and processes, we help our clients spend less to achieve greater impact, engagement, compliance, and loyalty,” Mrs. Fleshler states.
In 2015, she began to explore Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) certification with New York City and New York State. She met with the LaGuardia PTAC team to learn about the application process and review some of the relevant paperwork required. While it took her another two years to submit an application through New York State’s online system, the delay was largely due to other personal and business priorities taking precedence. Her fast track application to New York State was finally submitted in September 2017, and according to the electronic system, went into processing the following month. In May 2018, she began to reach out to the New York State Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) office regarding an update on the status of her pending application. After several unsuccessful attempts by email and telephone, she reached out to LaGuardia PTAC again in late June to see if the team might be able to find out where things stood with her application.
She was informed a couple of weeks later that the LaGuardia PTAC Director, Edgard Hernandez, had contacted someone in the state MWBE office regarding her application. Within two months, she received her New York State WBE certification notice, and following weeks she received WBE certification from New York City and Port Authority of New York/New Jersey.
“I am quite convinced that if LaGuardia PTAC had not intervened on my behalf I would still be awaiting a decision on my New York State WBE certification today. Additionally, I received my certification just in time to prepare for and attend several MWBE events in New York City, which bring owners of certified businesses together with city and state contracting agencies. The LaGuardia PTAC team was incredibly helpful in preparing me for these events by discussing with me the types of materials and online content I should develop, reviewing several drafts of my capabilities statement, and advising me on the various governmental agencies that might be most in need of my communication services,” Mrs. Fleshler says.
As she continues to navigate WBE contracting opportunities at the state and city levels, she knows that she can continue to rely on LaGuardia PTAC to assist her in pursuing opportunities with the greatest possibility of success.