I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear! – Martin Luther King Jr.
A day that personally means so much to me is MLK Day; it always creates the perfect time to reflect on progress we’ve made in racial equality, social injustice, and diversity; it’s a day of service, in addition to a day of family learning. Although the global pandemic has changed the physical way in which we celebrate MLK Day, turning in person events to virtual ones this year, we have a lot to celebrate and love.
So many challenges in 2020, but our company is made up of diverse Geniuses (consultants) and company partners (clients) I have been reflecting more and more on accomplishments this past year – with love!
We added several Genius to our company in 2020, boosting our capabilities in IT Development, IT Architecture, UI/UX Design, Branding, and introducing Congenius Communication services. Our year-over-year revenue grew over 300%, which means earnings for our Geniuses, our people, grew in combination with our growth. I was especially proud of our Genius, JoAnna Pearson, who also teaches in the Dysart Unified Schools District for writing an awesome blog post about the NBA Bubble and Covid while also hitting on the discussion about social injustice in wake of the George Floyd murder in Minneapolis https://congenius.io/2020/08/17/what-every-company-can-learn-from-the-nba-and-wnba/ JoAnna has done so much for Congenius, while personally going through the loss of her own father to Covid last year. I feel the spirit of MLK in JoAnna and our team as we work with and through so many unusual circumstances!
As a business owner, I feel a sense of pride for all of our company partners. There is nothing like seeing a brand you helped inspire, grow that brand with personalized license plates with their business name on the back of their car – it’s such a privilege to be trusted with a company vision. As a minority business owner, I couldn’t feel more pleased with the number of black owned and women owned companies we’ve partnered with this past year. From healthcare tech, physical therapy and sports performance, commercial insurance, to an exclusive concierge service, we get to witness MLK’s dream in the making often. We are also fortunate to work with several women-owned companies. This past year, we worked within physical therapy and health insurance, as well as with a very successful ecommerce flower girl dress company, Cupcake Couture Dress, all led by inspiring women leaders.
To end 2020, Congenius partnered with Los Ojos De La Familia, an organization in which I serve on the Board of Directors. We contributed to helping over 300 underprivileged families in the Phoenix, AZ metro area with food, household goods, and gifts for all household children. Several of our company partners also contributed to this effort.
To begin 2021, Congenius, will soon launch our Emerging Technology Company, zDistanceLab US. This company will focus on developing enterprise application solutions, mobile applications, cloud computing, A/I, V/R, A/R, and M/R solutions.
As I reflect on what our small company was able to accomplish in 2020, I am encouraged to stay the course and choose love. I didn’t grow up with these dreams or visions of a destination, but with the work of so many with the guidance of Dr Martin Luther King, the opportunity to be more and do more regardless of our differences is something to not ever let go of. The dream lives and I treasure this day and choose to love as the burden to hate is not on our budget for this year.
Happy MLK Day,
Sean A. Miller, Managing Partner