My story begins in 1976 (the year of America’s bicentennial) in Baton Rouge, LA with my “partners-in-crime”… an Air Force veteran-turned-entrepreneur (dad) and a Public Health Inspector (mom). Growing up, there was always laughter and fun balanced with discipline, structure, and cleanliness –all of which laid the foundation for my future vocation.
As a child, I’m told I was both inquisitive and investigative. It’s probably not a coincidence that there’s a detective on my shirt in the picture above (to the right)! LOL
Songwriting is one of the first careers I remember expressing an interest in. I was about 5-years-old. By the time I was 12, I was a journalist working on my school’s yearbook team. It’s at Sacred Heart, a private, Catholic school, where I first learned the value of rigor and ritual. There seemed to be a process for everything!
While a junior at Scotlandville Magnet High School, I fine-tuned my journalism skills by working on the school’s newspaper. But, as time went on, I discovered a new love –chemistry. As time got closer to applying for college, my chemistry teacher, Mrs. V. Keblys, had a heart-to-heart conversation with me. She encouraged me to change my intended major from chemistry to chemical engineering
That’s what I remembered asking when Mrs. Keblys suggested it. I soon found out when I entered LSU’s Chemical Engineering program. The longer I was there, the harder it got! But I made it! And by 1999, I started my first job as a process engineer at Monsanto in the metro New Orleans area. At this job, there were monthly meetings with accountants. It was like they spoke another language and I realized, if I was going to be successful at my job, I had to learn the business behind the manufacturing. I left Monsanto and went to work for a small, family-owned engineering consulting firm, Wink, Inc. While working there, I enrolled at Tulane University’s MBA program. Wink was a breath of fresh air because this was where I learned project management.
By 2005, I acted on a hunch to leave New Orleans. I quit my job, sold my house and relocated to Atlanta, GA –a city where I knew one person at the time! Six months later, Hurricane Katrina happened.After two months of endless job searching, I decided to start my own company. Based on my natural ability to turn chaos to order, I created Equilibria, Inc.as a professional organizing company. Over time, it evolved into the operations management firm it is today.
Part of that evolution led to me inventing the Kasennu ™ framework for business infrastructure and ultimately writing the world’s first book about it. Find out more about that story here.
My investigative nature has led me to some unforgettable experiences around the world. Most notably, the opportunity to volunteer on an excavation and restoration project of Karahkamun’s temple/tomb complex in Luxor, Egypt. I’ve also climbed the pyramids in Teotihuacan, Mexico, visited with an indigenous tribe in Paramaribo, Suriname, and jumped from a moving train in Versailles, France.
Who would have thought that this little gumbo loving girl from the bayou would one day own her own business, be a bestselling author, podcaster and public speaker?
Talk about a full circle moment…now I leverage journalism, organizing skills and my gift for being a chameleon in conversation in business.
With all that I’ve accomplished, I know that the best is yet to come! Thanks for taking time to learn more about me!
I’m a podcaster, author, speaker, and –most importantly –your go-to when you’re in a pinch trying to scale your business operations. I’ve got the breadth and depth that my clients need, not to mention I’m an actual process engineer (not just a fancy title). I also have a solid background in production and manufacturing as well as transactional environments. Plus, I’ve got all the experience and recommendations to back me up.
“I’ve had several extremely valuable phone coaching sessions with Alicia. I’ve always told Alicia that she picks up where the “E-Myth: Revisited” left off! She helps you develop the technical know how to create the business infrastructure necessary to aggressively grow your business. Over the two years I’ve spoken with Alicia I’ve only had one gripe, and that is she hasn’t wrote a book yet! To keep all the valuable knowledge she has stored away in her head is honestly a crime against humanity. This woman is really that phenomenal, and receives some of my highest regards when it comes to business consultants. Anyway, as I’m putting all of these new systems and procedures together for our company, I always think of my guru at Equilibria and think, ‘What would Alicia do?’”
Derek Caffe
CEO: Code Black Properties, LLC
“Alicia possesses extraordinary skills to observe, listen, question and probe around the act–or process–of performing an operational function, and illustrate that function’s often complex, multi-dimensional structure in a manner that dissects it for evaluation and planning. She can absorb the most minute details in the pursuit of explaining how things work, and explain it back in a manner that is broken down into its elementary parts. I highly recommend her for consultation work for planning, evaluation, process management support, and corporate forensics in the pursuit of improving operational process.”
Charles H. Green
Senior Vice President: Harvest Small Business Finance, LLC
“In this world of self-proclaimed experts and coaches, Alicia is a true expert. She pulls from deep experience, insightful wisdom, and makes it actionable, in EACH conversation. Her perspective as a business infrastructure consultant allows you to see your business through a new lens. This new lens helps you channel all those thoughts from the back of your mind into strategies, processes, and plans.
Calvin Williams, Jr.
CEO & Founder: Freeman Capital
Listen to the interview on SoundCloud.