Tess Snipes’ consulting business left the ground at an unusual time for the aviation industry. It was just after 9/11, and airports were undergoing massive change.
“There was planning — a lot of new things — a lot of changes in airport security,” she told the AJC. “Airports were needing to change their layout, increasing things behind the checkpoints. New facilities were being built. There was a need to bring back traffic, and so airports were needing to market for air service.”
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Snipes had already spent over a decade in the corporate world — first at a bank and then at an airline. She worked at a small aviation consulting company for seven years before 9/11. When the business downsized, she went out on her own.
“I had been working from home already,” she said. “And so, I basically got my business plan together, set up a phone line and bank account and a fax line at that time, and I started working my network to generate revenue, and I’ve been doing it for 20 years.”
The business of consulting
Two decades in, Above & Beyond Consulting LLC, the Stone Mountain-based consulting and mediation firm 66-year-old Snipes founded, represents her commitment to education, hard work, connection and faith.
Today, she consults with airport stakeholders and managers on negotiations and administration and issues like strategic planning, budget reviews, problem-solving, research, and business development. She also represents airport managers and concessions operators on matters involving facilities. Presently, she works specifically on issues with international airlines at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Her other airport associations have included Augusta Regional Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Entrepreneurship, she said, has appealed to her since her days at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she earned a Master of Business Administration. In fact, her two favorite classes during that portion of her education were entrepreneurship and real estate law.
“I’ve included both of those fields in the work that I do now,” she said.
Making connections
Connecting with other professionals has served her well over the years, whether she’s been broadening her business horizons or just reaching out to support other professionals.
“Really, all of my opportunities have come through networking and relationships that I established with people in the industry,” she said.
She’s developed contacts and gained contracts through acquaintances she’s met at conferences. She cited the Airport Minority Advisory Council as an especially beneficial organization — its relatively small size, she said, has allowed her to network with industry members and gain information about upcoming opportunities. Venues like this have also allowed her to work on teams where she could pursue project proposals or develop relationships with those looking to pass along existing airport-related contracts. She got into the off-airport car rental business this way and had a contract to manage a rental operation for five years.
The challenges
As with many small businesses, challenges have mainly come in the form of economic downturns, including the 2008 recession. Snipes is candid about those difficulties and what it’s taken to work her way back each time.
“I was starting after a downturn, but fortunately, I had established a really good network and was able to keep the business going, but this last downturn with COVID — it really was the most difficult,” she said.
Although she estimates she lost 50% of her revenue during COVID-19, the business survived, and she’s building back up again. She’s put off retirement for now.
“It’s also been challenging for me in terms of being ready for retirement, so I kind of feel like I’m starting that process all over again,” she said. “I just see new opportunities coming, and I’ve got to keep the faith.”
Regular meetings with other professionals help her with that faith. She’s a lifetime member of the National Black MBA Association, and she’s met with a six-person mastermind group on a weekly call for the past 18 years. The other members, she said, represent different industries all over the country.
“We talk about our past weeks, our successes, our challenges, and we do a prayer,” she said.
Looking forward
As she looks forward, she hopes to grow the mediation portion of her business and advocate for affordable senior housing and health care locally.
“Mediation is conflict resolution — solving problems — and I think that’s so important in how I conduct my business — to operate from a win-win perspective and to help people work through issues,” she said.
To that end, she’s served on the Dekalb planning commission, and she’s advocated through political representatives for affordable health care and more variety in senior housing options.
“As a businessperson and entrepreneur, one of my challenges was affordable health care, and so, fortunately, I thank President Obama for coming up with the Affordable Health Care (Act) — that really helped me, especially as I was getting older and having to deal with health care expenses,” she said. “And, so, I’m also now concerned about what I’m seeing happen with the hospitals, and so I don’t just restrict my business to the aviation side but also making sure that I’m a positive influence in my community.”
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