So much of Allyson’s work ethic and love of small businesses comes from working in her father’s small hardware store, that he owned for over 40 years.
After graduating from University of New Orleans, she worked in fashion with The Gap, where she honed her skills on the operations, merchandising, and human resource areas of a business. Eventually, she managed the largest volume store in the region and the 5th largest in the company. From there, Allyson moved into launching the business of Tommy Hilfiger within the Dillard’s chain of stores. This was running a small business within a larger one, requiring strong analytical skills, as well as negotiating for prime square footage and learning the importance of networking with store management to achieve sales goals.
After 7 years with Tommy Hilfiger, a position was created working with department store personnel for a Canadian designer. Allyson began training staff and producing fashion shows throughout the US and Canada. The training side included meeting with department store Regional Management to decide on specific training topics and then developing the entire training session and materials. The fashion show side, focused on increasing brand awareness and revenue generation within the stores. Working with a small team, Allyson handled every aspect of the production from budgeting to hiring models. This sounds very sexy and fun, but traveling all over became hard for a self-proclaimed homebody, so Allyson went back to school to earn her Master’s in Business Administration at the University of New Orleans. At the same time, she worked assisting her brother to grow his veterinary practice from 3 veterinarians to 7.
Upon graduation, she started her own small business and began helping others achieve their goals. Working hard and with integrity, Allyson grew her business for almost 10 years until she decided taking on more clients would require a change. That change involved asking her older sister to partner with her.
Why her sister? Only Amy met the high benchmarks, Allyson felt she strongly needed to not only grow the business but improve it! Working with Amy has been incredible (check out her bio). Allyson still finds her greatest rewards are relieving the stresses business owners often find in bookkeeping and payroll, so they can get back to what they enjoy!
Personally, Allyson has a problem with loving tennis and running a little too much. She enjoys her downtime with her husband of almost 30 years, son and grandson.
Amy G. Smith, co-founder of Tandem Consulting LLC, began her interest in business at an early age while working at her family business located in Pearl River, La. From her earliest days, her father would have her reconciling the cash register, making bank deposits and paying the bills. Working steadily throughout high school and college, she went on to earn her Bachelor of Science degree from LSU in Business Administration and then spent many years working in Human Resource Management with such fine retailers as Godchaux’s, Macy’s and Lord & Taylor. Following the birth of her second child, she went back to school at UNO, earned a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree and then went to work for Eckerd Drugs as a Regional Human Resource Manager. This position, however, required a great deal of overnight travel and as she still had 4 young children at home, she decided to take some time to focus on her family.
Shortly thereafter, in April 2003, she assisted her brother and sister-in-law with the startup of their new veterinary clinic. Specific programs she implemented were compensation structures, payroll, benefit packages, an employee handbook, accounts receivable, and accounts payable.
Following Hurricane Katrina, she took on the role of Office Manager in her husband’s law firm and also became a Notary Public and Certified Signing Agent. Her duties in this plaintiff law firm included accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll and benefits, trust account management, client costs,
and tax compliance.
As a Notary Public and Certified Signing Agent, Amy has a particular interest in real estate transactions, wills, and successions. This interest in real estate further led Amy to the co-founding of two property management companies, that own and manage commercial properties as well as single family and multi-family residences. Nearly every unit in these organizations’ portfolio has undergone some form of renovation over the years and Amy has been actively involved in those renovations every step of the way.
Amy is married and is the proud mother of four successful young adults. They enjoy traveling abroad, visiting with family and friends and spending time at their home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Amy and her family have also hosted dozens of young adults from Belfast Northern Ireland through the organization Friends Forever International. As Amy loves New Orleans, she takes every opportunity to share her unique city with others.
Amy is very excited about this joint venture with her sister Allyson! She has a passion for details and hopes to bring the skills, education and experiences gained in working with small businesses to your small business.