Carrita Tanner-Cloud never thought she’d be in business for herself full-time.
Six years ago, she was putting most of her energy into her job in corporate health care, while only working part time on her side gig, a small marketing company.
“I had humble beginnings,” she said. “I started off at my home and working out of a walk-in closet that I had cleaned out. I just put an old PC in there and started cold calling and cold emailing.”
When pregnancy complications forced her to reevaluate her decade-long health care career, she suddenly had the chance to pour all her energy into Creativity Justified, now a full-service marketing and advertising agency with a team of 17 full- and part-time staffers and contractors.
This summer, she and more than 200 other New Orleans area business owners were accepted into the Super Bowl LIX Source procurement program, formerly known as the Supplier Diversity Program. That effort is aimed at ensuring that select business owners — owners of color, who are LGBTQ+, who are women, who are veterans and who are disabled — get a shot at numerous NFL contracts and other opportunities that will be available as the Super Bowl in New Orleans nears.
“This program gives them an opportunity to compete for contracts related to the Super Bowl. It provides them with exposure and access that they normally wouldn’t have,” said Chincie Mouton, director of community engagement for the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and the New Orleans Super Bowl Committee.
Program leaders selected the participants out of a pool of over 1,400 applicants, Mouton said. Those accepted had to prove their capacity to fulfill Super Bowl subcontracting needs and the anticipated buying needs of NFL vendors. They were also judged based on their websites and online presence, customer service capabilities, marketing materials and responsiveness during secret shopper visits and calls.
Accepted businesses will provide services such as full-scale printing, security, transportation, food and beverage, general contracting, and event staffing, Mouton said. Others are providing professional services, such as graphic design, finance, legal and management.
Once in the program, business owners meet one-on-one with members of the Super Bowl Host Committee and NFL Source officials, so those groups can better understand each business and their services. Members also get invitations to a series of in-person and virtual networking events focused on building capacity and growing their businesses to handle larger contracts in the future.
As contract opportunities become available, business owners in this group will be among those invited to bid on them.
“It makes you feel like your effort is being validated, that you are growing as a company, that you’re doing the right things,” said Joshua Culp, a veteran who recently retired after spending 5 years in the U.S. Army and another 21 years in the National Guard.
Culp owns the branded merchandise company Hammerdubs, named after his 7-year-old son Jack, whose nickname is Hammer, and his 4-year-old son Walt, who goes by Dubs. Hammerdubs, founded in 2019, works with companies and mostly high school sports teams making branded materials, everything from apparel to travel mugs, hats and pens.
His company has already submitted a bid for an apparel deal with the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation as a result of its involvement in the program. But he ultimately hopes to create branded Super Bowl items ahead of the big game. He also said the Source program has given him the chance to network and learn business growth and development ideas with other local business owners and the NFL.
Corey Rosales, who is Cuban and Mexican, hopes that the program will allow him to continue to grow his construction, transportation and environmental remediation business, American Safety. He operates a fleet of over 190 vehicles, including shuttle buses, school buses, motor coaches and executive cars.
He said he’s excited about what the opportunity means for his staff, about 80% of whom come from diverse backgrounds. He said he’s leaning heavily on his employees who have worked on Super Bowl contracts for other companies in the past.
“The opportunities that it’s going to present, not only with other business but with other local minority businesses that we can partner up with and team with on future endeavors, not just with the Super Bowl… It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Rosales said.
With the Super Bowl six months away, Tanner-Cloud has already started earning money for her business. She won a contract to advertise the welcome ceremony for the Super Bowl LIX Source program. The video she created got so much attention that other opportunities opened: She secured separate contracts with the New Orleans Saints and with the recreation department in Baton Rouge, she said.
“Being able to say that you’ve done business with a particular brand or a particular company, it does so much for a business,” Tanner-Cloud said. “I don’t want to be known as the best woman-owned agency. I don’t want to be known as the best Black-owned agency.
“These opportunities… allow you to now get closer to that space where we can say, one day… ‘We’re the best agency.’”