35 Things to be Grateful For
- CK’s dad who taught her everything about business and how to serve customers
- CK’s mom who had a great sense of intuition about people and passed it on
- A man named Peter Secchia who was one of the first to encourage CK to quit “freelancing” and make it a business
- The banker who gave CK and CO our first loan even though we had no track record
- Paul Hence, our first accountant, who set us on a path to succeed
- Kap Jones, our corporate attorney, who set us up, then connected us to Kim Baber our amazing business attorney
- Herman Miller for giving us our first big chance with a long-term contract
- A friend who worked in HR and wrote our first employee handbook for free
- Bryan Parris who called one day to see if there was an opening and has been with CK and CO for over 20 years (wow)
- John Cuevas who relocated from Florida to Michigan to work for CK and CO (yes, he is a bit crazy)
- AVID technologies for choosing us to be a Beta test site when they first launched
- Small Business Association of Michigan who advocates for small business and helps keep us current on the issues
- The SBAM business owners who have “taken our calls” and offered advice when needed
- Our families who have been so understanding as we travel around the country every week
- Janelle Horvath, who literally does everything, and does it well
- All the TV stations the CK and CO team worked for previously because they helped us hone our skills so we can respond quickly
- West Michigan, a great place to live and work
- All of the “toys” that we get to buy and use, including Orville and Amelia (our drones)
- Corporate Technologies – everyone needs great IT support like they provide
- Delta Airlines – they get us where we need to be and don’t charge extra baggage fees
- Steve Kohn who gets on a plane without ever complaining and shoots gorgeous video
- Plug-ins (don’t worry if you don’t know what they are – we do, and you will appreciate them)
- Equipment manufacturers who continually downsize the equipment to save our backs
- Our Hungerford accounting team and Hungerford Financial (they have our back and help guide us every day)
- Mariah (she is speedy and creative in the edit room)
- Evan (his client photos make the covers of magazines)
- Health: without it nothing else matters
- Our ability to give away media production to non-profits that do so much for our community
- Allie and Taylor (our two newest employees)
- The Tellys, Addys and other awards over the years (especially Siemens Woman-Owned Small Business Supplier of the Year 2018). We appreciate the recognition, but even more important, we love doing the work.
- Those who recommend us to others – the highest praise we could ever receive
- Many clients who are our friends as well
- A team that works so well together that it makes it hardly seem like work
- Creative freedom to take the company to the next level
- All the companies, big and small, who trust us to create the communications that are so important to their success. We won’t let you down.
Cynthia Kay founded Cynthia Kay and Company media production 35 years ago. The company produces communications for organizations from Fortune Global 100 to small businesses. A graduate of Michigan State University, Kay holds a master’s in communications from Western Michigan University.
She is the Past Board Chair of the Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM) and the National Small Business Association (NSBA). Cynthia has been honored with many awards including numerous Tellys and Woman Owned Small Business Supplier of the Year from Siemens in 2018. She has been named One of West Michigan’s 50 Most Influential Women 5 times. She is also the recipient of over 30 broadcast awards from UPI, AP and other news organizations.
