October 4, 2023 • 21 mins
Ana Quintana
Ana founded Crocus in 2021 after purchasing the assets of the technical group of UPD Consulting, her previous firm. She is an expert in education technology, performance management, and statistical analysis. Ana led her teams with large deployments of technology systems with states, school districts, universities, nonprofits, and other organizations across the country. She led the design of an open-source, Ed-Fi compliant, early warning system module, a talent management module, and the Educator Preparation Data Model (EPDM).
Ana has over 22 years of experience in public and private sector analytics and consultancy leading to measurable results in the implementation of methodologies, process reengineering, and business solutions in the fields of risk management, finance, education, and policy creation. She has strong analytical skills that make her an expert in using data to inform organizational decision-making. Her expertise in establishing performance management processes within organizations allows clients to monitor progress toward desired outcomes.
Ana was the recipient of the 2022 Ed-Fi Partner of the Year award for her accomplishments in the field.
Ana founded Crocus in 2021 after purchasing the assets of the technical group of UPD Consulting, her previous firm. She is an expert in education technology, performance management, and statistical analysis. Ana led her teams with large deployments of technology systems with states, school districts, universities, nonprofits, and other organizations across the country. She led the design of an open-source, Ed-Fi compliant, early warning system module, a talent management module, and the Educator Preparation Data Model (EPDM).
Ana has over 22 years of experience in public and private sector analytics and consultancy leading to measurable results in the implementation of methodologies, process reengineering, and business solutions in the fields of risk management, finance, education, and policy creation. She has strong analytical skills that make her an expert in using data to inform organizational decision-making. Her expertise in establishing performance management processes within organizations allows clients to monitor progress toward desired outcomes.
Ana was the recipient of the 2022 Ed-Fi Partner of the Year award for her accomplishments in the field.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs youshould know powered by Iheartlesia in celebration of
Hispanic heritage. But let's meant AnnaKitana. She is the president and CEO
for Crocus, a mission driven organizationout of Washington, DC that works domestically.
That approach has changed through effective datamanagement strategies. Before we talk more
(00:20):
about Ana's company, I first askedher to talked a little bit about herself,
where she's from and her origin story. I was born and raised in
Mexico City. I have two sisters, one older than me and one is
younger than me. I study applightemathematics at the Mexican Autonomous Institute of Technology
in Mexico, is a very wellrecognized school. And then I was working
(00:44):
on the banking sector and a thinktank and I was like the gap between
the I was filling the gap betweenthe business and technology. But I felt
like I needed to be more technical, so I applied to grad school.
So I came to the United Statesto study my master's in Information Systems Management
at Carnegie Mellon University. It wasquite a challenge because my English was not
(01:08):
great, you know, like soliving in English and taking tests in English.
Studying English and do all your lifein English was exhausting and very stressful.
But I've been here for sixteen yearsand I became a US citizen in
twenty twenty one, which I'm veryvery proud of it. And I do
want to talk a lot about Crocushere company. But before we talk about
(01:30):
that, our entrepreneurs like to hearabout journeys and also the idea of starting
a company. And I know thatyou were in the consulting industry for almost
ten years before you started Crocus,So tell us about why after school you
got into that first or what you'vebeen doing with consulting, and then we'll
talk about the idea of Crocus.After my masters, I really wanted to
(01:51):
focus in education. I really believethat the best asset that a community and
an organization have it's people. Andif you want to be great, if
you want to grow, if youwant to do good things, you need
to invest in your people. SoI really wanted to work in education because
(02:12):
that's what it was going to makecountries being better United States in this case,
so I look for companies that theywere doing working that I joined this
consulting firm. It was a managementconsulting firm in education, and I started
as a consultant, you know,like I was doing a lot of like
process process first improvement and data analysis. But then I had the opportunity to
(02:38):
start more on the technical work,so I created the Technology Group. So
we were like really focusing in puttinglike all the the infrastructure for organizations,
education organizations, so we will takecare of like cleaning the data, moving
the data, getting ready so theywould use it. So we did that
(03:02):
for ten years, you know,like I had like different clients. I
learned a lot about the education educationworld here, like how it works,
you know, like we work onhigher education and like K twelves like a
lot of school districts. So thenwe my partner, Patrick Cook, and
I my business partner, we decidedto purchase all the technology, the Technology
(03:28):
Group, So we purchased the contracts, the IP, the past performance.
My whole team came with me andwe created Crocus actually in the middle of
the pandemic. So we started operationsin January twenty twenty one, you know,
so that was challenging. But oneof the things that we do is
(03:49):
that we excel under pressure and whenthere's like adverse circumstances. We like,
we know what how to handle thesethings. So as part of like what
we want to do is to helporganizations to become resilient and then shine under
any circumstance, you know. Likeso that was going to be what we
were going to deliver to our clients. So that's why we actually chose a
(04:12):
name Crocus because crocus is a flower. So saffron comes from crocuses, and
this is a very resilient flower andit is, you know, like it
is across the world. You canfind it in African American Asia, in
Europe is the first one to bloomafter winter. So we love the name.
We know the similarities of like whowe are with the flower, and
(04:35):
then we create a Crocus. Ilove that because it's well thought out and
you know, you have a businessplan, you execute it, you take
a leap of faith. You havethis great name, and we're going to
talk a lot about what the programsand capabilities are, the kind of companies
that you work with, maybe somegrowth down the road, and also mission
statement before we do that. Sincewe're talking to you during Hispanic Heritage Montana,
(04:57):
I do want to talk because thisis a great opportunity. As I
said, we were having more andmore people from different countries that come to
the DMV that start their own companiesand are doing so well. So I
know that there are other entrepreneurs likeyou, that look like you, that
sound like you, that are outthere trying to make a life for themselves
and maybe create a business down theroad. And maybe they have a great
idea, but maybe they're running intocertain roadblocks. And I'm sure you have
(05:20):
to, but it sounds like intestinalfortitude and desire and your passion started this
company after consulting for over ten years. Can you maybe share some of your
wisdom and maybe some of your challengesand pitfalls but how you overcame and just
overall advice for people that once againare you know, look like you and
are trying to start a company butsaying, you know what, I'm running
(05:42):
into these roadblocks and I'm super frustrated. What do I do? Yes?
So, you know, like Ithink, there are a lot of challenges
in this world today and on thetechnology space. I mean in the business
space, but in the technology space, which is where I am more,
and it's it's challenging to have women, women in technology right, Like there
(06:06):
are a lot of uh stereotypes andbelief that males are good technology women are
not right. So I have tofight even today every time for like for
a deal, for get as siton the table, for being look at,
for people to hurt me because theyyou know, like they think,
(06:27):
oh, you know, like she'snot a guy. And I mean I
have the knowledge, I have thecredentials, I have a rock star team
that they that that we could deliverthe work even better, you know,
but I have to fight around that. And I think there's a lot of
initiatives that they are like trying tohelp with that. You know, like
the federal government is like creating likeall the certifications about women own business and
(06:51):
you know, like they're like havetheir quotas, so federal government gives like
certain contracts that they are like justfor them. And there are others initiatives
here you're there. So for sure, the landscape is changing a little bit,
but it's still challenge. There area lot of organizations that help with
this, you know, Like Ibelong to Women in Public Policy, great
(07:13):
organization, they like really are influencingthe policies to help women business owners and
penetrate the market, you know,like and then be interned and then they're
like super helpful, so they're they'relike people that is like willing to help,
and then you have to take that. But you need to be like
(07:34):
super determined and not let those thingsdiscourage. It is really challenging when you
are like in a room and thenthey don't they don't look at you right,
like like, oh you have anaccent. I don't want to talk
to you, you know, likebecause the way that you look like or
because you're a woman. You haveto push through that and and demonstrate that
(07:56):
we can do better. And likethey're like women outside hearing me, like
you're not alone and we can doit. And you know, like in
my company, so women run womenand minority wrong company, right, and
you know, like I'm creating likewomen leaders and minority leaders that will change
(08:16):
the landscape on today's world. Right. I'm glad you shared all that.
You know. I've got two womenin my family. And when I talk
to my daughter about what you're talkingabout, Beside having tenacity and intestinal fortitude
of not giving up, I tellyou that if somebody is saying no to
you, you're talking to the wrongperson and just keep on plowing away because
(08:37):
you're going to get a lot ofthose out there when you're getting jobs and
starting companies. So thank you forsharing all that. Okay, well,
let's talk about CROCUS before we getinto your programs and your capabilities. What
is the overall mission statement? Ina? So we empower organizations to use data
to embed equity into decision making anddrive results for social impact. We create
resilience in organizations by leveraging a datadriven culture. And we believe that technology
(09:03):
and data improved education and are keyto fight poverty, inequity, and injustice.
I love that. That's very niceand well said. Two and sixtinct.
So that's pretty cool. All right, let's talk about the education of
what you do. Now, forsomebody that has been introduced to CROCUS for
the first time in this interview,thirty thousand foot view, if you were
to tell them what you do andwho you work with, what would that
(09:24):
be? Okay? So what wedo is offering data wellness services. So
we have our data wellness framework thataccomplished like services, software products, technical
implementations. So they are like threecomponents on our data wellness framework. One
(09:45):
is the data strategy, technical implementation, and the third is a data management
and leadership. So in data strategy, you can think about understanding why an
organization exists, what are the processmaturity and analyses, developing their use cases,
implementing data governance processes UH. Inthe technical implementation, we design system
(10:07):
architecture, we UH, we implementdata standards, we do data modeling,
we create interoportability. Well we weare like the interoperability sectors, so we
do like end user applications and dataanalyticss forwards dashboards. And then on the
(10:28):
data management and literacy is focus ondata driven performance improvement practices and user adoption
and making sure that people understand whatwe did. The knowledge is transfer and
training people, so all of thatcomplished. Like you know, we don't
do all of that for one client. Typically we do as liver of that
because we meet the client where theyare at, so they need one thing,
(10:52):
we just like deliver that thing.But we start like making sure that
all the pieces are in place.So our typical clients are in the K
twelve sector in education, so statedepartners of education, school districts, we
work with higher education workforce and youknow, like a lot of non profit
(11:13):
organizations and foundations that they are likemission aligned to CROCUS. And you haven't
just held yourself to working in theDMV. You were domestically across the United
States. Correct, that is correct, That is correct. I have a
few local projects, but they haveI have, I mean, and I
mean I work with dicipublic schools.I have worked with with the AUSSI and
other like nonprofits in the in thearea. But yes, like we are
(11:39):
like across across the nation. Imean, we also have a software product,
the Schoollege Guided Insight, and thatthat that has has helped students to
be more successful in the im possecondary So truck students give information data about
where with THEV more successful if theyapply to where they're going to get enrolled,
(12:03):
you know, like its completion andenrollment and graduation grapes. So yeah,
and I'm sure that you haven't mentionedall the things that you offer you
but you do have an incredible menuof items to offer your clients, and
you mentioned the type. I didwant to ask you this. I don't
want to assume that there's an exactcompany that does what you and your team
(12:24):
do, Anna, but when itcomes to pitching, yourself. How do
you differentiate yourself from other clients thatmight want the type of business that you're
trying to get as well. Yes, so, I mean I think there
are like five things that I wouldsay that we are like very different from
from all my competitors. The firstone is going to sound very cliche,
but it is true, and it'sour people. You know, like we
(12:46):
search for people that it is thatthey're very entrepreneur and that they're like committed
and passionate about data and education,and we get out of the way,
we let them be and then becreative. And you know, one of
the things that is an example ofour reility in action. We we thought
that they were like too many,like no breaks between Presidence Day and Memorial
(13:11):
Day. So we wanted to givea new holiday for for everybody. So
we created Crocus Day. And CrocusDay is observed the second Monday of April,
and it is a day to honorand celebrate people who believe that it
was possible to be a more equitableand inclusive world. So each year we
(13:33):
all voted for the person that wewent to honor that day. We started
like that this year and this yearwe celebrated Mary Mcloude de tune. So
that is that is that is crocoksa. Uh, but let me go
back to your question. So thesecond thing that that I think we are
very different at is that we meetthe client where they are without any judgment.
(13:56):
You know, like we know ourclients are passion in it, are
busy, are overwhelmed with everything todo. So then we just like understand
what what is what would they needand we just like join the journey with
them and we're like hand to handworking with them until the project is over.
We have the client's interest at heart, and what that means is that
(14:20):
we want to give them something thatis going to solve a problem and that
they're going to use and it isand it's good for them. So you
know, like a lot of times, like things change on a contract and
we just want to what is goodfor you? What is what you need?
What is what are we going tomove the needle. We're deeply committed
to equity and social justice and wechoose clients that way, and all our
(14:43):
solutions are like thinking on those thosetwo two concept that we we care And
I would say like finally, we'relike action oriented so we not only give
like one technical solution, but allthe wrapper around services, the change management,
the adoption, the you know,like the the governance practices. So
(15:05):
then whatever we do is going tostick because there are like several things that
they could fall through, so weoffer like all of that. Well,
thank you for sharing all that.And there's a common thread that you talked
about that we hear a lot fromour entrepreneurs that have a small business.
I don't know if you would everclassify yourself as a boutique kind of data
driven place. But with that said, you know, you have twenty three
(15:26):
employees, which means everybody has towork their tail off because you've got a
lot of customers out there and alot of clients. But it sounds like
they have access to you. Youhave access to them, and your customer
service goes above and beyond whatever theyneed to make sure because some big companies
just don't have the time or mightnot put the passion into a project that
(15:46):
you could with a smaller company andthe smaller staff. Would I be right
about that? Totally? Totally totally, But yes, I have my hands
you know, you're like I meetwith all my clients and I meet with
all my team, so yes,we are like we're BC and you know,
like we want to keep growing.But that is absolutely true. Like
we I they get like a personallife attention and we just care. Well,
(16:10):
that's wonderful and I can tell bytalking to you and meeting you in
that you do care and that's reallyimportant because we don't have a lot of
that in our society right now,people doing those extra things and caring for
their clients and customer service. Sothat's wonderful to hear that that's so important
and high up on your list.I did want to ask you about growth,
you just mentioned it now. Youstarted this company during the pandemic.
God bless you for doing that.You've got your twenty three staff people and
(16:33):
it sounds like things are going well. And sustainability when you start a new
business those for three years are imperative. And I know you've been making money
right off the bat too, whichis also a big deal and a lot
of companies don't do that. Sowith that said, down the line,
I'm sure you're always looking forward anda five year plan. What's going to
become of Crocus? Where do youwant to go with the company? So
(16:53):
we are going to we want togrow. We will continue doing like the
services that we are providing right now, but we are adding like more software
products so that they're like really solving. Like I'm not gonna do like the
new I'm not gonna be in Microsoftat all. That is not my intention.
(17:15):
But I wanted to like really nichOn, like what problems are solving,
So like guided insight that is theone that I mentioned before, you
know, like track students to helpon the post secondary enrollment. That is
solving like a very specific problem.That worse than that, we are adding
another another like suit of products thatlike really are going to help organizations to
(17:36):
do that. So I think wewant to be in the in the space
where you know, like software andservices grow and you know, like I
mean I hope that that that thatI can get it. And the other
the other part that we also wantto grow is in the federal space.
We are like we are like tryingto get more contacts with with the federal
government. I think it would bea way to like tail very sustainability in
(18:00):
in a sustainability way, sure,Sure, And I don't want to assume
that AI is a part of yourcurrent platform. But I know that data
driven companies and IT and anything thathas to do with computers and software and
hardware are looking at AI to incorporatewith themselves and their clients. Is that
going to be a part of yourfuture as well? Yes, we are
doing a lot of like research andhow to incorporate the AI technology into what
(18:26):
we are doing. And it couldbe you know, like from like instruction
and then like bring like like plans, like like ecreational plans all the way
to like, oh, maybe wecan develop software and code more in a
more efficient way, or we cando like we can expand more. But
we are doing we want to takeit a little bit slow because I don't
want to inherit all the biases thatAI has today, So we wanted to
(18:52):
make sure that it is it isfair and it's equitable, and we are
not jumping into some conclusions that theyare not right. So but we're doing
a lot of research about that tohow to incorporate like all these new technologies.
And we just have a few minutesleft and I'd like to maybe get
to some final thoughts about you andyour company and Crocus and maybe once again
(19:15):
somebody's being introduced to you and yourcompany and your staff for the first time.
What's the one takeaway that you mightwant them to have about Crocus to
remember, I think you want towork with us. We are we are
a very very client oriented company.We are very strong and you know,
like technically we're very strong. Weare very strong in business also, so
(19:40):
you know like we are and toend service, we we offer technology.
We're a technology company that offers likeall the wrap around services that makes you
to be successful. And we jumpin the in the in the in the
ship with you and we will golook at until the end. So I
think, yes, we want towork with you. I love that.
(20:02):
And also I know that you're alsolooking for great people and you are hiring
at times, so you have that, and you have your gorgeous website.
Let's give everybody the website address ifthey possibly want to partner with you as
a client. Maybe they're looking inat a career or they just want to
find out a little bit more aboutCrocus. What's the website address, Anna,
Yes, it's www dot crocusllc dotcom. So Anna, Anna does
(20:27):
a little bit like me. Sowhen people see me in the workplace,
they see that my kicks because I'mbig on my tennis shoes and my runners
that I wear always match my shirt. Anna is wearing beautiful purple today,
and purple is crocus, and there'sa lot of purple on Anna's website,
which, by the way, Annais a gorgeous website. It's easy to
navigate. Whoever put your website togetherdid a wonderful job. It's easy to
(20:51):
navigate and very beautiful. But you'rekeeping up with all the colors, which
I think is also very cool.Thank you very much. Yes, well,
listen, I can't tell you howmuch I appreciate your time. I
thought it was you know, Idon't know the whole story, but starting
a business during COVID is huge thatyou did that, and that you know,
you were in a business for tenyears and you decided that you could
(21:11):
be your own boss and you createdthis company with these twenty three people,
and it sounds like early on you'vegot tremendous success and us so we couldn't
be happier for you, and it'sbeen really fun to talk to you.
Thank you so much for joining us. Continue success, and we really appreciate
you joining us on CEOs you shouldknow. Thank you so much, Thank
you very much. I appreciate yourtime. Our community partner, M and
(21:33):
T Bank supports CEOs you should know. Is part of their ongoing commitment to
building strong communities, and that startsby backing the businesses within them. As
a Bank for communities, M andT believes in dedicating time, talent,
and resources to help local businesses thrivebecause when businesses succeed, our community succeed.
M and T Bank presents CEOs youshould know powered by Iheartlesia in celebration of
Hispanic heritage. But let's meant AnnaKitana. She is the president and CEO
for Crocus, a mission driven organizationout of Washington, DC that works domestically.
That approach has changed through effective datamanagement strategies. Before we talk more
(00:20):
about Ana's company, I first askedher to talked a little bit about herself,
where she's from and her origin story. I was born and raised in
Mexico City. I have two sisters, one older than me and one is
younger than me. I study applightemathematics at the Mexican Autonomous Institute of Technology
in Mexico, is a very wellrecognized school. And then I was working
(00:44):
on the banking sector and a thinktank and I was like the gap between
the I was filling the gap betweenthe business and technology. But I felt
like I needed to be more technical, so I applied to grad school.
So I came to the United Statesto study my master's in Information Systems Management
at Carnegie Mellon University. It wasquite a challenge because my English was not
(01:08):
great, you know, like soliving in English and taking tests in English.
Studying English and do all your lifein English was exhausting and very stressful.
But I've been here for sixteen yearsand I became a US citizen in
twenty twenty one, which I'm veryvery proud of it. And I do
want to talk a lot about Crocushere company. But before we talk about
(01:30):
that, our entrepreneurs like to hearabout journeys and also the idea of starting
a company. And I know thatyou were in the consulting industry for almost
ten years before you started Crocus,So tell us about why after school you
got into that first or what you'vebeen doing with consulting, and then we'll
talk about the idea of Crocus.After my masters, I really wanted to
(01:51):
focus in education. I really believethat the best asset that a community and
an organization have it's people. Andif you want to be great, if
you want to grow, if youwant to do good things, you need
to invest in your people. SoI really wanted to work in education because
(02:12):
that's what it was going to makecountries being better United States in this case,
so I look for companies that theywere doing working that I joined this
consulting firm. It was a managementconsulting firm in education, and I started
as a consultant, you know,like I was doing a lot of like
process process first improvement and data analysis. But then I had the opportunity to
(02:38):
start more on the technical work,so I created the Technology Group. So
we were like really focusing in puttinglike all the the infrastructure for organizations,
education organizations, so we will takecare of like cleaning the data, moving
the data, getting ready so theywould use it. So we did that
(03:02):
for ten years, you know,like I had like different clients. I
learned a lot about the education educationworld here, like how it works,
you know, like we work onhigher education and like K twelves like a
lot of school districts. So thenwe my partner, Patrick Cook, and
I my business partner, we decidedto purchase all the technology, the Technology
(03:28):
Group, So we purchased the contracts, the IP, the past performance.
My whole team came with me andwe created Crocus actually in the middle of
the pandemic. So we started operationsin January twenty twenty one, you know,
so that was challenging. But oneof the things that we do is
(03:49):
that we excel under pressure and whenthere's like adverse circumstances. We like,
we know what how to handle thesethings. So as part of like what
we want to do is to helporganizations to become resilient and then shine under
any circumstance, you know. Likeso that was going to be what we
were going to deliver to our clients. So that's why we actually chose a
(04:12):
name Crocus because crocus is a flower. So saffron comes from crocuses, and
this is a very resilient flower andit is, you know, like it
is across the world. You canfind it in African American Asia, in
Europe is the first one to bloomafter winter. So we love the name.
We know the similarities of like whowe are with the flower, and
(04:35):
then we create a Crocus. Ilove that because it's well thought out and
you know, you have a businessplan, you execute it, you take
a leap of faith. You havethis great name, and we're going to
talk a lot about what the programsand capabilities are, the kind of companies
that you work with, maybe somegrowth down the road, and also mission
statement before we do that. Sincewe're talking to you during Hispanic Heritage Montana,
(04:57):
I do want to talk because thisis a great opportunity. As I
said, we were having more andmore people from different countries that come to
the DMV that start their own companiesand are doing so well. So I
know that there are other entrepreneurs likeyou, that look like you, that
sound like you, that are outthere trying to make a life for themselves
and maybe create a business down theroad. And maybe they have a great
idea, but maybe they're running intocertain roadblocks. And I'm sure you have
(05:20):
to, but it sounds like intestinalfortitude and desire and your passion started this
company after consulting for over ten years. Can you maybe share some of your
wisdom and maybe some of your challengesand pitfalls but how you overcame and just
overall advice for people that once againare you know, look like you and
are trying to start a company butsaying, you know what, I'm running
(05:42):
into these roadblocks and I'm super frustrated. What do I do? Yes?
So, you know, like Ithink, there are a lot of challenges
in this world today and on thetechnology space. I mean in the business
space, but in the technology space, which is where I am more,
and it's it's challenging to have women, women in technology right, Like there
(06:06):
are a lot of uh stereotypes andbelief that males are good technology women are
not right. So I have tofight even today every time for like for
a deal, for get as siton the table, for being look at,
for people to hurt me because theyyou know, like they think,
(06:27):
oh, you know, like she'snot a guy. And I mean I
have the knowledge, I have thecredentials, I have a rock star team
that they that that we could deliverthe work even better, you know,
but I have to fight around that. And I think there's a lot of
initiatives that they are like trying tohelp with that. You know, like
the federal government is like creating likeall the certifications about women own business and
(06:51):
you know, like they're like havetheir quotas, so federal government gives like
certain contracts that they are like justfor them. And there are others initiatives
here you're there. So for sure, the landscape is changing a little bit,
but it's still challenge. There area lot of organizations that help with
this, you know, Like Ibelong to Women in Public Policy, great
(07:13):
organization, they like really are influencingthe policies to help women business owners and
penetrate the market, you know,like and then be interned and then they're
like super helpful, so they're they'relike people that is like willing to help,
and then you have to take that. But you need to be like
(07:34):
super determined and not let those thingsdiscourage. It is really challenging when you
are like in a room and thenthey don't they don't look at you right,
like like, oh you have anaccent. I don't want to talk
to you, you know, likebecause the way that you look like or
because you're a woman. You haveto push through that and and demonstrate that
(07:56):
we can do better. And likethey're like women outside hearing me, like
you're not alone and we can doit. And you know, like in
my company, so women run womenand minority wrong company, right, and
you know, like I'm creating likewomen leaders and minority leaders that will change
(08:16):
the landscape on today's world. Right. I'm glad you shared all that.
You know. I've got two womenin my family. And when I talk
to my daughter about what you're talkingabout, Beside having tenacity and intestinal fortitude
of not giving up, I tellyou that if somebody is saying no to
you, you're talking to the wrongperson and just keep on plowing away because
(08:37):
you're going to get a lot ofthose out there when you're getting jobs and
starting companies. So thank you forsharing all that. Okay, well,
let's talk about CROCUS before we getinto your programs and your capabilities. What
is the overall mission statement? Ina? So we empower organizations to use data
to embed equity into decision making anddrive results for social impact. We create
resilience in organizations by leveraging a datadriven culture. And we believe that technology
(09:03):
and data improved education and are keyto fight poverty, inequity, and injustice.
I love that. That's very niceand well said. Two and sixtinct.
So that's pretty cool. All right, let's talk about the education of
what you do. Now, forsomebody that has been introduced to CROCUS for
the first time in this interview,thirty thousand foot view, if you were
to tell them what you do andwho you work with, what would that
(09:24):
be? Okay? So what wedo is offering data wellness services. So
we have our data wellness framework thataccomplished like services, software products, technical
implementations. So they are like threecomponents on our data wellness framework. One
(09:45):
is the data strategy, technical implementation, and the third is a data management
and leadership. So in data strategy, you can think about understanding why an
organization exists, what are the processmaturity and analyses, developing their use cases,
implementing data governance processes UH. Inthe technical implementation, we design system
(10:07):
architecture, we UH, we implementdata standards, we do data modeling,
we create interoportability. Well we weare like the interoperability sectors, so we
do like end user applications and dataanalyticss forwards dashboards. And then on the
(10:28):
data management and literacy is focus ondata driven performance improvement practices and user adoption
and making sure that people understand whatwe did. The knowledge is transfer and
training people, so all of thatcomplished. Like you know, we don't
do all of that for one client. Typically we do as liver of that
because we meet the client where theyare at, so they need one thing,
(10:52):
we just like deliver that thing.But we start like making sure that
all the pieces are in place.So our typical clients are in the K
twelve sector in education, so statedepartners of education, school districts, we
work with higher education workforce and youknow, like a lot of non profit
(11:13):
organizations and foundations that they are likemission aligned to CROCUS. And you haven't
just held yourself to working in theDMV. You were domestically across the United
States. Correct, that is correct, That is correct. I have a
few local projects, but they haveI have, I mean, and I
mean I work with dicipublic schools.I have worked with with the AUSSI and
other like nonprofits in the in thearea. But yes, like we are
(11:39):
like across across the nation. Imean, we also have a software product,
the Schoollege Guided Insight, and thatthat that has has helped students to
be more successful in the im possecondary So truck students give information data about
where with THEV more successful if theyapply to where they're going to get enrolled,
(12:03):
you know, like its completion andenrollment and graduation grapes. So yeah,
and I'm sure that you haven't mentionedall the things that you offer you
but you do have an incredible menuof items to offer your clients, and
you mentioned the type. I didwant to ask you this. I don't
want to assume that there's an exactcompany that does what you and your team
(12:24):
do, Anna, but when itcomes to pitching, yourself. How do
you differentiate yourself from other clients thatmight want the type of business that you're
trying to get as well. Yes, so, I mean I think there
are like five things that I wouldsay that we are like very different from
from all my competitors. The firstone is going to sound very cliche,
but it is true, and it'sour people. You know, like we
(12:46):
search for people that it is thatthey're very entrepreneur and that they're like committed
and passionate about data and education,and we get out of the way,
we let them be and then becreative. And you know, one of
the things that is an example ofour reility in action. We we thought
that they were like too many,like no breaks between Presidence Day and Memorial
(13:11):
Day. So we wanted to givea new holiday for for everybody. So
we created Crocus Day. And CrocusDay is observed the second Monday of April,
and it is a day to honorand celebrate people who believe that it
was possible to be a more equitableand inclusive world. So each year we
(13:33):
all voted for the person that wewent to honor that day. We started
like that this year and this yearwe celebrated Mary Mcloude de tune. So
that is that is that is crocoksa. Uh, but let me go
back to your question. So thesecond thing that that I think we are
very different at is that we meetthe client where they are without any judgment.
(13:56):
You know, like we know ourclients are passion in it, are
busy, are overwhelmed with everything todo. So then we just like understand
what what is what would they needand we just like join the journey with
them and we're like hand to handworking with them until the project is over.
We have the client's interest at heart, and what that means is that
(14:20):
we want to give them something thatis going to solve a problem and that
they're going to use and it isand it's good for them. So you
know, like a lot of times, like things change on a contract and
we just want to what is goodfor you? What is what you need?
What is what are we going tomove the needle. We're deeply committed
to equity and social justice and wechoose clients that way, and all our
(14:43):
solutions are like thinking on those thosetwo two concept that we we care And
I would say like finally, we'relike action oriented so we not only give
like one technical solution, but allthe wrapper around services, the change management,
the adoption, the you know,like the the governance practices. So
(15:05):
then whatever we do is going tostick because there are like several things that
they could fall through, so weoffer like all of that. Well,
thank you for sharing all that.And there's a common thread that you talked
about that we hear a lot fromour entrepreneurs that have a small business.
I don't know if you would everclassify yourself as a boutique kind of data
driven place. But with that said, you know, you have twenty three
(15:26):
employees, which means everybody has towork their tail off because you've got a
lot of customers out there and alot of clients. But it sounds like
they have access to you. Youhave access to them, and your customer
service goes above and beyond whatever theyneed to make sure because some big companies
just don't have the time or mightnot put the passion into a project that
(15:46):
you could with a smaller company andthe smaller staff. Would I be right
about that? Totally? Totally totally, But yes, I have my hands
you know, you're like I meetwith all my clients and I meet with
all my team, so yes,we are like we're BC and you know,
like we want to keep growing.But that is absolutely true. Like
we I they get like a personallife attention and we just care. Well,
(16:10):
that's wonderful and I can tell bytalking to you and meeting you in
that you do care and that's reallyimportant because we don't have a lot of
that in our society right now,people doing those extra things and caring for
their clients and customer service. Sothat's wonderful to hear that that's so important
and high up on your list.I did want to ask you about growth,
you just mentioned it now. Youstarted this company during the pandemic.
God bless you for doing that.You've got your twenty three staff people and
(16:33):
it sounds like things are going well. And sustainability when you start a new
business those for three years are imperative. And I know you've been making money
right off the bat too, whichis also a big deal and a lot
of companies don't do that. Sowith that said, down the line,
I'm sure you're always looking forward anda five year plan. What's going to
become of Crocus? Where do youwant to go with the company? So
(16:53):
we are going to we want togrow. We will continue doing like the
services that we are providing right now, but we are adding like more software
products so that they're like really solving. Like I'm not gonna do like the
new I'm not gonna be in Microsoftat all. That is not my intention.
(17:15):
But I wanted to like really nichOn, like what problems are solving,
So like guided insight that is theone that I mentioned before, you
know, like track students to helpon the post secondary enrollment. That is
solving like a very specific problem.That worse than that, we are adding
another another like suit of products thatlike really are going to help organizations to
(17:36):
do that. So I think wewant to be in the in the space
where you know, like software andservices grow and you know, like I
mean I hope that that that thatI can get it. And the other
the other part that we also wantto grow is in the federal space.
We are like we are like tryingto get more contacts with with the federal
government. I think it would bea way to like tail very sustainability in
(18:00):
in a sustainability way, sure,Sure, And I don't want to assume
that AI is a part of yourcurrent platform. But I know that data
driven companies and IT and anything thathas to do with computers and software and
hardware are looking at AI to incorporatewith themselves and their clients. Is that
going to be a part of yourfuture as well? Yes, we are
doing a lot of like research andhow to incorporate the AI technology into what
(18:26):
we are doing. And it couldbe you know, like from like instruction
and then like bring like like plans, like like ecreational plans all the way
to like, oh, maybe wecan develop software and code more in a
more efficient way, or we cando like we can expand more. But
we are doing we want to takeit a little bit slow because I don't
want to inherit all the biases thatAI has today, So we wanted to
(18:52):
make sure that it is it isfair and it's equitable, and we are
not jumping into some conclusions that theyare not right. So but we're doing
a lot of research about that tohow to incorporate like all these new technologies.
And we just have a few minutesleft and I'd like to maybe get
to some final thoughts about you andyour company and Crocus and maybe once again
(19:15):
somebody's being introduced to you and yourcompany and your staff for the first time.
What's the one takeaway that you mightwant them to have about Crocus to
remember, I think you want towork with us. We are we are
a very very client oriented company.We are very strong and you know,
like technically we're very strong. Weare very strong in business also, so
(19:40):
you know like we are and toend service, we we offer technology.
We're a technology company that offers likeall the wrap around services that makes you
to be successful. And we jumpin the in the in the in the
ship with you and we will golook at until the end. So I
think, yes, we want towork with you. I love that.
(20:02):
And also I know that you're alsolooking for great people and you are hiring
at times, so you have that, and you have your gorgeous website.
Let's give everybody the website address ifthey possibly want to partner with you as
a client. Maybe they're looking inat a career or they just want to
find out a little bit more aboutCrocus. What's the website address, Anna,
Yes, it's www dot crocusllc dotcom. So Anna, Anna does
(20:27):
a little bit like me. Sowhen people see me in the workplace,
they see that my kicks because I'mbig on my tennis shoes and my runners
that I wear always match my shirt. Anna is wearing beautiful purple today,
and purple is crocus, and there'sa lot of purple on Anna's website,
which, by the way, Annais a gorgeous website. It's easy to
navigate. Whoever put your website togetherdid a wonderful job. It's easy to
(20:51):
navigate and very beautiful. But you'rekeeping up with all the colors, which
I think is also very cool.Thank you very much. Yes, well,
listen, I can't tell you howmuch I appreciate your time. I
thought it was you know, Idon't know the whole story, but starting
a business during COVID is huge thatyou did that, and that you know,
you were in a business for tenyears and you decided that you could
(21:11):
be your own boss and you createdthis company with these twenty three people,
and it sounds like early on you'vegot tremendous success and us so we couldn't
be happier for you, and it'sbeen really fun to talk to you.
Thank you so much for joining us. Continue success, and we really appreciate
you joining us on CEOs you shouldknow. Thank you so much, Thank
you very much. I appreciate yourtime. Our community partner, M and
(21:33):
T Bank supports CEOs you should know. Is part of their ongoing commitment to
building strong communities, and that startsby backing the businesses within them. As
a Bank for communities, M andT believes in dedicating time, talent,
and resources to help local businesses thrivebecause when businesses succeed, our community succeed.
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