For entrepreneur Jeanie Hunter, her current occupation isn’t what she originally had in mind for her life but she’s still making strides that are defying the odds for Black women in business.
According to Atlanta Black Star, she started out pursuing a career as a real estate developer and then transitioned over to the male-dominated field of construction to launch a lucrative business in 2003 called Synergy Development Partners.
“As a career path, construction wasn’t something that I thought about when I went to college,” she shares with the outlet. “I thought in construction you really had to have a hammer or some type of trade experience.”
Though she lacked traditional construction experience, that didn’t stop Hunter from taking a leap of faith as an independent business woman. The hard work is paying off for her now as her company recently inked an airport contract for canopy modernization at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Although Hunter’s company is now finally being recognized throughout the Southeast, she explains that her entrepreneurial journey wasn’t without its hiccups and challenges — starting with the real estate market crash of 2008-2009.
“Unfortunately, minority companies are often not afforded some of the same opportunities as their counterparts, and it can be very difficult to get lines of credit and bonding. All of which were major hurdles that we had to jump through early in our business” she tells Atlanta Black Star.
“Our aspirations were to work at the airport, and we were told honestly that we did not qualify, that our revenues had to be more, and that we had to have more experience,” she adds about the difficulties behind securing the airport deal.
To get her foot in the door as a Black woman founder, Hunter credits the Atlanta’s Minority participation requirements for giving her the prime opportunity to get her new career start.
Hunter is a founder who takes pride in her non-traditional business and works to introduce other women to her career field as well.
Atlanta Black Star reports that she intentionally hired a female staff to helm roles such as office manager, pre-construction manager, and project accountant to assist with her business. To date, as the founder of Synergy, she’s been able to complete over $600 million worth of construction projects.
Hunter’s company is currently finalizing its expansion of the airport Terminal T-Gates, as well as the relocation of the employee gates at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Now, the ambitious business woman is looking forward to what else the future has in store for her. To keep herself motivated, Hunter relies on her favorite motto — “Failure Is necessary in order for success To happen!”
For more information about Synergy Development Partners, visit its website.
