Meet Joan De Souza of Business 4 Business in Pasadena

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joan De Souza.

Joan De Souza has 20 years of managerial experience as the Customer Service Manager at the Los Angeles Times, managing and leading more than 200 staff. She was a decision-maker responsible with a team of Circulation and Technology managers for implementing a firm-wide circulation system, which became the central hub of the subscription and delivery process. She was also responsible for implementing such projects as the home delivery customer service at La Opinion.

Currently, she is the founder of a local non-profit business support group, Business4Business, which assists businesses to continuously succeed. Joan De Souza is passionate about this cause. She understands group dynamics and started B4B to get results for small to medium size businesses. People who attend this monthly session are finding value in coming together to get great advice from all types of people with diverse backgrounds. We are currently meeting once a month on Zoom.

The Hot Seat is for someone who has a concern about their business and they need constructive help. They typically share 4-5 concerns and the members of the audience (business professionals) offer solutions and advice.

We start on time at 7:30 am. You can come early at 7 am to meet the other attendees. We hear from the previous month’s Hot Seat participant who has 5 minutes to give us an update with what they have done with our advice. We then meet this month’s Hot Seat participant. They have 5 minutes to tell us how we can help them. The Hot Seat participant is not allowed to speak for 15 minutes while the audience offers suggestions. They can take notes but they must focus purely on the suggestions. The Hot Seat participant can then answer any questions and add any more information that will help with further suggestions. They go quiet and listen to the provided suggestions for another 15 minutes. We have a sponsor each month and they are given 5 minutes to talk about their business. We end our meeting at 8:45 am.

Joan is extensively involved with her community. She served on the Executive Board of Directors for the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce in which she was the Vice Chair of Membership. Joan is a member of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and is their Lead Ambassador, member of the South Pasadena Chamber, Irwindale Chamber, San Gabriel Chamber, the Fundraising Director of the Pasadena Quarterbacks Club, Board member of the Foundation for Living Beauty, Co-Chair Special Needs Ministry at St. Philip the Apostle Church, former member of the Board of Directors Rosemary Children’s Services, Volunteer Coordinator Special Olympics World Games Los Angeles 2015 and former member of Business Networking International.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I would say it has been a smooth road. We started off with a small group of 15 to 20 people who attended to help the Hot Seat participant and this number has grown to approximately 60 people today. We were meeting in person for the first three years but due to the Covid virus we are now meeting on Zoom. The attendees are from the local area, cities in California, other states and international participants.

Please tell us about Business 4 Business.
Business 4 Business is a great free business resource for both the Hot Seat participant and attendees. We help those small to medium size businesses with any concern they have regarding the running of their day to day operation. We specialize in bringing fellow business professionals together who want to help another business professional without expecting anything in return. I am very proud of the many business professionals who want to help others. It is the way we used to communicate before technology became such a big part of our lives.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have added the virtual communication along with the face to face communication. Adding the virtual platform has allowed us to reach so many more people and yet the face to face is still very important.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joandesouzab4b.com
• Phone: 626-482-8867
• Email: joan@joandesouza.com
• Instagram: b4b_think_tank
• Facebook: @joandesouzathinktank
• Twitter: @JoanDeSouza
• Other: www.linkedin.com/in/joandesouza

Image Credit:
Nicola Borland Photography https://www.nicolaborland.com/

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