Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Denise Williams. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Denise, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.

I educate business owners on government contract. Most of my clients are women and minorities who have been underrepresented in winning government contract. My brand Procurement Queen goal is to increase procurement awareness to underserved groups so that they can create a legacy. Procurement Queen host courses and partners with government agencies to educate and empower the community.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

While working as a tenured teacher at the largest school district in NJ with a Billion dollar spend, I saw a job opening for “Assistant Director of Purchasing” so I applied and was offered the job with no purchasing experience. The rest is history.

Procurement Queen is driven by the passion of making a difference in as many lives as possible. Denise “Procurement Queen®” Williams is certified New Jersey teacher who taught courses in accounting, procurement, physics and computer applications. Denise enjoys teaching and writing books. She has over eighteen years of leading Procurement Teams in various industries with annual spend of over $2B. She grew the supplier diversity programs, trained vendors and internal personnel.

Courses include: Bids vs RFPs, how to get certified, how to compete for government contracts.

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Denise Williams earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Rutgers University and a Master’s in Business Administration and Accountancy from Saint Peter’s University. She is a Qualified Purchasing Agent (QPA) for the state of New Jersey, Registered Public Purchasing Official (RPPO), Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM), Certified Professional in Supplier Diversity (CPSD) and she hold a Diploma level certification from the Chartered Institute of Procurement (CIPS).

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

While building my company I went through a divorce. This divorce was high conflict, I hired an attorney to keep it clean it was not a good fit. I decided to represent myself in my own divorce case against a high-priced attorney. I filed and responded to motion, interrogatories, and I work my divorce decree which was accepted and approved by the judge and so much more. I was VERY successful with this process that I also successfully coached other people in the divorce process in NJ. I continued to grow my company through it all.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I taught physic and business courses to high school students as a tenured teacher. I pivoted and gave-up my tenured teaching to start a career in Procurement and I love it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.procurementqueen.com/
• Instagram: Procurement Queen
• Facebook: Procurement Queen
• Linkedin: Procurement Queen
• Youtube: Procurement Queen