Kylian Inc. of Hillsborough County

With 20 years experience in the IT consulting world, Vanessa Russell decided to launch Kylian Inc., a company that focuses on Department of Defense technical and business strategies.

Although Russell had expertise in IT, she needed some help in the business world. So, she reached out to the Florida PTAC at USF to get some assistance on business requirements and subcontracting.

“The [PTAC] has helped me tremendously on being able to stay focused on what it is that I really wanted to capture and all the little nuances with all the different programs and certifications they offered,” she said.

Russell was paired with Florida PTAC at USF procurement specialist, Karen Krymski, who assisted Russell with obtaining her first subcontracting contract and with the legalities of owning a business.

“I really needed to target with my business structure and as a result after taking seminars and getting advice from Karen Krymski, I was able to pretty much lock in and sign my first contract with a big company as a subcontractor,” Russell said.

In addition to obtaining her first subcontracting contract worth $275,000, she was able to become a participant of the Mentor Protégé Program. The Mentor Protégé Program is a three-year program that will allow Russell to shadow and be trained by a very established company.

“The biggest success so far has been the ability to position myself and my company to be a part of the Mentor Protégé Program,” Russell said. “When I was first approached about joining the program with my business partner, I was pretty overwhelmed. It was flattering but overwhelming at the same time because it wasn’t quite clear what I was stepping into and the legalities behind all that and that is really critical for me to understand.”

The Florida PTAC assisted Kylian Inc. in its most recent successes and Russell plans to use the organization in the future to help her with staying up to date in the business world.

“I will forever use [them] moving forward,” she said. “The [PTAC] is an organization that I will consistently go back to, to continue growing my business. The laws are constantly changing and they do keep you up to date with all the changes and it is definitely something everyone should take advantage of and come back to at least yearly to get all the updates.”