Be just to advance business

"Even when she’s the smartest person in the room, she gives others the time to catch up," said Shea Taylor, senior business consultant at JPMorgan Chase, about Carmenlita Scott, president and CEO of ATL Airport Chamber, Inc. As stated by Carmenlita, the company promotes the business climate and makes our community the best place to live, work, play, and prosper. Over 70 years ago, the organization was created to promote business integrity, good faith, fairness, and uniformity in commercial usage.

Carmenlita bachelor's degree is in sustainable enterprise management. She has an MBA and graduated from a top chamber of commerce program. She's a community leader and serves on the boards of the Regional Business Coalition, ATL Interfaith Chaplaincy, and GACCE.

Carmenlita produces high-performance teams and coaches people to think across disciplines, industries, cultures, and growth situations. She ensures diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. She fosters various ways of thinking and innovative ideas for virtual team members. The best form of empowerment is to always remember being a micromanager is detrimental to any organization. Allowing your team to solve problems without interference results in effectively resolving issues in the early stages and turns problems into opportunities. Consequently, they will develop solutions that benefit the entire organization. This empowerment concept permits your team to utilize a variety of analytical techniques to solve problems. Operating in this atmosphere permits her to generate an enthusiastic spirit that is intellectually stimulating, builds trust, and allows the team to strive for success in problem resolution.

"Carm, as we like to call her, is a tireless servant-leader who empowers her team to best support our members," said Becky Brett, the chamber’s fundraising manager. "She encourages creative, innovative thinking and is community-minded."

"Carmenlita Scott understands how to get things done. She knows how to place individuals and delegate authority and responsibility as president of the ATL Airport Chamber (TAAC). I'm proud to call Ms. Scott my mentor. She taught me to be decisive and prioritize my team's needs.” "I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to learn from Ms. Scott," says Bridget Fields, owner of Design Show Marketing and a USAF veteran.

"Carmenlita's networking with community leaders inspires me. She's persistent and courteous. She's an excellent event planner. As creator of PinkSTEM Inc, I understand how crucial sponsors are. Carmenlita is a caring leader. I'll follow her guidance and help however I can," added Tamika Ray-Head, CEO, Pink-Stem Engineering.

TAAC's growth depends on culture metrics. The Board supports such mission-goal approaches. We partner with other organizations and contractors. Our multicultural organization prioritizes diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

The pandemic provided unprecedented challenges for the business community. During this time, the chamber took on the important task of helping the business community with an emphasis on small businesses overcoming obstacles. They hosted update webinars on Small Business Administration initiatives, available grants, loans, PPE, and other programs to promote sustainability. In addition, to promote air travel, TAAC provided information on cleanliness programs in the aviation industry, and facilities through their newsletter, The Runway, and commercials during the virtual 2020 Annual Meeting.

The pandemic harmed many community members and financial issues plagued parents. The graduates of the chamber’s first cohort of the chamber’s leadership academy, Elevate ATL: South Metro Leadership Academy organized a school-supply drive with assistance from Carmenlita Scott, President and CEO of the ATL Airport Chamber. The target audience was students from Atlanta Public Schools, South Fulton County, and Clayton County Public Schools.

Today, the ultimate task of TAAC is to support community undertakings and encourage growth in the surrounding area. In addition, the chamber addresses the regional pain points for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the Airport Region, and the Southern Crescent of Metro-Atlanta.

Carmenlita collaborates with local chambers in South Fulton and Clayton Counties and specialty chambers such the Women's Chamber, Atlanta Black Chambers, Greater Georgia Black Chamber, Georgia Hispanic Chamber, World Trade Chamber, and Atlanta Global Chamber. As a board member of the Regional Business Coalition, she works on issues involving water, air, and transportation.

Updated technology is the key to success. The custom-built CRM includes payment processing and cybersecurity on all digital platforms (servers, computers, networks, websites, and mobile devices), project management platforms like Teams, Asana, Slack, and Google Drive, social media platforms like Alignable, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Hootsuite to post across platforms, a custom-built corporate website, and location-based technology like Google Maps.

"Our chamber has members from 22 states and Puerto Rico due to its proximity to Atlanta's airport," says Carmenlita. TAAC is unique in the world's busiest airport's ecosystem. This alone separates us from the competition. "Smart Insurance Plan," "SkyBonus Program," "Legislative Updates," and "Georgia Tech Supply Chain and Logistics Partnership" are ATL Airport Chamber tools, she adds.

The ATL Airport Chamber launched Stuff the Plane in 2022. TAAC hosted three hundred students at the Delta Flight Museum. The journey includes a simulator, historical jets, and a Boeing 767. Students visited the plane and got school supplies. The Chamber donated five pallets of school supplies. Carmenlita was delighted to support the community, and major Atlanta news sites, radio stations, and periodicals covered the event. Students learned about their community's international presence and airport at the Delta Flight Museum.

Clayton County Public Schools and ATL Airport Chamber promote entrepreneurship. The Young Enterprising Scholars Program (Y.E.S.) educates sixty students per semester on how to start and sustain a business. This program links present and future entrepreneurs through a chamber-school district collaboration and is a model payback. Developing and joining such endeavors, is my recommendation, says Carmenlita. The chamber's variety of programs fosters relationships, networking opportunities, economic development and learning for its members.

Carmenlita has a progressive career path and a history of developing corporate connections by 82%. She blends strength, sustainability, and expansion to meet community needs. She manages marketing, PR, transportation, and a finance matrix-style. Mayor Andre Dickens, City of Atlanta recognized the ATL Airport Chamber in their 2022 Annual Report.

On behalf of the state, I want to thank you for your continued support, leadership, and inspiration for the businesses that serve our airport and its travelers. Your work is crucial to Georgia's success, and it is an honor to congratulate you all on another year of hard work. Governor Brian Kemp, State of Georgia, said this in the 2022 Annual Report.

Georgia Engineering named her one of the Top 100 Influential Women in Georgia for her background in aviation, nonprofits, critical incident response, and sustainable enterprise management. Industry Era Magazine named her one of the ten best CEOs of 2021.

As Carmenlita summarizes, the ATL Airport Chamber will promote local businesses and industry members as the aviation industry and smaller businesses begin to revive. Georgia is poised to overtake New York as the East Coast's technology hub, with Atlanta leading the charge as the Next Silicon Valley. Companies are motivated to expand and draw new customers because of the positive impact they have on their surrounding neighborhoods. Our mission is to promote prosperity in our member organizations, our regions, and Georgia as a whole. IE