Meet Amanda Anduiza | Business Solutions Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amanda Anduiza and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amanda, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Often people, including myself at times, focus on big, grand initiatives to make a social impact. When I was a teenager and first entering my twenties, I had grand ideas about changing the world through opening medical clinics in underserved areas or starting an organization that lobbies on behalf of not-for-profits. Thank God there are people who are called to do those things, have done them, and continue to do them. What I have learned though is that social impact starts with the person right in front of us. If we are a business owner or a manager or just a person with any power, it starts with the choices we make about how we treat people and wield that power. I believe in power with instead of power over. And when we treat people that way, it has ripple effects. I ran a small business from 2018-2022. My proudest accomplishment during that time was the positive impact I had to one employee’s life. When we first took over the business she was barely scraping by and it was clear she needed someone to believe in and develop her. She had two young kids. During her time with our company, our income more than doubled, she acquired new skills, and I directly saw the change in her demeanor and her ability to care for and provide for her children. We made sure she had the flexibility she needed when her kids were sick. Or when she needed a mental health day. That is social impact. When every person who holds positional power understands their ability to change the world through their everyday choices, policies, and procedures, our communities and the world will transform.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
It has not been easy. Let me start there. From the womb, I have never taken the easy path. No matter how much I have longed to be someone who is comfortable with the status quo, I just am not. In some ways, my career started as a pre-teen helping with my father’s business and going to work sometimes with my mom. Whether it was stuffing envelopes to be mailed out, handing out samples and asking people to fill out a lead slip at events, or helping my mom with Quickbooks entries, I started acquiring real life skills and know how at a young age. My first job out of college was a passion job – Campus Staff Minister for a college campus ministry. It was not for the faint of heart. I was personally responsible for fundraising $55,000, which covered my salary and operational expenses. Now that might not sound like a lot of money, but to a 22 year old, it was daunting. That combined with the nature of walking onto a college campus and convincing college students to spend their evenings and weekend attending our programs and events, both leveraged and fueled my entrepreneurial spirit. Unfortunately, in 2016, (ironically exactly eight years to the day of when I am writing this), I got a message that one of the students I cared for deeply had passed away. I can’t express the grief that I experienced. It kicked off one of the hardest years of my life. I came down with mononucleosis and was on bed rest. Then, I was assaulted and robbed on a subway in Mexico City. That following summer, I was detained and questioned by the military police in my hotel in another country where I witnessed horrible oppression and the beginnings of a political and cultural genocide. My job became untenable because of the trauma and I chose to leave for another opportunity.

My father had been approached by a small business owner in Charleston looking for someone to acquire her business (similar business model to his) so she could retire. In order to do so, he needed someone who could be in Charleston to run the business. Newly married, my husband and I stepped up to take the opportunity. We relocated to Charleston in September 2018 with no friends or contacts in the area except for her. Her business had reclined greatly, so although we started with a book a business, in many ways it was a startup where we had to fight for every dollar of revenue (and frequently cut our own paychecks to make things work). We worked seven days/week most weeks for two years, including holidays. We truly got to see the greatest highs and the greatest lows of small business. I will be forever grateful to the clients who stuck with us through thick and thin, and chose to invest their grocery bill in a small business instead of the big chain grocery store. I will also remember the clients who verbally abused us and dishonored boundaries. It was a pressure cooker experience where we learned so much. It was four years, but I gained the knowledge, skills, and tenacity that a decade of experience delivers. One of the biggest lessons we learned was that our pace of work was not sustainable. The COVID-19 pandemic finally broke us down and led us to realize that we needed to embrace rhythms of work and rest. We began taking one day off every week, no matter what. We started working shorter days when possible instead of staying at the office for 10 hours just because. This helped us take perspective and realize what our values truly are and that our life was incongruent with those values. We wanted a family and working 7 days/week was not going to allow us to give our future children the quality of life we wanted for them and for ourselves.

In 2022, my father decided to accept an offer for the parent company and our subsidiary to be acquired, which ushered in our latest adventure of embracing the corporate world. My first job out of the business was not a good fit. I was tortured by the fact that I was so unhappy at the company even though I loved the work I was doing. It drove me to get psychologically evaluated because I thought “something must be wrong with me!” What I discovered is that I have advanced cognitive functioning, and therefore, need a role and company that provides me the intellectual stimulation and challenge my brain craves. I set my sights on landing a role with a bigger company with more opportunity and a team that was operating at the analytical level I needed.

I now work for a regional bank as a Business Solutions Analyst on an internal consulting team and it is a dream come true. I have never felt more aligned between who I am, what I am gifted at, what I value, and what my family needs. I am so grateful for every challenge I faced because I can see how every single one of them has shaped me into who I am today and I am better for having gone through them. I feel so incredibly privileged to have seen and experienced so much at such a young age (32), and I feel a desire and responsibility to give it back to my community in whatever ways I can. One of my dreams is to start a foundation in the future. I am also involved in research and awareness about the systemic issues parents are facing (I am a mom of two boys, 3 & 2 years of age), and the impact of toxic workplaces/workplace abuse and bullying.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So fun!!!

Okay, well we would definitely hit up all my favorite food and coffee places. The Daily, Taco Boy, Mex 1 Coastal Cantina, Husk, Poogan’s Porch, Vicious Biscuit, I-95 coffee. Butcher and Bee if it was still open – now I am crying. Just kidding 🙂

I think our day to day itinerary would be:

Day 1 – Kiawah, go to the beach and then go to the Freshfields Village. We would definitely go to Palmetto Scent Studio to make our own candles.

Day 2 – Classic downtown Charleston, walk all over downtown. Go to rainbow row and the battery, go to the market, hit up Carmella’s. Go to king street and marion square. Finish the day on a rooftop bar.

Day 3 – Go to isle of palms beach for the first half of the day and then grab takeout and go to Palmetto Islands County Park (my favorite park).

Day 4-6 – go camping at a state park somewhere in the state.

Day 7 – chill at my house in North Charleston/Wescott area before sending them off

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband! He has been my rock and partner in all things. Literally my business partner, but also my life partner, my parenting partner, and the primary person who has helped me grow and expand through safety, commitment, and our shared drive for more.

I also want to give an endless thank you to all of the professors and colleagues from the American University Organizational Development Masters program. Your wisdom, kindness, insight, and skills are forever etched into my heart and mind. Anything I accomplish with life will be built on the foundation I began to rebuild through that program.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aeanduiza

Image Credits
Marley Photography for the family photo