Lyndell Danzie-Black is a testament to the adage about gleaning life lessons on the route to success to turn ideas into reality. When she launched her company Cerulean Incorporated in 2012, Danzie-Black set out on a mission to pioneer a remarkable pathway in local business that focused on enhancing professional training, skills development and customer service in companies.

With a knack for interacting with people, setting goals and resolving conflict, and a dedicated drive toward finding resourceful ways to foster socio-economic impact across communities, Danzie-Black has transformed Cerulean Inc. into a successful business development, corporate training and consultancy company that creates opportunities to advance teams as well as business performance and viability.

“Bad service irks me. Anyone who understands service knows that once you are offering a particular service it exposes other company-related issues as well,” said Danzie-Black, who indicated that the genesis of the company was centred on providing solutions to fill gaps and support companies in aligning brand values to the effective and efficient delivery of overall services, regardless if a business is product-based or service-based.
More than 10 years later, the company’s services have expanded to include corporate training in service quality and customer service, strategic planning, supervisory skills training, conflict resolution, creative thinking and critical thinking.

Motivated by purpose rather than profits, she explained that the company also offers business facilitation services to foreign companies to assist them in conducting operations across various capacities in Guyana, particularly the oil and gas sector. The company also provides project management services for corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects for companies that aim to engage customers and communities.
Danzie-Black has led the Cerulean Inc. team to serve national, regional and international companies from various sectors such as oil and gas, tourism and hospitality, natural resource exploration, human resource management, mining and optometry, to name but a few.

“We have maintained over the years a Cerulean culture of sticking to a standard that values quality,” she said before noting that the team consists of Guyanese and foreign experts in several specialised areas who help to advance its core principles of integrity, honesty and sincerity, which are all tenets that are tenets of its ever-growing success.

With extensive background expertise in areas such as tourism and maritime transport, Danzie-Black has worked to spearhead several strategic partnerships to facilitate diverse training programmes that aim to continuously strengthen skills-based learning and development for companies to gain competitive advantage. The company is preparing to attain its ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems certification to advance this aim further. In addition, Danzie-Black boasts an exemplary portfolio as a well-rounded businesswoman, leader and mentor who is also a certified International Labour Organisation (ILO) trainer for the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) initiative.

As such, she helps to steer the company’s impact on local communities, particularly as the country’s economy grows with the onset of the oil and gas sector. She noted that from its inception, Cerulean Inc. has been impacting people before oil and gas. However, the sector has birthed new industries and growth opportunities for the company to utilise training to encourage companies and entrepreneurs to acquire the essential knowledge and skills they need to take advantage of the different industries in the sector.

For Danzie-Black, Cerulean Inc. is a business trailblazer that she envisions will see increased market share and partnerships that will further catapult the tremendous social impact of the company while being underpinned by her steadfast commitment to always ensure that good customer service is aligned to unforgettable customer experience in companies.

Despite navigating the countless challenges along life’s pathway, Danzie-Black views herself as an evolving woman leader who is constantly learning and growing. Her dedication to the development of businesses, communities and people has been a guiding force in supporting the creation of several noteworthy initiatives.

During an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Danzie-Black expressed that one of these initiatives that she co-founded is the ‘25 Influential Women Leaders Award.’ Together with Michelle A. Nichols, they created a platform grounded on celebrating the invaluable work of women in local communities from different backgrounds. She revealed that the duo decided to let communities nominate women who they felt were deserving of the achievement.

“So, we are saying to the people, do you have a woman in your community who is leading and you want to nominate her, then do that” noted Danzie-Black.
She went on to point out that a total of 75 women to date have been awarded, despite the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic posed; resulting in the event being postponed in 2020. Additionally, she was instrumental in the launch of the ‘Women’s Leadership Programme’ that targets the awardees of the ‘25 Influential Women Leaders Award.’

“I wanted to celebrate women leaders in their own communities. I wanted to amplify the voices of women who were doing exceptional work,” she said. “We believe in our hearts leadership is not stagnant, it is a journey and it was important to create a programme where women can connect, share and grow in a sustainable way even after the tenure of the programme.”

Moreover, in 2019, Danzie-Black, along with Kerensa Gravesande-Bart, co-founded the Women’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry, which supports the empowerment and advancement of every woman and girl in the country.
Without a doubt, Danzie-Black is an immensely inspiring woman leader that continues to revolutionise the local business community.