Commercial Integrator June 2022 - 43

C llab rati n
TODAY and TOMORROW
He sees companies hammering
salespeople to primarily
focus on order-taking, rather
than doing what is truly
needed - namely, process
building and problem-solving.
Maltese draws a great
parallel between this and
patent, for the Talk-Thru unit,
shortly after joining. (That's
a microphone you still see
at any ticket window in the
New York subway system.)
Some 52 years later, Maltese
is director emeritus of AQAV,
The Association for Quality
in Audiovisual Technology.
AQAV is a non-profit
organization dedicated to
improving the operational
art of designing and installing
audiovisual technology.
That's something Maltese
has been enthusiastic about
for his entire career. He
advocates that, without the
proper processes in place,
you cannot be successful
and, even more importantly,
profitable.
Maltese believes there are
lessons to be learned in processes
that he feels are truly
an art. He also believes that
what we accomplish working
in the AV community has nobility.
We are hired to use our
skills to help people communicate.
If we perform our
job well, we should feel good
about our work and what we
contribute to our projects.
Maltese understands that
business today is different
from the '70s. Both projects
and profits back then were
negotiated and not put out
to bid to the masses. This
allowed company growth to
be exponential year after year.
commercialintegrator.com
a quote from the movie
" Tomorrowland " : " There are
two wolves who are always
fighting. One is darkness
and despair. The other is
light and hope. The question
is: Which wolf wins? The one
you feed. " If you are constantly
growth-focused but
don't develop good business
processes, your business
will not sustain. You need to
feed both.
Mario Maltese, in our eyes,
is a real " father of AV. " When
he started TSI in New York, he
had over 90 employees. After
TSI closed, those employees
went on to pursue careers as
leading AV integrators and
owners of successful consulting
firms. Their bond remains
strong to this day.
Culture was always important
to Maltese. He would
seek out the employees
with ingenious ideas and
publicly praise them. " Grow
the individual and you grow
your whole company, " he
preached as a business owner.
Maltese thinks that firms
are seeing high turnover
rates because they are not
following that simple rule.
The year 2027 will mark 100
years since the release of the
movie " The Jazz Singer. " That
was the first feature-length
movie with synchronized
dialogue, and Maltese marks
this as the official birth of AV.
Maltese has plans to release
his lessons learned by that
date for future generations
to learn from.
Connect with Mario
Maltese via LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/mariomaltese-805351a1
Diversity
Spotlight
Jenn Steinhardt,
associate, Shen Milsom
& Wilke
Jenn Steinhardt never
planned to have AV be her
career. She saw herself in a
media/journalism career, with
a focus on corporate communication.
She received a
bachelor's degree in media
arts and design from James
Madison, as well as a master's
in sociology from the New
School. With student debt
looming, Steinhardt needed
to seek full-time work - and,
thus, she entered AV.
Five years later, Steinhardt
is moving up the ladder.
Currently, she is an associate
at global AV consultant Shen
Milsom & Wilke out of New
York City.
Steinhardt's best known by
her Twitter handle,
@NerdyGirlAV, and embraces
her " nerdiness " with open
arms. And, in fact, that is
not all she embraces about
herself. She is part of the
neurodiverse community.
Neurodivergence is the term
for when someone's brain
processes, learns and/or
behaves differently from what
is considered " typical. " Steinhardt
speaks openly about
her Tourette's, ADHD, autism,
depression and sensory
processing disorder, and she
posts informative YouTube
videos to help identify the
stigmas associated with
these conditions.
" No one should ever feel
ashamed of their invisible
diversity. Everyone deserves a
chance of employment, " says
Steinhardt. And, she says, she
uses her diversity as her AV
superpower. She notices details,
and she thinks of things
differently than most would.
In fact, she can hear higher
pitches than most seasoned
audio consultants can.
When asked what she
wants people to think about
her, Steinhardt states, " That I
know my stuff and that I get
things done. " She wants us in
the AV community to be kind
and strong, and to remember
that we are not alone when
navigating through our life
and facing challenges.
Steinhardt loves the outdoors
and being a mom for
her two cats, Autumn and Roy.
Connect with Jenn Steinhardt
via LinkedIn: www.
linkedin.com/in/jsteinhardt,
Twitter: @NerdyGirlAV,
Instagram: @nerdygirlav.
Marla Suttenberg is partner
with Sapphire Marketing.
Lainie Mataras is director,
consultant, architect, design
group, with Planar.
JUNE 2022 Commercial Integrator 43
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mario http://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhardt http://www.commercialintegrator.com
Commercial Integrator June 2022

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