Carmen Rad
President, CR&A Custom, Inc.

Carmen Rad, President of CR&A Custom, Inc., is the only minority- and woman-owned, large-format digital printer and outdoor advertising company in America with the full-service capability to design, print, manufacture and install all types of printed commercial signage and outdoor advertising formats, including biodegradable billboards, building wraps, traditional billboards, transit ads, trade show exhibits, point-of-purchase displays, wall/window/floor graphics, and vehicle wraps and/or fleet graphics, among others.

About 15 years ago, Carmen took the first step – albeit a hard one – on the road to entrepreneurial success. Frustrated by not getting compensated fairly for the collection she developed for her employer, a garment industry distributor, and feeling she’d never have the opportunity to work as more than an assistant to the men who stayed in the field for years, she struck out on her own.

Still in her 20s, Carmen started CR&A Custom out of her home with just two employees, using her background in fashion design and marketing to produce custom clothing, embroidery work and promotional items. With no outside funding, and no equity to secure a loan, she turned over income received to make more purchases and meet payroll.

Today CR&A Custom operates out of a new 25,000-square-foot facility in downtown Los Angeles, with 29 full-time employees and annual revenues of about $2.5 million. Now specializing in large-format digital printing, the firm works with major corporations across the United States, as well as in Puerto Rico and Dubai. Showcasing its market leadership as an eco-friendly firm, CR&A Custom recently manufactured its first environmentally friendly biodegradable banners, using inks and equipment to create a fully “green” printing process.

For the firm’s accomplishments, in 2007 the U.S. Department of Commerce named CR&A Custom “Manufacturer of the Year.” The company also earned the “Latina Business of the Year” honor from the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, as well as the “International Interior Design Association Award” for a wallpaper mural.

While her business grows, Carmen also gives back to the community, donating banners and embroidery work to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the Boys & Girls Club of Hollywood, the Muscular Dystrophy Association in Puerto Rico and several other organizations.