LaKendria Robinson, 32

For LaKendria Robinson, the director of the Tampa Bay Super Bowl LV Host Committee’s Business Connect program, the pandemic has “been both a blessing and a curse.” The program was created to ensure local companies — particularly those at least 51% woman-, veteran- or minority-owned — are part of the bidding process for Super Bowl-related contracts. Super Bowl LV is scheduled to be played Feb. 7 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. 

One of the Business Connect program’s key mechanisms is networking — getting vendors in the same room, so they can potentially develop strategic business relationships that will endure long after the Super Bowl has left town. The COVID-19 crisis sacked those plans. 

“We haven't been able to physically meet with all of our vendors,” Robinson says. “The pandemic happened as soon as we selected our vendors.”