duGard Communications Presents

The Beat Won’t Stop: Gratitude Ceremony

Reginald D. Holt

If Innovative made me, Reginald Holt was the architect of my foundation.

If being smart was an art form, it’d look like Reggie Holt.

Several years ago, I worked for a bunch of guys. All Ques. And all wild. Wildly professional. Wildly fun. Wildly caring…and aggravating. And I loved it, we all did. It’s the bunch that Lee had me meet (and it was like I was on line). We’ve remained close and they’ve poured in to me on various legs of my journey…and that of others who were with us along the way. The entrepreneurial spirit, drive and environment of Innovative Recovery Services, Inc.(IRSI) was so infectious, but in those days we didn’t even really understand what they/we were accomplishing as a team.

They all were (and are) special. 

While Lee brought me in and was basically my brother, Reggie became my guy. He made it ok to be smart, he fostered it and held extremely challenging, higher standards and held interesting and thoughtful conversations with me…he was ridiculously smart and I think he was impressed (maybe proud) of the fact that I could keep up. I was, for all intents and purposes, a nerd too. We talked about marketing, strategy, analytics (before I realized that’s what it was) and I learned that he had memorized all of the zip codes in the area when he worked for UPS. It all made sense and was the perfect fit for a girl who never really fit in to suddenly have this intelligent cool dude (with an even more cool wife) talking stuff and spewing facts on a regular basis. 

I loved the environment and the freedom we had to get stuff done, but also have fun. When Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation of Lauryn Hill came out, I played it over and over and over again, in the office. He looked up one day and said, “Perri, if you play that one more time I think I will absolutely lose it.” So, I found headphones. When IRSI was in the log cabin I officed with him and Tony. One day a HUGE snake slithered across the rim of the wall close to the ceiling…I left the room unable to articulate what and why, leaving Reggie there…when I finally was able to say something to him, he ran out of that room so fast and was mad at me for not telling him…but quickly empathized with me too. And he’s been supporting me, even as far away as South Africa, ever since. 

Thank you Reggie for making it cool to be a cool nerd…