From Inc. — The Way I Work: Jamie Latshaw of Lexicon
Last Updated on Monday, 28 March 2011 08:45 Written by spence Monday, 28 March 2011 08:45
Mom on a Mission Jamie Latshaw needs quiet time to work on military contracts. That doesn't mean she gets it. Photo by Amanda Marsalis.
As told to Lisa Welch — Jamie Latshaw is a stay-at-home mom. She also runs one of the fastest-growing companies in America.
Before they are deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, many U.S. troops get a cultural crash course from Lexicon. The El Cajon, California-based company provides translators and interpreters for the military, helps create military training sites designed to look like Middle Eastern villages, and provides native speakers to act out various roles in those villages. CEO Jamie Latshaw, a West Point graduate who spent eight years in the Army, founded Lexicon in 2005 with her husband, Leroy, a retired Army helicopter pilot who recently started his own company. Lexicon, which has 50 full-time employees and annual revenue of $14 million, landed in the No. 4 spot on last year’s Inc. 500, with three-year growth of more than 14,000 percent.
Although the company has two offices—one in El Cajon and the other in Vienna, Virginia—Latshaw, 35, works from her home in Stevenson Ranch, California. The arrangement lets her spend more time with her two children, James, 4, and Leah, 1. During the day, Latshaw schedules conference calls around trips to preschool. She often works late into the night, writing proposals so the company can land more government contracts.
I feel so blessed that I am able to stay home and be with my kids every day, even though they’re constantly barging into the office while I’m working and spilling juice on my laptop. It’s nice to be able to stop what I’m doing and help with a puzzle or look at an art project my son wants to show off. I know there will come a day when I will wish they were taking my hand, wanting me to play.
In the morning, I basically have a human alarm clock. Around 7 a.m., I hear Leah calling, “Mommy!” through the baby monitor. My husband, Leroy, meanwhile, has usually been up since 5 a.m. and had three conference calls by then. He recently launched his own company, GT Training, which handles tactical training for the military.
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