Stephanie Y. Drake, President of Drake Incorporated, Featured in MBE Magazine, a Successful Woman-Owned Construction Firm at the Smithsonian

Washington, DC, January 31, 2010 --(PR.com)-- When you flip through the pages of the current issue of MBE (Minority Business Enterprise) Magazine you will find an article about how the world’s largest educational and research institute and museum complex, the Smithsonian Institution, is preserving history while enhancing the future for M/WBEs. Simultaneously, you will see the vital face behind some of the Smithsonian’s most visible construction projects: a woman who is making both headlines and history.

Like fellow business woman Indra Nooyi, now Chairman and CEO of Pepsi Co., Stephanie Y. Drake has faced her share of challenges in a white-male dominated industry. However, as president of Drake, Incorporated (http://www.drake-inc.com), a minority woman-owned construction and real estate services firm, she has been able to consistently defy the odds including turning a small $10,000 contract to build a partition wall at the Museum of Natural History into a five-year, multimillion-dollar relationship.

“Drake has proven to be a successful African-American woman-owned construction firm at the Smithsonian,” says Rudy D. Watley, Supplier Diversity Program Manager in the Office of Equal Employment & Minority Affairs at the Smithsonian Institution.

Drake has completed noteworthy projects such as:
• $6 million in IDIQ contracts with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for construction related projects throughout the agency’s campus;
• A $2.7 million museum renovation at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History;
• A $1.2 million design/build contract with the Washington Navy Yard for the Navy’s JAG Trial Office.

To view the digital edition:
www.drake-inc.com/news/DrakeSmithsonian_MBEfeature.pdf

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About Stephanie Y. Drake, Drake, Incorporated, and MBE Magazine:
Stephanie Y. Drake is the Founder and President of Drake Incorporated, a DC-based construction and real estate services firm focused on delivering fully-integrated services to federal, state and local public agencies and the private sector. Drake is a member and past President of the DC chapter of African American Real Estate Professionals, Inc. (AAREP), and a member of the District of Columbia Building Industry Association (DCBIA).

Drake, Incorporated, (http://www.drake-inc.com) is a HUBZone, LSDBE/CBE, MDOT and MBE-certified African-American woman-owned general contracting, construction management and real estate services firm participating in its sixth year of the SBA 8(a) Program. Drake has performed on a number of multi-million dollar contracts and secured long term relationships with prominent organizations, such as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the Pentagon, Baltimore City Community College and the Washington Navy Yard.

MBE Magazine (http://www.mbemag.com) is published by Minority Business Entrepreneur and serves as a nationwide forum for minority and women business owners, corporations and government agencies concerned with minority enterprise development. Each issue features the success story of a prominent minority or female entrepreneur whose life and accomplishments may serve as a role model for others.