April 10, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
Honorees Chosen for Excellence
By Susan Stiger
Copyright © 2008 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff WriterIt was a dorm-room dream of freshman idealism. Now it's an award-winning business that sounds as much like a nonprofit as a moneymaker.
Royalty Life Records, in its third self-sustaining year, finds musicians in underprivileged areas and brings them to Albuquerque to live, record and take a whack at their dream profession.
And for the way Lameck "Humble" Lukanga, Brandon Burnett and Will McMullen have made Royalty Life a viable, evolving business, they've earned a New Mexico Quality Award in the Piñon Recognition category for their beginning journey to performance excellence.
That means that they have met national standards for leadership, planning and results, among other criteria, said Quality New Mexico spokeswoman Colwyn Gullick.
"The awards are part of an entire process for educating organizations on internal quality improvement," she said. "It's the carrot at the end of the process."
Royalty Life and 19 other winners will be celebrated today and Friday during the 2008 Quality New Mexico Conference at the Albuquerque Convention Center.
McMullen, the senior vice president of operations at Royalty Life, said he and his friends propelled themselves forward on passion alone.
"We didn't know what we were doing," he said. "We were getting our business license in 2005, but we didn't know where. We went to Civic Plaza and went into the Department of Records. They told us to go next door to the library and read for a few years."
Now that Royalty Life has had some success, it doesn't have to search out potential clients anymore. "It's more of a filtering process," McMullen said. "People send us demos."
Just so you don't get the wrong idea: Yes, there is a lot of hip-hop. And no, hip-hop is not all about crime and violence. Royalty Life checks out applicants' age— they have to be at least 18— as well as criminal records and drug use.
"And they have to have a feasible product," McMullen said. "The creative arts have to be at a certain level."
Royalty Life also looks for the consent and blessing of the parents.
"It's hard to succeed if your parents aren't behind you," McMullen said. "Sometimes there are no parents."
Musicians live with members of Royalty Life's staff until they can afford to live on their own.
So far, their best-known client is Cooley Sha, a hip-hop artist who is giving their dream, and their operation, credibility.
"He has the whole Southwest region behind him," McMullen said. "He's opened doors for us with distribution and national talks with big labels."
The Quality New Mexico Conference and New Mexico Quality Awards Ceremony program this year includes a three-hour interactive session with Jim Collins, author of "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't" and "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies."
This year's Roadrunner honorees are: Bohannan Huston, Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union, Annunciation Catholic School, Holy Ghost Catholic School, Lubricar dba Jiffy Lube, and Mesa Mental Health.
This year's Piñon honorees are: French Family of Companies; Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division— White Sands Detachment; New Mexico Army National Guard— Detachment 4 (Medical Detachment); Northern New Mexico College, Española; Royalty Life Records LLC; Safer New Mexico Now; Santa Fe Community College; Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City; Western New Mexico University— Department of Business Administration and Economics; Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation in Española; Mosaic Architectural Solutions PA in Los Alamos; Entereza Inc. in Albuquerque; St. Joseph Community Health in Albuquerque; TLC Plumbing & Utility in Albuquerque; and University of New Mexico— Division of Human Resources in Albuquerque.
There were no Zia winners, the top category, this year.
"Every one of these organizations should be proud of their accomplishments as they continue on their Journey to Performance Excellence," Jeff Weinrach, director of the New Mexico Quality Awards, said in a statement.
The New Mexico Quality Awards are modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The awards process provides participating organizations with feedback on their strengths and their opportunities for improvement.
Visit the Quality New Mexico Web site for information about the New Mexico Quality Awards process— www.qualitynewmexico.org— or contact QNM at (505) 944-2001.
New Mexico Quality Awards
WHAT: 2008 Quality New Mexico Conference
WHEN: Today and Friday
WHERE: Albuquerque Convention Center
MORE INFO: www. qualitynewmexico.org