As Thanksgiving approaches, during a year that has been extremely tough for everyone, I wanted to take a moment to reflect upon all the things we at Stenograph can be thankful for. This year, we faced many unique challenges and had to adapt our thinking and operations to overcome these. We had to slowly and at times grudgingly accept the new realities of a COVID world. Through all of this, it is sometimes very easy to get pulled into all of the negativity. However, I believe that there is a lot of good out there as well, and it’s more important now than ever, to find the good to focus on. As such, I would like to personally share with you what I’m thankful for this year.

First and foremost, I am extremely thankful for our wonderful and loyal customers. Their support, even in the face of negativity and criticism on social media, gave us tremendous strength to pull through adversity.

Also, I am thankful to the entire Stenograph team. During the initial phase of the pandemic, we had to make some tough decisions to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic. However, the team stuck together and pulled through. Never did they ever waver from their commitment to work around the clock to serve our customers. I am equally thankful for the wonderful technology that allowed everyone in our company to work in a safe and socially distant manner through the worst periods of this global crisis. Without technology we wouldn’t have been able to connect and keep up the levels of our service to our customers.

I am thankful as well for the opportunities that have been presented to us to give back to the community. Particularly the steno community. This year, we committed to renewing the student scholarships for NCRA’s A-Z program as well as with Project Steno. In addition, I am thankful to the good folks at Project Steno for providing us with the opportunity to expand our long-term commitment to this praiseworthy, effective, and results oriented initiative. I am also personally thankful to the leadership of STAR, our user group, for their decision to expand the partnership between our organizations for the benefit of the court reporting industry.

And finally, I am extremely thankful to my family, friends, and colleagues for giving me their unhindered support through this difficult time, both personally and professionally.

If you haven’t taken a moment to think of what you’re thankful for this year, I encourage you to do that. I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! Please stay safe and healthy this holiday.