GENESIS AVIATION —
The Spirit of Resilience
By Lissandre Kenkel
Mari Lluhi is no stranger to adversity . Her family emigrated from Cuba to Miami , via Spain , when she was a child . She and her partner-to-be married in 1990 , and four years later , they moved their growing family to Greensboro , North Carolina , to escape escalating crime in Miami . Together they co-founded Genesis Aviation in 1994 . In the early years , they took out loans , kept the books themselves , and worked hard to grow the business . Lluhi comes from a family of entrepreneurs , and for her , a business is a business — there is no fear of failure . If it doesn ’ t work out , you start again .
Mari Lluhi
Co-founder — Genesis Aviation http :// www . genesisaviation . com
Genesis has been a part of the most aggressive and remarkable growth the aviation industry has ever seen . They have also experienced significant challenges over the past 26 years . The first substantial setback Genesis faced was 9 / 11 . One of the company ’ s two major accounts went bankrupt . Lluhi saw that the industry was in trouble , and this sparked her entrepreneurial spirit . She gathered her 30 employees and asked each of them for a list of actions the company could take .
48 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS