Samia Bingham

About Samia Bingham

With a passion for real estate and a talent for re-envisioning commercial spaces, Samia Bingham serves as the Founder and CEO of Flavors™, a food start-up incubator is affectionately known as the Culinary Hub for the Culture™. Flavors™ has made its mark on the community by positioning countless culinary entrepreneurs to realize their dreams of operating a thriving food and beverage business. An award-winning entrepreneur, Samia has made it her mission to improve access and opportunities to underserved business owners with food and beverage brands in Black, Indigenous and people of color communities. A fierce advocate for marginalized culinary entrepreneurs, Samia developed Flavors™ to deliver the resources individuals need to successfully launch, grow and scale their food and beverage brands. At Flavors™, culinary entrepreneurs gain access to shared commercial kitchen workspaces, government and corporate contract opportunities, and a supportive, close-knit community. The eldest child of five and raised by an amazing single mother, Samia learned early on about the doors that education can open for her, her family, and the community. She invests in herself to create opportunities for others – inspiring and empowering entrepreneurs to use their talents to create the life they want – and leave a powerful legacy of hope and change in the places that need it the most. With an unwavering commitment to “making it happen,” Samia left her comfortable government job to pursue entrepreneurship full-time in 2017. She opened an executive and event coworking space for small businesses in that same year. In 2019, she won a $25K grant from The UPS Store and INC Magazine Small Business Challenge Competition, where Shark Tank investor Robert Herjavec served as a judge. Today, Samia runs the first-ever local culinary incubator in Prince George’s County, Maryland, which opened in November 2021. An in-demand speaker, Samia is well-versed in a number of compelling topics including preparing for, securing, and managing government and corporate contracts, and the creative utilization of commercial real estate to meet the needs of local communities. Samia is always seeking opportunities to network and collaborate with corporate brands, government agencies, business, and community leaders to contribute to the impact and access to underserved brands worldwide. Let\'s connect!

Experience

1. Senior Acquisition and Contracts Manager

   Flavors

   Feb 2014 — Present · Washington, DC, US

   A division of Flavors, LLC, The Contracts Lounge mission is to enhance the professional offerings of our contracts and program management services. Staffed by a team of highly skilled and certified Contracts Specialists and Contracting Officers hailing from several of the top government agencies and corporations. The Contracts Lounge division has a specific niche in supporting clients in construction, architecture and engineering, facility services, and food service management in redefining how to meet and exceed the expectations of their end-user needs, desires, and interests. We provide a holistic focus to exceed client expectations; delivered on-time and on-budget. Focused on performance-based contract management by thoroughly examining active processes and systems and developing cost reduction strategies to support mission and organizational transformation efforts. Supports the pre and post-acquisition planning and administration stages for portfolio management of new services, commodities, real estate, construction, A&E, food and beverage services. Successfully develop processes to build full contract management teams. Supporting government officials in performing technical, management, past performance and price/cost evaluations during source selections. Performing as the senior subject matter experts to design and implement solutions leveraging the knowledge, skills and expertise gained as a DAWIA Level certified Contract Specialist. Provide organizational redesign and mission support optimization, process improvement, performance management, strategy development, transformation and change management.

Education

• University of Maryland Global Campus

  Master of Science - MS, Purchasing, Procurement/Acquisitions and Contracts Management

  2010 — 2012

• Weichert Real Estate School

  Maryland Real Estate Principles and Practices, Real Estate

  2005 — 2005

• Bowie State University

  Bachelor of Business Administration - BBA, Business, Management, and Marketing

  2003 — 2007

• University of Maryland College Park

  Master of Science (M.S.), Purchasing, Procurement/Acquisitions and Contracts Management

  2008 — 2011

• Bowie State University

  Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.), Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services

  2002 — 2007

• Defense Acquisition University

  DAWIA Level III

  2015