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Luma Brighter Learning, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, United States

Company: Luma Brighter Learning
Company Description: Luma Brighter Learning is a small (10-15) women-owned instructional design and learning company that was founded in 2008 on the premise that when people learn, their lives improve and so does society. https://learnwithluma.com/. Luma has been making big strides in a male-dominated industry despite being women-owned.
Nomination Category: Company/Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year – Business Products – More Than 10 Employees
2022 Stevie Winner Nomination Title: Luma Brighter Learning
  1. Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2020 of the nominated organization, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):

    Written answers to the questions
     
  2. If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the appropriate spaces below:
     
  3. Briefly describe the nominated organization: history and past performance (up to 200 words):

    Total 186 words used.

    Luma Brighter Learning is a small women-owned instructional design and learning company that was founded in 2008 on the premise that when people learn, their lives improve and so does society.  Since Luma entered into the trucking industry in 2018, we have a track record of showing measurable results with our eNugget®, or microlearning approach, despite being in a male-dominated industry.  Some highlights include:

    • 2021: Gold Best in Biz, Most Customer Friendly
    • 2021: Gold Titan, Production Innovation
    • 2021: Gold Stevie® Award, Most Innovative Small Company & Bronze for Company for a small <10 women-owned company
    • 2020: Silver Best in Biz, Product of the Year for Small or Medium Business Product of the Year
    • 2020: Gold Stevie® Award for Company of the Year in Consumer Products for a small <10 women-owned company
    • 2019: Gold Stevie®Award for the Company of the Year in Consumer Product the for a small <10 women-owned company

    This nomination will expand on our past performance to validate claims made that we are making the trucking industry safer. We have 12 employees and are in the process of hiring 2 more at the time of nomination.

  4. Outline the organization's achievements since July 1 2020 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):

    Total 245 words used.

    The National Safety Council reported that in 2020, 4,842 large trucks were involved in a fatal crash, a 33% increase since 2011 (NSC, 2022).  Our goal at Luma was to create a training technology that would have measurable results for the industry, which has been evidenced by claims in our previous years winnings (2019, 2020, & 2021, Stevie® Awards).  However, this nomination 2022 goes further by validation of a claim that Dart Transport reported in March 2021 that using our eNugget® Learning Management system had improved their safety scores with their safety advisers (Love, 2021).  
    Dr. Gina Anderson co-founder and CEO of Luma brings more than 20 years in the education field and is a researcher.  This claim interested her in exploring data to see if it could be validated. With permission of DART Transit, Dr. Anderson conducted a research study (See references).  
    With correlational statistics calculated, Luma found that for the six safety advisers, the combined safety score for all their drivers had significant correlation to the use of eNugget® assignments in Luma. With this research making a significant wave in the industry, at the time of nomination we have growing partnerships with insurance agencies, like Nationwide, recommending Luma’s eNuggets® as the recommended training to keep drivers safe.  In May of 2022, we launched a new product called Luma Emerge® in order rollout our learning methodology to 100 trucks or less so that we can help make any sized-carrier safer in the industry. 

  5. Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):

    Total 189 words used.

    Anderson, G., Luckow, R., Anderson, S. & Nordquest, E. (2022). Applying Cognitive Learning Strategies, Using eNuggets®, to Improve Safety Performance at Dart Transit Company.  This is the research we conducted in 2022 to validate claims that Luma helped improve safety of drivers in March 2021. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GPSOi8FYI-d78ffNUgsNo0el_4Ebko_M
    In this presentation from the 2022 Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) Annual Convention, Luma CEO Dr. Gina Anderson and VP of Safety, Training & Compliance at DART Transit Company, Randy Luckow, shared research demonstrating how to improve safety performance through cognitive learning strategies. https://learnwithluma.com/improving-your-overall-safety-performance/
    Love, K. (2021, March 2021).  Replay: Train and Retain: How Dart Keeps Drivers for the Long Haul This article captured Gary Faldin citing Luma as a reason for improvements of safety of drivers. https://tinyurl.com/54k8fm6j
    National Safety Council. (2022). Large Trucks. The NSC research supports the need to create technology and training to make the roads safer. https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/road-users/large-trucks/

    Here is a link to our full product listing that shows videos of both eNugget® Learning and Luma Emerge® https://learnwithluma.com/transportation/

    Here is a link to our news page: https://learnwithluma.com/news/

  6. Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the organization's past performance (up to 250 words):

    Total 250 words used.

    Trucking is a male-dominated industry.  It has been and still is very difficult to change a culture of the way training has been historically delivered. Training in the trucking industry has always been video, paper-based, and in a physical classroom. Learning research shows that these methods do not align with how people learn (Jonassen, 1999). The other training companies in the industry are owned and run by male CEOs. It has been very hard to sell a product when the other companies have long-standing connections with each other.  
    It has been four-long fought years of demonstrating how breaking content down into small bite-sized lessons with mixed mediums and the ability to use real-time analytics to make adjustments can and does make a difference.  Being an entrepreneur is grueling enough, but when odds are against a women CEO in a male-dominated industry. It takes persistence, the recognition from organizations like the Stevie®Awards, clients that experience the results, and research that shows what you built actually does work.  It takes a tribe!
    Today, we have insurance brokers paying attention.  I will leave you with this: We had a carrier call us and tell us that a driver’s truck was on fire.  He pulled over and put it out. When the police came and asked him how he knew how to do that…he said, “Luma’s eNugget® of course.” The carrier was happy because the police didn’t give him a ticket, the driver was happy, and Luma was happy because everyone was safe.

Attachments/Videos/Links:
Luma Brighter Learning
URL drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GPSOi8FYI-d78ffNUgsNo0el_4Ebko_M