Employee Spotlight
Monique Llanos
Senior Proposal Manager, Catapult Headquarters
Monique Llanos has a Proposal for You
Monique Llanos cannot stand a lazy lifestyle. That’s why she came back to the Washington, DC area after a two-year stint in South Florida several years ago.
“A couple weeks of going to South Beach are enough,” she says. But just as quickly, she adds, “I need a warm climate. I can do without the snow in DC!”
Work-life balance is important to Monique. And because she occasionally puts in 12-hour days in her position as a senior proposal manager at Catapult, she likes the diversity of activities available in DC.
As senior proposal manager, Monique came to Catapult in January 2008 from the Washington federal practice of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, where she managed the proposal process.
Catapult’s small Proposal Department participates in roughly 100 to 125 proposal efforts a year. Many of these go through a full proposal lifecycle, which can be anywhere from two weeks to a month before a final response is due to the government.
Monique prefers to work on one proposal at a time but has become expert at juggling several simultaneously. In 2009, she supported about 36 proposals.
Monique manages a lot of different aspects of the proposal process. She conducts requirements analysis, develops compliance matrices, manages data calls, organizes and conducts all internal proposal team reviews, and even writes some content, plus much more.
Clearly, she likes to stay busy.
Born in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, Monique and her family moved to the suburban Washington area when she was in high school. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Maryland at College Park in 1991, and then spent eight years in the marketing and public relations department at C-SPAN before her move to South Florida.
When she’s not working, Monique likes traveling, so she’s able to find that warm climate every now and then.
She also enjoys quality time with friends and family. But one thing she enjoys, which uses her journalism background, is researching and writing about products for her beauty blog, Penny’s Penchant.
“My friends gave me the nickname Penny the Product Princess because of my penchant for all things related to beauty,” says Monique with a laugh.
It’s safe to say a good part of Catapult’s new business success rests with Monique. There may not be enough hours in the day for her to accomplish all that she wants, but rest assured she’ll be filling as much of that time as she can.
Check out Monique’s blog at pennyspenchant.blogspot.com!
