French degree translates into a thriving business

Crystal Sauls' job keeps her on her toes. Once, she was asked to translate tattoos gracing some Navy recruits.

The entrepreneurial streak and vision of Crystal Sauls (B.A. '05/H&S) emerged early on. While attending classes at Virginia Commonwealth University, she turned her self-described modest piano-playing skills into a thriving operation offering piano lessons to kids.

Sauls, a French major with a general business minor, also loved languages and wanted to incorporate that interest into her own business. In 2004, a class assignment brought her one step closer to that goal.

As part of an international marketing course, taught by VCU professor Van Wood, Ph.D., the Philip Morris Chair in International Business, Sauls and her classmates prepared a business plan.

"We traveled around to major corporations in Richmond," Sauls says. "They taught us how they did business."

While some students prepared hypothetical plans, Sauls modeled hers on the company she hoped to create.

"I wanted to have the real plan ready for whenever that would happen," she says.

Soon after graduation, Sauls International launched with Sauls as its president and CEO.

The Richmond, Va.-based company, located near historic Church Hill and Shockoe Bottom, offers translation and interpretation services in more than 60 languages. In 2007, the company was honored as the Virginia Home-based Business Champion of the Year. Not bad for someone who has never been overseas and who says when she first arrived at VCU, "I was so bad at French, I had to start all over," Sauls says.

Sauls employs three family members and uses a network of nearly 70 translators and interpreters. She handles the business side of things, including developing new client relationships. Most of Sauls' current customers are law, real estate and insurance firms, but she has diligently cultivated government clients because of the steady work and large scope of the projects.

"That has been my goal, and it's really starting to work," she says.

Her company works on a variety of projects, from business plans to translation to culture training. Among the more colorful assignments was a project for the Chesterfield County U.S. Navy Recruiting Office. The office asked Sauls International to translate the tattoos of some of its recruits.

"They took pictures and e-mailed them to us, and we had to translate the body tattoos," Sauls says. "They were usually names or some sort of special phrase — nothing derogatory — on lots of arms and maybe a back."

Sauls' business savvy brought her back to VCU in 2007 as a speaker for her former international marketing class. She talked to the students about how she got her business off the ground and how they could do the same.

"I was on the other side of the room this time doing the presentation," Sauls says. "It was exciting. I told the students that it was a great class to get them started if they used it right."

Keeping in touch with Wood and other professors is a priority for Sauls.

"They know what's going on," she says. "They are professionals in their industry and folks coming up in business need to talk to those who are already skilled and established. That's what I do."

Photo credit: Kevin Garland, Garland Photography