Member Spotlight: Lulu A. Carey Earns Blue Wave Platinum Badge
April 21, 2026
For Lulu A. Carey, New Jersey small business owner of Sweet Love and member of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, the journey to the Blue Wave Supplier Development Program graduation ceremony in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was neither accidental nor overnight. It was the result of years of preparation, two rigorous SHCCNJ training programs, and the kind of conviction that keeps a woman building and inspired when the road to growth.
The Blue Wave International Supplier Development Program is an independent, bilingual supplier development platform that partners with the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a national organization committed to advancing the economic growth and sustainability of Hispanic-owned businesses, to make the program available to USHCC members nationwide. Earning its Platinum Badge, the program's highest honor, places Carey among an elite cohort of suppliers recognized for their readiness to compete at the highest levels of American commerce.
A Foundation Built at the Chamber
Before the badge, there was the classroom. Carey is a graduate of two of SHCCNJ’s cornerstone entrepreneurial training initiatives — the Entrepreneurship Training Program (ETP) and the Level-Up Training Series, formerly known as the Hispanic Entrepreneur Training Program and the Latina Entrepreneur Training Series.
Together, the programs have produced over 1,400 graduates, cultivating and credentialing small business owners across New Jersey for years. The names have changed. The work has not.
SHCCNJ programs did exactly what they were designed to do: sharpen her business acumen, expand her professional network, and position her for the next level of growth. That next level came in the form of the Blue Wave Supplier Development Program.
What the Blue Wave Badge Means
Blue Wave's digital badge system was designed to do something the business world has long needed: make supplier excellence visible and verifiable. The Platinum Badge, the program's highest recognition, is not ceremonial. It is embedded with metadata documenting the qualifications earned and the process undertaken to achieve them, and it is verifiable in real time.
For small and mid-sized businesses competing for contracts with major corporations, that matters enormously. Large companies with formal supplier diversity and compliance requirements increasingly look for exactly this kind of credentialed verification when evaluating vendors. The badge is, in practical terms, a key, one that opens doors that were previously harder to unlock without it.
Carey understood that from the start. Her class ran from January through March, and when it was over, she had earned the Platinum Badge, the highest tier the program offers.
In Her Own Words
We reached out to Carey following her graduation, and she was generous in sharing what the experience meant to her. The pride in what she had accomplished was evident, as was the clarity with which she understood its significance.
"I am honored to be in Santa Fe for my graduation from the Blue Wave Supplier Development Program," she told us. "Earning my Blue Wave Platinum Badge is more than a milestone; it's a testament to hard work, perseverance, and believing in my vision."
As a Hispanic woman business owner representing New Jersey on a national stage, she reflected on the full arc of the journey. "This has been an incredible experience," she shared. "Hard work truly pays off." She was equally direct about the badge's practical value: it will serve her, she noted, para cuando me contraten compañías grandes que piden este tipo de certificación — when large companies that require this type of certification come calling.
They will.
A Word of Gratitude
Carey extended her thanks to both the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey for creating the pathway that made this possible. It is a gratitude the Chamber returns in kind.
SHCCNJ congratulates Lulu A. Carey on this extraordinary achievement. She is exactly who these programs were built for and exactly who they produce.
Lulu A. Carey is a member of the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey and a graduate of the Chamber's Entrepreneurship Training Program (ETP) and Level-Up Training Series. She is a recipient of the Blue Wave Platinum Badge from the Blue Wave Supplier Development Program. To learn more about SHCCNJ's training programs, visit [shccnj.org].
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