SUSAN PILATO | Owner and principal, PC&A Business Environments; CEO, Mantra Inspired Furniture

At the age of 5, Susan Pilato knew she wanted to own her own business. She realized that goal at the age of 25, when she and Donna Counts launched what is now known as PC&A Business Environments, a commercial furniture dealership and interior design business based in Norfolk.

A new opportunity presented itself with a business client that insisted on its office desks being made of wood. When the desk manufacturer they had used closed, Pilato couldn’t find another option.

“We discovered that no other commercial manufacturer produced genuine solid wood furniture,” Pilato says. “Our only alternatives were wood veneer over particle board or medium-density fiberboard.”

In 2018, Mantra Inspired Furniture was born. The company sells sustainable, solid wood furniture that is made in America.

Pilato sits on the advisory council of NeoCon, the leading annual event for the commercial design industry. This summer, Pilato joined the board of Business + Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association, the governing body for North America’s commercial furniture industry.

Pilato is also active in the community. Among other work, she is vice chair for the Norfolk Airport Authority. She sits on the board of Envision Lead Grow, a Norfolk-based nonprofit that encourages women to be entrepreneurs, and co-hosted a podcast with the nonprofit’s founder, Angela Reddix.

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