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Education

StreetSmarts SM

Dee Karawadra
Emily Karawadra

Let's journey the payments road together

By Dee and Emily Karawadra To go back and read some of my old articles is interesting.
Impact PaySystem I can see how my perspective has changed from then, at
seven years in the business, to now, with18 years under
my belt. I have made mistakes, in some cases have learned
Editor's note: In our March 25 issue, Steve Norell signed off as Street
Smarts author by sharing several things he's learned through decades from them, and I have grown from those mistakes.
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of experience in the business. We appreciate his service and hope he We hope to have discussions about sales, technology,
interchange, cash discount, fintech (probably wasn't a
will pen further articles occasionally, as time allows. And with this, our word in 2007), EMV, and much more.
April 8, issue, we are delighted to welcome Emily and Dee Karawadra.
Each specializes in different areas of the business; combined they are an The sign off I used the first time I authored Street
incomparable force with much to share in terms of how to find oppor- Smarts was safari njem, which means safe journey in
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tunity amid the myriad, ongoing changes in the dynamic payments Swahili, the language of Tanzania, where I was born.
sphere. Personable, hard working, willing to try new things, and all-in Our goal in writing articles is to assist those on their own
when it comes to their commitments, they are well prepared to inform journey in building their book of business. If we can make
and inspire you in the coming year. a merchant level salesperson's (MLS's) life a little easier
by sharing our thoughts on how to handle some of the
Following Street Smarts tradition, Dee and Emily Karawadra, intro- bumps along the way, that's what it's all about.
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duce themselves to you in their inaugural column as a writing team.
Some of you will remember Dee from when he took his first turn as this There are many types of partnerships; however, the
column's author from April 2007 through March 2008. partnership I have is unique. My partner and I eat, sleep,
muck horse stalls, mow the yard, run Impact PaySystem,
A note from Dee and play Mom and Dad together. It's only fitting that we
write articles together, too. Those who know me know the
am so thrilled to be writing the Street Smarts truth is Emily helped me the last time around when I was
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articles again. Kate Gillespie, president and CEO of trying to put into words my experiences.
The Green Sheet, and I were having a discussion at
I the Western States Acquirers Association's annual Emily has 25 years of experience in the payments
meeting regarding the days when I authored Street industry, as she had her start in the business in 1994, six
Smarts . I was reminiscing about how rewarding it was. I years before I got in. She worked her way from being a
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was forced to learn about topics and have lengthy discus- chargeback clerk at Concord EFS (First Data), to director of
sions with readers at tradeshows and via emails, phone financial institution inside sales, to being on the front line
calls and on the MLS Forum. Kate asked if we (my wife, selling Star Network Services to financial institutions.
Emily, and I) were interested in writing Street SmartsSM Then she left First Data to join me in building our own
together. Without hesitation, we said yes. ISO – after I convinced her this venture was not going to
be like the Pak Mail franchise I'd had. (That was 12 years
prior.) Obviously, she is my backbone personally and
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