"Construction can sometimes be dirty work. Fortunately, there are companies like Sparkling Clean Cleaning Services and Carpet Care, LLC to keep things . . . well, sparkling clean.

Viviana N. Harvey started her business in 2005 and has certifications for Disadvantage Business Enterprise (DBE) and Minority/Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE). Sparkling Clean provides janitorial carpet and upholstery cleaning for municipalities, counties and state facilities.

"We don't move the dirt," Viviana likes to say, "we remove the dirt."

As the public has become more aware of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) protocols, Viviana's company has been aligned with following the agency's strict sanitation and disinfecting guidelines for the past 15 years. "We clean from the ceiling to the floor straight out the door," Viviana tells us. "If we can’t clean it, you need to throw it away!"

The ongoing pandemic has created new challenges for the Sparkling Clean team, but Viviana says that she always strives to provide a safe, secure and healthy environment for her staff and provide peace of mind to all her clients. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Viviana is excited to be part of such a large project in her hometown. She's also grateful to be working with FKTP JV and their ongoing support to a small business like hers. It's rewarding, Viviana explains, to clean for people who value her work and her employees as much as she does.

How did M.A.D. Transportation, Inc. get its name? Like the company itself, it's all about family. The "A" stands for Allen Corona, the founder of the company, while the "M" and "D" stand for his daughter, Mia, and wife, Denise.

The firm was officially founded in 2012 by Allen and began doing truck broker and dispatch work in 2015. Allen first started driving trucks right after high school, working for his father. Now, Allen's dad is a subhauler at his son's company. Again, keeping it all in the family.

The employees at M.A.D. Transportation are their own family. In addition to Allen, there is Michelle Rikard (Controller), Sheryl Baca (Trucking Compliance) and Heather Dalton (Certified Payroll). According to Michelle, everyone at the company works together toward a common goal, taking after the company's founder and president.

"Allen came from humble beginnings and grew his company by treating people fairly," she says. "It says a lot about who he is."

That kind of reputation is important for a growing small business. M.A.D. Transportation worked on Section 1 of the Purple Line Extension for Metro and is working with Frontier-Kemper on a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) project. This previous track record helped them earn their current scope of work on the Section 3 Tunnels project.

Allen's company hauls soil and other materials away from the excavation site. They coordinate with truck owner/operators that make up to four trips per day hauling truckloads of dirt. M.A.D. Transportation's subhaulers are an incredibly vital part of the company and Allen knows he would not be able to do what he does without them. When the TBMs begin their tunneling journey later this year, Allen estimates there may be as many as 80 trucks working at a time!

Being a trucking broker and dispatcher requires a lot of oversight to ensure compliance is being met. So to anyone interested in entering this line of work, or starting a small business that participates in large scale projects like this, M.A.D. Transportation recommends learning as much as you can, understanding all job requirements and reaching out to seasoned veterans whenever possible. "Don't be afraid to grow," Michelle advises, "and reach for opportunities, knowing that there are people to help along the way."

This team has certainly been able to rely on each other. After all, they're family.