Academic excellence, an entrepreneurial spirit and family support have been the keys to success for Hannah Richardson ’24.
Born and raised in Ogdensburg, N.Y., Richardson was in the National Honor Society and Business Honor Society all four years of high school, and during her senior year at Ogdensburg Free Academy, she was recognized as a scholar athlete—a title bestowed upon the few students who maintain a grade-point-average over 90, while also competing as a three-season athlete. Richardson wanted to stay close to home when she graduated, and influenced by a strong connection with her family and a sense of uncertainty about her future, she remained in the North Country to pursue her undergraduate degree.
“I didn’t want to go to a school far away with no idea what I wanted to do with my future, and no idea what degree I wanted. I have also always been really close to my family and talk with them multiple times a day. So that was a big thing for me, I really wanted to have their support. I was originally commuting from home to school, and now I go to my parents’ house once a week for dinners,” Richardson said.
She first enrolled at SUNY Canton for their physical therapy program, switched to engineering technology, transferred to Clarkson University to try civil engineering, and then decided that a business degree from SUNY Potsdam was the best fit. “Out of the three schools I’ve been to, I’ve liked SUNY Potsdam the best. All my teachers have been great, and I made a lot of connections. I wanted to stay local, and it was a lot more cost-effective to go here than Clarkson for undergrad,” she said.
Richardson’s family has been instrumental in supporting her along her journey, as well as creating career opportunities for her within the family business. Leaning on her business classes from SUNY Potsdam, she has been working part-time for her parents’ company, H. Richardson & Sons and HRS Forestry, to help manage the finances within the business office. “I’m going to work with them when I graduate, but they needed someone part-time, so I have been doing their finances, putting the bills into QuickBooks, and handling the credit card charges. I knew how to use QuickBooks because of my accounting class here at Potsdam. That was nice to be able to do something while I’m in school,” she said.
The company, which has a division for forestry services and one for installing utility lines for companies like National Grid and Spectrum, has allowed Richardson to get real-world training with her business degree, while still in school. “My brother works for them as well as a lineman, and I work in the office. I’m super appreciative that I have this to fall back on. I’m excited to see how it goes and how everything plays out,” she said.
Entrepreneurship has always run in the family. When she was a senior in high school, Richardson launched her own business as an eyelash technician. Noticing a need for the service in Northern New York, with few certified technicians, she enrolled in a program in Montreal at the Diva Look Academy. “Once you learn the basics it’s just practicing. It’s such tedious work. It took me months to be confident enough in my work to post it online and ask people who weren’t my family or friends to come get their eyelashes done,” she said.
After receiving her certification and spending countless hours training, she started marketing her business online through social media. Throughout college, she has continued working as an eyelash technician to create an extra revenue stream to help pay for living expenses. Last year she decided to transition away from her side business with mounting responsibilities at the College and working for her parents’ business. “I was trying to do eyelashes, and work part-time for my parents, and go to school, and it was way too much. It’s always something I could go back to, once I’m working full-time for my parents, but right now I have enough going on,” she explained.
Now a senior at SUNY Potsdam in the Department of Business Administration, Richardson has maintained her stellar academic trajectory, landing on the President’s List last semester, and carrying a 3.7 GPA through her final semester. Her professors have continued to lay the foundation for her business career, notably interactive courses with Dr. Edwin Portugal like Entrepreneurship, Business Ethics, and now Strategic and Global Management. "Dr. Portugal’s classes are super hands-on, which helps you retain information. His classes are my favorites. If I have an opportunity to fit it in my schedule and it covers some type of requirement that I need, I always take his classes,” she said.
This summer, Richardson will be building on her experiences from her business degree as she begins a paid internship at Gray and Gray, an accounting firm in Canton. “They’re the accounting firm that my parents use, so it’s all connected. I really just wanted to learn more about accounting and finance,” she said. “Being from around here, and then going to school here, has allowed me to make a lot of connections.”
In the Fall of 2024, she will be enrolling in Clarkson’s MBA program after a seamless application process due to a relationship between the two colleges. “Clarkson does direct admission into their MBA program if you have a 3.5 or higher where you don’t need recommendations and you don’t need an essay. So that was one of my goals, that I wouldn’t have to take the test or do the whole application process. I just bypassed that with good grades. I received a $3,000 scholarship just for coming from SUNY Potsdam to Clarkson,” Richardson said.
As she wraps up her final semester, she is looking ahead to a rewarding career in finance, working as an integral part of the family business, while drawing the principles learned in her classes at SUNY Potsdam. She will also cherish the friendships she’s developed over the past few years. “I had a great time here and I’ve met a lot of great friends, a bunch of people that I will talk to for the rest of my life,” she said. “And a lot of them grew up 30 minutes from me, which is crazy that I never would have met them without coming to SUNY Potsdam.”
Article and Photos by Jason Hunter