In 1989 George Herbert Walker Bush was inaugurated as the 41st President of the United States, Steffi Graf defeated Martina Navratilova in the Wimbledon final, and Lou Lopez was hired to answer the phone at a little company called Truaire.

For the past 23 years Lou has been the backbone to a company in constant change. From the earliest days of being the only register made overseas to becoming the 2nd largest register company in the United States, Lou was the one true stabilizing feature. The only voice most people knew during those first years was Lou’s short, to the point, Spanish accent.

I met Lou Lopez in 1997. She sat behind a low wooden wall at an old wooden desk in an old run down office in Vernon, California. Lou was the only employee in the office.

For 23 years now, it has been Lou’s rock solid, consistent, and ever-dependable presence anchoring this company. The one thing you could count on, more than any other, was and is Lou. And the incredible thing about Lou is her level of consistently caring about whatever she is doing. Every order, every customer, every phone call, no matter how big, or how small, Lou is on it, and won’t let go until its resolved.

I remember so clearly all the times I would hang up the phone with Lou, knowing that no matter what situation she and I had just talked about, it was handled. I could forget about it and move on to the next thing. Every time. To this day, if I want something done, and I don’t want to have to think about it again later … I ask Lou to do it for me.

Truaire has the reputation for the finest, most reliable Customer Service in the industry. It is more than safe to say that this company’s reputation is the direct result of Lou Lopez caring about what she does, and teaching every employee spanning more than two decades to care about it too.

When you get a chance, the next time you call Truaire, please ask to speak with Lou, and tell her thank you for just being herself.