[caption id="attachment_217505" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Lexus, Nicole and Tom Walsh. | DBT PHOTO BY LUIGI CIUFFETELLI[/caption] Founded: 2003 Generations: Three Employees: 16 When it comes to the indoor spaces people work, play and live in, companies like Wilmington-based Beyond by Aerus are there so people don’t have to worry whether their environment is safe. “All of our company is built around providing the highest quality environmental care,” company co-owner Nicole Walsh said. “It all ties together.” In 2003, Nicole’s husband Tom had an opportunity to become franchisor of an Aerus Electrolux store he managed, where he had started off selling vacuums door-to-door in the late 1990s. Six years later, Nicole, a former retail district manager, joined the team to kickstart a new offset of the business driven by the company’s ActivePure technology that uses oxidizers to kill viruses, bacteria and mold. Combined, their family-owned business now provides people with environmental solutions for clean air, water and surfaces in all indoor spaces. As the pandemic drove a frenzy for personal protective equipment such as sanitizers, and COVID-19 claimed lives around the world, the Beyond by Aerus team was able to donate service equipment to a local nursing home in dire need: Little Sisters of the Poor. The business also donated equipment and sanitizers to other area health care providers and police officers. It continues to offer services at no charge to help nonprofits like the Sunday Breakfast Mission with events like their annual Thanksgiving Feast. “We have something that’s very helpful, that’s proven, that’s effective. We’ve been honored to do a lot of the things we were able to do in the last year,” Nicole said. “You just do the best you can every moment.” During this challenging time, they expanded their customer base and opened a new location in Rehoboth Beach while also directly helping stop the spread of the virus through their environmental services. When the husband-and-wife duo teamed up, they truly invested in themselves. Training and certifications, ramping up outreach to customers and networking locally helped them navigate a new brand image for their combined efforts. In 2010, Tom Walsh Sr. joined as the service manager. In 2018, the couple’s daughter, Lexus, joined as the marketing coordinator. In just five years, together they grew the business from a six-member team with one location to a two-location company with more than a dozen employees and $2 million in annual volume.