After moving from Florida to Chattanooga in 2013, Aubrey fell in love with the community and the people who call it home. That is what sparked her interest in real estate; being able to connect the people she has come to love with the town she adores. The core of her business is beyond contracts and transactions. It's about connecting, creating and fostering a community.

Video: https://youtu.be/mX6hSH2qRxo

The Rev. Claire Brown is a priest, writer, retreat facilitator, partner, and mama. She serves as Associate Rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Her writing focuses on the connections between the Eucharist, transformative spiritual practice, and community ethics. Claire is a graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity School, the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, and the School of Theology at Sewanee.

Video: https://youtu.be/rHJPhZ_qyYY

Video: https://youtu.be/IgxeM8LOYKs

Lakweshia Ewing lives and breathes education and learning. As professional business and educational consultant she holds multiple degrees in Psychology, Education and Organizational Leadership. Ewing has more than 18 years in program design, organizational strategy, project management and evaluation, group dynamics, team building and community coalition building, she has become a notable force in the realms of the education, faith based, business start-up and nonprofit sectors procuring over 10 million dollars in local, state and federal grants for educational programs and organizational development projects. She is a founding member of the Sankofa Fund for Civic Engagement, an African American giving circle which is focused on projects targeting African Americans in the Chattanooga area. This giving circle was recently recognized by both the Association of Fundraising Professionals as the Corporate Philanthropist of the Year as well as The Urban League of Greater Chattanooga Whitney M Young Community Service.

Lakweshia has personally received many notable awards, recognitions and certifications, such as Harvard University Young American Leader Award, Urban League Small Business of the Year recipient, Chattanooga Tennessee Top 20 under 40 young leaders award, International COGIC Achievers “Top 20 Under 40,” University of Pennsylvania Research Scholars Award,  City of Memphis Award of Merit, Footprints Foundation Community Leader Award, National Next City Vanguard class member and the Stanford University Design Thinking certification.  As an international evangelist, facilitator and speaker, she has been featured in Huffington Post, Washington Post and several other notable media publications.

She is married and resides in Chattanooga with her loving husband, Mr. Julian Ewing. The happy couple have no children of their own but are the proud guardians of her younger brothers, Fredrick Tibbs, Jr., and Emerson Tibbs.

Video: https://youtu.be/hjSQ3pU7Qu4

Luis Contreras is from Caracas, Venezuela. He is married to Gisela Bellina and has two girls, Valentina and Ariana. He has lived in The United States for 17 years now and three of those here in Chattanooga. He owns and operates The Local Juicery and Kitchen on Main St., Local Paletas, and Squeaky Clean. 

Video: https://youtu.be/2ygtMDBBEV8

Tim Kelly is a Chattanooga entrepreneur with a passion for community. He grew up working in his family’s automobile business, and after attending university in New York, returned to Chattanooga to run the family dealerships. Tim went on to start several other dealerships, including Southern Honda Powersports, the world’s largest volume store of its kind, as several other businesses in the automotive and hospitality industries. He is also an investor in several other local businesses, and has also taught as an adjunct professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Tim also co-founded the Chattanooga Football Club in 2009, and currently serves as its Chairman. He has led the club through its recent transformation from amateur to professional, and its crowdfunded equity campaign that has garnered international attention for its disruptive and innovative approach in the United States. He is also heavily involved in the creation of NISA, a new, non-franchised soccer league in the US, in which Chattanooga Football Club now plays.

Tim also serves on several civic and charitable boards including the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga, River City Company, Benwood Foundation, Finley Stadium Corporation, and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce. His past service includes acting as a Director or Trustee for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Chattanooga, Allied Arts (now Arts Build), as well as Bright School and Baylor School. Tim is also an active member of the Downtown Chattanooga Rotary Club.

Tim earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University where he was a John Jay Scholar. He graduated from NADA’s Dealer Candidate School in 1991, and holds a Master’s Degree from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School where he graduated with honors in 2012, and was awarded the Al Bows Executive MBA Achievement Award.  Tim is also a graduate of Leadership Chattanooga (1991) and Leadership Tennessee (2018).

Self-described as a “Chattanoogan, first and foremost,” Tim can generally be found brainstorming some new way to solve a problem, and workshopping ways to serve the community. In his spare time, he enjoys playing soccer, running with his wife, Ginny, and hunting and fishing with his two sons, Jack and Cannon.

Video: https://youtu.be/1j5pJPIdgxQ

Marina Peshterianu joined Bridge Refugee Services Chattanooga in 1999, transitioning from the career in education. Before joining Bridge, she taught in an inner-city magnet school focusing on environmental and global issues.

During her time at Bridge, Marina has participated in resettlement of refugees from Vietnam, Bosnia, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Liberia, Sudan, Burundi, Tanzania, Congo, Chad, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, Cuba and Colombia. She has performed a variety of job responsibilities at Bridge over the years such as case-manager, job developer, Early Employment (MG) program coordinator, sub-office coordinator, and she became Associate Director in 2014.

“I am honored to have an opportunity to help refugees from all over the world to make a transition into their new life in our community and reclaim their freedom and independence. Their achievements are an everyday affirmation of human capacity to survive, rise and step forward.”

Erika Roberts’ artistry began 36 years ago in elementary school. Erika was introduced to poetry in the 5th grade. As a kid, she realized that she had a gift for words. She played with them like kids in dirt, absolutely covered. She also noticed that she had a great relationship with creativity. It moved her to use words in ways that the reader could feel her vision.  Erika doesn’t just create art but she is art. She sees art as a way to communicate. It has its own language. She is inspired by love, life and brilliant laughing. Having a collaborative spirit is crucial to her as we build communities of artists.

Video: https://youtu.be/rduJCyBBbUY

Stratton Tingle is a native of New Orleans and a Chattanoogan by choice.

In 2015, Tingle launched SoundCorps in an effort to build Chattanooga’s music scene through business acceleration and traditional economic development. The vision is to re-establish Chattanooga as one of America’s great music cities with a healthily growing cultural economy. Success means Chattanooga has more music venues, sound recording studios, record labels, record stores, and more.

When not running SoundCorps, Tingle can be found serving on the board of the Chattanooga Tourism Company, co-managing Chattanooga’s underground dance music scene, or hanging out with his former co-workers and volunteer colleagues at the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.

Video: https://youtu.be/HC9XYtsSJB0

Jazmine LeBlanc is Executive Director and Co-Founder of ELLA Library, an organization born from experiences as mothers and an intense love of community in East Lake, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Jazmine is a self proclaimed ‘story-sharer’ who believes that language is fundamental to art, stating "Stories, like people, take different forms — how we present ourselves and perceive other people through our words shapes our reality." Her goal is to connect people with the form of story sharing that works best for them.

Video: https://youtu.be/0dqUkByXeqY

Kaleena Goldsworthy is a food and beverage industry professional that specializes in bar / restaurant management, beverage direction and product development.  She is the owner and founder of The Bitter Bottle, Tennessee's first legal alcohol based bitters company.  She is also the beverage director at Proof Bar and Incubator and spends her "free time" teaching spirit education classes.