impact. The Boro

Get a taste of the local food scene with three young professionals living in the Boro! Guests Rodrigo Ortiz, James Donnell and Hollie DeBaro, along with host Caroline Dean Glover of Action Greensboro, share their favorite spots to grab a bite. Next time you support a local small business, tag the Chamber @gsochamber and use the hashtags #looklocalfirst and #triadtogether.

The ACC basketball tournaments are back in Greensboro! Ainsley Johnston sits down with the Greensboro Sports Foundation to discuss how residents can support the games despite COVID restrictions. The limited public tickets go on sale today at ticketmaster.com.

Cecelia Thompson introduces the Boomerang Greensboro campaign, launched by Action Greensboro to attract professional talent back to the city. Meet two of our latest boomerangs - Michael Humphrey of the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro and Alejandra Thompson de Jordan of Thompson Traders. Learn more about the campaign or refer someone you know at boomeranggso.com.

Hear from last year's Capital Connects fan favorite, Roland Trout, about how the pitch competition has propelled his business forward. Plus, meet Launch Greensboro's new advisory board member, Niral Patel.

Register for Capital Connects at greensboro.org/launch/capital-connects.

CEO Brent Christensen and Tracy Myers, executive vice president of member engagement, share the highlights of the Chamber's 2021 events calendar. Plus, listen to a clip from our recently released documentary, "Meeting the Moment." For more information about these events, visit our website - greensboro.org.

Three Greensboro residents were nominated for Grammy Awards this year! In the season two premiere of our impact. The Boro podcast, Cecelia Thompson, executive director of Action Greensboro, sits down with our local nominees to talk about why our city draws talented musicians.

Learn more about the Grammys at grammy.com.

Visit the Chamber website at greensboro.org.

It's our last episode of the season! Join three members of our leadership team as they recap a truly - forgive us - unprecedented year. Then, meet Marvin Price, our new executive vice president of economic development.

Thanks for joining us!

This episode is sponsored by Truliant Federal Credit Union

Visit Truliant here

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Register for Annual Meeting: http://greensborochamber.chambermaster.com/events/details/annual-meeting-2021-25967

Make sure to follow impact. The Boro on social media!

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @gsochamber

Visit the Chamber website at greensboro.org.

For the final Launch Greensboro episode, Clifford Thompson and Kelli Frazier talk to Ursula Dudley-Oglesby and Jonathan Lee Kelly about their entrepreneurship journeys.

Thanks for joining us!

This episode is sponsored by Truliant Federal Credit Union

Visit Truliant here

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Today’s hosts are Kelly Fraser and Clifford Johnson, Board Members for Launch Greensboro, the Chamber’s coworking space and entrepreneurial accelerator program.

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00:58 - The fourth and final episode of the Launch Greensboro Series features board members, Jonathan Kelly and Ursula Dudley-Oglesby, along with our hosts Clifford Johnson and Kelly Fraser. The Board plays an important role in setting a vision for Launch, bringing together resources to help entrepreneurs in the Triad, and strengthening the entrepreneurial landscape in Greensboro!

2:05 - Kelly describes the “boomerang” phenomenon that many people on the Board have experienced - leaving Greensboro at some point before returning to establish their lives and careers. Clifford introduces himself and shares some of his background, how his family started their business, and how he found his way back to Greensboro. He also explains why getting involved with the Launch Greensboro Board was so important to him, on a personal and professional level.

5:25 - Ursula introduces herself, a second-generation business owner that supplies beauty products to salons all over the US and internationally. She talks about her boomerang experience and what brought her back to Greensboro, and how the entrepreneurial landscape has grown and advanced over the years. Ursula is passionate about participating in a strong network of businesses that help each other and lift up small businesses. 

7:50 - Jonathan shares about his background and his exposure to entrepreneurship as a way to rise above and build something better. He discusses his boomerang experience that brought him back to Greensboro to help families both locally and globally. Jonathan became a member of the Board because of Cliff and the way that he talked about the power of the entrepreneurial network.

12:17 - Kelly describes her own experience about how she got started in entrepreneurship, which stemmed from her family, and the experience of getting into jobs that didn’t quite fit to help her realize that owning her own business was the path she really wanted. Kelly’s boomerang experience helped her appreciate Greensboro and all that this community offers, and the growth she’s seen since moving back has been invigorating. 

15:30 - Cliff asks Kelly to tell her story of growing up in Oak Ridge, how she left for LA, and how she returned to headquarter her marketing business in Greensboro.

17:17 - Part of Kelly’s work also includes helping early stage companies, so she talks about how she and her business partner started up a venture fund, which is now at $25 million!

18:39 - Kelly asks Ursula what they think are the most important trends for Greensboro companies to focus on, especially during this time where we are so impacted by COVID-19. Ursula speaks to flexibility and community, stepping up to support and help each other where we need it. She elaborates on how her own beauty supply business had to pivot in the pandemic to switch to manufacturing, and how she was able to do this with the help of the Chambers of Commerce of Greensboro and High Point. 

22:40 - Cliff asks Jonathan what he thinks Greensboro could do to further foster the entrepreneurial environment. Jonathan stresses highlighting competitive differences that exist in the community already, like Greensboro’s several historic colleges and universities like NC A&T, one of the largest HBCUs in the country, and the wealth of different experiences that exist in our multicultural community. 

27:05 - Kelly asks Cliff to describe the vision for Launch Greensboro moving forward, and future plans for the fund. Cliff discusses the multiple programs that Launch provides for entrepreneurs at every level, the great mentorship program that is provided, but they really wanted to expand on the funding sources available to local startups. That’s how the First Launch Capital Fund started, so the community could invest in their own Triad-based businesses.

29:28 - Kelly closes out by talking about education, resources, and capital being the pillars of a successful entrepreneurial community, all of which Launch Greensboro provides. She encourages the public to come to Launch programs like Capital Connects and Demo Day to see pitches from local entrepreneurs and support their work!

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Make sure to follow impact. The Boro on social media!

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @gsochamber

Visit the Chamber website at greensboro.org.

Three key city leaders - Human Rights Director Dr. Love Jones, City Manager David Parrish and Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer Maria Hicks-Few - share community-wide efforts to achieve racial and social justice. Niketa Greene, the Chamber's vice president for leadership, diversity and inclusion, hosts.

Thanks for joining us!

This episode is sponsored by Truliant Federal Credit Union

Visit Truliant here

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Today’s host is Niketa Greene, the Chamber’s VP of Leadership, Diversity, and Inclusion.

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00:57 - Niketa kicks off the episode with a warm welcome and introduction of her guests from the City of Greensboro! Today’s guests are Dr. Love Jones, the City’s Human Rights Director; Maria Hicks-Few, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer; and David Parrish, the City Manager. 

3:00 - This year has been a time of challenges, especially within the world of racial justice and inequity. Niketa asks her guests about their thoughts as the City of Greensboro reckoned with social and racial issues at the start of this summer. As parents, community members, and leaders, each shares their experiences and how they viewed the positives and concerns that came from the protests.

8:25 - Niketa asks what the first steps were in addressing these huge social issues, especially as each guest is a key City Government leader. Maria shares that internally, the City staff held a moment of silence, a Blackout Tuesday event, and marched in solidarity of Black Lives Matter. There were also internal conversations that addressed the hurt and confusion of the events, before branching out into the Employee Resource Groups to understand the full impact across the organization and implement action towards change.

11:00 - Dr. Jones shares about the Thrive GSO initiative, housed in the Human Rights Department, to address race and income disparity. The goal of Thrive GSO is to address the challenges that populations re-entering society post-incarceration face when trying to build a successful life. Their four-pronged approach addresses barriers in accessing housing, education, employment, and voting rights.

12:53 - David speaks to how the Greensboro Public Library has helped the community by removing access barriers like overdue book fees in order to prevent access issues for vulnerable populations who need library services and resources. These fines were unintentionally impacting lower income communities and people of color at a higher rate, so removing this barrier allows these populations to continue to access needed public resources.

15:45 - Niketa asks about the complex issue of police reform in Greensboro. David details some initiatives taken on by the new police chief, including changes to use-of-force policy in reaction to the George Floyd murder, as well as how suspects are publicly portrayed in the community.

18:08 - Dr. Jones explains what the RACE GSO initiative is and does for Greensboro. RACE stands for Recognizing And Considering the Experiences of Others, and encapsulates what the City is doing to tackle difficult social and racial issues, spread awareness of the City’s efforts, ensure the City staff feel valued and heard through difficult conversations, and give tools to department leaders to facilitate open, healthy, and healing discussion.

25:30 - Niketa asks David how these changes have been received by City staff and the community at large. He emphasizes on communication first, understanding where people are and what is needed, and building changes from there. But, change will always create discomfort for some while addressing the discomfort for others. Overall, the vast majority supports the direction that the City is moving in and the initiatives that the organization is employing.

31:35 - How can people learn more about the social and racial initiatives that the City is employing? Dr. Jones emphasizes active participation from the community on social media and invites community members to serve on or attend meetings for the three Human Rights Commissions. Maria directs listeners to the Office of Equity and Inclusion website to find out more information about the work they’re doing, to find the Heritage Calendar, and to watch the One Greensboro show. David encourages people to sign up for City communications and follow their social media for updates and information.

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Learn more about the RACE GSO initiative at https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/departments/human-rights/race-gso.

Learn more about the Greensboro Office of Equity and Inclusion at https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/departments/executive/office-of-equity-and-inclusion.

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Make sure to follow impact. The Boro on social media!

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @gsochamber

Visit the Chamber website at greensboro.org.

Campus Greensboro Director Lizzy Tahsuda sits down with one of the winning teams from the inaugural Next in FinTech: Community Challenge. Teams of college students from across North Carolina were asked to come up with financial technology solutions to two pressing problems, one from Cone Health and the other from Piedmont Business Capital.

Thanks for joining us!

This episode is sponsored by Truliant Federal Credit Union

Visit Truliant here

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Today’s host is Lizzy Tahsuda, the Chamber’s Campus Greensboro Director.

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00:58 - Lizzy starts the episode by introducing the exciting Next in FinTech Challenge and sharing details on what the challenge encompassed. A total of 24 student teams with 85 students participated in one of two challenges: one for Cone Health around tele-health access and one for Piedmont Business Capital around minority business resources. Lizzy is joined today by the winning team of the Cone Health challenge, Greensboro College students Richard, William, Lexia, and Natalie!

2:40 - Lizzy asks the students what got them to participate in the challenge. Richard explains that it was encouraged by their professor to get some real world, professional experience with companies and build their resume. William shares that the challenge was appealing because it’s a prevalent, real world problem that Cone Health is dealing with, especially during COVID.  

4:40 - Lizzy invites the team to share the solution they created to tackle Cone Health’s technical problems. Richard details how they addressed technical literacy issues using bot technology, as well as addressing hardware concerns to build a long-term solution, by suggesting the creation of “check up kiosks” at community points so people with access issues are able to utilize tele-health resources. 

6:53 - Lizzy discusses another important factor of the student teams’ success - their Success Squad, made up of community volunteers! The students explain how their Success Squad mentors were an integral part of how they were able to craft a great challenge project that ultimately won them the competition.

9:00 - Lizzy asks the students what they learned about FinTech and if it’s sparked an interest for them in the FinTech industry. They agree that the concept of FinTech was unknown to them before this challenge, and being involved in the workshops helped them gain an understanding of the industry and possible career paths.

10:45 - The challenge included four different industry-led workshops that went more deeply into specific aspects of FinTech - Design Thinking, A.I. and big data, blockchain and cryptocurrency, and the Future of FinTech - and the students expressed how much they learned through those workshops. 

12:17 - Lizzy inquires about the one piece of advice the team would give to other students who might participate in a challenge like this. The students encourage their peers to jump on these types of opportunities, to meet and communicate often with your team, to work independently and collaboratively to see what you come up with, and use your network to build the best knowledge base that you can!

13:25 - Lizzy asks the students for their final thoughts on the challenge and the experience. Natalie appreciated the range of participants from different schools across the state, the access that they gained to community and Cone Health leaders, and Lexia expressed an appreciation for the challenge itself, as it is a very practical and applicable real-world problem that affects so many people. 

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Learn more about the Next in FinTech Challenge:

Watch the Next in FinTech Awards Ceremony (and the student teams’ videos) here:

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Make sure to follow impact. The Boro on social media!

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @gsochamber

Visit the Chamber website at greensboro.org.