Publisher’s Note

4424 Bragg Blvd, Fayetteville, NC 28303 910-240-9697 bizfayetteville.com

PUBLISHER Marty Cayton martyc@bizfayetteville.com

EDITOR Jenna Shackelford jennas@bizfayetteville.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Charity Brandsma Diana Hansen Kathie Harris Jenna-Ley Jamison Monica Kreber Suet Lee-Growney Savanah Ramsey

CONTRIBUTING WRITER MARKETING CONTENT Stacie Borrello

CONTRIBUTING DESIGNER Samantha Lowe samanthal@bizfayetteville.com

ACCOUNTING Priscilla Nelson billing@bizfayetteville

The Greater Fayetteville Business Journal is published twice a month throughout Fayetteville and the Cumberland County region. News related to the region’s business sector is posted daily at bizfayetteville.com.

SUBSCRIPTIONS Your free trial of Greater Fayetteville Business Journal is ending soon. To subscribe, call 910-240-9697 or visit bizfayetteville.com/ subscribe. Subscriptions cost $9.95 per month or $95 per year.

REPRINT For article reprints, plaques and more contact Jenna Shackelford at 910-240-9697.

ADVERTISING For advertising information, please email us at marketing@bizfayetteville.com or call 910-240-9697.

© Copyright 2022 Greater Fayetteville Business Journal

PHOTO BY LRP MEDIA The first-ever issue of Greater Fayetteville Business Journal was unveiled the day before its official release at a launch party at Highland Country Club in Fayetteville.

From launch to present

COMMEMORATING GFBJ’S JOURNEY

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year since we launched Greater Fayetteville Business Journal on May 28, 2021 — and what a year it has been!

From launching a digital platform to printing our first volume in its entirety, this year has been hectic, fun, educational, stressful, invigorating and everything else in between.

To stand back and look at the business news our team has put out is a great encouragement for two reasons.

1. We can say we finally have our first-ever business publication that represents our region, the 4th largest metro in North Carolina. Our business community has deserved coverage for so long, and now we are proud to produce a resource that local companies can trust and depend upon.

2. Your stories can be told because of people like you. As hard as our team works, without growing industries, evolving companies, interested readership, and businesspeople who are willing to share their experiences, concerns, and hopes, our publication would not exist. We are forever grateful for your support.

In fact, the journey of launching Greater Fayetteville Business Journal was fueled by feedback from over 60 stakeholders in the business community who offered time in their busy schedules to meet with us, offer advice and direction, and share their visions for what an ideal business journal could look like in our community.

Among those who believed in us in our humble beginnings were people who would go on to be our founding sponsors – people who were willing to get behind our mission and us before we had even produced our first product.

Today, we can say that, in addition to a website, daily email, and print edition, we’ve launched our Book On Business, comparable to a book of lists in other markets, and our Power Breakfast, a premier networking event and panel discussion. We were excited to launch the annual Book On Business at our February Power Breakfast, in fact. The series, the support, participation and attendance have been well beyond my expectations. We are so blessed to live and work in the Fayetteville region. We are growing and simultaneously recognizing the full extent of our potential. Vol. 1, No. 1

I am proud of our great team that works diligently to make all of these things happen to produce high quality and relevant events and print and digital business content.

Thank you for your ongoing support of Greater Fayetteville Business Journal.

God bless you and yours!