WNC Business Q3 | 2023

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From the Publisher

Western North Carolina is a remarkable region in so many ways, and nearly everyone we spoke with over the last few months has voiced this in one aspect or another. A business ecosystem that is ripe for growth, a vast amount of resources and support, and an equitable environment welcoming anyone and everyone to the area is truly a unique combination that makes this region stand out from the rest of the state, if not the country.

As we continue diving into various regional industry spotlights, we learn more about how intricately these are layered upon each other. Technology increasingly drives the Energy and Agriculture industries, the Education industry connects with various leaders to help funnel new talent into growing workforce sectors, and Agriculture seems to be morphing into increasingly creative value-added food, beverage, and retail products, as well as becoming hosts to more and more of our region’s visitors through agritourism.

So many of the area’s innovative business ideas are spawned from the incredible variety of creative entrepreneurs who call WNC home. From food and beverages to crafts and clothes to boats and engines, you can find nearly anything and everything you’d ever need made right here. This quarter’s Made in WNC feature article discusses a number of brilliant, wonderful products born right here in our mountains as well as the reasons so many makers love to do business in our region.

With all of this innovation and creativity, new ideas and new businesses are constantly being birthed and grown right here in our backyard. If you are an entrepreneur, business owner, educator, or community member and you know of a new product, service, business, or organization coming to fruition, feel free to visit WNCBusiness.com and share your news with us. Business owners are also encouraged to create their own listing in our online business directory so others in the business community can easily find and connect with you.

We enjoy uncovering and sharing just what makes the WNC business landscape unique, and like you, we are proud to be a part of this region’s thriving business community. We hope you enjoy this issue.

Brett Hulsey President & Publisher, Hulsey Media, Inc.

President & Publisher

Brett Hulsey Editor Randee Brown

Advertising

Katie Cornwell | Katie Eastridge

Jenn Muckelvaney

Marketing Manager

Alissa Fuller

Operations Manager

Michelle Tracy

Design/Production

LS Creative Cover Photo

Image courtesy of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project

We would like to thank the fine businesses and organizations who have purchased advertising in our magazine, thereby helping us to bring you an attractive and informative publication.

If you have a business or provide a service that would benefit from exposure in WNC Business Magazine, call to reserve a space in the next edition.

828-513-3888

Info@WNCBusiness.com

WNCBusiness.com

COPYRIGHT 2023

For 125 years, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce has been committed to building a stronger community. Our initiatives and projects have stimulated economic development and supported the growth of thousands of local and regional businesses.

For 125 years, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce has been committed to building a stronger community. Our initiatives and projects have stimulated economic development and supported the growth of thousands of local and regional businesses.

Today, we are the local champion for a balanced, thriving economy and connect businesses, large and small, to the resources they need to be successful.

Today, we are the local champion for a balanced, thriving economy and connect businesses, large and small, to the resources they need to be successful.

We believe that together, we are more.

We believe that together, we are more.

Discover all the ways the Asheville Chamber can grow your business and your community at: www.ashevillechamber.org

Discover all the ways the Asheville Chamber can grow your business and your community at: www.ashevillechamber.org

Join

• Chamber Challenge 5k, May 5th (Fun for all fitness levels)

• Annual Meeting, June 14th (Thebusiness event of the year)

• 125th Anniversary Celebration, Sept, 28th (Vote now for nonprofit grant recipients + Get tickets)

Learn more about the event, buy tickets and vote for your favorite nonprofit here:

CELEBRATE WITH US & MAKE CONNECTIONS

Cheers!

Business Shout-outs from Around Western North Carolina

Awards & Recognitions

World Atlas, ‘The Original Online Geography Resource’, named several WNC Towns in their 8 Cutest Small Towns In North Carolina article including Sylva, Bryson City, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, and Beech Mountain.

Great Smoky Mountains Association is thrilled to announce Western Carolina University professor Dr. Brian Railsback as the recipient of its 2023 Steve Kemp Writers’ Residency.

AdventHealth Hendersonville announced their newest DAISY Award winner. Misty Deblois , BSN, BSBA, works in the Emergency Department at AdventHealth Hendersonville.

Jay Cope and Chris Harrin of SemperFi Custom Remodeling have been recognized as among Pro Remodeler’s 2023 40 under 40 Winners. This prestigious award celebrates leadership, professional growth and achievement, creative problem-solving, and a passion for excellence.

North Henderson High School’s Dylan King was named the district’s Teacher of the Year.

A Carolina Village fall prevention initiative has been selected as the recipient of LeadingAge North Carolina’s 2023 Excellence in Innovation award.

For his exemplary contribution to the community through volunteer service, Mr. Chip Gould received the Governor’s Award for Volunteer Service at Blue Ridge Community College College.

Roberts & Stevens announced that attorney and firm partner Wyatt S. Stevens has been recognized by Business North Carolina’s “Power List” as one of the most influential business leaders in North Carolina.

Promotions & On The Move

Miller’s Fine Dry Cleaning, a Hendersonville business that was in place for 100 years, was purchased by Darshan Patel and is now operating as Custom Cleaners. They will provide the same services with the same staff in the same location.

Haywood County Commissioner Jennifer Best was elected as Second ViceChair of the Southwestern Commission Governing Board.

IFB Solutions, the largest employer of people who are blind or visually impaired in the country, has hired Travis Guerra to oversee its Asheville operations as the nonprofit’s new Asheville plant manager.

Girl Scout Carolinas Peaks to Piedmont has expanded their Board of Directors, adding Jenn Muckelvaney and Shay Johnson to their team.

Asheville’s Original Craft Brewery

Mike Ramos , the current Vice President of Manufacturing, has been elected to take the place of Doug Wehrkamp as Southeastern Container Inc.’s new President.

Coming Soon

Rutherfordton Town Council has approved an ordinance creating The Mint District , a ‘social district’ allowing alcoholic beverages to be carried within the designated area, which is set to open in Downtown Rutherfordton this summer.

Collab Coworking will open its first location, Collab | WVL , this summer in Weaverville.

Bear’s Smokehouse in Asheville will celebrate its grand opening in July.

B² Realty in Hendersonville will celebrate its ribbon cutting in July.

Expansions & Grand Openings

Daily Thread , a fast-growing apparel chain of apparel shops, opened a new location at Shoppes on the Parkway in Blowing Rock.

Asheville Regional Airport received $125 million in bonds from NC’s Local Government Commission to continue the airport’s expansion projects.

South Slope Pilates and All Things Wellness , a pilates-centric wellness studio, celebrated their grand opening and ribbon cutting in downtown Asheville in April.

Western North Carolina Community Health Services opened McDowell Health Center, the first Federally Qualified Health Center in McDowell County.

Burnsville’s new food truck, Hot Mess , offers breakfast options featuring local meats, eggs, and coffee as well as a variety of homemade baked goods and vegan options.

LaBella Associates , an international architecture, engineering, environmental and planning firm, has opened a new office in Asheville to extend its local presence.

Mackin Talent opened their new North American headquarters in Rutherfordton. This new space will both house Mackin Talent and Mackin Go, a co-working space to allow many other businesses to thrive.

Appalachian Mountain Brewery , Boone’s original brewery dedicated to community, philanthropy, and sustainability, has announced the grand opening of a new Mills River taproom, its first location outside of Boone.

Partnerships, Mergers & Acquisitions

Savara Hospitality and Piedmont Capital announce the acquisition of Azalea Garden Inn located in Blowing Rock. The property was purchased by a joint venture between Fairfax, Virginia based Savara Hospitality Inc. and Charlotte, North Carolina based Piedmont Capital RE, LLC.

First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company, a subsidiary of Raleigh-headquartered First

Citizens BancShares, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to purchase out of FDIC receivership substantially all loans and certain other assets, and assume all customer deposits and certain other liabilities of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, N.A .

Maximus, a leading employer and provider of government services worldwide, and IFB Solutions, a non-profit organization that provides employment, training, and services for people who are blind or visually impaired, announced the successful launch of a new joint program that integrates employees who are blind or visually impaired into the workforce.

AdventHealth Hendersonville is now partnering with the OB Hospitalist Group to provide board-certified OB/GYN’s hospitalists that offer on-site, 24-hour-aday, labor and delivery care at The Baby Place.

Devil’s Foot Beverage Company, the Asheville-based maker of farm-to-can craft sodas, has announced their partnership with BountyBev, the premier distributor of American craft beer to greater Nashville and eight middle Tennessee counties.

Anniversaries & Milestones

Celebrating its sixth anniversary, NC IDEA ENGAGE has awarded more than 325 grants and $1.6 million. NC IDEA ENGAGE has championed its mission to expand the reach of entrepreneurial communities in North Carolina by offering mostly $5,000 grants to organizations and advocates supporting entrepreneurs.

Little Pigs BBQ in Asheville celebrated its 60th anniversary. The restaurant has

been family owned and independently operated since 1963.

Founded in 2015, Venture Asheville announced in April 2023 that the portfolio of startups in its mentorship-based incubator known as Elevate has raised more than $50 million in capital and generated over $100 million in revenue since its inception.

Rugby Middle School in Hendersonville celebrated its 50th anniversary. Rugby Middle School opened as Rugby Junior High School in 1973 after Vernon and Leander Johnson, of the Historic Johnson Farm, donated 40 acres of land to Henderson County Public Schools.

12 Bones Brewing celebrated its fourth anniversary in April. The company hosted a five-course dinner pairing food and beer, released five new beers, and invited the public to an outdoor picnic complete with live music, barbeque, and beer.

FernCrest Winery Tasting Room celebrated their 7th anniversary in May. They offer hand-crafted wines from their own vineyard and vineyard partners.

Pisgah Brewing Company celebrated its 18th anniversary in May. Pisgah operates an open-air outdoor bar during the summer and fall months, featuring live music on the Pisgah Brewing Outdoor Stage.

Carolina Mountain Club, the oldest hiking and trail maintaining club in the South, is celebrating one hundred years in 2023.

Julie Huneycutt Named 2023 ATHENA Recipient

The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual Business and Professional Women’s Luncheon, a program of ATHENA International, at the Blue Ridge Community College in May.

awareness of the opioid epidemic and active member of the Hendersonville community, Huneycutt and the Hope Coalition also recently opened The Buzz, a specialty non-alcoholic bar and café providing an alcohol-free environment for socializing and events.

ATHENA committee member Donna Moore presented each nominee and said all nominees are winners. Nominees included:

Adriana Chavela of Hola Carolina and recipient of the 2022 ATHENA award said she had the deepest gratitude for ATHENA and is happy to continue the journey and empower each other. Chavela presented the 2023 Athena award to Julie Huneycutt.

Huneycutt said there is so much wisdom in the room, and she is surprised and grateful for the award and is grateful to be a part of a great, special community.

ATHENA International is a program with a mission to develop, support, and honor women leaders in their communities, building a global pipeline of women leaders to bring balance to leadership voices worldwide.

The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce is a host organization of an ATHENA committee and works to do more than celebrate one recipient. The program has broadened its reach to include two annual women’s leadership breakfasts and monthly Empower Hours for the area’s women professionals.

This year’s ATHENA award recipient was Julie Huneycutt, Director of Hope Coalition of Henderson County. After losing her adult daughter to an opioid overdose, she and her husband founded a fund dedicated to raising awareness of prescription drug misuse. A local and regional advocate for

• Dr. Amy Siegler of LimbTech

• Ashely Sandahl of Excuse Us While We Succeed

• Cheryl Stuller of Stuller Power Solutions

• Crystal Cauley of Black History Collective of Henderson County

• Dorothy Case of Henderson County Public Schools (retired)

• Julie Honeycutt of Hope Coalition of Henderson County

• Lyndsey Simpson of LS Creative

• Margina Baxter of Children and Family Resource Center

• Sherrie Stokes of the Salvation Army of Henderson, Polk, and Transylvania Counties

• Vanessa Gilliam of Nessa’s Young’Uns

Natural Play Center

Julie Huneycutt (left) accepting the 2023 ATHENA award presented by 2022 Recipient Adriana Chavela (right).

Regional Roundup

Business News from Around Western North Carolina

Avery County Town Hall and Visitor Center Expansion Commences

BEECH MOUNTAIN - The Beech Mountain Town Hall and Visitor Center buildings will soon be linked by a twostory addition and expanded for more public space and staff offices. The $1.9 million dollar project officially kicked off on Monday, May 1 when VPC Builders began the process of removing the patio between the two buildings. The project includes new space for the Building and Inspections Department, Police Department, Administration, Visitor Center and Community and Economic Development. During the construction, between twenty and thirty employees will be moving temporarily to other buildings or to one of two trailers. Construction will be completed within a year.

Source: Town of Beech Mountain

Buncombe County NC Board of Nursing Approves New Asheville Program

ASHEVILLE - South College Asheville has earned initial approval for its Certificate in Licensed Practical Nursing program by the North Carolina Board of Nursing, allowing launch of the program in June 2023. The board cited the 100% pass rate of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates on the National Council Licensure Examination in 2022 in its approval of the LPN certificate program. The North Carolina Board of Nursing, whose intent is to protect the public by regulating the practice of nursing, currently oversees the licensure of 22,764 licensed practical nurses in North Carolina. The North Carolina Board of Nursing will continue to monitor the quality of education that LPN students receive at South College Asheville by annually reviewing the

program, completing routine site visits, and guiding program compliance and board regulations changes.

Source: Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce

Buncombe County Mission Hospital Filed Application for New Freestanding Emergency Department

ASHEVILLE - Mission Hospital LLLP has filed a certificate of need application with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to develop a freestanding emergency department in Asheville. The proposed emergency department would offer emergency, laboratory, radiology and pharmacy services. The project is expected to cost $29 million and would be completed in July 2025.

Source: NC Department of Health and Human Services

Buncombe County New Partnership Expands Sales for Asheville Brewery

ASHEVILLE - Ginger’s Revenge Craft Brewery, North Carolina’s first and only brewery specializing in the production of alcoholic ginger beer, announced plans to expand distribution into Ohio with a new partnership with Premium Beverage Supply. The Asheville-based alcoholic ginger beer company serves over 700 locations throughout North and South Carolina that sell their naturally gluten-free product. Over the coming months, their beer can also be found throughout Ohio, with distribution across the entire state.

Source: Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce

Burke County Small Business Loans Add Up to Big Business

MORGANTON - City Manager Sally Sandy said since beginning Small Business Loans in 2005, the City of Morganton has awarded $905,000 in loans, supported 30 new or expanded businesses, created 148 jobs, and offered 30 loans altogether with only one that has not met obligations.

Source: City of Morganton

Caldwell County County Approved for Digital Learning Grant

LENOIR - Caldwell County is among 21 school districts chosen by the state to receive funding aimed at enhancing digital-age learning and teaching. The State Board of Education recently approved 18 proposals through a competitive grant-program under the state’s Digital Learning Initiative. The statefunded grants support the development and dissemination of local innovative digital learning models. The goal of the grant program is to have effective digital learning practices spread across all North

Carolina K-12 public schools.

Source: Caldwell County Economic Development

Cleveland County Grant Supports Building Reuse, New Jobs

KINGS MOUNTAIN - The NC Rural Infrastructure Authority approved a $75,000 grant that will support the reuse of a 237,000-square-foot building in Kings Mountain. The building will be occupied by ACTEGA North America, a manufacturer of specialty coatings and chemicals for the printing and packaging industries. This project is expected to create 12 jobs, with an investment of $8,524,014 by the company.

Source: NC Department of Commerce

Haywood County Looking Forward Following Mill Closure

CANTON - A quorum of the Haywood County Board of Commissioners attended an informational public meeting at Pisgah High School in June. The purpose of the meeting is a public forum called “Canton Strong-Looking Forward,” hosted by Congressman Chuck Edwards to discuss the future of the Town of Canton with Mayor Zeb Smathers of Canton and Mayor Darrell Hinnant of Kannapolis following the closing of the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill.

Edwards released the following statement ahead of the meeting: “I look forward to working with our local leaders to figure out new opportunities for the town and residents of Canton. We must come together to envision a future for Canton without the mill and learn from good ideas that have worked elsewhere. I look forward to hearing from Mayor Hinnant and seeing if we can apply some of Kannapolis’ lessons learned to Canton.”

Source: Haywood County Chamber of Commerce continued on next page

Recognition in Global Publication

The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina has received Business Facilities magazine’s inaugural 2023 Economic Development Organization award in the State Economic Development Organization category. North Carolina is one of four state groups receiving the distinction, which honors organizations for their hard work and dedication in securing record-breaking economic development projects and creating new economic development growth for communities across their states. The Arizona Commerce Authority, Empire State DevelopmentNew York, and the Mississippi Development Authority were the other organizations receiving the award.

Since its inception, the EDPNC has worked with state, local, and private partners to welcome some of North Carolina’s biggest economic development projects. In 2022 alone, North Carolina welcomed 151 new projects totaling 27,144 new jobs for residents and $15.58 billion in capital investment from companies across many different industries. This includes VinFast’s announcement of its first North American electric vehicle assembly and battery manufacturing plant, for a $1 billion investment in Chatham County bringing in 7,500 jobs; and Wolfspeed, which announced its newest semiconductor manufacturing plant in Siler City, for a $5 billion investment creating 1,800 jobs. Boom Supersonic also announced its supersonic airliner manufacturing and assembly plant in Greensboro, for an investment of $500 million creating 1,750 jobs; and Eli Lilly and Company announced its new manufacturing site in Concord, for an investment of $1 billion and creating 600 jobs.

Source: Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina

New Initiatives Aim to Position NC for Federal Tech Investments

In June, the North Carolina Department of Commerce launched two new initiatives and web pages aimed at strategically positioning North Carolina consortia and companies for potential federal designation as Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hub), and for other federal investments enacted as part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.

In a competitive process, the US Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration is seeking applications for the selection of 20 federally designated regional Tech Hubs across the country, with $500 million in appropriated funding support available in 2023 to help these hubs drive U.S.based technology, innovation and job growth. Commerce.nc.gov/ TechHubsforNC will serve as a point of entry for interested consortia to coordinate with the State and other partners on these applications.

Source: North Carolina Department of Commerce

regional roundup

Henderson County HCPED Announces New Vice President

HENDERSONVILLE - Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development announced a new Vice President, Jamie Justus. Jamie is a native of Western North Carolina and has been in Henderson County since he was 12. He has many ties to the community and knowledge of the area and as he shared, “understands the landscape, people, and culture of our community. Working for Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development would allow me to further serve the community where I choose to live and raise my family. My passion for building relationships and business development would be combined with my love for the place I call home.”

Source: Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development

Jackson County Local Hotel and Restaurant and Town Supported by Grant

DILLSBORO - Under the state’s Economic Infrastructure Program, the NC Rural Infrastructure Authority approved a $104,000 grant, which includes a previous award from February 2023, will support the completion of water system improvements to provide enhanced fire protection, water flow and pressure to serve The Jarrett House/Mount Beulah Hotel, an adjoining restaurant, and the Town of Dillsboro. The company plans to create 12 jobs, which represents an increase from the previous award, with an investment of $966,370.

Source: NC Department of Commerce

Rutherford County Farmland Preservation Plan Adopted By Board of Commissioners

RUTHERFORDTON - The Rutherford

County Farmland Advisory Board of Commissioners voted to adopt the Rutherford County Farmland Preservation Plan in May. This plan analyzes the current state of farming in Rutherford County, identifies the primary challenges and opportunities for agriculture, and presents a set of recommendations to assist government leaders in preserving local agriculture.The recommendations of this plan are intended to directly support the preservation of farmland while also strengthening the county’s agricultural economic development and fostering greater support for the industry.

Source: Rutherford County Board of Commissioners

Swain County Parking Fees Facilitate Park’s Operational Costs

BRYSON CITY - Visitation at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has skyrocketed by 57% over the last decade. Because the Smokies’ operational budget hasn’t seen similar growth, the increase in visitors is starting to take its toll with wear and tear on aging facilities and undue strain on limited staff. This new “Park It Forward” program, with 100% of fees staying in the Smokies, will directly support operational costs for managing and improving services for visitors including trail maintenance, custodial services, trash removal, and supporting more staffing to increase the presence of personnel across the park.

Source: Bryson City/Swain County Chamber of Commerce

Transylvania County Woman-Owned Manufacturing Company Awarded Grant

BREVARD - The NC Rural Infrastructure Authority approved a $200,000 grant that will support the reuse of a 41,000-square-foot building in Brevard. Textile manufacturer and woman-owned

company, Siscovers Enterprises, Inc., will use the building to manufacture decorative bedding, pillows, curtains and futon covers. The company expects to create 26 jobs and invest $1,444,550 in the project.

Source: NC Department of Commerce

Watauga County

Seven New Board Members

Added to Boone Area Chamber

BOONE - After completing the membership voting process, and consultation with the Nominating Committee, the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce announced it will add seven members to its Board of Directors, effective July 1, 2023. New members include Carrie Afanador, Shirley Alexander, Angela Heavner, Jim Hamilton, Nathaniel Johnson, Danielle Neibaur, and Amanda White. Each new member was elected to a three-year term from July 1, 2023-June 30, 2026. Upon completion of their initial term, each member is eligible to serve a consecutive three-year term upon mutual agreement of the individual and the Nominating Committee.

Source: Boone Area Chamber of Commerce

WNC Counties Awarded Funding for Economic Development

At the June Board meeting, the Golden LEAF Board of Directors awarded $4,495,684 to support 11 projects through the SITE Program in Ashe , Catawba, Columbus, Jackson , Lenoir, Madison , McDowell , Nash, Onslow, Washington, and Wilkes counties.

• $920,034 to Ashe County to enable site work, including clearing, grading, erosion control, stabilization, and other site preparation for a 10.2-acre lot that could house an industrial facility of up to 50,000 square feet within Ashe County’s new industrial park.

• Jackson County was selected to receive assistance through a firm contracted by Golden LEAF to help identify potential industrial sites in the community.

• $24,550 to Madison County Economic Development for the Madison County Industrial Park.

• $1,378,550 to McDowell County to complete select due diligence and for continued clearing and rough grading of the 20-acre site in Universal Technology Park, Phase II.

Source: Golden LEAF Foundation

New Report Shows Regional Economic Improvements

New data released in June by the Appalachian Regional Commission for the 13th annual update of The Appalachian Region: A Data Overview from the 2017-2021 American Community Survey indicates that Appalachia continues to improve in educational attainment, labor force participation, income levels, and reduced poverty. Drawing from the latest American Community Survey and comparable Census Population Estimates available as of 2021, ARC’s report, also known as “The Chartbook,” contains more than 300,000 data points comparing Appalachia’s regional, subregional, state, and county levels with the rest of the nation.

Source: Appalachian Regional Commission

Made in WNC

Western North Carolina is a region full of creativity and entrepreneurship with a rich cultural history full of artisans and crafters. With the help of NC’s businessfriendly environment and a concentrated plethora of support organizations, the region is ripe for makers to turn their creative hobbies and passions into successful, growing, and thriving companies making an increasingly varied range of products. In this issue’s feature article, we are sharing the stories of just a few examples of the great things that are Made in WNC.

Colin Buxton of Blue Ridge Chair Works in his Asheville workshop.

Donald Paleno DJ’s Pickles

Having worked as a chef for 25 years, Donald Paleno created his own recipe for his first batch of pickles in his food truck - Chef Don’s Gourmet Snack Wagon.

“I sold mostly cold sandwiches and wraps,” Paleno said. “My chef brain helped me make up my own pickle recipe to garnish them.”

Paleno said he wanted bright and fresh bread and butter flavors, and people started commenting that his pickles were the best they had ever had. He said people kept coming back and asking for extra pickles, and he started selling them as a side item. Patrons also suggested he jar and sell them, but he said he didn’t think much about that at the time.

A friend of Paleno’s, Justin Dewalder, asked if he could use the pickle recipe several years later after Paleno closed the food truck. He said he had to dig to find it, and it was on a piece of paper with vague ingredient amounts like “a handful of fresh dill.” The friends hosted a cookout for friends and family, shared pickles with them, and sent them home with extra pickles.

“They kept asking for more, and things kind of snowballed from there,” Paleno said.

Taking a leap of faith by leaving a full time job in 2020, Paleno drew up business plans with Dewalder and used pandemic stimulus money to officially start DJ’s Pickles.

The friends and roommates began making refrigerator-style pickles in their own kitchen. Traveling to tailgate markets, Paleno said he sold pickles literally from the tailgate of his truck and would sell out often.

They grew out of the home kitchen, and while working part time at Colorful Palate, Paleno was able to use a quarter of their kitchen space for a while. Growing further

still and needing his own space, he was able to find his current location at the WNC Farmers Market in Asheville.

“We’ve grown exponentially since we moved into the Farmers Market in September of 2022,” Paleno said. “We have a huge audience there, and we are still doing tailgate markets too.”

With his pickles and pickled products in three food trucks and about 20 stores around the region, he said he could develop more products like pickled fruits, salad dressings, and more if he had the people and the means to do so.

Currently running the business mostly by himself as Dewalder is no longer a partner, Paleno said he has to be mindful about the speed of his business’s growth. He said it’s hard to regulate that speed because the demand is growing, yet there is not enough capital to hire a team. Paleno hopes after getting through his third year investors will see the validity of his business and he may be able to hire employees to help scale DJ’s Pickles.

“We’re basically on a week-to-week cash flow,” Paleno said. “It’s hard to pay someone $20 an hour when we’re selling $10 jars of pickles. Some of the friends and family currently helping me at tailgate markets are working for pickles and tips simply because they really want to be there.

“It’s hard to say at what point we’ll be able to do more,” Paleno said. “I’d love to start buying in bulk, and though that can cut costs per unit, it’s expensive at first. I also need more space to store all those ingredients and jars, so right now, I’m still having to pay retail prices for some of my ingredients.”

Paleno said his retail space in the market is the best place he could be in and has been the ultimate learning experience. He has also attended seminars with Venture Asheville and is blending with other entrepreneurs as much as he can to engage with and learn from them.

“I’m really lucky to be in Asheville — the region is really setting the standard for growing food businesses. There are so many people making things here and working together, and there are lots of entrepreneur support organizations as well as lots of opportunities to attend and vend from a variety of events. That’s the part that is the most fun. It is really a great place to be doing what I am doing.”

Nina Kawar

Pure Ritual

Working as a ceramicist for 12 years, Nina Kara’s career in fine art and ceramics production allows connection to her community as well as to those who appreciate her art around the world.

Kawar received a Masters of Fine Art from Clemson University and began an art

continued on next page

Donald Paleno cutting cucumbers for pickling at DJ's Pickles.

made in wnc

career in 2011. Having moved to Clemson, SC for school from California, she came to Asheville after graduation because she already knew people in the ceramics community and wanted to surround herself with those people.

After working with other artist studios, Kawar transitioned into her own space at Marshall High Studios in 2016. After receiving an invitation to participate in an art show at Blue Spiral 1, she purchased her own kiln and committed to doing more in her fine art work after that purchase. While simultaneously creating large sculptures and smaller pieces, a friend suggested she attend art shows to sell her smaller products. The Big Crafty was her first one.

“The Big Crafty was an eye-opening experience that I can really make money at my craft,” Kawar said. “I learned ways to engage with other makers and meet the

community. There is a beautiful collection of passionate artists of a huge diversity here, and that is really inspiring.”

This experience led to an understanding of the workings of the craft world. She said she shifted gears and established Pure Ritual, which is centered around a metaphysical theme, and learned to develop vision and clarity of her brand.

“At first my business was called ‘Nina K Designs,” Kawar said. “I was making everything from lanterns to jewelry, and I didn’t really have a brand. I felt called to share tools that were helping me along my own spiritual healing journey, and realized I was able to reach people at a different level than my fine art allows.”

Craft fairs and markets allow Kawar to see what items people are drawn to and connect directly to her customer base. She said a big part of her business is

educating people on how to use her handmade products like pendulums and crystal grids, and if there is any curiosity from a visitor, she will hold space for them to ask questions.

With her fine art pieces, Kawar is either invited by gallery directors or will apply to participate in galleries and exhibitions. She said she is often not physically present at these shows, but will either ship or physically drive the pieces to locations in other states or countries. Not knowing if there will be revenue, paying to transport the pieces, and paying the gallery approximately 50% of the sale price of each piece, she said there is a lot of trust in the process knowing she will grow as an artist in one way or another.

Kawar said in the craft world, word-ofmouth is a big connector. She has worked with arts councils in both Asheville and Marshall, which led to the opportunity for curating the first show of her own.

“I’m grateful for the artists that walked alongside me and showed me what was needed to be a curator,” she said. “There are so many beautiful individuals in local organizations like this who are passionate about art and want artists and makers to grow.”

Following her heart has allowed both avenues of her art business to expand, according to Kawar. She said she is still stepping further into her confidence, and as she does so, more opportunities arise.

“It’s pretty unique for an artist to work in multiple avenues, and both are giving to me in deep, profound ways,” Kawar said. “Fine art can be more challenging in the area, though working with others and curating my own shows is bringing more exposure. Much of that work does better in other locations around the country. Pure Ritual is absolutely thriving right here because it is more of a metaphysical community.”

Ceramicist Nina Kawar at work in her Marshall studio.

Colin Buxton

Blue Ridge Chair Works

Heeding the call of Western North Carolina’s makers and crafters scene, Colin Buxton relocated to Asheville to make portable wooden outdoor furniture at Blue Ridge Chair Works.

Buxton grew up in South Carolina and was exposed to crafting and fine furniture from a young age. “My grandfather was pretty crafty, and my dad was always very ‘DIY’ with a lot of things,” he said. “My family had really nice antique furniture and I always enjoyed that. I love furniture because it’s not only something that can be really pretty, it also serves a functional purpose.”

After attending college at the University of South Carolina, he moved to Vermont and attended furniture making school. He then worked for ShackletonThomas crafting fine furniture.

“I made classical furniture — traditional, timeless pieces that are really nice and will last forever,” Buxton said. “Side tables, book cases, dining room tables… It was a cool position and the company is known for using very traditional skills. It was a renowned place to work.”

When the pandemic hit, Buxton said he became more interested in a furnituremaking business of his own. He was able to connect with former owner of Blue Ridge Chair Works, Alan Davis, who was looking to retire, and was able to purchase the company. Buxton said Davis was looking for someone with the same passion for both the woodworking craft and the outdoors, and Buxton fit the bill.

Blue Ridge Chair Works is known for a flagship-model chair Davis had been making for 40 years. The company also produces folding tables and a folding stool that can be used as an ottoman. Buxton said the pieces are not only portable, they are also very durable, high-quality pieces and are easily repairable.

“This isn’t a cheap plastic chair that you throw away when it inevitably breaks,” Buxton said. “You can easily replace or repair a part if something does happen. These chairs are also really comfortable and will last for a very long time.”

Buxton said he does his best to stay true to company values by keeping everything as local as possible. He uses all sustainably sourced domestic Ash, known to be very strong for its weight and the best value in hardwoods, and buys cut-to-size slats from Swannanoa.

Western North Carolina is wonderful for his business for several reasons, according to Buxton. The strong history of all sorts of crafts as well as the large outdoor community influence supports the right demographics for his brand. He

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Julie and Mark, members since 2013

Colin Buxton of Blue Ridge Chair Works in his Asheville workshop.

said support organizations like Mountain BizWorks have also been helpful. Currently working as a one-man show, Buxton tries to hit the mark of making about 20 chairs plus 10 tables and 10 stools every week. He said orders come from wholesale as well as direct-to-consumer orders, and he will be attending some seasonal festivals to vend and meet other people in the outdoor community.

With a recent brand refresh, Buxton said he hopes to grow Blue Ridge Chair Works. “It all takes time,” he said. “With a new website, new copy, and more marketing, we are hoping to start getting more wholesale accounts in the near future.”

While wanting to get as many chairs and tables to as many people as he can, Buxton said it’s important to him to maintain the small business feel and connectivity while scaling his business.

“I’m still dialing in the process, and there is always room to increase efficiency,” Buxton said. “Figuring out what is quicker, what is less work, and what order works best is a fun part of the job. I want to help as many people enjoy time outside with their families and people they love, and when these pieces of wood come to life, I know I’m helping people from here to California to Japan do just that.”

Ilona Kossoff

18 Chestnuts

Now in her second year in business, Ilona Kossoff and her team with 18 Chestnuts create quality soups to help people feel good in their bodies.

Kossoff and her husband formerly had a career in commercial real estate in Tampa, FL. When her father was diagnosed with

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cancer, Kossoff began to look at life from a different perspective.

“Real estate was draining my energy and creativity, and nothing was feeding my soul,” Kossoff said. “I took yoga teacher training courses and met some incredible people who were genuinely sharing their stories and stepping into their passion. I was so inspired by them, and felt a renewed source of energy.”

Soups are Kossoff’s favorite food, and she had been making them for herself and her family for more than 30 years. She realized the food choices most easily accessible don’t serve people well and can leave people feeling worse than before they eat them, and she didn’t want to be a part of that. She studied for a year at Cornell to learn how plant-based eating interacts inside the body.

“I created 18 Chestnuts with the sole purpose of creating quality healthy food,” Kossoff said. “The second pillar is environmental. People generally consume about a credit card worth of plastic every year, and I don’t want to contribute to that either. We package our soups in glass, and compost and recycle anything that’s possible.”

Living in Western North Carolina for several years, the region’s entrepreneurial support organizations have been instrumental in providing support and space for launching 18 Chestnuts, according to Kossoff. She said she was fortunate to find Blue Ridge Food Ventures and their commercial kitchen space, and the two women coaches she was paired with through Hatch Innovation Hub are fearless, knowledgeable in business, and have encouraged her to look at her business from different perspectives.

“They helped me to find my voice,” Kossoff said. “I feel purposeful, and this is an amazing feeling that I’ve never felt before. I’m just making soup, but I’m okay with just making soup as long as I can be really great at just making soup.”

Kossoff said the ingredients used in her soups are sourced as locally as possible, are made with 40% less sodium than many other brands, and are all vegan. She also said her soups, including Mountain Mushroom and Red Pepper Pomodoro, can be used in recipes like casseroles or pasta dishes and add more nutrition to meals. “I did this when my kids were little to sneak in veggies, and they loved it,” she said.

Setting up shop at the UNCA Farmers Market was an incredible learning curve for Kossoff. She said it was a business incubator of sorts and gave her an opportunity to connect with like-minded people and to test different products and flavors.

More recently, Kossoff said she had the opportunity to work with Venture Asheville’s Elevate program, which has turned into an incredible journey. She said surrounding herself with other hardworking people scaling their business has been truly inspiring, and that it’s supportive to see others navigating the challenging steps and finding their way. “I’m learning what that journey is like, and learning that I’m not alone,” she said. Now, Kossoff has four full-time and three part-time employees, as well as staff in other locations like Charlotte and Wilmington where 18 Chestnuts has a presence. She said she is also working with distributors, planning to attend food shows, and trying new soup recipes while growing the retail arm of her business. While she wants to expand, her focus is on North Carolina.

“I want to show up with the community and support the people who work and buy local,” Kossoff said. “I recognize this area as my home, and we want to be here.”

Sara Delaney Sarilla

Having grown up drinking tea and living a sober lifestyle as an adult, founding CEO

of Sarilla Sara Delaney had a dream of providing non-alcoholic options to Beer City’s brewery and restaurant scene.

Working in fair trade certification in the 2000s, Delaney was communicating with a fair trade coffee farmer and was invited to come visit Rwanda to see what it’s like for the farmers so she could properly tell their story. She accepted a job managing a restaurant in the capital of Rwanda in 2009. There, she not only fell in love with the country and its people. She also fell in love with their tea.

“I learned so much about tea in Rwanda,” Delaney said. “The process was so simple there; it’s very accessible. I really fell in love with the silver tea’s flavor and realized its power. It gave me smooth, streamlined energy and helped me to focus. I knew I wanted to bring it back with me.”

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Ilona Kossoff with fresh ingredients for 18 Chestnuts soups.

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Delaney said she is not into fussy tea. As a busy woman, she said she wants her tea to be really simple — grab-and-go style. After looking at the market opportunity around Asheville, she saw that bars and breweries wanted to offer that social comfort of having something to drink for people not drinking alcohol.

“I started playing around with recipes in

my kitchen,” Delaney said. “I was doing cold steeps and playing with nitro infusion. I love the fizzy mouth-feel but not the full feeling in my stomach.”

Delaney went to the Craft Beverage Institute in Candler and worked with Director Jeff “Puff” Irvin. She learned to keg, created standard operating procedures, and started testing recipes.

She took her kegs of fizzy teas to a coffee festival in the River Arts District and to the grand opening of Ginger’s Revenge in 2018 and got great feedback.

Initially using a Canton brewery’s facilities to keg her teas, Delaney said business was really ramping up in 2020. When Covid first began the brewery shut down, and later flooding washed many of her kegs down the river.

“I had to move my production north,” Delaney said. “We needed to start canning, and there wasn’t a facility here that could work with our proprietary process that needed specific equipment, and none had the ability to put our product into the slim cans that our brand uses.” Currently, Sarilla teas are currently canned at a co-packer in Vermont at a rate of about 40,000 cans per quarter. Delaney said as demand grows across the country, she hopes to see that number double or even triple by the fall. She said Sarilla is shipped to many locations in the Southeast, Northeast, and Pacific Northwest.

“I’d love to bring production back home to WNC,” Delaney said. “I’d also love to have a few manufacturing partners around the country. It’s really important for me to be as environmentally friendly as possible with freight, and we also have to make sure that we stay true to our brand ethics as we scale up.”

Empowering the farmers and tea pluckers of Rwanda is one of the most important aspects of her brand’s ethics, according

“Keeping our sourcing local may mean that we can’t have everything we want in the store, but that has helped us to keep our focus on what it means to have a local touch.”

Katherine Lile of The Mountain Thread Company sewing a signature rope basket in Blowing Rock.

to Delaney. She has partnered with 52 Rwandan women at Ubuzima Healing Garden Farm, and is teaching a resilience training program for them. They are also building their own brands of herbals, and she said it’s a true partnership and a much more equitable model for sourcing her ingredients than just paying fair trade premiums, which still wouldn’t be enough to bring farmers out of poverty.

Delaney also partners with nonprofits and organizations here in WNC and in Rwanda to provide assistance to rural communities in Rwanda. Helping to provide everything from water to teaching financial literacy for Rwandan residents, she said she hopes to teach others about the opportunities and endless possibilities entrepreneurship can bring through the growth of her own WNC-born brand of teas.

Katherine Lile The Mountain Thread Company

As the Founder of The Mountain Thread Company, Katherine Lile and her family did some soul searching in 2015 and decided to leave New England to return to Western North Carolina and turn her side-hustle into a full-time craft business.

“I knew Blowing Rock was a destination town,” Lile said. “Visitors here are interested in crafts and useful things that are locally-made to bring home as souvenirs and gifts. It’s also a place where I can connect with other crafters and makers.”

Sewing has been a part of local family traditions for many, according to Lile. She said many women pass this skill

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from generation to generation, and it can focus on thrifty ways to use up scraps of things. “Material from curtains can turn into a skirt, and material from a skirt can turn into a quilt,” she said. “It’s like telling stories with each of these little bits, and we are incorporating that in a new way with a nod to traditional basketry and Appalachian tradition. This technique of finding ways to form vessels using what we have feels close to home.”

The rope used in The Mountain Thread Company’s baskets is unique. Lile said she went on a hunt for the perfect rope for her baskets and nothing was quite right. After learning more about rope and its fiber content and construction, she learned different types of rope are very industry-specific. She reached out to a

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NC manufacturer, and now has the perfect rope custom-made for her.

Lile said she knew from the beginning she wanted to participate in her own local economy and culture, and using a NC manufacturer is one of the ways she keeps her product-making close to home. She said some of her fabric designers are located in WNC as well, and the cotton used in her rope is US-grown and milled. “It’s about as local as we can get in the global textile industry,” she said. “Local may mean different things depending on the items. Keeping our sourcing local may mean that we can’t have everything we want in the store, but that has helped us to keep our focus on what it means to have a local touch.”

The exploding tourism industry in WNC’s High Country has helped her company to grow rapidly in recent years. Lile said she

has definitely seen an uptick in foot traffic, and that since August of 2020, the average number of people walking through the door “shot through the roof.” She said her online business has also grown since the beginning of the pandemic as more people began feeling comfortable ordering things online.

“By April of 2023 I had already purchased a million feet of rope from my manufacturer,” Lile said. “In 2022, it took until September to reach that mark.” While much of that rope is used by her and her team for their baskets, she said she also ships her rope to other makers around the country and assembles DIY kits that allow people to make their own baskets. She said this combination is adding up to about 10 miles of rope per week.

The Mountain Thread Company ships kits and rope to all 50 states regularly, and Lile said her baskets have traveled

to places like Scandinavia, China, Iraq, and several countries in Africa. While she would rather have everyone come into her Blowing Rock store in person to see, touch, and feel her baskets, she said she is happy to share a little part of her craft and WNC out into the world.

The TDA and the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce have been big supporters of her growing local business, according to Lile. She said lots of independent businesses exist because they each have their unique niche and lots of local support.

“Blowing Rock is a great, creative place that does a great job of attracting tourists,” Lile said. “Some of these independent businesses on Main Street have been here for 40 years or more. There are a couple of franchises, but it’s mostly people doing their own thing in a place that they love, and it’s a great community to be a part of.”

Aluminum boat hull being welded at Smoky Mountain JetBoats in Bryson City.

Nick Williams

Smoky Mountain Jet Boats

Nick Williams, President of Smoky Mountain Jet Boats and Needmore Trailers, wouldn’t operate his business anywhere other than Western North Carolina.

With the help of Hall Marine Designs and Naval Architect Rob Schoefield, Williams and his team of 10 manufacture custom aluminum boats and trailers in Bryson City. “We’ve been working with Hall Marine Designs out of New Zealand for over a decade,” Williams said. “They are truly at the forefront of designing small aluminum boats.”

Once the boat design work is completed, it must be sent to the US Coast Guard for approval. The next step, according to Williams, is for a company in Slidell, LA

to cut 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick aluminum into “puzzle pieces,” which then are shipped to Bryson City to be welded into the actual boat.

One of the benefits aluminum offers is the ability to create one-off designs. Williams said fiberglass boats must be built using a mold, but with aluminum, it’s easy to change designs. To date, he and his team have built over a dozen differently designed boats.

Williams also said aluminum is much more lightweight than fiberglass or steel, which when paired with a powerful engine, allows for really fast-moving boats. He said his company is the only in the country that makes these types of passenger jet boats.

“It’s a thrill ride,” Williams said. “Clients don’t come to us looking to buy a boat; they come to us looking to start a

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business.” He said he and his team will help create a business model and plan, as well as discuss necessary items like fuel, insurance, and navigating Coast Guard regulations.

Before the pandemic, cruise ship companies were some of the company’s biggest clients. Williams said they use these boats at the ships’ destination ports and offer rides as excursions for passengers. These and other clients have brought Smoky Mountain Jet Boats all over the world including India, Korea, Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska. “I even sold a boat to the King of Bhutan,” Williams said. “I’m a royal boat purveyor.”

A recent project included constructing two Albemarle Class Catamarans — asymmetrical foil-assisted Coast Guard-inspected passenger vessels

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that will provide a smoother and faster ride between small towns around the Albemarle Sound.

“These boats are 45 feet long and have to go 28 knots with 32 passengers at an 80% engine load,” Williams said. “The Sound is really shallow, and it’s hard to go fast over a short fetch. The client needed the catamaran style for stability and efficiency — it will ride on top of the waves instead of struggling and bumping along through them, allowing a smooth ride between towns for the passengers.”

Needmore Trailers, a subsidiary of Smoky Mountain Jet Boats, is one way that Williams is branching out to reach more customers. “It will take a while for people to realize aluminum boats are amazing in the recreational market,” he said. “It seems more industrial and ‘less blingy’

than fiberglass, and the jet boat market is a fairly small one. Trailer-making offers a much larger market.”

Williams’ trailers are also custom-built, offering a lightweight and strong product allowing customers to easily haul kayaks, motorcycles, side-by-sides, bicycles, construction project materials, or a combination of those and more.

Williams said the future looks amazing for business growth in Bryson City. Despite the focus on boats, he will always keep his company here in Western North Carolina. “I’ve been in Bryson City for a while now, and my business is well-established here,” he said. “There are great quality people here, and the cost of living and operating my business is affordable. Plus, the coast is too hot and flat. I just love living in the mountains.”

Tom Dempsey SylvanSport

Tom Dempsey, Founder and CEO of SylvanSport, said he and his wife used to frequently visit Western North Carolina, and he has always loved Brevard.

“I had been circling around the area with my career from early on when I started Perception Kayaks in Upstate South Carolina,” Dempsey said. “I remember looking out of my windows toward the mountains, and later I started another kayak company, Liquid Logic, here in 2004. That was the same year the paper mill closed. I saw an opportunity to be the third wave of economic success in the county.”

Dempsey described these waves of economy-supporting industries as the first being ‘extractors’ like loggers and miners, the second being businesses like the paper mill who came here to use the water and other natural resources, and the third being outdoor gear manufacturing. “There is no place I’d rather be,” Dempsey said, “for my personal and family life as well as for my business. SylvanSport customers are located in all 50 states and all the Canadian provinces, and many will happily drive here to pick up their products. We even have a whole section on our website to help customers plan their travels to our area.”

Located in Brevard, SylvanSport manufactures a variety of camping gear including the GO trailer, tents, sleeping bags, camp kitchens, and more. Despite the focus on trailers, Dempsey said he considers his company a gear company, not an RV company.

Assembly line at SylvanSport’s factory in Brevard.

“There is no place I’d rather be,” Dempsey said, “for my personal and family life as well as for my business.”

“Our roots are in kayaks and bikes, not campers,” Dempsey said. “We are making technical gear that just happens to be on wheels. The focus is on effectively hauling and storing your toys. That’s the priority for us, and for most RV companies, that is an afterthought.”

Dempsey said the company’s product ethos is that the gear can’t be onedimensional. “Our camp kitchens can also be used for tailgating, soccer tournaments, and backyard entertaining,” he said. “We are designing multiple layers of functionality in our products. Pairing that with the quality and unique design and engineering as well as being made in the US, our loyal customers are respectful of the price points of our products.”

The WNC region, according to Dempsey, has the perfect blend of manufacturing, retail, and tourism, and he said the

environment in which it all takes place is so important. He said the quality of life offered by the area also attracts great talent, an aspect he appreciates as an employer. SylvanSport’s team consists of just under 30 employees, and Dempsey said many of them are also driven by the outdoors. “We even had a mandatory company rafting day at Nantahala Outdoor Center once,” he said.

The company operates on a ‘four 10s’ schedule through the winter, which Dempsey said helps his staff focus on being diligent and efficient, and provides the incentive of a three-day weekend. He said there is also a company social platform on which employees can communicate with each other, and there are often outdoor gatherings at trails or in parks on days off, and bike rides during lunch hours.

“This all helps with retention,” Dempsey said. “We have had zero turnover since 2019.”

Dempsey said his company’s economic impact on the region extends beyond his own staff. With 40 of his suppliers within a 100-mile radius of Brevard, he said his business easily keeps over 100 jobs going. “Trucks come in every day,” he said. “This helps our assembly line function like a mini auto plant. We keep a good flow going.” The lifeblood of the company’s future, according to Dempsey, is new products. He said they will expand gear products, and SylvanSports’ new Vast Travel Trailer is just the start of the company’s travel trailer models. He also said his vision for the future of the region is to be the hub of outdoor gear research and development.

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“The proximity to the perfect population, resources, and environment as well as the media’s attention to the outdoor space helps put North Carolina front and center in the outdoor gear industry,” Dempsey said. “This is the best place in the country to have this business.”

Claire Watson and Nicole Hairfield

Moonlight Makers

Claire Watson and Nicole Hairfield became next-door neighbors nine years ago, and with children of similar ages, they spent a lot of time with each other. Hairfield, a former art teacher, and Watson, who came from a business background,

brainstormed a bunch of ideas of things to do while their children played, and within six months of becoming neighbors, this brainstorming created Moonlight Makers.

Moonlight Makers is a retail business based in Asheville that sells a variety of products with printed designs and witty phrases. Starting with the idea to work like a local Etsy shop to help other makers sell their products, Hairfield said they didn’t want to sit around and wait at home for orders to come in. A week or two after launching their website, they purchased an old bus for vending at area events. Hairfield said Watson’s husband remodeled the bus, removing built-in beds and installing shelves. They said it was completely repainted, and they created seating with cute covers and curtains. Having a creative bus instead of a tent for vending at events was more fun and brought more attention to their brand, according to Hairfield and Watson. Deciding to craft their own products as well, Watson said they started with t-shirts, and their first design was inspired by Hairfield’s interest in yoga.

“We saw the trend of t-shirts saying funny things selling fast, and we thought we could screen print some ourselves,” Watson said. “Nicole thought to print ‘Let that shit go,’ and it morphed into ‘Let that shiitake go’ paired with her mushroomdoing-yoga drawing. We took 40 of those

shirts to an event our first summer and sold out, and we knew we were onto something. Now we have 400 designs, and that one is still one of the most popular.”

Attending every event they could go to during their first summer in business, Hairfield said the experience helped them to figure out which were a better fit to return to, what designs made people stop and laugh, and what products people wanted.

“We came up with phrases in a variety of ways,” Watson said. “We’d look at what vegetables or animals were trendy. Nicole would draw it and we work around that. It used to be anything we thought was funny, and it’s evolved into mostly kitchenrelated sayings and items.”

Hairfield and Watson said after the first several years of attending festivals and events, a friend with a downtown gallery asked them to put some of their products in the gallery during one Christmas season. After pulling remaining merchandise out when the season was over, the gallery owner recognized the products were popular and asked if they could come back permanently.

“This allowed us to hire our first employee,” Watson said. “We slowly grew as a team, eventually removing the screen printing out of our kitchen and opening our flagship store in Asheville. Someone suggested we sell on Amazon Prime and we dabbled in that, and now we’ve been the number

“Everyone is rooting for you and no one is hiding knowledge, and most locals care so much about locally-owned and eco-conscious businesses. We are so proud and feel so much a part of this community.”

Claire Watson and Nicole Hairfield of Moonlight Makers vending from their signature custom bus.

one seller of dish towels on Amazon Handmade for three years.”

“We were also featured in a QuickBooks commercial,” Hairfield said. “It was called ‘Own It’ and told stories of small businesses, showing us moms screen printing in our kitchen and shared the message that ‘you can do it too.’ That led to us connecting with our mentor and also helped us into that permanent space.”

With the help of Venture Asheville’s Elevate program, Moonlight Makers has grown to a “truly incredible” team of 12 and has a retail presence in more than 2,500 stores nationwide with a presence in other countries including Canada, Sweden, and Germany. Their product line of over 200,000 SKUs includes candles, tote bags, makeup bags, socks, wine tumblers, pillows, pins, wall prints, baby onesies, and more.

“We do all of our printed items in-house, and source other items as locally as possible,” Hairfield said. “The candles are poured here in Asheville and are the highest quality. The ink we use is nontoxic and friendly for kids. We make sure everything we do is as local and as clean as we can get.”

Hairfield and Watson said basing their business in Asheville attributes to some of its success. “It would definitely be different somewhere else,” Hatfield said. “We started with such a sweet group of artists ready to jump on board, and the community is so supportive of our business. Everyone is rooting for you and no one is hiding knowledge, and most locals care so much about locally-owned and eco-conscious businesses. We are so proud and feel so much a part of this community.”

Being a part of the area’s women-owned business community lights a fire for their success, according to Hairfield and Watson.

“We’ve read stats comparing men- and women-owned businesses, and it’s very motivating,” Hairfield said. “Men tend to take a lot more investment and loans to start businesses. We started our business with $5,000, and the business has always paid for its own growth. We have four daughters between the two of us, and we want to set an example for them that there are no limitations.”

“We are part of a group of about 25 other women-owned businesses, and we are all fully supportive of each other,” Watson said. “There is no competition between any of us. We are all queens polishing each other’s crown.”

Breaking Barriers

support

Education

Supporting tens of thousands of regional jobs, the education industry is increasingly focused on funneling rising talent into the local workforce.

According to Riverbird Research, the concentration of jobs in the education industry across an 18-county area of WNC was on par with the national average in 2022.

The 2017-2022 jobs growth rate of -6% was greater than the overall -1% rate of change, supporting employment of 33,809 individuals earning an average annual wage of $43,369 excluding supplements. The education industry in Buncombe County supported 9,085 of those jobs in 2022, followed by Watauga County’s education facilities which supported 6,164 jobs.

Private Schools

Private schools also play a role in the education industry. With 115,311 students enrolled in private schools statewide, 69.3% at religious schools and 30.7% at independent schools, 7,647 of those students attend a variety of private schools in WNC, according to NC’s Department of Administration’s Division of Non-Public Education.

In WNC, each county except for Ashe and Graham has at least one private school, for a total of 98 private schools in the region. Out of the state’s 828 private schools, the region is home to 12% of these institutions.

These 98 private schools employ a total of 1,529 teachers across the region, 784 of which work in Buncombe County. Henderson County has the second highest number of private school teachers, 206, followed by Rutherford County with 84 private school teachers.

Facilitating Connections Between Educators and Career Awareness for Students

Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023, the North Carolina Business Committee for Education is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization focused on

University athletics at Appalachian State encourages school sprit for students, alumni, locals, and visitors alike.

making connections between education systems and employers within a variety of industries.

Executive Director Caroline Sullivan said the NCBCE works mostly with public and public charter schools and at a high level with the state’s community college system. NCBCE, with the help of Fidelity Investments, created a Navigator platform for educators across the state providing employer-posted career spotlights, guest speakers, engaging activities, and early career awareness, making it easier for teachers to connect to employers.

“This works as a super-connector in cities,” Sullivan said. “We can work across different systems and see how things fit, better connecting educators and classroom learning to career pathways.” Career awareness programs begin with students as early as 5th grade via a program called Students@Work. This program allows students to visit business environments, either virtually or in person, to learn about the variety of career paths available in different industries.

According to Sullivan, it is important to start with middle school grades because that is when students begin making their own academic decisions. Choices such as which math class to take will affect other choices, and students need specific math classes for certain STEM programs as they move into those types of careers.

One impactful story Sullivan said she heard was during an agriculture session at a middle school conference. An owner of a dog food company discussed the elements that go into dog food production, relating the processes to the importance of math. She heard him say, “If I measure out an ingredient and the decimal point is in the wrong place, I just killed my dog.” She said stories like this reinforce the importance of math in real-life applications for students.

Deputy Director Morgan Crawford said it is statistically proven that middle schoolaged girls often lose interest in STEM

aspects, and it is important to keep that interest rolling.

“Early exposure to a variety of careers can create an understanding of the layers in industries,” Crawford said. “There are new careers being created all the time, some spinoffs of others, and spawning different interests early is crucial.”

Sullivan said employers are also realizing the importance of growing talent while kids are still in school instead of waiting until graduation. She quoted Secretary of Commerce Machelle Baker Sanders when she said employers have to tell their story earlier because people won’t know about it otherwise.

“Without employers telling their story, we will be at a huge disadvantage,” Sullivan said. “With the speed of change and innovation, it’s critical for professionals in the private sector to volunteer to talk to students as subject matter experts. Textbooks take a long time to catch up, and professionals can share concepts that interest students that don’t yet exist in textbooks.”

NCBCE also provides several opportunities for professional development.

“Professional development for teachers is huge,” Sullivan said. “This helps teachers get excited about things in the classroom, working with others, and sharing ideas. You can hear the excitement in their voices when they participate in these programs.”

Crawford said though there is no direct measurement, she would like to think professional development and other ways to participate and receive support relating directly to your field of interest make educators more likely to stay in their field.

Before the pandemic, NCBCE held middle school conferences hosting teachers from all districts in NC, providing an engaging day of learning and information for teachers to take directly back to the classroom. Crawford said these chances for connection and networking can make continued on next page

35,998 Jobs in 2017

33,809 Jobs in 2022 -6% Job Growth -2,189

2017-2022 Change in Jobs

$43,369

2022 Average Annual Wage Excluding supplements

N/A

Payrolled Business Locations in 2022

The overall concentration of jobs in the 18-county region was on par with the national average in 2022.

The 2017-2022 jobs change rate of -6% was greater than the state’s overall -1% rate of change.

Self-employed jobs are included in the estimates.

Source: Lightcast, 2023.1

a big difference in teachers’ mindsets, as teaching can feel sort of isolating.

“Though you’re in a school full of people, it’s just a teacher and the students,” Crawford said. “There’s not a lot of time for networking. Schedules can be tough, and networking and professional development provide opportunities to brainstorm, share best practices, and get excited about what you are doing. This is beneficial in any job and can make for a better overall experience.”

Crawford and Sullivan agree that the more positivity there is in a job, the more willingness there is to stay in that job. They said this is why the organization compiles these direct resources across a variety of platforms to encourage connections, expand career exposure, and create more engagement with the community as a whole.

Cherokee Central Schools Offers Programming Allowing Students to be Career-Ready

Becoming a tribally-operated school in 1990, the Cherokee Central School is accredited by AdvancED, and a Board of

Directors works as a policy-making entity to operate the schools.

Serving preschool through 12th grade, Cherokee Central School served more than 1,400 students in the 2022/2023 school year.

Conversely to many public schools, Associate Superintendent Beverly Payne said student enrollment continued to grow through the pandemic.

“The tribe took a stance to protect its people during COVID,” Payne said. “They closed reservation borders when infection rates went up. The Tribal Council watched numbers closely, and the numbers were lower within the reservation compared to outside.”

Comprising about 350 faculty and staff across all departments, Payne said 46% are enrolled members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, 4% are enrolled members of other tribes, and the remaining 50% are non-native. Superintendent Consul Girty said, “We are definitely one of the top employers on the Qualla Boundary.”

Funding for the school comes from a grant through the Bureau of Indian Affairs

instead of the NC Department of Public Instruction, and according to Payne, the Tribal Council supplements quite a bit of that funding. Much of the supplemental funding comes from gaming dollars, and the Board of Directors approves the budget annually. While funding does not come from the state, she said CCS still follows the NC course of study and assessment system.

Girty said the preschool is directly tied in with the elementary school, and they try to follow a similar schedule so the kids are ready for Kindergarten. They eat in the same cafeteria and are familiar with the day-to-day schedule, and they have found this helps young students be successful.

“We just had our largest graduating class, 98 students, and this was the first graduating class that had students from the first year of the CCS preschool,” Girty said. “There were 15 or 16 from the original 39 in that first year, and both the Valedictorian and Salutatorian attended preschool here.”

Payne and Girty said they are at the tail end of an expansion project for CCS. They said the pandemic actually helped, as the project had just begun when the shutdown started. While learning was remote for a number of months, renovations began on existing buildings in addition to three new buildings being added on campus.

Payne said part of the expansion allowed the school to offer more programming. CCS offers several programs to develop career awareness to help keep students in local jobs upon their graduation. For the last three years, the schools worked in conjunction with the Qualla Education Collaborative to offer a Real Life Expo.

“It’s a simulation of ‘real life’ where tribal entities participate in exposing students to opportunities and careers,” Payne said. “In the simulation, students are given various careers and life circumstances, and can see how they are affected by different circumstances and see who can get to the end with money left over. They

Students at Cherokee Central Schools studying Culinary Arts.

learn what it may be like to have certain jobs, and the program has a really high engagement with the students.”

There is a high school career fair and a variety of career awareness programs that allow students to visit job sites or tribal organizations and shadow leaders, according to Payne. This helps them learn what careers are available within different businesses and organizations. Tribal HR also works with students in conducting mock interviews and practicing resume writing.

Many career and tech education courses are available within the curriculum, and Payne said that is unusual for a high school of that size. Additional programs have been incorporated over the last couple of years via an American CTE program grant, which also allowed CCS to hire an ESTEAM director.

The curriculum includes a variety of middle and high school courses including drone tech, coding, digital design, and animation, according to Payne. Skilled trade courses are also available for high school, such as culinary arts, agriculture, business, automotive tech, and health sciences.

“The high school has partnerships with Job Corps, which offers students additional types of career and tech ed courses to help get students career-ready,” Payne said. “The director is working on partnerships with another local organization offering different training such as masonry. We have these in place for interested students to take advantage of, and some of them even pay students to learn. It’s a great opportunity for our students.”

A Long-Standing Education Institution Brings Life to a Small Town

Started in 1856 as an effort from Baptist families to provide a higher education opportunity, Mars Hill University is the oldest higher education institution that is still on its original site in Western North Carolina.

With 1,200 total students including those enrolled in evening adult classes, graduate studies, and traditional undergraduate students, Director of Communications

Mike Thornhill said the school transitioned from Mars Hill College to Mars Hill University to better reflect its position. The shift in how the school approaches higher education and the addition of more

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graduate programs were reasons for the transition.

With 35 majors and minors, programming at MHU is determined based on interest and what the University’s leadership feels might be strong or what the University may be able to provide a unique take on, according to Thornhill. An example is bringing Zoology out of another biological science major, which is unique for a school of that size.

In Madison County and surrounding areas, Thornhill said there is a need to provide more options in entrepreneurship and business administration. Because of that, a new Entrepreneurial Leadership Minor under the Department of Business Administration will be launching this fall. There is a committee of faculty and administration that examines industry, education, and workforce trends to determine if they are long- or short-term before programs are developed, according to Thornhill. Several considerations must be reviewed before a decision is made to add or cut a program, and lots of research goes into making that choice.

“We have to look at what fits with the faculty and resources we already have

versus what we would need to add,” Thornhill said. “We take a holistic view of where it fits in the University’s plan, the cost of running the program, the resources needed to execute them, as well as what potential enrollment might be.”

In addition to a variety of majors and minors, Mars Hill University offers extracurricular activities that provide opportunities for community engagement. There are Greek organizations, interest organizations and clubs, and pathways for community service.

Several NCAA Division 2 athletic programs are available on campus. The MHU football program won the Mountain Division Conference recently, and Thornhill said the cross country program also does well in the region. This is a draw for students to come to MHU, as they may want an opportunity to continue performing in sports but may not want the experience of a large university.

Clog dancing, a traditional Southern Appalachian dance, is also offered at MHU. Thornhill said the clog dancing team, Bailey Mountain Cloggers, has won national championships and traveled on an international tour to countries including Greece and Portugal. A connection to

local culture and ambassadors for the University, the team also performs at First Friday events on Main Street in Mars Hill. Focused on attracting students from the community as well as attracting students from other areas, Thornhill said MHU has a large recruiting base outside of the region. Students relocate to Mars Hill from Eastern Tennessee, Florida, and other states. In addition, the University offers a scholarship called the Local Lion Promise which offers students from Buncombe, Madison, Mitchell, and Yancey Counties a 50% discount on their tuition.

Historically, most of the University’s faculty and staff resided in or near Mars Hill, according to Thornhill. He said now that commuting is so much easier, many of the University’s 250 faculty and staff live in areas like Asheville, Weaverville, Burnsville, or Johnson City, TN.

“Observationally we bring in between 1,000 to 1,200 people per year that are here from August to May or longer,” Thornhill said. “We try to be a good corporate citizen and want to be a big part of the local community. The University leases downtown buildings to local businesses, and it’s great to be a part of and have a positive impact on the thriving business community. We try to be as involved as we can in Madison County and Western North Carolina.”

Thornhill said MHU would love to grow and increase enrollment, but they must do it sustainably. It’s important to make sure students and staff have places to live and eat, there are staff and support for the growing University community, and there are resources available for the needs of a larger campus.

“We’d love to take enrollment to 1,500 as a near-term goal, but the main goal is to continue to ensure a high quality of education,” Thornhill said. “Mars Hill University is an unsung gem with good programs, and we will continue to bring more awareness to the University as we move forward.”

Mars Hill University has a big impact on a small town.

Blue Ridge Community College’s Direct Economic and Workforce Contributions

Blue Ridge Community College is a business in itself as well as a creator of jobs for WNC businesses, according to Blue Ridge Community College President Dr. Laura Leatherwood.

With 570 employees, 220 full-time and 350 part-time, BRCC is one of the larger employees in the region, according to Leatherwood. The college provides services to students as well as the community and the college’s partners, and there is always a positive return on the investment.

With an operations spending impact of $22.1 million, a student spending impact of $4.5 million, and an alumni impact of $101.6 million, the total economic impact

of the college was $128.1 million with 2,416 jobs supported, according to an economic impact analysis from November 2021.

More than spending, the alumni of the college also impact the community because once they graduate or receive their credentials, there is a greater chance of them staying in the community. “Students may participate in work-based learning with a local company and may be offered a full-time job,” Leatherwood said. “This workforce pipeline is what the community college is here for.”

The student body of more than 10,000 individuals consists of mostly WNC locals, according to Leatherwood. Some do come to the area from right across the SC state line, though the primary focus is to serve Henderson and Transylvania Counties and residents of WNC.

BRCC currently offers more than 200 courses in 30 different areas of study. There are also fast-track workforce training programs aligned with the primary sectors of the community including healthcare, advanced manufacturing, early childhood education, skilled trades, civil and environmental engineering, as well as information technology and cybersecurity which benefit all sectors. Leatherwood said every program has an advisory committee of eight to 10 area businesses, usually based in a particular sector. These committees understand what is actively happening in these sectors, what they are currently struggling with, and what skills students will need to have to successfully move into the workforce. They know what technologies are being used in each industry, what

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the college needs to teach, and what resources need to be provided.

“Our programs are created as a response to the community and the region,” Leatherwood said. “Our partners, communities, and counties let us know what they need now and what they will be needing in the next 10 years. It’s my job as president to align our programs with workforce development boards as a strategy to create skilled workers for those areas. What we don’t want is for students to earn their degree and say that they needed more of something but weren’t taught that.”

The Small Business Center at BRCC works with both students as well as other members of the community. Leatherwood said rural areas are driven by small businesses, and it’s important to the college to continue providing opportunities for small business startups and teaching them more about marketing, increasing sales, business basics, financing, and how to deploy technologies.

This helps small businesses to expand and create jobs for themselves.

In the Fall of 2022, Leatherwood said the SBC hosted 105 counseling sessions for small business owners, and since the 2017/2018 fiscal year, the BRCC’s SBC directly contributed to 84 startups in Henderson County.

Apprenticeships are the college’s fastest-growing program, according to Leatherwood. The college works with 45 employers across a variety of programs to offer an Earn while you Learn program allowing students to earn a paycheck while they are getting a degree. The idea is for students to continue employment after graduation, and they currently have a 90% retention rate within that plan and are adding more disciplines each semester.

“It’s important to remember the number one struggle is the workforce,” Leatherwood said. “Businesses often call the community college to see if students are interested in a particular line of work. When we can help them, we’re almost acting as a recruiting arm for these companies. Conversely, not everyone knows how to seek jobs in 2023. Everything is remote, and we are teaching people how to create a resume and market themselves on platforms like Indeed. It’s mutually beneficial; we are helping companies and helping individuals by matching them up.”

Starting this fall, BRCC will add several new majors for students, including Entrepreneurship and Artificial Intelligence. Leatherwood said programs like these can help to expand businesses and help students to think differently about opportunities and how to add value to companies.

“Creativity and innovation are the name of the game,” Leatherwood said. “It doesn’t matter what you are doing or where you are going, you will have to take some risks. Our goal is to help students figure out where they need to be and what their next step is to get there.”

Athletics Programs Boost the Popularity, Enrollment, and Economy of the High Country

College football is a significant driver for visitors to the High Country, according to Appalachian State University’s Director of Athletics Doug Gillin.

With an average of 33,566 people attending each home game at Kidd Brewer Stadium in 2022, and about 8,000 to 10,000 of those being App State students, the population of Boone literally explodes by more than 20,000 people every week during football season.

Gillin said people come from all over the region and state to attend these games. Many of them are alumni from cities including Greensboro, Charlotte, and Raleigh — Mecklenburg County being the county with the highest concentration of the University’s alumni. The University recruits student-athletes from places like GA, TN, VA, SC, and FL, and while there are visitors coming to games to support these students, he said the real correlation is the alumni in those areas coming to support their school.

When these out-of-town visitors travel several hours to attend games, they typically don’t turn around and drive right home when the game is over. People stay in Boone and neighboring towns, and according to a 2022 Economic Impact Study, bring $93 million annually to Watauga County (an average of $1.8 million every week) and $112 million to the state of NC, as well as support 770 area jobs.

Gillan said he believes the successful athletics program contributes to students’ decision to enroll in the University. With thousands of students at each football game and hundreds to thousands attending other sports programs, he said University athletics provide students with opportunities in and around the campus.

Kidd Brewer Stadium at Appalachian State University draws crowds numbering multiple tens of thousands.

“Students love to come and engage in these events,” Gillan said. “They love to support their teams and their school.”

The popularity of Appalachian State football has been rapidly rising over the last couple of years, and according to Deputy Athletics Director and CFO Jonathan Reeder, a lot of that is due to exposure on national television.

“After we beat Texas A&M on the road, people were cheering in the streets here in Boone, and those videos went viral,” Reeder said. “ESPN College Gameday found us when they saw that on social media. We arguably have the largest football program in the state, and we’ve doubled our licensing over the last two years.”

Licensing is absolutely a big deal, according to Gillin. The success of their football program is encouraging growth

in merchandising. “The atmosphere and environment are fun, the brand and its popularity has increased, and we are getting creative and entrepreneurial in marketing this brand,” he said.

Merchandise includes sweatshirts available on game days that match what the coaches are wearing, App State’s own barbecue sauce, and even their own official craft beer — Mountain Brew. Gillan said they are aggressively pursuing other outlets to add more points of sale in more places throughout the region for their variety of merchandise.

Other athletic programs also bring in hundreds to thousands of visitors per game, according to Reeder. Men’s basketball brings the second-largest crowds with an average of 2,376 people per game. Wrestling and baseball follow, with between 600 to 1,000 people

attending each event. Approximately 70% of these attendees come from “off the mountain”, meaning there are a large number of visitors to the region shopping, dining, and staying overnight in the region because of a variety of sports events, more than just football.

While some student-athletes are recruited and some are interested in correlating academic programs like sports medicine, athletic training, and exercise science, student-athletes study in a variety of programs across the board. Some academic programming works in conjunction with athletic programs, including mathematics and analytics courses that work with sports data as well as communications courses that offer opportunities to participate in the media such as live broadcast experiences and live streaming events.

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education

A-B Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Center is a division of continuing education and specific workforce training programs that don’t provide a degree, but instead provide students with skills that are directly applicable to their job.

Kimrey said there are two main components of this division — open enrollment and customized training programs. Open enrollment means that anyone can sign up for classes such as Fundamentals of Machining or Industrial Maintenance that help students develop a mechanical aptitude. Customized training programs are a direct connection to industries in the area offering training to an incumbent workforce.

“I always ask what’s keeping them up at night,” Kimrey said. “It could be quality problems in their process or a need for professional and leadership development for new supervisor training or specific safety concerns. We then build the project training plan, and we are constantly in touch with the company with status update meetings.”

There has been a slow and steady growth of the student body year after year, and in the fall of 2022, Appalachian State University saw a 25% spike in applications. Gillan said the University’s athletic programs have helped to boost the University’s popularity and offer a point of engagement and pride for its students. “It’s a chance for alumni and students to enjoy events that they are passionate about,” Gillan said. “It increases their level of engagement while they are here as well as when they leave. People remember these events fondly and continue to talk about them years down the road.”

Custom Training Programs for Manufacturing Funnel Students Directly Into the Workforce

Asheville-Buncombe Technical College’s Director of Economic and Workforce Development Kevin Kimrey said the college’s workforce training programs play a role in recruiting companies to Western North Carolina by connecting with businesses and industries in a variety of ways.

“Customized training programs place people right into the workforce,” Kimrey said. “Our program builds programs that are funded by the state and free to companies, and I was told this is part of the deciding factor for businesses coming to the area. It’s because they know we have the ability to train their workforce.”

There are currently customized training programs for 10 local businesses including Arcadia Beverage Company, BorgWarner, and Pratt & Whitney, according to Kimrey. Programs like these are available statewide at all 58 community colleges, and A-B Tech has always been prolific in that program. He said though it is the ninth-largest community college in the state, the key metrics of the program have the school tracking right behind Wake Technical Community College, the largest in the state.

Manufacturing companies work with A-B Tech to develop these educational programs when they are adding to their workforce, adding a new product to manufacture, or working to increase their productivity, according to Kimrey. They either reach out directly to the college or through the state, then Kimrey and his team perform an in-depth analysis and build the project’s training plan.

While A-B Tech’s customized training programs help prepare students to directly enter the workforce, the program’s equipment may not be exactly the same as the company’s. Specific manufacturing equipment may be extremely large and some processes are proprietary Kimrey said in general, the programs determine what the company’s processes are and how they are making what they are making, and the program sets up a similar process with similar equipment to teach students the fundamentals.

An average of about 1,000 students per year move through programs like these directly into the workforce from A-B Tech, according to Kimrey. They are busier than ever before, and there will be about 1,500 students within these programs this year, some of whom are already in the workforce.

While the majority of A-B Tech’s students are local, between 10% and 15% of the student population is coming from outside of the region. “Announcements like Pratt & Whitney’s arrival to the area heightens that interest,” he said.

Pratt & Whitney is one company that has a Pre-Hire program with the college, according to Kimrey. People can apply with Pratt & Whitney, and upon a screening, applicants are sent to A-B Tech for assessments and training. Students may get a conditional offer of employment, then after 80 hours of training, they are able to officially enter the workforce.

Kimrey said the types of projects created by the Advanced Manufacturing Center at A-B Tech are very cyclical. “Things

Blue Ridge Community College students of the nursing program.

that were very popular may cycle out in two or three years,” he said. “There are continuous improvements in things like leadership, professional development, and safety, and technology changes every day. It’s advanced a lot since I started this work 10 years ago.”

One trend Kimrey is noticing is more companies investing in machinery to automate their processes. “This is still creating jobs because you have to have people programming all these robots,” he said. “Companies are also moving

“From skilled trades to healthcare to technology and manufacturing, we are doing a good service to train people to get them right into the workforce or starting at a community college for a four-year or higher degree.”

Unique Entrepreneurship Program Helps Create Business-Ready Students

Since 2015, Western Carolina University’s Corporation for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has been partnering students,

Businesses can apply for consideration and share projects that they could use help with, then if a good fit is determined, Creasy creates the connection to a faculty member who will select an appropriate number of students to work with the business on those projects.

WCU is accredited through the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, and the University must have a level of engagement to receive that accreditation. “We use the CEI, which is housed under the College of Business, as part of that engagement,” he said. “We want to be a good community partner and help to get students business-ready.”

Types of businesses interacting with the CEI vary widely. Current partners include businesses such as a care center, moss

grower, retreat center, magnet maker, a video arcade hangout for teens, and a wellness company. Their projects range from trademark application, tweaking software, performing SWOT analyses, and helping to determine things like price points, viability, and how to increase ratings.

“Businesses can benefit from students helping with these analyses,” Creasy said. “They can use the funding and students to turn their concept into a product because they get help with product development, patent investigation and filing, and getting ideas to potential angel investors.”

Creasy tries to go to a variety of business gatherings including conferences and Chamber of Commerce and Rotary events in order to bring awareness of the program to local businesses. He said the CEI also hosts its own biannual conferences — one focused on Jackson and Haywood Counties and the other focused on Buncombe and Henderson Counties — which feature business experts sharing advice with small businesses.

Students get great benefits too, according to Creasy. Not only are they gaining direct experience with real, local businesses, he said they also get paid for their efforts.

“We’ve had entire teams get hired by these employers, and students routinely get hired by these companies upon graduation,” he said. “It also looks great on a resume. There are indirect benefits

for the students too as faculty bring this experience into the classroom; it’s all got ripples that are very interesting.”

The success of the program is gauged by client surveys posing a variety of questions, according to Creasy. Their responses help tell the story of the program’s success, and the vast majority of clients are very satisfied.

Each project’s duration is over a semester, and participating students give a presentation reviewing these projects upon completion. “They are very professionally done,” Creasy said. “Students prepare a report and present their findings, and the clients have some say in the student’s grade. It’s another measure of the program’s success.”

The CEI is just one of the ways the University prepares students to become business-ready, according to Creasy. Students in the University’s College of Business are offered a variety of business degrees to choose from, including a bachelor’s and a master’s focused on Entrepreneurship. Creasy said classes are designed to teach students things like how to build a business plan, perform market analysis, build a lending plan, acquire venture capital, and more.

The “intrapreneur” aspect is another perspective taught in these programs. Creasy said even if a student decides to work for a large company, they can

look for ways to do things differently. As an employee, they could look at developing a new product or service within the company. “It teaches you to think differently,” he said.

Afterschool Programs Support Existing and Rising Workforces

Afterschool programs play a major role in the lives of working families, according to NC Center for Afterschool Programs Director Elizabeth Anderson.

Anderson describes afterschool programs as safe places for children while their families are working, providing peace of mind for parents and extended learning experiences for students. NC CAP works with all kinds of quality enrichment programs around the state including those focused on sports, academics, arts, STEM, and more.

“We act as a convener,” Anderson said. “We try to bring together out-of-school time stakeholders to discuss the many issues. We hold an annual Synergy Conference that brings together a variety of affiliated professionals in the sector, and are creating regional convening opportunities as well.”

In WNC, NC CAP is working with Dogwood Health Trust to learn what programming is currently available in order to help fill in the gaps, especially in rural areas. The organization also conducts research to outline best practices and determine what best supports the field with other entities such as public school alliances. NC CAP also acts as a catalyst advocating policy issues supporting afterschool and childcare policies and the way programs are supported and funded to help families be able to afford them.

Currently, programs are funded in a variety of ways, according to Anderson. Large organizations including the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and 21st Century Community Learning Centers as well as

Students training with equipment at A-B Tech’s Advanced Manufacturing Center.

the Department of Public Instruction help fund many public afterschool programs. Private afterschool programs may charge tuition, though with the high cost of offering high-quality programming and care, many of these programs are also supplementally funded through grants or private funders to make the rates affordable for working families.

According to the NC Afterschool Alliance, the average cost of paid programs is $109 per week. Part of the Child Care Development Fund, the Child Care and Development Block Grant helps provide childcare and afterschool service funding for working low-income families with children up to age 13. Increasing each year since 2014, the national fund is estimated to provide $8.02 billion in 2023, with $239,522,789 of those funds going to families in NC.

While there are many existing programs, the demand for afterschool programming is rising in North Carolina. According to Anderson, for every child currently enrolled, there are three waiting for an available spot. That number increases in rural areas — for every child enrolled, four are waiting. The NC Afterschool Alliance reports that 47% of children in rural communities would participate in an afterschool program if there was one available.

“Afterschool programs are not accessible to everyone,” Anderson said. “We are working in advocacy and capacitybuilding so that more people who want to be enrolled can be. Barrier issues include availability, cost, and transportation, and particularly in Western North Carolina, the geographic availability and lack of available transportation, especially for parents working second shifts or long hours, this is a huge challenge.”

More than providing care for children of working parents, afterschool programs provide high-quality opportunities for children to develop workforce skills, according to Anderson. Many programs

are adjusting to the need by offering chances to learn these skills through STEM activities and experiential learning.

“Outside of the classroom, this work is not graded,” Anderson said. “It’s a ‘lower-stakes’ environment where kids can explore different roles and interests. For example, students can go through the scientific process and develop a hypothesis and maybe fail, but they’ll feel less nervous about it. By the time they graduate, they will have had a chance to try on a bunch of different hats to help them decide what it is they want to do next.”

Anderson said there are some programs directly linked to a variety of specific local industries, and there is room for more of those. There is a STEM Asset Mapping Database that acts as a hub with curriculum and lessons that can be implemented. There is a focus on resources,

research, careers, and engagement, and this online tool highlights local STEM assets which programs, schools, families, and communities can leverage to engage students in STEM activities.

Some business entities can help support partners such as higher education facilities, libraries, and museums, according to Anderson. Businesses support a lot of these, and since they know exactly what skills their desired workforce needs to develop, businesses that can help build programs specific to those can be lifechanging.

“This is a great space for businesses to get involved,” Anderson said. “Whether volunteering particular skills, activities, or mentorship opportunities, partnering with afterschool programs is a great way to get involved in the community while helping to groom rising talent to the workforce.”

Business Resources: Education

North Carolina Business Committee for Education

Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023, the North Carolina Business Committee for Education is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization focused on making connections between education systems and employers within a variety of industries. The NCBCE works mostly with public and public charter schools, and works at a high level with the state’s community college system. With the help of Fidelity Investments, the NCBCE provides employer-posted career spotlights, guest speakers, engaging activities, and early career awareness, making it easier for teachers to connect to employers. Learn more at NCBCE.org.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction provides information and resources to individuals in the education industry including educator preparation, recognition programs, licensure, professional development, national board certification, and specialized instructional support. Opportunities for funding, schools, students, as well as data analysis and reporting are also available.

Learn more at DPI.NC.gov.

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Find a comprehensive list of resources for businesses and organizations of all types at WNCBusiness.com/Resources.

get to know Henderson County Education Foundation

Providing Equitable Opportunities for All Children in Henderson County Public Schools

Since 1986, the Henderson County Education Foundation has helped support a positive education experience for all children in Henderson County Public Schools. The organization was first created to provide student scholarships, and Executive Director Peggy Marshall said the organization has grown to offer a lot more for public education in the county.

“We want to touch as many kids as we can,” Marshall said. “We still offer scholarships, but our goal is to positively impact every child in every school in some capacity.”

There are organizations in many of the area’s counties that help provide support to the education system, and Marshall said each has a different focus depending on the needs of each district and what they value most.

Marshall said the Henderson County Education Foundation is based around a goal of providing equitable experiences to every child. She said not all kids get to go to parks, attend theater performances, or participate in summer camps.

The Foundation provides a variety of resources, opportunities, and funds to improve many aspects of the students’ and teachers’ experience in their education journey. Supporting the whole child, everything from scholarships to classroom materials to experiential programs are offered to every child in the county’s public school system.

Consisting of three staff, the HCEF is a partnership with a wonderful Board of Directors, according to Marshall. She said the team and members communicate directly with the county’s schools and principles making sure there is never a drop in services. They also all work together in fundraising as well as writing grants for various programs.

Offerings of the HCEF include:

• Providing educational materials and kits to help boost literacy for struggling readers, helping schools identify struggling readers so they can get the help they need to succeed as they move through grade school.

• Bringing the A Leader In Me program to area schools. This program focuses on a whole-school model to encourage leadership, culture, academics, and empowerment with soft skills to facilitate success.

• Partnering with another nonprofit organization called Muddy Sneakers to offer outdoor education and six outdoor field trips for every 5th grader in all of Henderson County’s public schools.

• Giving all 22 principals in the county $1,000 to use at their discretion to help meet various emergency needs of their students through The Spring Fund.

• Partnering with the Flat Rock Playhouse to bring plays into schools.

• Helping pay for an instructor to come into schools, providing one-on-one music lessons to students learning to play string instruments through The Berrian Strings Fund.

• Hosting Discover STEM Camps for rising 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th graders each summer. HCEF asks schools to give applications to girls, students of color, and students of poverty, attempting to get all populations of students excited about the STEM career field. This program visits businesses focused in areas such as manufacturing, technology, and

healthcare, as well as offers a variety of hands-on activities for students.

• Recognizing individuals retired from a variety of education sectors including teachers, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers through The Education Hall of Fame.

In addition to these programs, Marshall said the Foundation works with different sponsors to provide $125,000 in various annual scholarships for students. Initiated by the Board of Directors, the Grow Our Own Educational Assistance Fund hopes to help BIPOC students, classroom assistants, or support personnel to gain an education degree in any aspect.

“It could be teaching, counseling, or social work, but they must commit to coming back to Henderson County Public Schools to work,” Marshall said. “There are also memorial scholarships sponsored by community members, and each has their own requirements. There is a committee that meets to interview students and decide the scholarships’ recipients. It’s really hard to say no to any kid, but there’s only so much to go around. We hope to keep expanding so we can help more kids.”

Marshall said her work as an educator in Henderson County is where her passion comes from in leading the HCEF. “As a retired educator from Hendersonville, I served in the classroom and as a principal,” she said. “I’ve seen kids benefit from programs like these, and now I get to share stories of the wonderful impact of gathering the community to help provide kids what they need to be successful in their education.”

Founded in October 1986, the Henderson County Education Foundation exists to improve the educational experience for Henderson County students and teachers. Peggy Marshall has served as Executive Director since February 2022.

“I’ve seen kids benefit from programs like these, and now I get to share stories of the wonderful impact of gathering the community.”

- Peggy Marshall

my job

Josie Mundy

Director of School Operations at Woodson Branch Nature School

Mundy said she wears a lot of hats as Director, making sure everything is running smoothly. Since the school doesn’t have as many indoor spaces as a traditional school and the students are outdoors in all types of weather, she helps to make sure all the kids are dressed well for rain or snow.

Other tasks include helping to facilitate any changes in parent’s pick-up times, caring for children who are not feeling well until their parents pick them up, and helping configure substitute teachers if necessary, occasionally stepping in to cover classes.

lessons and using this lab with each grade level, and to think about all the possibilities is so exciting.”

For Josie Mundy, working with children in an alternative education program and seeing the world through their eyes creates the perfect job for her.

Woodson Branch Nature School is a private K-8 school in Madison County that fosters a holistic approach to education by including experiential lessons in the classroom and in nature. Mundy began working with the school’s Founder, Deborah DeLisle, at Hot Springs Community Preschool in 2008 and transitioned to her current position with WBNS at the start of the school’s second year in 2017.

“Our school values academics as well as teamwork, critical thinking, and how we interact with the earth, as well as social/ emotional aspects like centering and how to follow through when we experience strong feelings,” Mundy said. “This helps them become better all-around members of the community.”

“I love when I get to sub in a classroom or be a volunteer reader,” Mundy said. “Reading is so valuable, and I love to read with lots of emotion to help the kids picture the story.”

A large part of the Director of School Operations position at WBNS also involves evaluating the curriculum to learn what the school is lacking, then reaching out to people offering just that, according to Mundy. She said she often reaches out to people and programs offering hands-on and body-movement activities and naturebased programs like the Forest Service and the Nature Center to complement the existing specials offered such as Outdoor Education, Survival, and Agriculture.

“We get to play around with the curriculum and build it to what we value is important,” Mundy said. “We are currently looking at adding music and perhaps foreign language. We will be adding a new STEAM lab to open this fall which will include a 3D printer and engraver, GoPro cameras and drones, claymation materials, an interactive SMART Board, and more. We will be incorporating a lot of STEAM

Mundy said she also plays a large role in organizing fundraising events for the school, which she said are also unique and geared toward bringing the community together. These events include the infamous Muck Boot Ball, the Appalachian Heritage Festival, and a BBQ and plant sale. “Students are deeply involved in each of these events,” Mundy said. “The kids help jar and make the labels for lavender honey made with campus-grown lavender. They sell pumpkins that they helped grow in our garden. They sow the seeds and make the markers for all of the starter plants in our plant sale. We fundraise with events aligned with who we are and our goals and passions, not things for parents to buy out of a catalog. We put love and energy into each thing we plant and sow and make here.”

Working at WBNS aligns with the values of her entire family, according to Mundy. “My mom, husband, and daughter work here, and I have a son attending school here,” she said. “We build relationships with the students in different ways, and it’s really nice to be able to go to work and come home together. We are an active family, and it’s great to work here in the fresh air and sunshine while supporting an alternative education program that truly listens to the needs of the children.”

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Mundy is the Director of Operations at Woodson Branch Nature School. Learn more about WBNS at MadisonCCLC.org.

Josie

Agriculture industry spotlight

WNC’s shifting agriculture industry spawns new focuses within farming businesses.

According to Riverbird Research, the concentration of jobs in the agriculture industry across an 18-county area of WNC was on par with the national average in 2022.

The 2017-2022 jobs growth rate of 19% outpaced the state’s overall 1% rate of change, supporting the employment of 4,409 individuals earning an average annual wage of $35,114 excluding supplements.

The agriculture industry in Henderson County supported 1,918 of those jobs in

2022, followed by Buncombe County’s agricultural businesses which supported 852 of those jobs.

Building Community Health and Local Economies Through Local Food

Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is a 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to support local farmers, link farmers to resources, and build healthier communities through connections to local food.

Before officially starting in 2002, ASAP’s Communications Manager Sarah Hart said a few individuals knew the tobacco buyout was coming to NC, which would seismically affect agriculture in Western North Carolina. They knew many farmers would have to shift, and they knew it was important to keep the agricultural character of the region in place.

As ASAP began and grew, its members spoke with farmers, extension agents, and academic researchers to learn what they liked about the way of life of tobacco

Jennifer Perkins and son, Max Perkins, Owners of Looking Glass Creamery in Columbus.

farming. Hart said they realized local food could keep farms small, which aligns with the geography of the region which also dictates how large farms can get. Hart said there is a growing national trend of people that want to know more about where food comes from, and people are starting to identify with the idea of local food. ASAP started a local food campaign, helping to get people interested and understand where they can purchase locally. The list of stands, farms, and markets wasn’t long at first — only 50 listings in WNC — and now there are more than 1400 listings.

In addition to creating a list of places to purchase local food, ASAP also offers a variety of educational and supportive programming for farmers, educators, and the community including a Farm to School program, farmer training programs, workshops, and a Farm Fresh for Health initiative.

“ASAP offers programming for a variety of connection points,” Hart said. “We work with teachers and nutrition staff at local schools, help create best practices for markets, coordinate an annual farm tour, and look at the ways we can help boost community health as well as economic stability. We also have a research center to survey farmers and look at regional trends to know where programs are working or need adapting to better provide support for these aspects.”

Direct support to local farmers includes a Business of Farming conference which helps farmers develop their businesses and make connections for them, according to Hart. Classes in marketing, planning, risk management, and market planning are offered.

Through funding from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, ASAP helps farmers who are creating addedvalue products to develop non-food items including promotional materials, signage, and packaging. Hart said ASAP can help

pay farmers to provide food to free-food organizations that typically receive donations including lower-quality canned goods, further connecting community needs to the needs of farmers.

Hart said ASAP helps drive the demand for local farm products in a variety of ways. An Appalachian Grown program not only offers free consulting to around 1,000 farms but also helps consumers easily recognize local produce and farm products. ASAP supports about 100 farmers markets to have the capacity to do promotional work to reach a larger audience, bringing people together to have a more powerful voice.

“Appalachian Grown has become easily recognizable branding,” Hart said. “We create our own packaging with Appalachian Grown branding and can sell it to farmers at a lower cost because we buy it in bulk. We also offer a farmer toolkit that encapsulates many aspects of farming businesses that can easily be found online. There’s a food guide, and we offer social media marketing and are working with the press to drive awareness of local food. We are constantly looking at what we can do to better get resources to farmers.”

According to Hart, a double Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with the Department of Health and Human Services and a prescription program provides the local community with incentives to shop at farmers markets.

“We help tap into people’s concerns about health and what they are eating,” Hart said. “We’ve helped farmers to be able to accept SNAP, and now most markets in Asheville and Buncombe County do.”

Survey reports from ASAP are showing that despite many farmers aging out and the region losing farmers and farmland each year, many agricultural businesses in the area are continuing to grow with the help of these efforts.

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agriculture snapshot

3,698 Jobs in 2017

4,409 Jobs in 2022

19% Job Growth

711

2017-2022 Change in Jobs

$35,114

2022 Average Annual Wage

Excluding supplements

N/A

Payrolled Business Locations in 2022

The overall concentration of jobs in the 18-county region was on par with the national average in 2022.

Growth of 19% from 2017 to 2022 outpaced the state’s overall 1% change.

Self-employed jobs are included in the estimates.

Source: Lightcast, 2023.1

“There are some new farming businesses in the area, and many want to be more connected to the community,” Hart said. “Many are homesteaders who want to have and enjoy this lifestyle and sell what they are growing to their local communities; there’s a ‘back to the land’ movement coming here. It’s more of a lifestyle than getting rich, and we continue to hear new, different, and collaborative stories from our local farmers.”

Support for Farming Businesses Supports Entire Communities

WNC Ag Options is a program that delivers grants to a wide variety of agricultural businesses in 20 WNC counties. Executive Director Jennifer Ferre said that these grants come from the NC Tobacco Trust Fund, an organization created out of the master tobacco settlement to help put money back into communities affected by their transition out of producing tobacco.

“This program is unique in that it puts money directly into the hands of farming businesses,” Ferre said. “The Tobacco

Trust fund can’t do that, so we help to facilitate the process as a flagship program for the Trust Fund.”

Though most farmers were no longer growing tobacco when the program launched in 2004, the goal of WNC Ag Options is still to help diversify farms, create more efficiency, and keep farms in farmland where agriculture is part of the cultural heritage and a big part of life for many residents. Ferre said through the program’s grants and business education for farmers, many small family farms can have a better opportunity to be successful.

Grants are available to farmers on a yearly cycle, according to Ferre. The program hosts information and outreach sessions, then applications are due in the fall. Leadership tries to make decisions for who the grantees will be by the end of the year so farmers can get going at the start of the following year.

“It’s a competitive application process,” Ferre said. “We receive between 100 and 120 applications each year and award anywhere from 30 to 40 grants.”

The program developed an evaluation system and eligibility requirements to help determine which businesses are in the greatest need of these grants, according to Farre. A scoring system based on five questions helps decision makers learn how a grant will help farmers in the short and long term, how they interact with the agricultural community, and how their plans may be replicated in other businesses.

“It’s not necessarily a needs-based grant,” Ferre said. “It’s based on the highest potential for the biggest benefit for these farmers as well as their employees and their community. We’re looking for people ready to scale up, and looking at how a grant up to $8,000 can make a huge difference. We love seeing how more families can be involved as they scale, how more people can make a living, and how more people can be impacted by the growth of these farms.”

The dollar amount of each grant ranges from $4,000 to $8,000 depending on what the businesses are asking for in their application. Grantees must also agree to a 10% cash match for the amount of money they receive. “This shows they are putting some skin in the game for a project that will be beneficial,” Ferre said.

Submitting a business plan is required for the grant process, according to Ferre. Through feedback, they have found that grant recipients really appreciated having that help. Placing focus on running the farm as a business can be a key factor in creating that farm’s success.

WNC Ag Options also developed a network of support systems, beginning with an orientation for grantees at the beginning of each year. There are also workshops to help farmers develop business plans, and businesses are also paired with support organizations like the NC Community College’s Small Business Centers, Mountain BizWorks, and the Small Business and Technology Development Center.

Former WNC Ag Options grant recipients Michael and Lauren Rayburn of Rayburn Farms.

“We all work together to help these growing agriculture businesses get their needs met,” Ferre said. “Grantees get this benefit as part of their award. We want them to be successful, and we feel good about helping create a long-term impact on the community in this way.”

Ferre said grant recipients are followed very closely during their first year, and she thinks it’s amazing that so many farms are so successful. She said 80% of some farmers markets are former Ag Options recipients, and 40% to 80% of Appalachian Sustainable Agricultural Project’s yearly farm tour locations are at grantees’ farms.

“Not everyone is successful though, and that is okay too,” she said. “Some of these business plans are very innovative, and people are taking risks.”

Many grantees are beginning to work with other businesses as well as creating more jobs and having the ability to pay living wages to their staff, according to Ferre. There is a ripple effect in the upswing in the value-added aspect of farming businesses, and she is seeing many businesses make more money than simply selling raw materials. Farmers are making vinegars from apples, infusing chocolates with their products, or supplying herbs to local breweries, and she said creativity and trying new ways of doing things is really good for farming businesses.

“Agriculture is North Carolina’s biggest industry, and it’s important to support that because it’s linked to other issues like food security, nutrition, and health,” Ferre said. “It’s about the entire region being healthy and successful.”

A Hub of Agricultural Research Supports Many Regional Farms

The Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center, a facility housing a wide variety of crop research programs, is the largest hub of off-site faculty and staff of NC State University.

The MHCREC has been in Mills River since 1959 and comprises 397 acres. With 70 permanent researchers at the facility and more than 100 researchers during the high season, the faculty and staff represented 20 different countries in 2022.

According to Interim Director Jessica Edney, there are three main projects as well as a variety of smaller ongoing research projects. The main three include a hops

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breeding program, an industrial hemp study, and a Christmas Tree program that involves work with Christmas Tree farms in the region’s High Country.

Other projects involve herbs like goldenseal and ginseng, vegetables, bioenergy research with grasses and trees, and pollinator studies with the NC Department of Transportation to determine the best blends of pollinatorattracting flowers that are planted along roadsides across the state.

Researchers share their results on the facility’s website so local farmers can use the information to control pest populations and diseases like apple blights, and improve the effectiveness of growing methods.

“Researchers make recommendations, and we disseminate that information to local extension agents,” Edney said. “The research is interpreted and posted online, which can help farmers lower the numbers of pesticide applications, save money and labor, and minimize environmental impacts.”

Other major research crops involve apples, ornamental trees, and tomatoes. “Apple research is critical because Henderson County is the largest apple producer in the state,” Edney said. “There is also a tomato breeding program; about 75% of tomatoes along the entire East Coast have DNA roots from this facility.”

The facility’s ornamental tree program led by Dr. Tom Rainey develops new nursery plants. There are unique and new species introductions of varieties like dogwoods, hydrangeas, or maples that may be a new shade or produce a new color of blooms, according to Edney. Some may create a non-invasive variety, or research might encourage plants that originally grew better in other environments to grow well in the conditions here in WNC.

The MHCREC’s Walgenbach Entomology Lab has conducted pest management research since 1987, and the type of research depends on what problems the industry is experiencing at the time.

“Right now there are concerns about stink bugs,” Edney said. “We also look at

ambrosia beetles, predatory mites, or any pests causing major issues for farmers. We grow vegetables and apples here on the farm to study these pests, and research is sometimes also done at local farms.”

Breeding hops is also a trendy research topic, according to Edney. A number of local breweries want to find a variety that will grow well here, and finding a variety to handle the region’s conditions has been tricky.

A new aspect in their research of Southern Appalachian apples involves growing apples on a trellis system. Dr. Tom Kon is the leader of that research, and findings include better yields, easier management of pruning, picking, and pesticide applications, and an increase in safety for farm employees.

A new produce training facility used primarily by Kon focused on various ways to be safe in handling produce.“There are lots of produce handling requirements within the USDA and the NCDA,” Edney said. “Regulations can be daunting for new farmers and their employees to keep up with. Here, the Extension Service helps put this into layman’s terms for farming businesses to understand.”

Not only does each project leader touch a variety of local farms with research findings, the MHCREC has also invited over 8,000 visitors to over 200 events, acting as a living and breathing teaching research facility providing invaluable information to farmers in the area, according to Edney. There are workshops, training, classes, and engagement with the Extension Service, and school groups are welcomed throughout the year. An annual public MHCREC Field Day event also allows members of the community to see firsthand what types of projects are currently underway.

“We are proud of the work and proud to showcase and advocate for the research being conducted here,” Edney said. “It’s a wonderful place to be.”

Greenhouse studies abound at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center.

Maintaining Polk County’s Rural Character Through Agricultural Economic Development

According to Polk County’s Agricultural Economic Development Director Dawn Jordan, Polk County has a unique philosophy for economic development.

Jordan said a survey was sent to the county’s citizens which asked what they feel is the most important thing for the county, and the most popular answer was to ensure that the rural character of the county be vigorously protected.

“The county is deliberate about that,” Jordan said. “We don’t want big box businesses. Even if we did, there is not water and sewer infrastructure across the county to support that. The land is mostly rolling hills and farmland.”

In order to have farms, Jordan said the farmers have to make a living. Polk County was the first in the state to put an Agriculture Economic Development program in place, and she said this “woke up a sleeping giant of agriculture that is not going back to sleep.”

Jordan’s role entails that she works with agricultural businesses and helps them get the support they need to grow. The county is not actively recruiting new businesses to the area, but rather working with the large number and variety of small family-owned businesses that already exist in the county. The county’s largest vegetable producer is farming on 25 acres with no more than 10 employees.

“I do a lot of consulting,” Jordan said. “I help to connect the dots and inform farmers about regulations, zoning, licensing, product sourcing, and more. I am generally

able to help get them on a good start, and this has been invaluable for many. I hear across the state there is a desire to have that focus — almost every county has agriculture but it’s not the direction that every county has been given.

“There is a huge variety of different types of agricultural businesses here in Polk County. Sunny Creek Farm has been in place for 25 years and supplies sprouts to buyers up and down the East Coast. People are growing microgreens, blueberries, mushrooms, grapes, asparagus, and even kiwi. Local farms raise beef, pork, and chicken. There are also several interesting projects in the works that will add a different flare.”

Growing methods at many farms are evolving as these businesses grow, continued on next page

according to Jordan. Indoor growing methods like hydroponics are becoming more popular, allowing a more controlled environment and higher yields in smaller spaces.

“The next generation of farmers doesn’t necessarily have the capital to buy into large-scale operations in our area,” Jordan said. “They can do tremendous production with a smaller footprint indoors. While this takes a lot of education and management regarding nutrient input, the next generation seems to be interested in the technical side of things, and this will only grow in popularity.”

Agritourism is also a growing component of the industry. Jordan said visitors come for wineries growing their own grapes, farm tours at apple orchards, and treats from the local creamery. The county also co-hosts the annual NC Foothills Farm Tour with Rutherford County in October — a self-guided tour for the public highlighting a variety of local farms in the area.

“This tour is a collaborative approach with business owners,” Jordan said. “We make sure to offer diversity within the locations on the tour. This year, we will be featuring

homestead tours. These are family farms that have a holistic approach, and they will help show people what it means to homestead and what types of products are being offered to the community.”

Farmers markets in Polk County have also worked as an incubator space for agricultural businesses, according to Jordan. There are two broad varieties of vendors — those that need a supplemental income and are a weekly mainstay, and those that are younger, newer start-ups wanting to move to a full-time business and use the market to build demand and get to know their customers.

“In my 10 years in this position, I have seen people grow out of these markets by building their following with farmers markets and good marketing,” Jordan said. “This means we’ve done our job of helping them get to the next level.”

Keeping Henderson County a Hub for Agricultural Businesses

Started in 2011 as a 501(c)(6) nonprofit public/private organization, AgHC is funded by Henderson County and private membership to preserve and grow the county’s agriculture industry.

“Agriculture is not only a major component of the local economy, it’s also part of our heritage,” Executive Director Mark Williams said. “Our goal is to provide as many opportunities for agriculture to be profitable and sustainable here in Henderson County.”

Williams said similar to an economic development group, the organization is largely involved in building relationships and connections between growers and buyers, utilizing marketing opportunities, and helping new and expanding companies with site location and getting established.

“We act as the point person for farming businesses to reach out to for help,” Williams said. “When businesses are interested in coming here, they are excited

to find someone who can help save time and energy when they are searching for points of contact.”

According to Williams, there are 455 farms in Henderson County, and AgHC has worked with many of those. They also help with the recruitment of businesses such as Tri-Hishtil, Bold Rock Hard Cider, BrightFarms, Flat Rock Cider, Lakeside Produce, AgriFacture, and Ohalo. The organization also helped to establish the county as an American Viticulture Area as there were no wineries in the county when the organization began, and there are now 10 that he said are “doing quite well.”

“There is always some benefit to bringing farming businesses to the area, even if they don’t stay forever,” Williams said. “Driscoll leased property at one time to grow blackberries. They pulled out, but they helped get blackberries established here and we now have a market for that.”

Growing and recruiting farming businesses has created around 800 jobs in Henderson County since 2011, according to Williams. AgHC also makes a conscious effort to keep land for agriculture, preserving 1,029 acres as farmland.

Much of the county’s tourism is centered around agriculture as well. With the NC Apple Festival, the Garden Jubilee, wineries, cideries, and a variety of farms offering pick-your-own produce and seasonal events, Williams said agriculture attracts a lot of people to the county. Also considering agribusiness facilities such as packing, storing, greenhouses, and more, the estimate is that agriculture is on the cusp of being a $1 billion dollar industry for the county.

“We have a balanced economy in Henderson County,” Williams said, but with 20% to 25% of the county’s business in agriculture, it’s really a big piece.” Henderson County’s climate and geographical location make it a great production area, according to Williams. Producers look at what is possible to

Experimental hops growing at the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center.

grow here, and apples and tomatoes are good indicators of both warm days and cool nights which fits many types of growers. The 2,200 feet of elevation and the number of clear winter days are appealing to greenhouse growers, and with the protection from frequent major weather events like tornadoes, hurricanes, or excessive snowfall, the county checks a lot of boxes for growers.

“There is also great water here,” Williams said. “It’s great for cider just like beer, and the same is true for greenhouse folks. I’ve heard when their water is lab-tested for quality, lab techs have said it’s the highest quality water they’ve ever seen.”

With so many farming businesses in the area, Williams said there is never enough labor. For the high-tech side of things, they have a great relationship with Blue Ridge Community College in developing and redesigning curriculum and customizing training for new facilities. He said it’s as much a focus on engineering and science as it is growing. The college’s training, mentor, or internship programs are helping locals become better trained and educated as well as enticing interest for people from outside the region to relocate to the area for some of these positions.

Williams said there is just as much skill required in base-level jobs like planting, harvesting, and caretaking, and as more people are exploring higher education, fewer people are interested in these types of labor positions. Many farms rely on the government’s H-2A program to bring in people from other countries for seasonal work.

“Growers are required to provide housing, transportation, and a base amount of pay, and people love coming here for seasonal work,” Williams said. “It’s very productive. We’re also lobbying for farm labor needs, educating politicians on the importance of importing labor instead of importing food.”

Another industry challenge according to Williams is the appreciation of land values.

With so much demand for residential and commercial development, he said while some high-end farming businesses can afford to purchase farmland, it is extremely difficult for young farmers to get started.

“We are working on local programs to leverage other funds to put a strong, balanced program in place for agricultural easements,” Williams said. “We are working to perpetually keep farmland here in Henderson County.”

Value-Added Products Are Key to a Local Farm’s Success

While many of WNC’s farmers are beginning to incorporate value-added products into their business plans, Looking Glass Creamery developed in the opposite order. Having always enjoyed working with animals, Looking Glass Creamery Owner Jennifer Perkins said she loved the creative aspect of cheese making. When she was living in Virginia, a cheese maker agreed to have her as an apprentice. She loved the experience and followed her apprenticeship with classes in Vermont and then at NC State University, and later worked on a farm in Tennessee. Wanting to be in Asheville for her son’s education, she and her family relocated to Fairview and built a barn, and Perkins worked making cheese by herself in 2009.

Within a year, Perkins said she had a contract with Williams Sonoma and realized she couldn’t do it all by herself. As their business grew, Perkins’ husband Andy began working with her full time. The contract with Williams Sonoma provided a great audience but wasn’t allowing her business to grow locally, so they pulled the plug on the contract and narrowed their focus.

Along with her husband and son Max, she purchased a farm in Columbus where they formerly purchased their milk in 2017, constructed a building for cheese making and storage in 2018, then built their farm

store in 2019.

“We were put through the paces as far as things like shipping,” Perkins said. “Farmers markets were crowded, so we created our own market through our store. We expanded our offerings to include homemade hard cider, wine and cheese combinations, as well as our own homemade jams and pickled items to accompany these cheese boards. We’ve just been putting one foot in front of the other. You have to be flexible with what the Universe puts in front of you, and this is a reasonable place to grow.”

Perkins said as she struggled to find staff for the store, Max began helping and understanding the business and has grown to manage the family’s store.

“It’s great talking to people and letting them know where their food comes from,” Max Perkins said. “We are seeing the smiles on people’s faces as visitors see the cows and meet the people who are making their food. I began to notice there aren’t that many places in this area for the community to come together, and the farm store is becoming more of a community pillar in that way. We’re doing more festivals and live music, and we’d love to keep doing that.”

Max Perkins said instead of growing their dairy specifically, they’d love to grow by creating other added-value products. continued on next page

Aging cheeses at Looking Glass Creamery.

They give their cows time off, as they are currently getting plenty of milk — enough to sell to other local cheese makers — and the cow’s time off has an effect on the quality of milk produced.

Currently, Looking Glass Creamery has 56 cows, and they are milking 20 of them to get about 100 gallons of milk per day during milking season. Perkins said milk produced at certain times of the year is better for different cheeses, and they currently make at least nine varieties. Depending on the variety of cheese, the result is anywhere from three-quarters of a pound to a pound and a half of cheese per gallon of milk. On a mid-spring day this year, they used 345 gallons of milk to make 18 wheels of cheddar.

Products created at the farm include three jams, three pickles, and some unusual or specific items. Perkins said they chose to make pickled mustard seeds because they are specific to their cheese plates, and they chose to make pickled watermelon rinds and dilly beans because they are Southern and different, and also support the local farms from which they are sourced.

Being in a dry county, the only way the farm store could offer alcohol is if they made their own. Hard cider is technically a wine and a fermented product like cheese, so Perkins said they were not intimidated to start brewing. Looking Glass Creamery sources local apples from Creasman Farms in Hendersonville, and with a federal permit, the facility produces a limited amount of hard cider to serve alongside their cheese boards at their store.

The combination of their value-added products and onsite activities like ‘U-Pick’ sunflowers adds an agritourism aspect to the family’s business. Jennifer and Max Perkins said people come from all of the region’s counties, nearby cities like Charlotte or Atlanta, and even from Florida.

“Value-added farm products may be the difference between farmers making it and not,” Perkins said. “If you want to build a business beyond a ‘hobby gone wild,’ value-added products are needed for flexibility and stability. It’s critical to bring these in once a farm is on its feet, and it’s a great way to bring longevity to produce.”

There is tons of support in the region for good food made locally, and Perkins said even the regulatory environment in NC is very supportive. Asheville’s restaurant scene allows consistent, year-round buying of their products, and also creates connections between chefs, farms, and amazing food.

“We love that we are keeping our dollars local,” Perkins said. “It’s all connected, and keeping money circulating within our community has a big impact.”

Agritourism Can Add Income Streams and Teaching Opportunities to Farming Businesses

Moving to WNC from Charleston, SC, Robert Russel had been looking for farmland in the mountains for five years before his wife, Kathleen, found Mount Gilead Farm.

The couple purchased the 49 acres of the farm including several buildings in 2016 with no farming background. Russel said he worked in the academic sector for 35 years and was too young to retire. He was interested in the kinds of farming aimed at improving the land rather than “just hanging onto it.”

“Traditional farming is extractive,” Russel said. “You can’t just take everything out of the soil. Somehow soil has just become the medium in which to hold plants while you inject them with fertilizer. That’s not sustainable, and it gets really expensive. Dirt is not an inert medium, and I’ve always been fascinated about people doing farming to improve what they had.”

The soil at Mount Gilead Farm wasn’t in terrible shape, according to Russel. Over eons, topsoil from the mountains has run downhill into the valley. The Russels practice regenerative farming which involves abandoning primary agricultural equipment like the plow. The Extension Service offers a no-till seed drill, and they use this tool when growing their grass, which protects their soil and makes hay that feeds their goats.

Russel was making cheese as a hobby and decided to purchase goats for milking. While goat’s milk is a rich product worth $16 per gallon, Russel’s cheese is worth more than that. Starting at $20 per pound, different varieties of his homemade goat’s milk cheese are value-added products they can sell via direct marketing and increase the possibility of success for a full-time farming business.

The idea at the beginning of the Russels’ farming business was simply a goat dairy, and Russel said their mantra is also to have multiple income streams. Understanding the tourism draw of the area, they converted an old garage into two AirBnB units.

“This was extremely lucrative for the first couple of years,” Russel said. “We spent money upfront to renovate the building and get things going, but bookings have fallen off a bit since COVID, and we never fully bounced back from that. The general consensus is that the market here is saturated, and the Asheville area is the second highest in terms of added fees through AirBnB.”

There are still a good number of people visiting the farm, according to Russel. He gets a lot of repeat business, and a lot of those visitors are from Charlotte or other larger cities. People find something on the farm that clicks with them, and most people love getting out of the city and staying on the farm.

There are also specific farm-stay platforms that help bring visitors from other areas to the farm. Mount Gilead Farm is a member

of WWOOF, or Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, a worldwide effort to link visitors to organic farmers for an educational experience. This allows visitors to stay and help on the farm in exchange for learning about agriculture from various hosts.

Russel said the state’s Department of Agriculture is pushing agritourism to farmers as a way to help farmers increase revenue for their businesses. Mount Gilead Farm also hosts Farm Tours during kidding season, and while there is growing competition in this aspect, it’s a popular portion of their business.

“From March through June, we offer a baby goat feeding experience,” Russel said. “There’s nothing cuter in the world than a baby goat, and as an ex-professor, I enjoy that I still get to educate people and get them excited about agriculture.”

Several years ago on a regional farm tour, a guide asked participants if anyone had ever heard of goat yoga. Russel said while most people laughed, one farm owner stood up and said that people pay her $25 per hour to come to her farm and play with her goats. This caught Russel’s interest, and he was later approached by a yoga instructor about offering goat yoga on his farm.

“We’ve now offered goat yoga a handful of times, and each session has more attendees than the last,” Russel said. “The thing is that goat yoga is seasonal. It can only happen until the kids are about 40 pounds — they will jump on you and be in your face, and after a certain size, it’s not as cute.”

Russel said he really enjoys the agritourism aspect of owning a farm. “We are not some sort of display farm; we are an actual working farm,” he said. “Many Americans are three generations removed from farming, and many of our visitors have never been on a farm or understand what farms do. I love that we get to expose them to some of the basics.”

Business Resources: Agriculture

Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project

Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project is a 501(c) (3) organization with a mission to support local farmers, link them to resources, and build healthier communities through connections to local food. ASAP offers a variety of educational and supportive programming for farmers, educators, and the community including a Farm to School program, farmer training programs, workshops, and a Farm Fresh for Health initiative.

Learn more at ASAPConnections.org.

NC Choices

NC Choices is a unique program of NC State’s Center for Environmental Farming Systems and the NC Cooperative Extension that works with independent pasture-raised meat producers and independent processors around the state.

NC Choices works with several partners including regulatory experts and economic development planners to help “grease the supply chain” between meat producers and their processors to make sure farms and their business supply chains are profitable. Learn more at CEFS.NCSU. edu/Food-System-Initiatives/ NC-Choices.

WNC Ag Options

WNC Ag Options is a program which delivers grants to a wide variety of agricultural businesses in 20 WNC counties. The goal of WNC Ag Options is to help diversify farms, create more efficiency, and keep farms in farmland where agriculture is part of the cultural heritage and a big part of life for many residents.

Learn more at WNCAgOptions.org

Find a comprehensive list of resources for businesses and organizations of all types at WNCBusiness.com/Resources.

Goats returning to the barn at Mount Gilead Farm.

Flourish Flower Farm get to know

A Boutique Flower Farm Spreads Joy Through Seasonal Blooms

For Niki Irving, Farmer and Florist at Flourish Flower Farm, owning a flower farm was a vision that turned into reality.

Irving frequently traveled while working in a previous outdoor education career, but she soon found that she wanted to spend more time at home with her dog, garden, and husband.

“I did some brainstorming and literally had a vision of myself tending to a field of flowers,” Irving said. “I dove in head first and started doing research and created a business plan while I was home from my day job. All the pieces were in place when I jumped in and gave it a go, which was amazing because I did all the work and really followed my dreams to get here.”

Irving said there is a resurgence of small flower farms in the region as the local food movement has paved the way for local flowers. “It’s about knowing the farmer and how much fresher that is,” Irving said. “These movements are melding together really well. Food feeds the body, but flowers feed the soul.”

A self-proclaimed “plant hoarder,” Irving grows more than 300 varieties of flowers on her farm. She said she is known for growing a little bit of everything special. She also experiments with a variety of perennials to see how they will perform on the farm and how well they hold up as a cut flower.

“Each year there’s a little budget for experimentals,” Irving said. “There is lots of research involved to determine what grows best here and what is available for purchase. Some are grown via tissue culture and take three years to get, and some, like sweet peas, are beautiful but don’t do well because it gets too hot, but

can do well in a mild spring. I just keep trying new ideas and keeping the good ones.”

In WNC, several popular varieties grow really well. Irving said zinnias are great in the summer, and she always has a place for special unique varieties of cosmos in her crop plan. She said snapdragons are always a staple; they are planted in the fall and are waist-high by the middle of spring. Dahlias grow well and she is happy to support the trending dahlia craze by growing them in several varieties of shapes and colors.

A variety of workshops have grown in popularity, according to Irving. She said people want to be outside in nature, hold the flowers, and look around the fields. Guests are able to design their own centerpiece using a variety of flowers depending on seasonality. Workshops are small with only 15 available slots per session, allowing Irving to get to know everyone and allowing her guests plenty of time to ask questions.

Many of her repeat workshop attendees asked for more, and this year Irving began offering an in-depth flower arrangement class. She said these classes are priced for quality as she only grows premium flowers and the cost has to cover the designs created by students as well as other materials. By offering her expertise and professional development, she can help educate aspiring florists and help them hone in on their craft.

Another focus of Flourish Flower Farm is creating arrangements for events such as high-budget dinner parties, corporate events, rehearsal dinners, and weddings. Irving offers two main choices for weddings — custom-created full service packages, or an “Elopement + Micro Wedding package” that allows clients to choose from a color palette and trust her expertise on exactly what the arrangements will look like depending on the season.

“We are really honing in on attracting people who care about seasonal flowers,”

Irving said. “While we have one hoop house that protects from frost and extends the season a bit, our flowers are primarily field-grown and we don’t grow year round. I can sometimes supplement large weddings with a local farmer friend or order from a local wholesaler, but I’m not ordering roses from South America.” Social media has created an additional aspect of Irving’s business. She said when she started, she knew nothing about Instagram. She changed her handle to her business name and started sharing photos of flowers, and people loved it. Sharing photos of her fields of flowers on Instagram has earned attention from brands who want to use her space for their photoshoots.

Irving said people need beautiful places to take photos, and while this is a fulfilling and fun side of the business, it is still a working farm. Some big brands are willing to cover the cost of days of harvesting that would otherwise happen to ensure the fields are full of blooms for their shoots. She said she sometimes leaves a couple of sections for a local family photographer as well.

Farming can be a solitary and lonely endeavor, according to Irving. She said she is grateful to have opportunities to connect with others in the community through these opportunities, the Flourish Farm Stand, and support organizations like ASAP as well as enjoy her favorite flowers like ranunculus and dahlias.

“I feel really lucky in my business; it’s flowers, not life or death or dire consequences,” Irving said. “I get to make the world a little bit more beautiful and bring people joy.” —

Flourish Flower Farm is a nine-acre boutique flower farm near Asheville. Niki Irving is also the author of Growing Flowers: Everything You Need to Know About Planting, Tending, Harvesting and Arranging Beautiful Blooms. Learn more at FlourishFlowerFarm.com.

“ Food feeds the body, but flowers feed the soul.”

- Niki Irving

it’s my job Travis Dorsey

Greenhouse Manager at Tri-Hishtil

For Tri-Hishtil Greenhouse Manager

Travis Dorsey, the people attracted to the company makes Tri-Hishtil a great place to work.

Growing up on a farm in Nashville, GA, living and working in agriculture directed Dorsey’s educational path. He said he was comfortable with the lifestyle and enjoyed crop production, subsequently earning a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Entomology at the University of Georgia. After college, he worked in mosquito control before taking a job in Mills River growing crickets indoors for livestock feed. Having gone back home to spend some time on his family farm, he said he was happy to return to WNC when his current position became available.

Reaching his fourth year as Greenhouse Manager, Dorsey was new to the greenhouse industry when he began. “I really like the integration of tech into agriculture,” he said. “It’s fascinating to see where this business is headed, and the future of agriculture is really attractive. I want to be at the forefront of that.”

Tri-Hishtil grows a variety of fruits in a controlled greenhouse environment and distributes them to commercial growers nationwide. Dorsey said 90% of their plants are watermelon, often the seedless variety, which are grafted onto squash rootstocks. Growing the plants in this way allows more vigorous growth of the plant, promotes resistance to certain root- or soil-borne diseases, and in some instances helps the plants to be more drought tolerant.

“It’s more expensive for our customers, but the intention is for the customers to save money on pesticide application and irrigation,” Dorsey said. “They have a

healthier plant extracting more nutrients out of the soil and are more resistant against the elements.”

As the Greenhouse Manager, Dorsey manages a team of eight full-time assistant growers, and they are working on hiring two more. Dorsey said they are crosstrained throughout all of the greenhouse’s zones, consisting of different plants at various stages of growth. Outside of his core team, there are 20 to 30 seasonal laborers working on a variety of tasks including record keeping, irrigation, and other physical labor.

There are approximately 115 staff members in the growing season, with the grafting room comprising 90 to 100 seats. Grafters and quality control specialists work under the Operations Supervisor, but Dorsey said part of his job involves lots of logistics, scheduling and figuring out what happens each day in the grafting room.

Dorsey’s additional responsibilities include overseeing the pest management program, adjusting plant protocols — “complicated recipe books for how to grow plants,’’ preparing plants for grading and shipping, checking in with the growing team to perform assessments, and planning the following week’s grafting. It also involves quite a bit of intuition, according to Dorsey. “All the work is done by hand; there’s no automation,” Dorsey said. “This business is a weird combination of farming and manufacturing and a little bit of a peakhour restaurant. It’s a fast paced, dynamic workplace.”

Green tissue grafting allows for a faster healing process than woody plants require, and in a little more than a month and a half, each plant is off to a customer, allowing multiple harvests each growing

season. He said the growing season can be demanding, but the strong team and positive work environment make it worthwhile.

The best part of working in this position, according to Dorsey, is taking a walk through the greenhouse. “I love to see all the plants growing,” he said. “When everyone is busy or on break, a greenhouse walk allows me to view the plants and use my intuition. It’s somewhat meditative.”

The future looks green for Dorsey, as he said his goal is to continue working in the greenhouse or modern farm business in some capacity. “I grew up on a farm,” he said. “It’s in my blood.”

—

Travis Dorsey is the Greenhouse Manager at Tri-Hishtil. Learn more at TriHishtil.com.

Asheville Ale Trail Celebrates the NC Year of the Trail

Representing two of the important layers of what makes WNC so special, the Asheville Ale Trail is celebrating the NC Year of the Trail.

2023 NC Year of the Trail celebrates all trails from the well-known such as the Mountains-to-Sea Trail or the Appalachian Trail to the pathways that run through every community in North Carolina providing connectivity, fitness, and space to be outdoors.

While the Ale Trail has no footpath, it is a Field Guide highlighting the breweries, distilleries, and wineries across the WNC region helping visitors and locals discover the best of Beer City.

Asheville Ale Trail is proud to support the NC Year of the Trail by donating $5 OF EVERY MERCHANDISE ITEM SOLD to trail conservation throughout 2023.

Get yours today at AleTrailStore.com

Asheville Ale Trail is a comprehensive and up-to-date Field Guide to breweries and craft beverage makers in Western North Carolina. As the top resource for discovering all things related to the craft beverage industry Asheville Ale Trail is the premier option to help visitors and residents discover the best of Beer City. The Field Guide is available for free at hundreds of locations and online at AshevilleAleTrail.com. Feature your business in the Asheville Ale Trail to become a can’t-miss destination.

AshevilleAleTrail.com

Energy & Technology industry spotlight

Energy Industry Overview

According to Riverbird Research, the concentration of jobs in the energy industry across an 18-county area of WNC was on par with the national average in 2022. The 2017-2022 jobs growth rate of -10% was not comparable to the state’s overall 5% rate of change, supporting employment of 937 individuals earning an average annual wage of $103,963 across 58 payrolled business locations. Job loss was largely a reflection of the decline in the Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation industry. It is notable that 64% of employment was in the Electric Power Distribution industry, followed by Natural Gas Distribution with 16% of the group’s jobs.

The energy industry in Buncombe County supported 355 of those jobs in 2022,

followed by Rutherford County’s energy businesses which supported 98 of those jobs.

Technology Industry Overview

According to Riverbird Research, the concentration of jobs in the technology industry across an 18-county area of WNC was approximately 63% less compared to the national average in 2022.

The 2017-2022 jobs growth rate of 27% was strong, but slower than the state’s overall 35% rate of change, supporting employment of 2,244 individuals earning an average annual wage of $90,280 across 600 payrolled business locations.

The technology industry in Buncombe County supported 891 of those jobs in 2022, followed by Macon County’s technology businesses which supported 705 of those jobs.

Expanding Renewable Energy for Expanding Populations

The largest energy providers in North Carolina, Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas serves about 500,000 customers in the 22-county region of Western North Carolina with a regional staff of about 700 employees.

Randy Wheeles, Communications Manager at Duke, said the company has big plans to reduce carbon emissions from electricity generation by 50% by 2030 and become net-zero by 2050. These goals influence a number of energy projects at Duke. In particular, thirty-five coal-fired units have been closed in NC. Often replaced with natural gas facilities which emit half the carbon as coal, Duke’s emissions have already been lowered by 44% since 2005.

Despite the region’s rural nature, Western North Carolina is a growing hub of innovations in technology as well as sustainable energy.

Highland Brewing Company’s rooftop solar installation.

Wheeles said customers receive energy from a variety of sources. The largest sources are nuclear and natural gas, while coal, solar, and hydroelectric sources are also important.

Wind generation is another potential source in the future. Duke has no wind turbines in NC but has secured an offshore lease for a future wind project. They know a lot about wind from projects in other areas of the country, and offshore wind projects may have potential; however, a ridge law preventing windmill installation on mountaintops will not allow wind generation to be a source of energy in the western part of the state.

About half of the power generated in NC is nuclear. According to Wheeles, nuclear facilities produce power much more efficiently than 30 years ago, and for that reason, Duke plans to continue nuclear operations. He said the question for the industry is what technological advancements will be developed and if new reactors will be more economical, noting that there is considerable promise in that aspect.

Natural gas accounts for about 25% of Duke’s energy, and it has been serving a purpose to lower carbon emissions. With a goal of removing all coal operations in the Carolinas by 2035, Wheeles said Asheville is a good example of how transitioning coal-fired facilities to natural gas can reduce emissions. The coal-burning facility shut down in January of 2020 and was replaced with the Asheville Combined Cycle Station, which is 75% more efficient and emits 60% less carbon dioxide than the former facility.

Hydroelectric dams only account for 1% to 2% of Duke’s energy, but Wheeles said they are still important. He said Duke was originally founded as a hydroelectric company in 1904, and now there are several pump stations in and west of Catawba County.

North Carolina is fourth in the nation for overall solar power behind CA, TX, and FL,

according to Wheeles. He said there are a lot of solar farms in the eastern part of the state, as these farms are better suited for flatter terrain. The company plans to add 3,000 megawatts of solar in the next five to six years to double what is currently available in the state.

“Duke just wrapped up a $62 million solar rebate program that was very successful,” Wheeles said. “There were 6,000 homes with solar when the program started, and now there are more than 40,000 homes and businesses with solar, and that all happened in six years.”

Advancement of battery technologies may lead to more solar energy storage capabilities in the future, and Wheeles said WNC is a leader in that. There is a large battery system in an Asheville neighborhood, and the Hot Springs microgrid also uses this technology. “The future looks promising, but we still need more tech advancements,” he said.

To reach Duke’s 2030 and 2050 emissions goals, Wheeles said there will have to be more technologies than what is available today. “There is lots of work going on about new technologies,” he said. “Fifteen years ago there was no solar in North Carolina, and now solar provides about 9% of the state’s energy mix. It’s hard to know what is going to happen and what new technology will emerge by 2050. Lots can happen in the future that we can’t imagine today.”

North Carolina, and WNC in particular, have increased population growth, and Wheeles said this presents a challenge for sufficient energy generation. Duke struggles with solar projects in the area because of the terrain, and right now for solar farms, bigger is better. “Five megawatts used to be the normal output,” Wheeles said. “Now the normal is closer to 50 or 100 megawatts. Finding large parcels of land in the mountains is the biggest challenge”

Wheeles said the area’s population growth along with its geography presents other continued on next page

utilities snapshot

1,045 Jobs in 2017

937 Jobs in 2022

-10% Job Growth

-108

2017-2022 Change in Jobs

$103,963

2022 Average Annual Wage Excluding supplements

58

Payrolled Business

Locations

in 2022

The overall concentration of jobs in the 18-county region was on par with the national average in 2022.

The 2017-2022 overall job loss in the combined industries was -10%. While not comparable to the state’s overall 5% growth, job loss was largely a reflection of decline in the Fossil Fuel Electric Power Generation industry.

energy & technology technology snapshot

1,772 Jobs in 2017

2,244 Jobs in 2022

27% Job Growth

472

2017-2022 Change in Jobs

$90,280 2022 Average Annual Wage Excluding supplements

600 Payrolled Business Locations in 2022

The overall concentration of jobs in the 18-county region was approximately 63% less compared to the national average in 2022.

2017-2022 job growth of 27% was strong, but slower than the state’s overall 35% increase.

Jobs By County (2022)

challenges as well. He said running power lines to rural areas can be tough. Looking at Asheville’s growth, the company wanted to expand the substation but didn’t have the geographic room to do so, which led to a large battery storage installation instead. The region’s growth was also a contributing factor in the conversion of the power plant from coal to natural gas, as more energy can be produced that way.

“We are looking at the system as a whole to determine where to add more plants or substations,” Wheeles said. “We’ve served this region for 100 years, and we can keep getting over these challenges.”

Challenges and Wins for a Rural Electric Cooperative

Energizing its first lines nearly 85 years ago, the Haywood Electric Membership Corporation began a couple of years after Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the Rural Electrification Administration. This legislation made it possible for rural areas to come together, form their own cooperatives, and apply for infrastructure loans to supply rural areas with energy.

Mitch Bearden, Manager of Marketing and Economic Development, said Haywood EMC began in the Cruso community and has grown to serve six WNC counties, as well as one county in Georgia and one county in South Carolina. He said the people served within eight districts are members who own the company and hold elections to determine who serves on the board for three-year terms.

Instead of producing its own power, Haywood EMC’s energy is purchased at a wholesale rate from Duke then sold to members as cheaply as possible, according to Bearden. Transmission lines feed substations and distribution points in areas where investor-owned utility companies don’t find it economically feasible to provide energy to rural areas.

“With 97% of our power going to residential locations, many of which are

second homes, it’s not economical for others to serve these areas,” Bearden said. “It costs money to maintain these miles of lines even if not much power is being used.”

Headquartered in Waynesville and Lake Toxaway with an outpost in Scaly Mountain, Haywood EMC employs just under 90 staff with five at the management level. They serve about 28,000 electric meters and about 26,000 members. Operating in rural WNC presents a variety of challenges, and according to Bearden, wildlife can be a huge problem. “Very steep banks allow wildlife easier access to lines,” he said. “Animals can cause a short and an outage, which can cause a fire and total loss of substations. We do all we can to keep wildlife out, but with the great amount of wildlife here, that can be hard.”

The rugged terrain and vast number of trees can also cause problems, according to Beardon. Trees fall regularly and there are long spans of line that can only be reached by repair crews hiking in with gear. “It’s very physically taxing for them,” he said. “Sometimes we can get in with an ATV, but not always, and it’s really hard to hike in carrying 70 pounds of gear.”

There is not much geographical expansion possible for Haywood EMC. Bearden said they would only be able to expand if a city or municipal-owned utility company decided not to provide its own power or if there is new construction in their area. Expansion in the variety of services offered; however, is possible.

The organization’s first solar array was installed in April of 2022, and they are working on a second to be completed by the end of summer 2023. Members will be able to procure a subscription to these solar panels, allowing a use of that technology in a less cost-prohibitive way.

“We are also doing some things with electric vehicles,” Bearden said. “There have been grants available to put in

chargers and bolster the charging network, and North Carolina is capturing lots of federal money for that. We installed the first EV charger off I-40 between Asheville and Knoxville, and there are a couple of chargers at our offices. We worked to help other businesses get grants to secure funds to install chargers at their location, and provide customer incentives for nighttime rather than daytime EV charging to better balance our grid.”

Bearden said the organization also works with businesses on energy audits and different lighting installation solutions that can help save energy. Haywood EMC works to secure grants for other energy reduction possibilities for businesses, and offers a program for members to round their bill up to the next dollar amount to supplement energy costs for area nonprofits.

As a nonprofit, Haywood EMC does a lot of community sponsorships via community programs like the Little League as well as school grants through the NC Bright Ideas program. Bearden said these are STEM-heavy grants, many of which help provide more curriculum to teach students about renewable energy.

Haywood EMC also participates in community fundraising and community events with organizations including the local chapter of Kiwanis International. “Historically these events attract older members of the community, but recently event attendees have been trending younger,” Bearden said. “It’s cool to see so many younger folks showing up to these events. All generations here are showing a tendency to be community-minded, and we are happy to be involved with the community in this way.”

Private Sector Interest Grows the Solar Energy Industry

According to CEO Ben Catt, Pine Gate Renewables started small in 2014 with the preliminary step of land acquisitions and interconnection applications for solar energy creation. The company has grown to encompass full-scale development, financing, and operations of major solar array projects nationwide.

“We started with the fundamentals,” Catt said. “First, you have to have land to build the assets on.”

Speaking to their business model of being an independent power producer, projects take a long time to get through planning phases, construction, and then into operation for 30 to 40 years. Catt said they now specialize in increasingly

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energy & technology

Thoughtful partnership involves job creation in their various communities as well, according to Catt. Employees building these facilities move on to build another, and there is also permanent staff operating each facility. Job growth goes back to how new the industry is — filling the demand of building the facilities has a tremendous local component, then smaller groups of people like electricians grow to specialize in maintaining them.

“Blue Ridge Power is a great example,” Catt said. “A company that didn’t exist a couple of years ago now has 1,000 employees. Buildouts take a long time and companies are leveraging that to grow their staff.”

complex and sophisticated areas as their projects get larger.

There are pretty massive differences in the industry now compared to nearly a decade ago when the company was founded, according to Catt. The amount of energy Pine Gate brought online last year was about the same as the amount the entire country produced in 2014.

“Everything done in the last decade has become more sophisticated,” Catt said. “Every project costs upwards of $100 million and we are rapidly approaching our 100th project. Capital markets have evolved exponentially, and evaluating projects and how they interact with the energy grid has changed in a big way.”

Headquartered in Asheville, Pine Gate Renewables employs over 300 people. Catt said while there are employees working on projects in more than 30 states, a strong concentration of employees are located in WNC. Their partner company Blue Ridge Power, whose focus is on engineering procurement and construction, employs about 1,000 people who are similarly located across the country with a concentration in WNC.

North Carolina is a very interesting state for a solar company, according to Catt. For a very long time the state was ranked in the top two or three states for solar

capacity in the early days of renewables. Ten to 15 years ago, California was way ahead of the rest of the country. There were challenges and the cost was prohibitive, but as cost curves began to fall, NC had the advantage of a state tax credit that was incredibly beneficial and impactful for scaling.

Catt said the state legislature had a fairly progressive foresight to implement incentives for renewable energy, and this paired with a standardized treatment of property taxes created a stable and sustainable environment for solar businesses to grow. The support coming from the state legislative body paired with a strong, well-organized grassroots campaign to educate the legislature helped them to understand that this could all be a growth engine for jobs in the state. While Pine Gate is always looking to incrementally improve their projects, Catt said the technology in the field has been around for a long time. The longterm, reliable track record of equipment success is continuing, and the company is becoming more and more creative in how they are actually installing facilities. He said they want to be thoughtful partners with every community they are in, and they are becoming more efficient and less impactful to the land they are building on.

Industry trends Catt said he is noticing include increasing energy storage capacities as well as a huge engagement from non-utility energy buyers like large corporations and small businesses.

“None of this is because of legislation,” Catt said. “This engagement is purely driven by companies that want to be good citizens for their community and how they operate. They are taking leading positions of being at the forefront of working to have the cleanest energy mix possible to ensure community members have really clean air, and that’s really encouraging for the future. A true commercial foundation to procure clean energy has really impacted development over the last few years, and that foundational piece allows for a lot more to come.”

Bringing Awareness to Money- and Life-Saving Energy Technology

Using microgrids to increase community resilience is a major goal of the Critical Services Microgram Group, according to Cofounder and Concept Developer Keith Thompson.

Born out of the Energy Innovation Task Force in 2020, members of the CSM Group wanted to continue working together to

Governor Cooper signing HB951 (the most recent comprehensive energy legislation passed in 2021).

help and steady decision-making in both the public and private sectors, so they created a volunteer professional and student network that is interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and intercollegiate.

“We are all volunteers; most members have a business or some other work that we are doing,” Thompson said. “We get together in our free time and listen to and learn from each other, collectively learning more about microgrids and their systems and capacities. Part of our mission is to be succinct in explaining the benefits of microgrids to others and to have people go ‘aha!,’ but it’s not easy to elicit that response.”

Thompson said members of the intergenerational group range from retired experts who have been in the renewable energy sector for 50+ years to a younger generation bringing knowledge

energy & technology

of newly introduced software. He said it is exciting for the older members to be in a mentorship position with the younger members, and they all bring valuable knowledge into the group.

Microgrids are everywhere, according to Thompson. When the power goes out and a home or business switches to generator power — that’s a microgrid. A ship, unplugged from shore power, is a microgrid. The CSM Group advocates for more microgrids throughout the region, state, and the country, explaining that microgrids powered by solar energy have the ability to back up and eventually replace other types of power systems, reducing the need for fossil fuels, saving people money, and saving lives.

For example, Thompson said natural events such as high winds and droughts can cause energized power lines to cause

forest fires. A solar-powered microgrid can help to keep power in place without endangering people at the edges of these forests, and he said Duke Energy has proved it can be done.

“There is a major power line running through Pisgah National Forest to the community of Hot Springs that sometimes has to be shut off,” Thompson said. “A microgrid in place in Hot Springs uses solar plus a battery backup system plus a load management system. When that major power line has to be shut off, the microgrid powers the town.”

Thompson said the group is working with the City of Asheville and Buncombe County to help them better understand the value of using critical services microgrids to power government facilities, police, and fire stations. Major businesses that

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energy & technology

The fleet of vehicles was built by four students along with Thompson and N. Moorthy Muthukrishnan, Ph.D., Lecturer of Engineering at UNCA and a member of CSM Group. These microgrid vehicles use solar power to run, and more than that, they also power tools and other equipment to work on maintenance projects around the Warren Wilson campus.

These mobile microgrids are proof that microgrids work well, according to Thompson. “It’s a technical innovation that uses less energy,” he said. “Businesses are a critical part of that — everyone can implement a microgrid and everyone can see the money saved. They provide clean, renewable energy that can still be used when the major grid goes down. Models like these would be great additions to the city. Even the best can always get better.”

Expanding Broadband Services Equips Businesses and Communities for Increased Success

may lose thousands of dollars of revenue if their power is shut down for a short period of time could also benefit from this technology.. He said not only can these entities power their own locations with solar power, but a battery backup system that ties into the grid could also power parts of the community when the major grid goes down.

Buncombe County is preparing to do more, according to Thompson. Some of these ideas are being integrated into the county’s 2043 Comprehensive Plan and include projects like the installation of rooftop solar on county buildings, parking decks, public schools, and community colleges. These projects are creating jobs, saving money in the community, and inviting more people into a community that is a healthy place to live, according to Thompson.

“Getting more people to realize microgrids can play a role in saving money and

saving lives is priceless,” Thompson said. “We are working to help propagate that knowledge.”

Critical Services Microgrid Group has been actively working with students at Warren Wilson College for more than two years on projects including mobile microgrid vehicles, according to Thompson. He said the group also works with faculty and students collecting data using energy audits and smart meters and getting faculty to learn and teach software programs that are “rough drafts of microgrids,” tools to gain and share visual information.

Thompson said the budget to build these microgrid vehicles was very tight, and the aspiration to teach sustainability led to some of these vehicles being built beginning with basic frames off of a trash pile. “There were no hubs or wheels, just a nice aluminum frame and a plastic battery cabinet,” he said.

For any type of business, the ability to connect to the internet, specifically broadband, is a huge benefit, according to AT&T’s Director of Government Affairs Chuck Greene.

Broadband is the connection to the internet enabling users to access information from sources all over the world. Greene said this is critical to people working from home, and the demand is constantly growing.

Fiber connections transmit data over very small glass tubes using pulses of light, unlike coax cable which transmits data using electrical impulses or wireless towers which use cellular technologies. There are different advantages and disadvantages to each of these technologies, according to Greene. White light was initially used, but by dividing light into different colors and wavelengths, the capacity was able to increase. He said it’s possible to increase the data transmission

Installation of fiber connections by AT&T.

capacity of the fiber in the ground without doing anything to it directly; simply changing the equipment on either end does the job.

“The capacity grows by how many more colors you can use,” Greene said. “Each shade of color is a different path. Right now we are using 512 colors at the same time through the same fiber, and we are working to be able to use even more simultaneously.”

The structure of the fiber is different between residential and small businesses to medium and large businesses. Greene said larger businesses have a direct connection with the central offices. Neighborhood-level distribution areas are more of a hub-and-spoke model serving between 150 and 300 locations, and that ‘hub’ houses the connection from the central office.

energy & technology

These fiber connections offer huge benefits to small businesses, according to Greene. “These connections enable faster Zoom meetings, faster connections for financial and credit card applications, and offer more flexibility in where and how a business can answer phones,” Greene said. “These are all enabled better by fiber than by traditional copper wires.”

Local governments and critical services can also benefit, according to Greene. Local governments are putting more and more of their services online, making it easier for citizens to access them. He said from an energy perspective, critical services can still have phone and internet for at least eight hours after a power outage, and they can stay online as long as they can power devices.

Greene said the goal at AT&T is to get fiber to as many customers as possible. With

rising interest rates as well as increasing pressure, the company is looking for places to reach the most people for the least amount of capital, according to Greene. For WNC specifically, the geography of the region is the biggest challenge. “You can’t bury fiber in granite,” he said.

The challenges are not insurmountable, according to Greene. AT&T’s goal is to deliver fiber to 30 million locations by 2025, and right now they are at 19 million residential and 3 million business locations.

“We are actively building capacity in several Western North Carolina communities,” Greene said. “Working with local governments in the GREAT grants program, looking at geography, and more continued on next page

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Global Tech Company Facilitates Community Growth and Connections in Rural WNC

A million-and-a-half square foot facility, Meta’s Forest City Data Center in Rutherford County employs 275 people to help provide infrastructure to apps and keep them and the facility running smoothly, according to Community Development Regional Manager Tara Tenorio.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, chose Forest City as a data center location for several reasons, according to Tenorio. “There is good access to renewable energy, availability of good infrastructure, and great community partners,” she said. “Rutherford County is very collaborative and forward-thinking, and it’s a great environment for both residents and visitors.”

said employees are out in the community serving as volunteers at least monthly, and the employee engagement team is dedicated to finding more opportunities to do that.

Small businesses are a huge part of the Facebook and Instagram platforms, and Meta often partners with the Rutherford County Chamber to bring in programming to discuss how local businesses and nonprofits can leverage the platforms for fundraising to support their mission. She said this is another way Meta helps build the capacity to use the apps in ways that are helping the community to grow and thrive.

public-private partnerships will be key in getting fiber deployed in rural areas. Local governments are playing a huge role simply because the cost is higher here due to the challenging geography.” Permits must be acquired before fiber can be installed, and according to Greene, different cities have different processes for approval. Though approval is becoming increasingly difficult, he said WNC municipalities do a good job. The NC Department of Transportation is also involved in logistics for rural areas in the region.

Greene said this involves a lot of engineering work as well. Once a decision has been made for which areas to serve next, an engineering team has to determine how the physical laying out will be done. He said they must determine which central office to connect to, if the fiber will be laid in the ground or hung on telephone poles, which road, which side, and how fiber will get to individual homes. “This part is key in how it all happens,” Greene said. “The engineers figure it all out, and together we can make it all work.”

Tenorio said Meta keeps the community top of mind, and they like to be active contributors in community development and its long-term vitality. With rich relationships in the area for more than 13 years, they are at a really interesting moment in leadership with the government. The presence of the data center, according to Tenorio, changed the conversation toward collaborative work and the growth of the county as a whole, and she said that is really special. The data center’s employees work in a variety of aspects, according to Tenorio. In addition to operating the data servers, staff also work in managing storage, groundskeeping, employee engagement, and culinary support positions. “It takes a village to run a data center,” she said. More than employing a large number of local staff, the Forest City Data Center engages with the community in a variety of ways from litter cleanups to leveraging skill sets to be able to encourage career exploration in students at Isothermal Community College. Tenorio

There is a grants program offered by Meta and evaluated by the Forest City Data Center’s Grants Review Committee who are involved with the community and have insight into what would be the most impactful. This committee selects a variety of projects for nonprofits and education partners on an annual basis, and Meta works to make these opportunities really well-known.

Community Action Grants are additional offerings that happen every fall and cover three impact areas — STEM education, technology for the youth community benefit, and creating connections both online and off. “What’s wonderful about these grants is that people look at those categories and apply them in such different ways,” Tenorio said. “The opportunity there is to really be able to meet the community where they are and to be able to support the needs that they have and also be able to dream big.”

The Forest City Data Center serves a five-county region including Rutherford, Cleveland, Henderson, Polk, and McDowell Counties. She said there are so many programs in these areas during the summer that keep kids learning and growing throughout the non-school months, and the demand for those continues to grow year over year within Meta’s grants.

Haywood Electric Membership Corporation offers EV charging stations.

Meta also supports other community events, opportunities, and initiatives through its grant program, according to Tenorio. Some of those include the Thermal Belt Rail Trail and Spindale’s new skate park, and they all speak to the creativity of the community and the desire to bring more resources to both residents and tourists.

The data center also has a workforce development component that works with school districts to create conversation and awareness of available careers at the Forest City facility. “Hiring locally is a really important aspect of what we do,” Tenorio said. “It’s a critical component in each of Meta’s data centers to work with the local community to fill those roles with people who have built that community from the ground up.”

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Tenorio said the data center is unique in that it offers so many pathways. Someone can start in one field and explore other options. They encourage employees to bring their whole self to the table.

“Working closely with partners across different teams naturally creates conversations and opportunities for growth or for change,” Tenorio said. “There are neat pathways which allow you to come in at that entry-level and continue to grow, and that helps to boost the community as a whole.”

Improving Community Resilience Through Tech Programs

The National Environmental Modeling & Analysis Center at UNCA is an applied tech program that has spawned a unique startup business.

Currently in its 20th year, NEMAC began as a partnership with NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (now NCEI). NEMAC initially focused on developing tools and methods to help decision-makers in government, business, and academia access and use NCDC’s vast amounts of climate data, and over time, the program’s mission expanded to include a broader range of environmental data and decisionmaking contexts and has been self-funded by various projects during its existence.

Dave Michelson, Software Designer for NEMAC, said the program’s projects and clients can vary widely. Though they all center around the idea of resilience in some way, a lot of those resilience ideas center around environmental change.

NEMAC works with cities and counties to explore vulnerabilities and develop climate

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moving forward, regardless of the ability to move around their community.

“If people are unable to access broadband, there could be vulnerabilities in cases such as a pandemic, or if a road was wiped out in a flood,” Michelson said. “We are figuring out where broadband is lacking and building tools that help communities see where it would be beneficial. Communities are then able to request grants to help install that broadband accessibility for their residents.”

what applied research should be doing,” he said. “I’d love for our program to spawn 10 Fernleafs.”

The Human Side of Technology Businesses

Founding member of Hatch Innovation Hub and CEO and Co-Founder of Anthroware Jon Jones has a front-row seat at the table of growth in tech businesses in Asheville.

resilience plans. Michelson said Asheville was one of the first cities they worked with, and at that time nearly 10 years ago, not many people knew or understood what that meant. They co-developed the ‘Steps to Resilience’ process with NOAA and applied it with the Land of Sky Regional Council and the Triangle Regional Resilience Partnership with six jurisdictions across the Research Triangle, and realized the process is repeatable.

“At that point, it is technically no longer ‘applied research’; this is something another business can do,” Michelson said. “Other businesses began doing similar work, and our program could not compete with that. Fernleaf is a local startup business born out of NEMAC that developed this idea of creating resilience plans for many municipalities across the Southeast region.”

While a major part of NEMAC’s focus is climate-related, that is not always the case. Michelson said resilience applies to many aspects, and one of those is access to broadband for individuals and businesses which allows people to keep

More than developing resilience plans, NEMAC also uses data and science to help clients tell their story. “A lot of scientists use a bunch of acronyms and industry jargon which can sometimes unknowingly alienate people who don’t ‘speak that language’,” Michelson said. “We help our clients translate complicated data and information into layman’s terms so that they can share their information in a usable, understandable, and conversational way. This is tremendously helpful for many situations, including when organizations are looking for grants and funding.”

As a program of UNCA, NEMAC has worked with approximately 200 student interns since its beginning. Michelson said the budget of each project is built to include the hiring of paid interns who have ranged over a variety of majors, and they are doing more than just inputting data. “They are actively working with us on each project, interviewing people and doing usability studies and making software codes,” Michelson said. “This really helps to jumpstart their career. Almost everyone who works at Fernleaf now was one of our interns at one time. Our hope is they will find what they like to do and learn what they don’t like to do before they even leave college.”

Recently moving a NEMAC office into Hatchworks Coworking in Asheville, Michelson said his personal goal is to develop partnerships with other entrepreneurs in the area. “This is really

Jones said for a town as small as Asheville, there are so many companies that have big ideas and the guts to pursue them. “The town attracts a lot of talent,” he said. “People are moving here with experience in big tech jobs and being pulled into mentor and advisor programs. They are helping connect the dots — they’re active in the community and turning into investors, helping to create a ‘San Francisco bar of excellence’ in Western North Carolina.”

Working as a mentor with both Hatch Innovation Hub and Venture Asheville, Jones said both help high-growth and rapidly growing businesses, many in the technology industry. Many of these growing businesses are creating jobs in the tech sector, and when they work with organizations like Venture and Hatch, it can buffer the impacts of being a single entity who, working alone, would have a high likelihood of failure.

These partner startups are moving and growing faster, thereby creating more jobs by working with support organizations, according to Jones. When startups don’t work out, that provides options to the ecosystem of tech companies which are constantly looking for talent. He said this is really good for other tech companies, and personally he would rather hire someone that was part of a startup that didn’t work because they have already learned “bloody, messy lessons” from failure that they can’t learn anywhere else.

“That creates a highly desirable background and skill set,” Jones said. “A

Lineworker at Haywood Electric Membership Corporation.

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lot of businesses can take advantage of the startup community full of amazing people.”

Jones said his own tech company, Anthroware, is more of a strategy and research company that just happens to build software products. He said everything the company does hinges on being really good at research.

“Companies know that there is a problem hindering their process, but they don’t know how to fix it,” Jones said. “We study the people doing these jobs and figure out what is working and what is not, and use a human-centered design approach to address what we can with tech.”

Anthroware often solves problems of companies being hindered by using poor tools, according to Jones. Better tools can often take businesses to the next level, and though it can cost a lot to raise the bar in that way, his clients have to think about what it will do for their companies to make that investment. Digital transformation products provided by Anthroware must make a big difference and add a lot of value so clients feel like they get more out of their solution than the cost of the products.

A newer aspect of technology in business Jones said he noticed is the rise of chatbots and leveraging artificial intelligence. “AI is so big; it’s a massive innovation in technology, and we haven’t seen anything so massive in a long time,” he said. “You can ask computers to analyze tons of information and data points from various sources. It’s already adding superpower to insight, and you don’t even know the variety of ways that can change a business.”

While Anthroware is building large language apps right now, he said no one cares about the technology. He said they care that people can make it do what they want it to do, and his company is designing products that people actually need and want to use.

“We work with real users and customers to design solutions that actually move the needle, and 98% of other companies miss some of that. They build exactly what their customers want and though these companies may be amazing product designers, the product may be something that people don’t actually want to use. Instead, we sit down with companies and ask all kinds of questions about tasks, where they feel time is wasted, and continue to ask more and more until we get a really full picture and intimate knowledge so that the people will want to use these products as intended, creating an even bigger impact for the organization. ‘Anthro’ is in our name for a reason — our goal is to really understand the people.”

Jones said the ethics of the company are human-focused as well. He and his team think about how they want to be treated and create the culture in that way. Pouring into the staff, sharing wealth with the team, being a great place to work, and growing leaders is important for the overall business plan, and according to Jones, breeds responsibility rather than accountability.

“Asheville really has something to do with it,” Jones said. “There is a workaholic culture in the startup scene of other cities where the expectation is to work 80 hours a week. Asheville slows that down a bit. The vibe is more about caring for the whole person, and that fits really well with Anthroware.

“When we started the company 10 years ago, the initial conversation was whether to base the company here or in San Francisco,” Jones said. “San Fran had a bigger direct market, but Asheville had the vibe, plus North Carolina is a way better place to start a business. That conversation led to discussing Charlotte or Raleigh, but we chose the mountains because we wanted to be here.”

Jones said tech is growing in Asheville as an industry, and he gets the sense that it

is a much better place to start now than when he started Anthroware. There were several other tech companies when they got started and now he could easily list more than 30.

“There are real businesses here with real chances for doing big stuff,” Jones said. “It’s good for everyone when they are dreaming big, and when companies are making progress, it shows others that those things are accessible here.”

Business Resources: Energy & Technology

North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association

A 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a priority on policy and regulatory advocacy, the NC Sustainable Energy Association is made up of members including local government entities, state universities, and large corporations concerned about how to enable better access to clean energy technology to reach environmental, social, and governance goals.

Learn more at NCSEA.com.

North Carolina Tech Association

Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023, the North Carolina Tech Association is a trade organization comprising 600+ member companies and organizations that collectively employ over 200,000 North Carolinians. The NC Tech Association advocates for a variety of matters applicable to the tech sector, and aims to reduce regulatory or other barriers and improve the economic environment for companies to thrive.

Learn more at NCTech.org.

get to know

3D Dojo Studios

Creating Equitable Community Through Video Game Development

For 3D Dojo Studios Owner Leroy Jones, entrepreneurship and community have always been a prevailing mindset.

On his own since the age of 13, Jones said he had a challenge claiming his independence. Working to procure financial aid for a college education, he was finally able to attend MiamiDade Community College starting at age 23, though without proper books and materials, he failed his first semester. A random stranger, through an overwhelming act of kindness, took an interest in Jones and paid for a semester’s tuition and his necessary materials. Jones said all he asked in repayment was to pass his classes, so he did.

Originally working toward a degree in mortuary science, Jones said one day he was looking at a body and thought “ this can’t be it.” He dropped out in his last semester, then spent six months studying to be a graphic designer through Lynda.com, now LinkedIn Learning.

Knowing Jones’s love for games, his wife suggested he consider game design as a career. She helped him find Full Sail University, and after falling in love with it, the school wouldn’t accept his high school diploma and would only admit him if he acquired a GED.

“I clearly didn’t want to pursue a GED after having graduated high school and already

being enrolled in a community college,” Jones said. He stumbled across an ad for a digital animation school, and that school accepted his diploma and jump-started his career in the game industry.

“My passion at the time was creating environmental art to help set the scene and the mood in games,” Jones said. “I could help guide the player through props and storytelling. Ironically, I hated doing characters the most at first and had zero interest in that. Now I create characters often and it comes so naturally.”

Upon his graduation from digital animation school, Jones said he took his wife on a vacation to Asheville. He said they have a love for nature and wildlife, and they had never been to a place like this. “The experience was amazing,” Jones said. “It wasn’t just the nature; it was the people. It was such a diverse community.”

When Jones heard his wife say the city felt like home, he began researching the city, finding that Asheville was in a ‘big bang phase’ with a lust for technology. He also discovered the city has a very big love for Black entrepreneurship.

Building a business and a community took off much faster than expected, according to Jones. He began onboarding members in phases — brand development, team building, preparation for work in a studio setting, and game development. He kept a focus on maintaining a diverse community as it grew.

“It’s multinational and multicultural,” Jones said. “There are plenty of differences existing with no issues among people from all over the world including Mexico, Singapore, Germany, as well as both Ukraine and Russia.”

Not only has Jones created a studio with seven members of gamers and game developers, Jones has also created his own video game called Da Paper Boy. He said it’s a survival game of sorts, where the paper boy must accurately hit the mailboxes. If there is property damage, characters will chase the paper boy.

get to know

Jones said he created this game and his studio with a “zero-dollar budget.” He said there were lots of trials and errors, but like business in general, he was able to teach himself and others to watch their toes and figure it out, breaking into a technical, digital industry and building a community that allows diversity, inclusion, and opportunities.

“It’s becoming unrealistic to even get into this industry,” Jones said. “Many companies require a shipped title — a game that has actually reached the market — plus three to five years of experience. I made this game to see who the key players in the studio are so I can help people who are generally discriminated against get credit on their resumes. I want to break down barriers in the gaming world and in the world in general because I believe in true diversity.

3D Dojo Studios also offers online courses and workshops teaching people about character design and 3D modeling using a variety of advanced industry software programs. Jones offers these courses for only $150 per month and has worked with students from seven to 62 years old.

“A standard school tuition can cost more than $70,000 a year,” Jones said. “How is that supposed to work for the middle class, even with financial aid? I want to help set people in motion so they can rise with their success.” —

Leroy Jones is the owner of 3D Dojo Studios and developer of the video game Da Paper Boy. Learn more at 3dDojoStudios.com.

“ I want to break down barriers in the gaming world and in the world in general because I believe in true diversity.”

- Leory Jones

it’s my job Matthew Addis

Purchasing and Warehouse Manager at Sugar Hollow Solar

Sugar Hollow’s calendar is typically booked anywhere from three to eight months out, according to Addis. He said a variety of businesses and organizations like churches, coffee shops, breweries, farms, warehouses, and other commercial accounts are becoming more popular, and he must schedule some product purchases up to 18 months ahead of time.

“We were recently accepted into a purchase cooperative called Amicus Solar,” Addis said. “There are more than 70 members that are solar companies, and through this cooperative, we are able to purchase directly from the manufacturer instead of from vendors. It’s a really awesome opportunity to meet directly with executives at big companies that we’ve been purchasing from indirectly for years.”

composition, components, and software. While Addis facilitates the meetings, the engineers are the ones who ask all the questions, and he said he loves listening to engineers talk.

“I really like the big picture aspect of the job, imagining all the possibilities for our customers here,” Addis said. “There is always something great coming up that will help solar companies become ubiquitous across the landscape. There are local and global challenges, and exploring new products and new combinations and the solutions the industry comes up with is really fascinating.”

As technological innovations continue to make their way into the green energy movement, Purchasing and Warehouse Manager at Sugar Hollow Solar Matthew Addis sees an incredible potential for new possibilities for moving away from using fossil fuels.

Addis said his daily tasks involve receiving and managing warehouse inventory, preparing job-specific equipment for installation crews, and scheduling longterm modular purchasing.

Solar installation projects are completed in phases. The project manager meets with the client to determine their energy usage, they come up with a proposal and a map of solar arrays. Each project is customdesigned according to the amount of energy needed, then Addis organizes the equipment from the warehouse in order for the installations team to have exactly what they need available.

Building relationships and facilitating connections is another aspect of Addis’s position. He said he builds relationships with different product manufacturing companies and will work with them to try out new products. The company’s tech committee looks at new products and technologies as they come out and perform case studies. Sugar Hollow has a strict standard of who they purchase from as well as how long they wait to use brand new technology in the field.

“There are many new major players in battery energy storage,” Addis said. “There used to only be a few options and now there are 15. We will plug them in here at the shop and see how well they work. There are high warranty standards but we haven’t run into anything major yet; the high standards help a lot.”

Engineers at Sugar Hollow and the manufacturing companies have meetings to discuss the details of new batteries like

Big-picture thinking is where Addis said he excels the most. Enjoying longterm planning, he said thinking six to 12 months ahead is pretty typical for him in this position. He said even doing the ordinary little things every day is a piece of something larger that’s hopefully changing the world and how people think about energy and its sources and consumption.

Addis said anyone can earn a paycheck at any job, but this one offers an opportunity to set people on a new path that helps everyone. He said more opportunities for energy creation that rely on means other than fossil fuels helps everyone.

“It’s an industry that leads itself to dreaming,” Addis said. “The green energy industry allows you to imagine a better future. Even on hard days here, the days are still filled with hope. Hopefully I’ll be here for a long time.” —

Matthew Addis is the Purchasing and Warehouse Manager at Sugar Hollow Solar. Learn more at SugarHollowSolar.com.

Streamlined Wi-Fi Runs Small Businesses

By Ellen Stallings

It is no secret that small businesses rely on technology and digital tools, not just for the day in and day out of running their businesses, but to reach new customers, communicate with employees, innovate, and grow.

In the past few years, we have seen an exponential growth in cloud-based platforms for every area of running a business. Small business owners find they are managing several different applications to perform necessary tasks like point of sale, inventory management,

customer contact, accounting, logistics, human resources… It is a long list.

For these programs to be successful in streamlining business functions, a fast, reliable connection to the internet that can handle uploads as fast as downloads is essential. Seventy percent

of business owners report that when there is an interruption to their network, their business is seriously impacted. However, many small business owners struggle with both the cost and complexity of managing their own network. With so many pressing concerns for a business owner, this important task can feel overwhelming.

What should a small business owner be thinking about when it comes to their business network? Here are the top questions to ask yourself:

Security

Small businesses are often targeted by cybercriminals. Small businesses need to consider the use of firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention, and regular security updates to protect against the continually changing and evolving threats. How protected is your network?

Reliability and Speed

This decision is not just limited to full outages but also includes the speed and the symmetry of service. Do you know the average speed of your connection? Is your upload speed significantly lower than your download speed? Do you experience lag during certain times of your business day? Is your provider local with prioritized response times to commercial customers? Do you have a fail-over connection plan in place?

Scalability

As your business grows and technology advances, your network needs will change. Will your current network scale when needed? The Internet is delivered to the end user in many ways. Are you connected with the most advanced choice available? Beyond how your service is delivered, your experience can also be impacted by the equipment used inside your network. Do you understand your current equipment and available options?

wnc business partners

Cost-Effectiveness

Managing a network in-house can be expensive and time-consuming. Though it can feel like an extra expense, a professional Managed Network Service Provider can help you save money and time by taking on the responsibility of network management and maintenance. Are you ready to make the investment to protect your network and business?

Expertise

Managed Network Service Providers have the expertise and experience to help you make the most of your network. They can provide guidance on best practices, troubleshoot problems, and help you make informed decisions about your network infrastructure. Have you weighed the benefits of professional services?

As a local internet service provider to small businesses, we highly recommend you seek out a partnership with a Managed Service Provider. Riverwave has the privilege of working in tandem with many excellent MSPs in WNC. Whether you are a Riverwave customer or not, we are happy to point you in the direction of professionals in your area that excel in working with businesses just like yours. Reach out to us for recommendations.

If engaging an MSP is on your horizon but not in the budget just yet, Riverwave offers a customized managed Wi-Fi solution that will get and keep you up and running. Our service is Fiber Optic, meaning the service supplied is not only reliable, it is fast, symmetrical (download and upload

speeds are the same), and scalable as you grow. We offer speeds from 100 mbps to 1 Gb, and you can increase your speed with just a phone call – no change in hardware needed. Knowing that it takes more than a great connection to have a great experience, we include a carrier grade WiFi router, award winning network security, and an app that puts the control of your network in the palm of your hand. Through our BizWorks offering, we can help you check off all the boxes above. With fullservice installation by one of our local in-house technicians, your business will be up and running at the speed of light. If our business can help your business, please reach out to us. It would be our pleasure to serve you.

— Ellen Stallings is the President at Riverwave Broadband. Learn more about how Riverwave can help your business at RideRiverWave.com or by emailing Ellen@RideRiverWave.com.

Seventy percent of business owners report that when there is an interruption to their network, their business is seriously impacted.

wnc business partners

Investment Ideas for Business Owners

By Katherine Morosani

Here are a few investments you may want to consider:

Retirement account

Depending on the nature of your business and how many employees you have, you can choose from a variety of taxadvantaged retirement plans, such as an owner-only 401(k), an SEP-IRA, and a SIMPLE IRA. By contributing regularly to one of these accounts, you can avoid being entirely dependent on the sale of your business to pay for your retirement years.

To fund your 401(k) or other retirement plan, you’ll have many investment options — stocks, bonds, mutual funds and so on. If you “max out” on your retirement plan, you may even be able to build a separate investment portfolio. In any case, keep in mind that you’re already putting a lot of money into your business; so to achieve a level of diversification, you may want to concentrate your investment choices in areas outside your industry. However, while diversification can help reduce the impact of market volatility on your portfolio, it can’t guarantee profits or protect against losses in a declining market.

Property

Your physical space is a key part of your business’ success. So, you may want to invest some time in comparing the pros and cons of renting versus owning. Of course, owning your building may require a big financial commitment, and it may not be feasible, but it could free you from worrying about untimely rent increases.

Disaster Protection

If a fire or a weather-related disaster should strike your business, would you be prepared? It’s important for you to create a disaster recovery plan, which can include business interruption insurance to pay for your operating costs if you’re forced to shut down for a while.

Emergency Savings

While a disaster protection plan with appropriate insurance can help keep your business afloat, it’s unlikely to cover other types of emergency needs, such as a major medical bill or an expensive repair to your home. For these unexpected costs, you may want to build an emergency fund covering at least a few months’ worth of living expenses, with the money kept

in a liquid account. Without such an emergency fund, you may be forced to dip into your 401(k), IRA, or other long-term investment vehicle.

You’ll also want to invest the time and energy into creating a business succession plan. Will you keep the business in your family? Sell it to outsiders or a key employee? If you do sell, will you do it all at once or over time? Clearly, the answers to these types of questions will make a big difference in your ultimate financial security.

Finally, invest in help. Enlist the services of a financial advisor and business-planning professional so you’ll be able to make the decisions that work best for you and your business. Your business may well be a lifelong endeavor — so make sure you’re investing whatever it takes to earn a lifetime of benefits.

—

This article was written by Edward Jones for use by your local Edward Jones Financial Advisor, Katherine Morosani, ChFC®, CEPA® who can be reached at 828-793-4310 or Katherine.Morosani@ Edwardjones.com

C Morosani, ChFC®, Financial Advisor

By definition, business owners put a lot of their financial resources into their enterprises. As an owner, you may need to invest in more than inventories and payroll to help achieve the future you’ve envisioned.

Guerrilla Marketing: How To Understand Your Audience

By Chris Kaminski

Understanding your audience is a critical step in any marketing campaign, including guerrilla marketing. It allows you to tailor your strategies and messages to effectively reach and engage your target market. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to understand your audience and create a successful guerrilla marketing campaign.

Identify Your Ideal Customer

Start by creating a detailed profile of your ideal customer or “customer persona.” Consider their basic demographic information like age, gender, location, income level, and occupation. However, it’s crucial to go beyond these surfacelevel details and delve deeper into their lifestyle, interests, hobbies, and behaviors.

Research

Conduct surveys, interviews, and focus groups with your current and potential customers. This research will provide valuable insights into their needs, preferences, and pain points. Analyzing website and social media analytics can also offer a wealth of information about your audience such as their demographics, engagement patterns, and online behavior.

Competitor Analysis

Study your competitors to gain a better understanding of who they are targeting and how they communicate with their audience. While it’s important not to copy

their strategies outright, analyzing their successful tactics can inspire innovative approaches for your guerrilla marketing campaign.

Social Listening

Monitor social media platforms, online forums, and relevant discussions related to your product, brand, or industry. By actively listening to conversations, you can uncover valuable insights about what your target audience is talking about, the challenges they face, and their core values. This information will help you tailor your messaging to resonate with their interests and needs.

Monitor Trends

Stay abreast of the latest trends in your industry and broader cultural landscape. Understanding these trends allows you to identify emerging interests, preferences, and behaviors among your target audience. By incorporating these insights into your guerrilla marketing campaign, you can capture their attention and establish a deeper connection with your brand.

Feedback

Regularly seek feedback from your customers through surveys, reviews, or direct communication. This feedback loop enables you to gain firsthand insights into their experiences, preferences, and expectations. By actively listening to your audience, you can refine your strategies,

improve your offerings, and ensure that your guerrilla marketing efforts align with their desires.

By understanding your audience, you can create a guerrilla marketing campaign that resonates with them, captures their attention, and encourages engagement with your brand. It ensures that your marketing efforts are focused and effective, minimizing wasted time and resources on strategies that don’t resonate with your target audience.

—

Chris Kaminski is the owner of Lone Bird Studio LLC. Lone Bird Studio specializes in guerrilla marketing and can provide expert guidance throughout your campaign, maximizing its impact and success Learn more at LoneBird.com.

Tips to Consider for Your Business Telephone System

By Andrea Robel

Western North Carolina’s businessfriendly environment, lower taxes, protech scene, and quality lifestyle make the state a destination in and of itself for many companies big and small.

Telephone service for businesses is not your plain old telephone service (more commonly referred to as a landline) that has been around using copper lines. Today’s telephone service is over the internet commonly referred to as Voice over Internet Phone (VoIP).

As a business owner, your business telephone is critical to operating your business in today’s world. It’s important to pay attention to:

• What type of phone are you using for your business?

• Is using your personal cell phone for your business the best way to go?

• Is your business provider really providing your business with the most costeffective system?

• Is your business phone provider providing design of system, training, and support?

If you are still using an AT&T or cable company landline business phone that you have had for years, are you sure that you have not been switched over to a VoIP system? If so, you may be paying more for your phone than you need to be.

Using a cell phone or your personal home phone line for your business leaves a lot of open questions. You may find considering these questions can help you spend your

money wisely. The biggest questions include:

• Are you separating your work time from your personal time?

• What about security for your business or your personal self?

• Is your current phone sales rep just asking how many lines you need and selling you that number, or are they taking the time to find out how you work, want your needs really are, and designing a system that really meets your needs?

• Is your current phone rep selling you a third-party service and passing you off to another phone company?

Benefits of VoIP for Business in North Carolina:

• Cost Savings: Affordable, competitive rates versus traditional phone systems to allow businesses to increase their bottom line.

• Business Scalability: Allows businesses to easily add or remove phone lines as per their needs. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for growing businesses in North Carolina.

• Business Mobility: VoIP enables employees to access their business phone lines from anywhere with an internet connection. This feature is especially useful for remote workers or businesses with multiple locations.

• Advanced Features: VoIP systems offer a wide range of advanced features like call forwarding, voicemail to email

transcription, call routing, virtual attendants, and conference calling. These features enhance productivity and streamline communication within the business.

• Integration: VoIP can integrate with other business applications and software systems, such as customer relationship management platforms, to enhance efficiency and streamline workflows.

—

Tech-Enabled Human Connection

By Jami Daniels

As technology rapidly improves and the world becomes increasingly automated, things that are declared “dead” are getting more important all the time. Human connection has never been more critical in branding, sales, and customer development. The trick is to effectively use technology to facilitate a conversation and reach your customer where they are.

Low-value interactions that can be replaced with automated tech should be. Your customer doesn’t want to spend a lot of time jumping through frustrating hoops, but when a customer has an important need to meet, or if it’s more of a high-stakes interaction, there’s really no replacement for a real, live person. A bot can help a customer find the right URL for your business; however, it cannot help your customer with an issue that is difficult to verbalize or may even have them steaming.

As you try to build trust in your brand, it’s critical that you connect with your customers in a meaningful way. Creating a positive buying or service experience with your customers is the fastest way to establish trust. It seems so basic, but the fastest way to differentiate your company is by being authentic.

Personal customer service is also the fastest route to surprise and delight. Remarketing is now a basic standard. (Remarketing consists of those ads that show up after you leave something in an online cart then emails you, and seem to haunt your every social media move). Marketers use it because it works. It really works well with a lower-value sale.

A friend in the jewelry business suggested that most interactions with an online storefront can and will be replaced in no time with AI. Imagine that his customer left an expensive bracelet in their cart. What if instead of some pesky email, someone called that buyer to inquire why they didn’t pull the trigger? If a person called, it may create that moment of, “well, since you asked…,” opening an opportunity to create a meaningful interaction with your customer.

Expectations of customers are relatively low. They no longer expect real engagement from a company. A genuine, human-powered interaction creates a huge opportunity for your company and a positive buying experience for your customer. On the other hand, people want to be able to find what they need on their own when they need something quickly. Balancing this correctly is the key to maintaining wildly happy customers. Using tech tools effectively can help remove tedious, low-value uses of your team’s time. Leveraging your team’s skill set can make their working hours more efficient. If something is easily replaced with tech, replace it. Let your team focus on the critical needs of your business and your customer.

Our business is in an ‘old fashioned’ industry that has never felt more modern. I wonder if young people might be surprised that you can actually have people answer the phone for you!

Tech advancements in our industry have enabled us to be faster, more efficient, and do more with less, but the power of what we provide is the human aspect.

We’re used to surprising people when we answer our customer’s phones. Lately though, the true strength has been in reaching out. We work with universities that want to connect more deeply with prospective students. If a student goes on their site and leaves without converting, we give them a call to find out what their interests are or if they have a question about financial aid, etc. We then route them to the expert on the question at hand. This creates a powerful opportunity for the university to actually connect with that prospective student.

Tech has allowed us to be more connected than ever, yet we grow farther away from our customers. What used to seem so mundane can now be a critical differentiator for your company or organization. Build trust and deepen your relationships with your customers by using well-timed, meaningful human interactions.

— Jami Daniels is the thirdgeneration business owner of a company that was started in downtown Asheville on a park bench. Brightbell Virtual Receptionist powered by tech-enabled, customer-focused people. Learn more at BrightBellCo.com.

You Have to Get Comfortable in the Gray

By Tracey Green Washington

She invited me into an intentional relationship to stretch, grow, and release thinking, feelings, and actions that were getting in the way of my why, my purpose, and preventing me from showing up to leadership self-aware and understanding of the privilege to lead and embrace transformational change.

I couldn’t name it then but today, I embody change and ‘gray areas’ in my leadership; I was in the messy middle of my leadership journey – the transformational space that represents the gap between our current state of being and desired purpose. This critical space for strategic leaders invites grappling with three important truths.

#1 Alignment is Necessary

The leadership walk can’t be done alone. Alignment with your unique purpose will serve as important anchoring as you resist the disorientation, distraction, and fatigue of this heavy work.

These powerful words from my executive coach during one of my first-ever coaching sessions left me speechless. In one single phrase, she could name and articulate all of my discomfort, pain points, and areas of stuckness as a leader.

#2 Get Comfortable with Discomfort

It is a walk that requires a level of intimacy with discomfort that can shift one into a range of emotions that can cause leaders to move from being paralyzed and fearful to excitement in the collective work.

#3 You Need Someone Who’s Got Your Back

This walk requires a coach that asks powerful questions, provides a support space for reflection, creates accountability through action steps, and provides an open curious space to grapple with fears, shadows, and unspoken ideas that have yet to be shared with the world.

My experience of the messy middle heightened my awareness and unapologetic belief that in these momentsfor leaders working on the cutting edge of some of the most complex social issues of our life-time-coaching is vital. A powerful coach can provide a consistent voice armed with powerful and curious questions converging in just the right way to unearth new insights, reveal and interrupt false narratives, and create permission for truth-telling to facilitate healing and identification of pain points. A coach provides confidential and intentional space to speak unspoken desires and consent to be in alignment and support your unique purpose. I have learned a healthy partnership with a coach accepts and honors each individual and travels

alongside them in the transformational process to amplify their innate leadership, vision, passion, will, desire, and clarity. Lastly, a powerful coach supports your proximity to discomfort and navigation of the messy middle in service to unleashing superpowers, catalyzing authentic partnerships, resisting complicity, and mitigating harm to support transformation change within communities, networks, and diverse teams leading some of the most complex work in transformational change.

Coaching Enables Each of Us to:

• Sharpen our ability to shift our thinking, which influences our feelings and activates our actions to harness the necessary skills, relationships, and networks in service to generate the greatest return on investment towards tackling complex issues;

• Lean into a transformational process by leaders/team members at all four levels, the “I”, “We,” “Work,” and “Walk” (Ideology), to truly step into this type of posture within ecosystems of change to effectively align our unique superpowers, skills, relationships, and networks in service to achieving key goals; and

• Make a collective commitment to show up as our best selves in a way that catalyzes change, model the way, constantly assume a learning posture ready to be sharpened, and be of service that supports others around us.

I’ve had the privilege of receiving support from four influential coaches throughout my career. Each entered my life at a critical moment where I knew intuitively as a leader that it was time to shift my posture in a significant way but unable to see, name, and navigate the critical path ahead to amplify my voice, level up my impact, and stretch into my influence in service to something greater than myself. These relationships throughout my career have allowed me to understand the power of coaching as a tool and respect the inextricable link between coaching, effective leadership, purpose, and transformational change. Consequently, fueling my desire through Indigo Innovation Group to foster ongoing spaces, cultures, and practices that intentionally normalize coaching as a vital lever to strategically position leaders to be bolder, more innovative, healers, and equity centered. Given this proposition, I ask one single question of you, “Who’s coaching you?” —

Tracey GreeneWashington is the President of Indigo Innovation Group, a consulting firm dedicated to serving as a thoughtpartner, as well as CoThinkk, a social change philanthropy initiative. To learn more, visit IndigoInnovationGroup.com or CoThinkk.org.

“A powerful coach can provide a consistent voice armed with powerful and curious questions...”

JORDAN DEVERE Senior Recruiter & Client Service Supervisor

After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State University in 2015, Jordan fully immersed himself in the Western North Carolina community. He built a strong foundation in sales and account management before joining Spherion Staffing & Recruiting in 2021.

As an expert in client relations and direct hire recruitment, Jordan provides long-term staffing solutions to clients and creates permanent careers for job seekers throughout our region.

To learn more how Spherion can help you, reach out to Jordan today!

828-348-0390

JordanDevere@Spherion.com

KÉGAN ENGLISH CEO, Atlantic Coast Business Brokers

Kégan founded the “next generation” business brokerage and advisory firm, believing that the industry was in desperate need of change. He and his team use their years of professional business consulting experience to elevate the business purchasing and selling experience.

Kégan and his wife are full-time residents of WNC and prefer to spend most of their free time on adventures in the great outdoors with their two dogs.

Looking to purchase or sell a business?

Contact Kégan today to learn more about their services!

JENNIFER DURAN Sales Consultant, Vistanet

Jennifer has been a licensed funeral director for almost 30 years and understands the importance of being available when the phone rings.

Her experience using Vistanet while managing a local funeral home made her an instant fan of the technology and the company. Knowing that she helps businesses and their clients connect is truly rewarding.

828-348-5366

jduran@vistanet.co

MATT FRASER

Vice President of Commercial Services, Epsilon, Inc.

Working with Epsilon since 2012, Matt has a passion for helping organizations implement proactive IT support services and cybersecurity improvements to enhance their business goals and objectives. He received his CompTIA SEC+ in 2017 and actively maintains this certification. Matt has lived with his wife in Asheville since 2005, where they now raise their daughter. When he’s not working you can typically find him running or biking a trail in Pisgah National Forest.

828-655-7411

AtlanticCoastBusinessBrokers.com

828-398-5416

MFraser@Epsilon-Inc.com

BILL GILLILAND

Award Winning Presenter, Entrepreneur, and ActionCOACH Business Coach

Bill is currently one of the top ActionCOACH business coaches in the world, speaks on a wide range of business topics, and loves to teach business owners how to build “commercial, profitable businesses that work without them.”

Bill lives in Montreat with his wife of 38 years, Lynn. They have two grown sons. In his spare time, Bill enjoys golf, fly-fishing, reading books on business and theology, and doing anything outdoors with his sons.

Schedule a Free Business Coaching session with Bill Gilliland to get started.

NICK IOSUE

Sr. Commercial Loan Officer, United Federal Credit Union

As the Senior Commercial Loan Officer, Nick has more than 12 years of financial industry experience. Prior to joining United, Nick was a VP of Business Banking at First Citizen Bank. He has a degree in accounting and corporate finance from Western Carolina University and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of Banking at UNC Chapel Hill.

Nick lives with his wife and two daughters and has served with the NC Young Bankers Association, the Brevard Chamber of Commerce, and Pisgah Forest Rotary.

828-348-1787

BillGilliland.ActionCoach.com

CHRIS KAMINSKI

Award-winning Designer, Entrepreneur, Owner Lone Bird Studio LLC., webguy.tech

Chris has wholeheartedly invested his energy and resources into Webguy.tech, a WordPress backup and security service. With a strong belief that it holds the answer to the plaguing issues faced by WordPress users, such as backups, updates, and security, Chris has become a local expert in the field. Webguy.tech offers convenience, peace of mind, and cost savings, allowing businesses to focus on their core operations while entrusting their website’s protection to this reliable service.

828-708-6548

NIosue@UnitedFCU.com

CINDY KIMMEL Owner/Benefits Advisor

Cindy Kimmel is tackling the diminishing value of health insurance by bringing alternative health plans to local businesses. Her 15-year career in corporate employee benefits has given her valuable insights into the challenges of providing competitive benefits. With a focus on sustainable health plan solutions, Kimmel Benefits+ is committed to ensuring businesses can access affordable, highquality health plans. Holding a Master’s in HR and serving on the Western NC HR board, Cindy is a trusted advisor to her clients.

Contact us today to schedule an introductory consultation.

828-515-0855

Chris@webguy.tech

828-275-6230

Cindy@KimmelBenefitsPlus.com

CHEYENNE MATHEWS ALLCHOICE Insurance

A Risk Consultant with ALLCHOICE Insurance, Cheyenne Matthews is an Ambassador with the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce, a Committee Member with the Fletcher Area Business Association, a Softball Coach with Henderson County Parks and Recreation, and an assistant coach for the Lady Bearcat’s Hendersonville High School Softball Team. Cheyenne works hard daily to serve her community and to do business the right way. To see what she and ALLCHOICE are doing for the community, give her a call today.

DREW POLLICK (He/Him) Founder + Managing Partner

Drew founded Craft HR Solutions with the vision of helping mission-driven, small and mid-sized organizations grow. He saw leaders struggle to find the experience and expertise needed to make critical impacts through their people. The Craft HR team offers solutions ranging from HR Assessments, Fractional HR, and project-based engagements to enhance compensation, benefits, recruiting, leader training, employee engagement, DEI, and more. Set a time today to learn more about how Craft HR can help you achieve your goals. Follow the QR code to visit our website.

828-237-2327

ALLCHOICEInsurance.com

A-B TECH COMMUNITY COLLEGE

828-222-0024

Info@CraftHRSolutions.com

As the region’s largest community college, A-B Tech educates and trains the workforce, provides customized training to industry partners, and serves individuals through a Small Business Center and Business Incubation Program designed to foster and support entrepreneurship, small businesses, and economic development.

Hitting the ‘Pause Button’

As Heather Parmley and Lindsay Chewning discovered the value of a mindful work-life balance, an idea for their new business emerged.

Always being goal driven and busy, Heather Parmley and Lindsay Chewning said they both had worked themselves to the point of exhaustion, past the point of productivity and were just getting burned out.

“When Covid first hit, I realized that we didn’t even know how to just be with myself,” Parmley said. “I had to make a calendar for myself with a list of things to do — walk the dog, read, make jewelry. Realizing that this was a need for myself, I thought it was likely a need for others also.”

Often working three to five jobs at a time, Chewning would go through phases in which she realized she had taken on too much. “I was giving too much of myself to the point of feeling depleted,” she said. “I felt a big transition out of Covid and took time off. This was the first time I gave myself the freedom to just be present and allow myself to do whatever felt good. That freedom gave me the motivation that I needed, and I actually became much more productive.”

Parmley compared this to something we all experience from time to time. Rushing out

of the door, there are often times we can’t find something that we need. Parmley said that this used to really frustrate her, until she realized that when she slowed down, took a deep breath, and stopped looking for it, only then she would find what she was missing. She paralleled this to life in general, saying she noticed that when people slow down, they often discover what they are looking for in life.

Attending a yoga retreat in Sedona, AZ several years ago, these two friends witnessed a community of people wanting to improve their lives and coming together

Photo by Perri Runion Photography.

to heal. “I thought healing was something that had to be done alone,” Chewning said. “People had the opportunity to be vulnerable with others. This was a big turning point in realizing that I can ask for help and share my story.”

After that retreat, they felt spiritual openness in themselves and wanted to help cultivate that and be a catalyst for that in others. Finding a close, loving friend in each other allowed them to take a big healing journey together, spurring the idea and mission of their business — Awaken Wellness Retreats.

“We shared a post announcing that we would be hosting our first retreat, and we received an outpouring of interest,” Chewning said. “We set the dates, booked an AirBnB, and it felt so good to realize that this is actually happening.”

“That reinforced the importance of speaking into existence what is happening,” Parmley said. “We took the leap without thinking about it too much, and through that process, we found our calling of creating a community to rest and heal together.”

Though the work of hosting retreats is inspiring and doesn’t feel like ‘work’, it requires energy, attention, and holding space for others. They leave each retreat with a flame reignited in their soul.

While working with a goal of inspiring others can feel like their own mental reset, they have realized that they also need to take their own space for themselves and

work-life balance

enjoy meditations, therapy, and self care.

“Leading retreats has helped reinforce the importance of having alone time and setting boundaries for that,” Chewning said. “Even just 10 minutes of alone time helps, and taking a day off at the end of the retreat allows us to process, rest, and rejuvenate ourselves.”

Chewning and Parmley have created rituals for themselves that help with the process of resetting, both after a retreat as well as during busy or stressful moments during a regular work week.

“It can often feel nice to lie flat on the earth,” Chewning said. “I realize that taking deep breaths at work because of stressful moments can be a signal to take space and pause in stillness. I love being in the sun, in nature, in the woods, I can tune everything out and just be. Even a few minutes can really make a difference.”

“Sometimes I take a bath or a shower to literally wash off the emotions,” Parmley said. “I notice changes in my body like tension and headaches or taking deep breaths with my shoulders moving upward, and then take moments to stretch, walk my dogs in nature, or sing in the car.

I’ve always loved humming, and recently learned that it’s likely because humming and singing can help regulate the vagus nerve, which can help regulate your entire nervous system in general. I wish I would’ve learned that in school.”

Spiritually, the friends have realized how important it is to have a spiritual

community as well as cultivate a spiritual home within themselves. They began to question themselves and their beliefs, and realized that their beliefs are malleable and can always change. They feel that as society has moved toward science and away from spirituality, there is a need to reconnect the two. Having an appreciation for and seeing the magic of what is instead of trying to understand everything reflects what spirituality is all about for them. They have found the most important things to maintain proper balance are to slow down big time, taking breaks often. Burnout can still happen in a job you love, and it can become something you resent. Allowing time to pause and be with yourself helps to keep the balance in check; you still need space to reset and just be.

—

Heather Parmley and Lindsay Chewning are co-owners of Awaken Wellness Retreats. Learn more at AwakenWellnessRetreats.com.

Even just 10 minutes of alone time helps, and taking a day off at the end of the retreat allows us to process, rest, and rejuvenate ourselves.

Business Events Across WNC

Thursday, July 13

Financial Tools - Part One

6:00 - 8:30 PM | Virtual, Mountain BizWorks

Financial Tools will introduce you to the basic financial management principles that all small business owners should know. Part 2 on July 20th.

Tuesday, July 18

Retrain Your Brain

11:30 AM | 26 All Souls Crescent, Asheville

Lunch Seminar with featured speaker Ben Sugarwala of Hartford Funds, hosted by Katherine Morosani, Financial Advisor with Edward Jones.

Tuesday, August 8

Foundations Business Planning Class

5:30 - 8:30 PM, Tuesdays Through September 12

117 Baily’s Branch Road, Marshall

Join a cohort of aspiring and existing entrepreneurs to gain an aerial perspective of your vision and the comprehensive business skills necessary to help bring your visions into reality.

Thursday, August 17

ScaleUp Workshop - Building to Scale: Leveling-Up Operations

1:00 - 3:00 PM | Virtual, Mountain BizWorks

Discuss and unpack how scalable companies need robust operating systems and teams that scale with their sales growth and can consistently fulfill their promise and deliver value to their customers.

Tuesday, August 29

Asheville Area Chamber 2023 Golf Classic

8:30 AM - 3:00 PM | 290 Macon Avenue, Asheville

This event is always a fun opportunity for members of the business community to connect with colleagues and enjoy a beautiful day out of the office.

For more events, costs, registration links, and details visit WNCBusiness.com/Calendar.

Monday, September 18

Outdoor Economy Conference

All Day, September 18- 21 | 777 Casino Drive, Cherokee

This year’s Connecting the Ecosystem theme speaks to bridging the divides between disciplines, and both seeing and stewarding our outdoor economy as a complex system that thrives from the cross-pollination of communities and ideas.

Thursday, September 28

Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce’s 125th Anniversary Celebration

7:30 - 9:30 PM | 36 Montford Avenue

This year, the Asheville Chamber of Commerce is marking its 125th anniversary by celebrating Asheville Through the Looking Glass, a reflection of business prosperity, success, and a connection to Asheville’s future progress and growth.

Saturday, September 30

Expand 23

9:00 AM - 5:00 PM | 15 Page Avenue, Asheville

Join us where women entrepreneurs come together to expand their possibilities and opportunities.

Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce Applications/Nominations

Requested

Twelve grants will be awarded to nonprofits that align with the Chamber in achieving its mission of “Building Community Through Business.”

Submit nonprofit votes at AshevilleChamber.org/ 125Years, no later than August 1, 2023.

Submit a nomination for outstanding women in business for categories including Women Entrepreneurs Best in Business, Woman Executive of the Year, Outstanding Woman in Nonprofit Leadership, Rising Star Award, and the Suzanne DeFerie Lifetime Achievement Award. Winners will be honored at the Celebration & Awards Ceremony. Submit nominations to AshevilleChamber.org/ WomanUP, no later than August 4, 2023.

workforce, and continuing education programs with online and in-person options.

L ear n m o re at ab t ec h .ed u/ welco m e .