The upcoming Q4 edition of WNC Business spotlights Women in Business, featuring local resources supporting women entrepreneurs, WNC success stories, and women to know in the community. Your organization has the opportunity to recognize the integral women in your business with special advertising features.
• Women in Business pictorial profiles offer an easy, affordable way to spotlight the women in your business.
• Women-owned businesses receive a discount on display ads for this edition. Full page ads come with a complimentary Women in Business Pictorial profile.
• Ask about volume discounts for placing multiple Women in Business pictorial profiles.
From the Publisher
As fellow enthusiasts of Western North Carolina’s charm and vitality, we’re delighted to connect with you through the latest issue of WNC Business. Nestled in the heart of these breathtaking mountains, we’re privileged to celebrate the essence of our region and its boundless opportunities.
In our Q3 issue, we embark on an exploration of the plethora of items made in our region. The feature article, Made In WNC, will allow you to discover a tapestry woven with the threads of innovation and entrepreneurial zeal which reflects the spirit of the region.
Endeavors in our area are thriving. Multinational companies continue to expand to our region, and new ventures are well-supported here. The resounding theme across each of the industries spotlighted in this issue – Agriculture, Education, and Manufacturing & Technology – is the continued need for bolstering the workforce behind it all. With many creative recruitment and retainment options available and an overwhelming sense of positive company culture, surely our region will remain a premier location businesses are proud to call home.
At WNC Business, our mission is to serve as a beacon of support and empowerment for our readers. We’re committed to fostering connections, providing valuable resources, and amplifying the voices of our business community.
As advocates for collaboration and shared success, we extend our gratitude to our advertisers who make this endeavor possible. Their partnership fuels our mission to Connect, Inform, and Inspire, and we encourage you to explore the wealth of services they offer.
Moreover, we invite you to become an integral part of our narrative. Whether you have a business announcement to share or seek to leverage our platform for amplifying your message, we welcome your contributions and collaboration. Reach out to us at Info@WNCBusiness. com to explore the myriad opportunities for engagement.
In closing, we trust that this issue of WNC Business will serve as both a source of enjoyment and a wellspring of insight. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoy creating it.
Brett Hulsey President & Publisher, Hulsey Media, Inc.
A New Business Resource from the Local Industry Leader.
WNC Business is brought to you by Hulsey Media, Western North Carolina’s leading source of local knowledge.
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On the Cover BIG Adventure
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COPYRIGHT 2024
Volume 03 | Issue 03 | Q3 2024
OPPORTUNITY
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.
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
Manufacturing & Technology
Focusing
Bridging
Cheers!
Business Shout-outs from Around Western North Carolina
Awards & Recognitions
Four Seasons was named Best Place to Work by Modern Healthcare.
CTE Health Science Educator Kelly Stepp was named Henderson County Public Schools Teacher of the Year.
The Hands of Sean Perry Co. received the 2024 GuildMaster award.
The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce presented AvL Technologies with the Good Health Good Business Award.
The Leapfrog Group recognized AdventHealth Hendersonville earned its 16th Consecutive ‘A’ Hospital Safety Grade award.
The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce recognized Hulsey Media with the 2024 Blue Ridge Business Growth Award.
Marion City Council recognized Crystal and Alan Ledbetter as the 2023 NC Main Street Champions.
Promotions & On The Move
The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce welcomed Allison Elliott as its new Project Manager.
McGuire Wood & Bissette welcomed attorney Hannah Michalove to the firm.
YMCA of WNC announced Stephen Abel as its new Communications Director.
David Francis was appointed as President of the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce.
St. Luke’s Hospital named two new directors – Josh Gossett, RN, BSN as Director of the Emergency Department, and Jan Blanchette, RN, MSN as Director of Acute Care.
The North Carolina Department of Commerce named Asheville’s Samantha Cole as the first Child Care Business Liaison for NC.
AdventHealth welcomed Cardiologist Eduardo Balcells, MD to lead its interventional cardiology program.
Rowhouse Architects announced Shawn McKeever as its new partner.
UNC Asheville named Yvonne Villanueva-Russell as its next Provost.
Smokies Life, formerly Great Smoky Mountains Association, announced Holly
Kays has joined the creative team as its lead writer.
Coming Soon
Coldwell Banker Advantage Western Region will celebrate their grand opening and ribbon cutting in July.
MA new Ingles location is under construction on Asheville Highway near Fletcher.
Metro Wines will open a second location in The Shops at Reynolds Village in North Asheville.
Expansions & Grand Openings
Green Flash Watersports expanded to Lake James, offering wakesurfing and
Mars Hill University added the Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurial Leadership to its selection of degree programs.
Benton Roofing announced the opening of their new headquarters in Flat Rock.
Central Bark® hosted a grand opening celebration of its newest location in Asheville.
Terra Nova Beer Co. opened its new flagship taproom and brewery location on Asheville’s South Slope.
Partnerships, Mergers & Acquisitions
Art on 7th owners Julie and Phil Wilmot purchased The Gallery at Flat Rock .
Marshall-based FedUp Foods expanded to Wilmington.
Jessie Dean and Asheville Tea Company expanded the brand’s products with a new cold brew line.
French Broad River Academy Middle School announces plans to build a new academic building for its Girls Program.
ananda hair studio announced the opening of their third Asheville location.
The Annapolis, Maryland financial investment advisor firm Bay Point Wealth announced its restructuring and launch of Curio Wealth, LLC, with a regional office in Asheville.
A new Sylva gift and clothing boutique, Carly and Cass , celebrated their grand opening.
Blowing Rock TDA has partnered with Outdoor NC to participate in the Outdoor NC Trail Town Stewardship Designation Program.
Haywood Community College partnered with Waynesville Housing Authority to add storage behind several homes in the Ninevah housing community.
Asheville Rooftop Bar Tours partnered with the Asheville Art Museum to offer a new tour for their guests.
The Flying Bike of the River Arts District in Asheville announced the acquisition of KidCycle Club.
Anniversaries & Milestones
Tara Robinson and Eric Thomas became the new owners and operators of Baked Pie Company.
Wine Sage Merchant and Wine Bar in Hendersonville announced its completed renovation and rebrand.
Downtown Asheville restaurant Posana celebrated its 15th anniversary in May.
The Curb Market in Hendersonville celebrated its 100th anniversary in June.
A local landmark of a craft brewery, Asheville’s Highland Brewing celebrated its 30th anniversary in May.
Boone Lumber celebrated its 60th anniversary in April.
Adlib, a clothing boutique, celebrated 35 years in downtown Asheville.
The Spice & Tea Exchange of Blowing Rock celebrated 10 years in business.
You Have a Shout-Out? Go to www.wncbusiness.com/ pages/submit-news to submit it.
Sky High Growth Awards
Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce
These businesses’ awards are in honor of the determination and accomplishments which contribute to our local economy through innovation and hard work. Out of 36 finalists, the top 25 businesses received recognition and awards for their achievements. Recipients included:
• ActionCOACH Business Growth Partners – Under the leadership of owner Bill Gilliland, the company has expanded its team and offerings to include a range of new educational courses and workshops aimed at enhancing business skills, including three 12-week training courses in key areas such as sales and management, a comprehensive twoday business planning workshop, and various networking and development
events like the High Growth Company Mastermind and the upcoming Asheville Business Summit.
• Aeroflow Health – Under CEO Casey Hite, the company has expanded its workforce, adding hundreds of new roles that significantly contribute to the regional economy.
• Applied Solutions Group, Inc. – Led by owner Jose Ibarra, the company specializes in providing comprehensive IT and website services to businesses, recently expanding its team with key roles like a Web D eveloper to enhance service delivery.
• Asheville Arborists – Under the leadership of Nicholas Maidment, the
The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce recently hosted its 2024 Sky High Growth Awards in May to celebrate some of the local businesses which are overcoming challenges, reaching beyond successes, taking their businesses to the next level, creating jobs, and giving back.
company has expanded its workforce, including the addition of a full-time sales production manager to enhance operational efficiency.
• Asheville Art Museum – Under the leadership of Executive Director Pamela L. Myers, the museum has expanded its team by adding roles such as a Curatorial Project Manager and a Custodial Manager, reflecting a commitment to enhancing visitor experience and operational efficiency.
• Asheville Sun Soo Martial Arts – Led by Tony Morris, the school has expanded its staff, adding specialized roles to support its growing range of services, which includes martial arts classes
for all ages, an on-site after-school program, and summer camps.
• Big Frog Custom T-Shirts – Under the leadership of President David Riddell, the company has experienced growth, increasing its staff and enhancing its product offerings through the introduction of advanced printing technologies and design software.
• Carolina Mornings Vacation Rentals
– Under the guidance of CEO Shari Goldstein, the company has navigated the shifting landscapes of the travel and tourism sector, especially during the post-pandemic recovery phase, by maintaining near-peak revenue levels while the broader market faced declines.
• College H.U.N.K.S. Hauling Junk and Moving of Asheville – Under the leadership of Todd Smith, this franchise has expanded its workforce, increasing its ‘HUNKS’ to meet rising demand and broadening its operational footprint to include interstate moves and additional community areas like Brevard and Waynesville.
• CooperRiis Inc-Transitional Living Services – Under the leadership of CEO Eric Levine, the organization recently introduced a Partial Hospitalization Program to complement its residential and transitional services, offering a more accessible outpatient treatment model.
• Dynamite Roasting Co. – Under the leadership of founder and CEO Andrew Gibbon, the company has experienced consistent growth, as evidenced by strategic staff expansions, including a full-time marketing specialist and an upgraded role from part-time to fulltime production assistant to manage increased production demands.
• Eaton – Under Plant Manager Rodney Bruner, Eaton has added employees in recent years, responding to industry trends such as electrification, grid modernization, and onshoring of manufacturing.
• Harper General Contractors – Under the leadership of President David Wise, Harper has expanded its workforce to meet growing demands, adding several strategic positions such as a Director of Virtual Building and Regional Director, reflecting its adaptation to modern construction demands and business growth.
• Hulsey Media, Inc. – Under the leadership of President Brett Hulsey, the company has diversified its publication portfolio to include a wide range of targeted, content-rich magazines such as WNC Business, Aging Resources Magazine, and the Asheville Ale Trail, effectively connecting local businesses with key audiences.
• Kudzu Brands – Led by Heather Johnson and Lindsey Bnadad, Kudzu has steadily grown its team, adding key positions such as brand managers and content creators to enhance service delivery and capacity.
• Lakeview Putt and Play – Owned by Leslie Blaylock, the facility has expanded its staff and operations, adding crucial roles such as a full-time manager and camp counselors to enhance guest experiences year-round.
• LS3P – The firm, under the leadership of AVL Office Leader Maggie Carnevale, expanded its staff, including key roles such as Senior Interior Designer and Senior Project Manager, and continues to engage community projects, offer scholarships, and participate in local events.
• LuLu’s Consignment Boutique LLC –Under the leadership of President Angie Heidenreich, LuLu’s has expanded its team to enhance service areas, including a dedicated manager for the furniture department and additional retail sales positions.
• Mosaix Group – Under the leadership of CEO Melissa Murray, the company has expanded its workforce in recent years, adding roles such as meeting
managers and a Director of Operations to enhance its operational capabilities.
• Physio Physical Therapy and Wellness – Under the guidance of President and Owner Christopher Taylor, Physio has been consistently recognized as the Best Physical Therapy Clinic in Asheville, growing both its team and client base each year.
• Quility – Under the leadership of CEO and Chief Encouragement Officer Melissa Murray, the company has experienced growth, expanding its team to support advancements in technology and service offerings.
• Sitework Studios, PLLC – The firm, led by partners Steven Lee Johnson and Matthew Sprouse, excels in creating spaces that enhance community life, such as public parks, educational facilities, and urban gardens, with a focus on sustainability and aesthetic value.
• UPM Raflatac – Under the leadership of Senior Vice President Tim Kirchen, the company has experienced growth, adding numerous positions across various departments to meet increasing market demands and support its expansion.
• Van Marter Law – Under the leadership of Supervising Attorney Katherine Van Marter, the firm has expanded its team, including the addition of attorneys and paralegals, to enhance its capacity for handling an increasing volume of cases.
• Western Carolina Rescue Ministries –Under the leadership of Micheal Woods, WCRM has not only expanded its team to meet increasing service demands, but has also enhanced its programmatic offerings.
Learn more about the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and its programs at AshevilleChamber.org.
ATHENA Leadership Award of Henderson County
Anna Conner Received the 2024 ATHENA Leadership Award
• Elizabeth Willson Moss, Nominated by Sharon Tirrell
• Gale Hoots, Nominated by Marcia Cunningham
• Gloria “Glo” Nock, Nominated by Julie Huneycutt and Morgan Grindstaff
• Jennifer Balkcom, Nominated by Melanie Fridal
• Michelle Cervantez, Nominated by Amy Cervantez
• Peggy Allen, Nominated by Harriett Hilton and Julie Huneycutt
• Sonya Jones, Nominated by Leslie Carey
services to residents. Her commitment to serving others goes beyond housing, as she organizes healthcare screenings, supports survivors of domestic violence, and partners with organizations like the MANNA Food Bank and Henderson County Public Schools to address community needs.
Brett Hulsey is the first male nominated in the 17 years Henderson County has been hosting ATHENA Award events.
Facilitated by the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce, the ATHENA Leadership Award in Henderson County is presented at the Professional Women’s Luncheon each year to an exemplary leader who has achieved excellence in their business or profession, served the community in a meaningful way, and actively assisted women to achieve their full leadership potential.
The 2024 ATHENA Leadership Award nominees included:
• Anna Conner, Nominated by Lauren Wilkie
• Brett Hulsey, Nominated by Anonymous Community Member
• Corrine Illes, Nominated by Jen McDonald
These nominees are individuals who actively support the ATHENA Mission of supporting, developing, and honoring women leaders as well as inspiring women to achieve their full potential. They demonstrate excellence in their business or profession, provide valuable service to improve the quality of life for others in their community, and they must also live or work in Henderson County.
2024 ATHENA Leadership Award winner Anna Conner worked to provide safe and affordable housing for vulnerable residents in Henderson County for over two decades. Starting with just one investment home in 2003, she has grown her efforts to manage multiple properties, including a revitalized mobile home park renamed Conner Creek. Through her leadership, Conner embodies the ATHENA Tenet of Giving Back by working with local leaders and nonprofits to improve living conditions and provide essential
Founded in 1982 by Martha Mayhood, ATHENA International is a women’s leadership organization that supports, develops, and honors women leaders through the programs it administers. ATHENA’s flagship program, the ATHENA Leadership Award, has honored about 8,000 women leaders from 48 states and 11 countries since its inception.
Vanessa Y. Mintz brought the ATHENA Leadership Award to Henderson County in 2008. She embodied the values underlying ATHENA International’s philosophy of incorporating the talent and expertise of women into the leadership of our businesses, communities, and government.
Award nominees are recognized for their professional excellence, community service, and actively assisting women in their attainment of professional excellence and leadership skills. Anyone can obtain a nomination form from the Henderson County Chamber’s website or an ATHENA Committee member.
Learn more about the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce and its programs at HendersonCountyChamber.org.
Anna Conner (middle) is pictured above with Vanessa Mintz’s daughters and Co-Founders of Vanessa’s Vision, Andrea Little Gray (left) and Jessica Freeman (right).
Hulsey Media Acquires The Laurel of Asheville Magazine
Brett Hulsey Replaces Retiring Publisher Jerry Johnson
The Laurel of Asheville is excited to announce a new chapter in its publication as publisher Brett Hulsey takes the helm with the July issue. Hulsey brings years of regional publishing experience as owner of Hulsey Media, Inc., Western North Carolina’s leading magazine publisher. Hulsey Media publishes a variety of regional magazines and resource guides, including Hendersonville Magazine, Asheville Ale Trail, WNC Business, and The Real Estate Book of AshevilleHendersonville.
Hulsey’s decision to add The Laurel to his family of publications demonstrates his dedication to local media and his regard for a monthly magazine he decided, years ago, was one that mattered to readers. “I have observed the magazine from afar for many years, and there has always been something special about it—the beautiful cover art highlighting the region’s fine artists, its timely and engaging content, the design of its pages, and how well-regarded it is among the business community,” he says. “What has always drawn me, personally, to this magazine in addition to those aspects mentioned above, is its appeal—how quickly it gets picked up from racks, how many people all over WNC walk around with the latest issue tucked under their arms, and how many business owners trust their businesses to The Laurel’s beautiful advertising pages. I know that if something is that loved, we can continue to make it work well into the future.”
Retiring Laurel of Asheville publisher Jerry
Johnson adds, “When I made the decision to retire, I knew that Hulsey Media was best suited to carry The Laurel of Asheville forward into the future. Brett and his team have done an amazing job with their other publications for many years now, and I know that The Laurel is in good hands.”
Plans do not include changes to this newly acquired monthly magazine or to Hulsey Media’s other publications. His intent with The Laurel, Hulsey says, is to make sure that the magazine stays committed to the high quality, both in content and design, that has kept it popular with readers and advertisers through the years. He expresses gratitude to Johnson, The Laurel’s staff who will continue to help produce the magazine, the loyal readers who look forward to keeping abreast of happenings in Western North Carolina, and the advertisers and supporters who entrust their businesses to the magazine and make publication and free distribution possible.
The Laurel of Asheville is distributed throughout the greater Asheville/ Hendersonville region, with other areas of Western North Carolina not excluded from coverage of the arts, nonprofits, land and wildlife conservation, people, businesses, and events that make the
Southern Appalachian region such an exceptional place in which to live and work. Popular topics in each issue also include articles and columns on history, gardening and agriculture, literature, music, food and wine, and the outdoors. In addition to distribution across Western North Carolina, The Laurel is available via direct-mail monthly subscription.
To learn more, visit TheLaurelofAsheville. com and HulseyMedia.com.
Regional Roundup
Business News from Around Western North Carolina
Burke
County
IMAGINE Morganton Releases
Conceptual Growth Strategy; Land Use Map
MORGANTON – The Conceptual Growth Strategy is an important step on the path to creating Morganton’s new Future Land Use Map. The strategy features a map that reflects current trends and influences on future development first introduced in the Community Characteristics Report. The map also reflects the feedback received from the community, stakeholders, City staff, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and City Council. The Conceptual Growth Strategy serves as the first glimpse of how Morganton’s approach toward land use can fulfill the intent of the Vision and Planning Principles. At the heart of the Conceptual Growth Strategy is the continued acknowledgement that Downtown Morganton is the economic, historic, and cultural heart of the community and provides life, energy,
activity, and opportunity that supports the vitality of all of Morganton. Future decisions surrounding land use, economic investment, transportation facilities, and infrastructure improvements in Downtown should maintain and enhance this local and regional asset.
Source: City of Morganton
Buncombe County
Pine Gate Renewables announced $650 million investment
ASHEVILLE – Pine Gate Renewables announced the final closing of a $650 million investment from Generate Capital, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, and HESTA. The investment provides funding to accelerate Pine Gate’s work as a national developer, owner, and operator of clean energy projects and will support the financing of an incremental three gigawatts of clean energy infrastructure by 2025. The transaction extends Generate Capital’s existing partnership with Pine
Gate and brings new institutional investors to the solar developer’s platform. The scale of the investment validates Pine Gate’s long-term vision for growth, positions the company as a national market leader, and underscores confidence in the clean energy asset class.
Source: Pine Gate Renewables
Contract Awarded for I-26 Connector North Section
ASHEVILLE – The NC Department of Transportation awarded a design-build contract for the planning, design, and construction of the northern section of the I-26 Asheville Connector following decades of planning, discussion, design, public input and official proclamations. The design-build team, Archer-Wright Joint Venture, pairs Archer Western Construction and Wright Brothers Construction Company with lead engineering firm RK&K. The Archer-Wright JV will be responsible for constructing a new network that stretches from Haywood
USDA Announced Organic Certification Cost-Share Program
OCCSP provides cost share assistance to producers and handlers of agricultural products who are obtaining or renewing their certification under the National Organic Program. Certified operations may receive up to 75 percent of their certification costs paid during the program year, not to exceed $750 per certification scope. The deadline to apply is October 31, 2024. Eligible OCCSP applicants include any certified organic producers or handlers who have paid organic certification fees to a USDA-accredited certifying agent. Cost share assistance covers expenses including application fees, inspection costs, fees related to equivalency agreement and arrangement requirements, inspector travel expenses, user fees, sales assessments, and postage. OCCSP pays a maximum of $750 per certification category for crops, wild crops, livestock, and processing/handling. Producers and handlers interested in applying for OCCSP through FSA should contact their local USDA Service Center.
Source: US Department of Agriculture
Road across the French Broad River to US 19/23/70 by Broadway Street, and Riverside Drive from Hill Street to Broadway Street. Over the next six months, NCDOT and Archer-Wright JV will work on designs to optimize the construction plan and reduce the cost for the project.
Source: NC Department of Transportation
Caldwell County
Caldwell County Economic Development Announced New Video Series
LENOIR – A new video series, CaldWELL Made, highlights Industry and Manufacturing in Caldwell County. This multipart video presentation will feature many of the industries that make Caldwell County a great place to live and work. The first episode features Bernhardt Furniture. Subsequent episodes will include Automated Solutions, FleetGenius, McCreary Modern, and Blue Ridge Energy. As the series rolls out, additional manufacturers will be added. This video series was established to share what is made in Caldwell County and allows viewers to witness the great strides that have been made to diversify the local workforce community.
Source: Caldwell County Economic Development
Graham County
$20 Million announced for improvements to Appalachian Development Highway System
QUALLA BOUNDARY – The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration announced a $20 million grant from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to modernize roads and improve safety for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. The North Carolina Department of Transportation, the grant recipient, will be
provided with the funding for the Greater Rural Access and Highways to Accelerate Mobility project in Graham County, North Carolina, being implemented on behalf of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the project sponsor, to construct one of the last sections of the Appalachian Development System, a roughly 12mile portion of Corridor K. The corridor connects local communities and visitors to the Nantahala National Forest, the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Source: US Department of Transportation
Henderson County Tageos Opens New RFID Manufac turing Site in Fletcher
regional roundup
FLETCHER – With a current global annual capacity of 9 billion RFID inlays and tags, the French RFID manufacturer can already produce more than 2 billion units per year in the heart of the fast-growing American market. By the end of 2024, Fletcher will have expanded its capacity by another 2 billion units to a total of more than 4 billion units per year. The new site will enable the company to produce innovative RAIN RFID (UHF) and HF/NFC products with the highest ARC-certified quality and performance in high volumes. RFID has gained momentum in the U.S. in recent years as major customers have begun or expanded their widespread adoption and implementation of RFID.
Source: Tageos
NC Tourism Economy Reached Record High in 2023
Governor Roy Cooper announced that the North Carolina tourism economy reached its highest level ever with travelers spending more than $35.6 billion on trips to and within the state. The previous record of $33.3 billion was set in 2022. The state’s tourism-supported workforce increased 4.8% to 227,200 jobs in 2023. Tourism payroll increased 6.6% to $9.3 billion. Also, as a result of visitor spending, state and local governments saw rebounds in tax revenues to nearly $2.6 billion. Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders said that as a result of travelers’ contributions to state and local tax revenue, North Carolina households average $518 in yearly savings.
Source: NC Department of Commerce
Introducing the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services introduced the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program, an initiative designed to enhance the robustness and sustainability of North Carolina’s food supply chain. Funded in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service, the RFSI program aims to empower North Carolina’s agricultural producers by strengthening the middle segments of the food supply chain.The RFSI program seeks to build resilience within local and regional food systems, fostering economic growth and creating new opportunities for North Carolina’s farmers and food producers. By providing targeted support for infrastructure improvements and equipment upgrades, the RFSI program will enhance processing, aggregation, distribution, and storage capabilities across the state in the form of grants for projects that meet these goals.
Source: North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
NCRIA Distributes Grants to Several WNC Counties
Thirty-one economic development projects in North Carolina’s rural communities will divide more than $10.9 million in grants from the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority. WNC Grants include:
• City of Morganton (Burke County) : An $850,000 grant to assist the city in making renovations to the North Green Street Streetscape. The renovations will upgrade existing utilities, including water, sanitary sewer, electric, fiber, cable and telephone. The grant will also aid in the placement of utilities underground. The project is expected to leverage an investment of $2.3 million.
• Town of Hildebran (Burke County):
A $62,500 grant to support the town’s Auditorium Renovations Project. The project will improve ADA accessibility and enhance the usability of the existing auditorium by creating a concessions/ticketing area, expanding the backstage area to include changing rooms, restrooms, storage space, and a green room. The project is expected to leverage $901,555 in investments.
• Town of Valdese (Burke County) : A $487,500 grant will assist Valdese in renovating the Old Rock School, improving ADA accessibility, safety
and functionality, and increasing the building’s energy efficiency. The project is expected to leverage $1.2 million in investments.
• City of Lenoir (Caldwell County) :
A $325,000 grant to help support a 6-acre campus in Lenoir, including the renovation of the LHS Gymnasium and Auditorium for improved accessibility, and the construction of a 4,300-square-foot covered outdoor pavilion as a part of the expansion of the Overmountain Victory Trail. The project is set to leverage almost $3.5 million in investments.
• Town of Murphy (Cherokee County): A $250,000 grant to support the Murphy’s Town Square Revitalization Project, which includes brick paver design on all four corners of the town square, pedestrian improvements, and the installation of lighting, a small stage and water lines. This project is set to leverage $1 million in investment.
• Town of Old Fort (McDowell County): An $850,000 grant to support Phase 1 of the town’s Downtown Streetscape project. Phase 1, North Catawba Avenue, is a two-block improvement plan aimed to improve ADA accessibility and connectivity from downtown to the Fonta Flora State Trail and the nearby Pisgah National Forest. The project will leverage $914,935 in investments.
Source: NC Department of Commerce
Jackson County
Western Carolina University Faculty Members Receive Grant Funding from NCInnovation
Brian Byrd, Western Carolina University’s mosquito expert and professor in the environmental health sciences program, along with Scott Huffman, professor in WCU’s Department of Chemistry and Physics, have been approved for grant funding from NCInnovation to continue their work in developing tools that utilize spectroscopy to analyze vibrational signals from mosquitoes. This process can rapidly assess the risk of infection in the Aedes mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever and Zika. There is a similar Aedes mosquito in WNC that transmits La Crosse virus causing encephalitis in children every year, so this tool provides a platform to improve risk assessments and opportunities to reduce human disease. Currently it takes days or weeks to conduct this type of risk assessment, but the approach Byrd and Huffman are developing will make the work quicker and more efficient.
Source: Western Carolina University
Transylvania County
Transylvania County Partners with TPMA on
Housing Strategic Plan
BREVARD – Transylvania County has hired consulting firm, TPMA, to begin the creation of a comprehensive housing study that will help identify community housing gaps, needs, and barriers. County staff will work with TPMA to align the activities of this study with other current planning efforts. TPMA will work with county staff to perform economic research and analyses, conduct key stakeholder and community engagement, and suggest recommendations.
Source: Transylvania County Planning & Community Development
Watauga County
Appalachian State University
Adds Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity
BOONE – This fall, Appalachian State University will begin offering a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity — the only such program offered by a University of North
Carolina System institution in Western North Carolina. The program, which will be available at the Boone and Hickory campuses, is also the first in the UNC System to be housed in a college of business. The Bachelor of Science in cybersecurity program, to be offered through the Walker College of Business’ Department of Computer Information Systems, received approval from the UNC System Board of Governors in May.
Source: Appalachian State University.
Blue Ridge Conservancy Achieves Land Trust Accreditation Renewal
Blue Ridge Conservancy recently achieved land trust accreditation renewal from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance. Each accredited land trust completes a rigorous review process and joins a network of organizations united by strong ethical practices. This trusted
network of land trusts has demonstrated fiscal accountability, strong organizational leadership, sound transactions and lasting stewardship of the lands they conserve. Accreditation is awarded on a five-year term. Accredited land trusts display a seal indicating to the public that they meet national standards for excellence, uphold the public trust and ensure that conservation efforts are permanent. To date, BRC has protected almost 26,000 acres in the mountains of northwestern
regional roundup
North Carolina. The focus region includes Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Mitchell , Wilkes, Watauga, and Yancey Counties, which contain significant agricultural, cultural, recreational, ecological, and scenic resources. The acres protected include privately-owned land conserved through voluntary conservation easements and land that has been purchased and transferred to public ownership.
Source: Blue Ridge Conservancy
A conceptual rendering of Appalachian State’s new cybersecurity lab.
Made in WNC
The creative energy thriving in Western North Carolina, alongside robust entrepreneurial resources and support, cultivates a diverse array of products crafted in the region.
Ashe
Ashe County Cheese – Founded in 1930, Ashe County Cheese is a renowned cheese manufacturer located in West Jefferson specializing in a variety of artisanal cheeses using traditional methods.
Avery
Avery Knifeworks – Crafted solely by Raleigh Avery in Banner Elk, Avery Knifeworks produces a variety of highquality, functional knife styles from unique materials.
Buncombe
Watershed Drybags – Watershed Drybags, based in Asheville, specializes in manufacturing high-quality, waterproof bags and cases for outdoor activities such as kayaking, rafting, canoeing, and camping. Their products are designed to keep gear and valuables dry and safe in wet environments, making them popular among outdoor enthusiasts and professionals.
Lumber Company, which is locally owned and operated in Brasstown, provides green Appalachian hardwood lumber to its buyers.
Cleveland
KSM Castings USA – Located in Shelby, KSM Castings USA is a subsidiary of KSM Castings Group, a global leader in aluminum and magnesium casting technology. KSM Castings USA specializes in high-pressure die casting and machining of automotive components, such as transmission cases, engine blocks, and structural parts.
Graham
Photographer Reggie Tidwell of Curve Theory assisting Center for Craft staff with the installation of its recently-funded photography studio.
Burke
Carpenter Co. – Carpenter Co. operates
Wehrloom Honey - Wehrloom Honey, based in Robbinsville, produces a variety of honey and honey-based products like mead, sodas, candles, soaps, and more. The family business sells directly to customers in person and online, as well as to a variety of WNC businesses.
Haywood
BearWaters Brewing Company – Founded in 2012, BearWaters Brewing Company, located in Canton, is known for its creative and adventurous approach to brewing, offering a variety of beer styles ranging from traditional ales and lagers to experimental and seasonal brews. The brewery often incorporates local ingredients and flavors into its recipes, reflecting the unique character of the region.
Henderson
Jabil Inc. - Jabil, a global manufacturing services company, operates a facility in Arden, specializing in electronic manufacturing services and producing a wide range of electronic components and products.
Buck Stove Corporation has been making stoves, fireplaces, and grills since 1975.
Jackson
Beloved Designs Woodworking –Beloved Designs Woodworking, based in Cullowhee, produces locally, sustainably sourced, kiln dried wood slabs that have been flattened and finished. They also create custom handcrafted furniture including coffee tables, end tables, desks and shelves, and handcrafted cutting boards and serving trays, boxes, and more.
Macon
Franklin Machine Co. – Franklin Machine Co. has more than 65 years of steel welding and fabrication experience creating items like brackets, clips, pipe clamps, safety rails, and custom staircases, as well as offering custom repair services.
Madison
Keyes Pottery – Keyes Pottery is a small business in Marshall that creates functional ceramic wares including plates, home goods, pitchers, vases and more designed for functionality and unique style.
McDowell
Baxter Healthcare Inc. – Baxter Healthcare Inc. in Marion produces lifesaving renal and medical products including intravenous solutions and sterile injectable medications, as well as pharmacy software platforms.
Mitchell
Buck Stove Corporation – Buck Stove Corporation in Spruce Pine is a well-known manufacturer of wood and gas heating appliances including wood stoves, gas stoves, fireplaces, and fireplace inserts.
Polk
Prince Manufacturing – Prince Manufacturing in Columbus crafts powersport elements including ATV parts and boat engines from subcomponent fabrication to full line assembly.
Rutherford
Mill Street Design – Mill Street Designs in Forest City custom creates and delivers a range of 100% cotton Jacquard woven products to customers across the nation.
Swain
Smoky Mountain Cabin Builders –
Based in Bryson City, Smoky Mountain Cabin Builders has constructed more than 125 mountain homes and log cabins since 1998. They specialize in creating log cabins from something as simple as a napkin sketch to a complex set of engineered blueprints.
Transylvania
Pisgah Laboratories Inc. – Pisgah Labs,
located in Pisgah Forest, specializes in pharmaceutical development, manufacturing, and analytical testing services which support the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
Watauga
Charleston Forge – Located in Boone, Charleston Forge draws on traditional blacksmithing and metalworking techniques to build high-end furniture pieces to order for individuals and hospitality industry clients.
Yancey
Altec Industries – Altec Industries, headquartered in Birmingham, AL, operates a manufacturing facility in Burnsville specializing in the production of aerial lifts and utility equipment used in the telecommunications and electric utility industries.
Artist Hayley Eckhart crafts pottery available at Clayspace Co-op.
Knives crafted by Raleigh Avery at Avery Knifeworks.
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Empowering Artisanal Entrepreneurs: Center for Craft’s Legacy of Support and Expansion into WNC’s Creative Ecosystem
Originating from the university system more than 25 years ago, the Center for Craft became an independent nonprofit organization in 2013 with a goal of supporting the success of entrepreneurial artists and independent creatives, upholding a mission to resource, catalyze, and amplify how and why craft matters. The primary function of the Center for Craft has always been to exist as a grantmaking organization. The nonprofit’s grants serve a multitude of sectors within the craft ecosystem including artists, researchers, teachers, curators, and others supporting the realm of craft.
Grants application windows are publicly launched, information and workshops are offered, and applications are submitted. The organization then convenes a selection committee to distribute the funds accordingly.
Funding and collaboration opportunities include the Craft Research Fund, Curatorial Fellowship, the Wingate Lamar Fellowship, and the Teaching Artist Cohort. The Center’s programs will expand with an Artist in Residence program during the summer of 2024. Funding comes from a combination of public donations, memberships, grants, earned revenue, and an endowment.
In 2016, the Center for Craft & UNC Asheville conducted the WNC Makers Survey, demonstrating that makers and creative manufacturers’ three most significant business challenges were marketing,
capital access, and production scaling. Makers also strongly desired peer-topeer learning and increased collaboration opportunities between businesses.
In 2018, the Center for Craft, Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, and Artspace prepared an additional report on the needs of artists, which found there is a significant need for affordable housing, workspaces, and shared creative spaces and equipment for artists. With a renovated space in 2019, the organization grew to offer programming and coworking space to support this creative sector need.
Following the pandemic, the makers’ need for community vitality and connections became increasingly evident, and a new strategic plan — Craft Matters — emphasizes this type of support.
“The conversations of what makers are needing are constantly evolving,” Director of Operations Erika Kofler said. “With the current economy, it’s about helping these businesses stay strong and sustain themselves through tough times. It will be great if they are able to scale, but realistically, a lot of people who are artists and independent entrepreneurs are not necessarily thinking about that right now. They are thinking about surviving.”
Currently, the Center for Craft is working in collaboration with Land of Sky Regional Council, Mountain BizWorks, Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, Western Arts Agencies of North Carolina including ArtsAVL, and several other regional organizations to help sustain and strengthen the creative manufacturing sector in WNC through funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission and Dogwood Health Trust. Priorities include strategic training, expanding the entrepreneurial ecosystem, cultivating robust business networks, conducting supply chain research, facilitating access to shared equipment, and securing capital resources. The Center’s contribution to this effort includes further development of their facility to incorporate a photo studio
with computers for editing, workspace, and pack-and-ship stations.
The Center for Craft maintains a story log of its programs’ alumni and the impacts felt by various types of support. Alumni outreach continues to be a focus, and Kofler said these positive impacts are felt by artists all over the region, not just in Asheville.
“Participation includes a wide representation of Western North Carolina, beyond the City of Asheville,” Kofler said. “We work to get into rural areas and make sure artists there are also getting the support they need to sustain and scale their business.”
Learn more about Center for Craft and grant opportunities at CenterForCraft.org. Western North Carolina entrepreneurial artists, craftspeople, makers, or designers making goods in multiples interested in training and support services geared toward business growth can reach out to Erika Kofler at EKofler@CenterForCraft.org.
Navigating Art, Commerce, and Creative Freedom Through Pottery
For pottery artist Hayley Eckhart, working with clay is a means of bringing herself back to the earth at the same time as fostering creativity. The material is grounding, as is the process.
Attending Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina to study marine science, she realized her degree would not mean spending a lot of time in the ocean, and decided to enroll in a variety of classes including art history. In addition to the ocean, art had always been a passion of hers. This class revived the love of working with clay she experienced during her high school art classes, and she discovered this is the path she needed to take.
“At first I thought I could work in an art museum, but following those lines, it felt like balancing my own work would become
a challenge,” Eckhart said. “I got more into studio art then, and began thinking about art as a business.”
While her joy was originally in sculptural work, she reached a turning point when she began considering where to focus her art in order for it to be part of her income. While she learned a lot in school about studio art as a livelihood, many college art programs do not include business classes.
For Eckhart, as well as many other WNC artists and makers, supplementing a creative income is a necessity. While it could be possible to produce repetitive pieces in bulk to make more money, that process would eliminate her ability to produce unique, show-quality pieces.
“As much as I would love to step away from bartending and focus exclusively on pottery, the extra income actually gives
me the freedom to do what I want to do with my craft,” Eckhart said.
Finding and entering a studio space can be challenging for local artists. Eckart was able to get her foot in the door at Clayspace Co-op, where she shares studio and gallery space with other activelyworking artists. Locals and visitors can visit Clayspace and see artists at work and see a variety of pottery styles and pieces on display.
Located in the River Arts District, Clayspace sees a large number of visitors, exposing local makers to an ever-growing population from all over the country and the world.
“The River Arts District is a big staple of Asheville and draws so many people here,” Eckhart said. “I’ve heard a lot of people say they come here specifically for the art
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and artists. It’s common to hear visitors, including art teachers, say they’re saving up all year so they can come back again.”
If the RAD did not create such a tourist draw, Eckhart’s business would be very different. She would have to rely more on e-commerce, which would require a significantly larger focus on business aspects like marketing that her current studio space does not require.
Through Clayspace, Eckhart sells flowerpots, mugs, bowls, planters, trinket dishes, and more. Making everything in small batches, her creative flow varies along with the number of products she is able to produce at one time. With multiple steps for creating each piece, from throwing and trimming to carving, glazing, and kiln firing, the required time for each batch varies as well.
Mistakes happen during the process, so for each piece on gallery shelves, there are always lost pots that the artist must recycle.
“Sometimes I get requests for custom pieces, but people don’t always realize how much work goes into each piece produced,” Eckhart said. “I may schedule a new idea for several months down the road, but having available pieces in the
studio is my priority.”
In addition to participating in the Coop, maintaining a studio at home helps Eckhart maintain her focus. Working alone in her established style helps her perfect and streamline her process of creating functional pottery. She also envisions doing more hand building and sculptural work in the future.
“I’ve recently been playing around with a sculpture in my studio,” said Eckhart. “I didn’t really have a design for it; I was just playing around a bit. I put it into my recycled clay because that’s part of the process, but I got to play with this form and it was an experiment. I was throwing it away per se, but I need to play again. It’s really the birth of a fun, magical process that may not turn out to be anything that’s sold, but knowing I can play around is the first step on the journey to adding that type of art to my repertoire.”
Handcrafted Fishing Lures Preserve Tradition While Creating Legacy Heirlooms
In an effort to honor his grandfather’s legacy and fond memories of summers spent fishing, Trollgadda Owner Jeff
Wanat puts his heart and soul into every thoughtfully-crafted fishing lure he makes in his Mars Hill wood shop.
Originally from the Chicago area, Wanat, along with his grandfather and other family members, would share a week every summer in Canada. This was a time for the family to get away from the city, immerse themselves in nature, and go fishing.
After relocating to Western North Carolina in the early 2010s, Wanat worked in the craft beer industry, and the company took some employees on a fly fishing trip. This trip reignited his passion for fishing, and when the pandemic occurred, he realized he felt burned out in his work and was ready for a change. Desiring a creative outlet and the ability to work with his hands, Wanat decided to let his passion for fishing guide his next steps.
“Fishing is a religious experience for me,” Wanat said. “It’s a place where I can be outside and enjoy the feeling of being in the moment, and remember my grandfather. I knew if I couldn’t be out fishing every day, I could make this my business. I want others to be able to have the same types of experiences.”
Wanat created a business called Trollgadda — a nod to his love of storytelling, heritage, and connection. Trollgadda is a mythical pike from an old Swedish story. These pike would grow so big they would begin growing trees out of their heads and eat goats and cattle from the shore.
“I thought these stories were really cool,” Wanat said. “They are the timeless ‘big fish’ stories, and even just the wood tells a story. Using wooden lures to tell the stories of ourselves and what we’re doing and what our grandfathers did with being in nature, I thought this was a good storytelling opportunity with that.”
His grandfather had passed along fishing lures from the 1930s and 1940s; handmade
Trollgadda creates handmade wooden fishing lures in Mars Hill.
wooden lures which are a far cry from the plastic single-use lures used by many of today’s anglers. Knowing this is a rarity, Wanat began crafting lures with an intention of sharing pieces of quality and value; lures that can be passed down from generation to generation as an heirloom, and that allow people to sense the workmanship in the craft.
Wanat performs each step in the process himself, and produces lures in very small batches. He begins with a ten-foot board, cutting it down into small pieces. He turns each piece on a lathe, then sands, seals, and balances each lure. Other materials in his lures are environmentally-conscious, as he uses no lead but tungsten or stainless steel. His raw materials are sourced from the US, using glass eyes on the wooden bodies, and using zero plastic in his products or his packaging.
“I want people to be able to pass down these lures,” Wanat said. “It’s important for them to be able to stand the test of time. There are 100-year-old lures out there that people are still using and enjoying. This speaks not only to the quality, but to investing in the community. There are cheaper ways of doing things, but that doesn’t mean that they’re better. These are important parts of my values, and you can see that in the products I’m putting out.”
Predominantly sold online, Wanat sometimes participates in local makers markets, and has attended fishing shows around the Southeast to sell his lures. In the few years he has been producing them, his lures have been purchased by anglers from WNC to Alaska, California, and Canada.
With the majority of Trogadda’s current lures designed for freshwater predator
species, Wanat has plenty of opportunities to test his lures in WNC’s river and lake systems. He’s able to ensure the angles, buoyancy, and lipping are all correct and able to provide the action to be functional and get the ideal response from the species for which the lure was designed. He does have a goal of expanding into a larger variety of species-specific lures as long as he can maintain the quality of each piece produced.
“That’s the other beauty of each lure being handmade,” Wanat said. “These fish see a million cheap plastic things from overseas every day, then they see something that doesn’t act quite the same way. If you show the fish something that behaves a bit differently, well, I think the proof is in the pictures of the fish that have been caught with these lures.”
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From Solopreneur to Exponential Growth in a Delicious Decade
During her high school years, Poppy Popcorn Owner Ginger Frank spent time away from her Florida home at her parents’ summer cabin in WNC. Having fallen in love with the area, she relocated to Asheville with her children.
Raising her kids as a single parent, Frank considered running her own business in an effort to have control over her schedule. From this desire for autonomy, she brainstormed ideas, looking at what amenities were available around town. Always being a popcorn lover, she decided to open a popcorn shop, and Poppy Popcorn was born.
“That’s all I imagined Poppy to be at the time,” Frank said. “Where Poppy sits today is so different than what I ever imagined.”
Poppy began modestly in October 2014, initially envisioning a simple popcorn
herself. Continued requests for popcorn shipments led to Frank researching shelflife extension and exploring wholesale opportunities. Once she felt comfortable with those aspects, she attended her first trade show and the whole business model shifted.
Despite Poppy’s success, the pandemic forced Frank to close the shop temporarily, though it also provided an opportunity to reflect on the future direction of the business. Recognizing the potential for growth in the wholesale market, Frank made the decision to expand Poppy’s production capacity and explore new distribution channels.
“Right now about 15% of our sales are direct-to-consumer,” Frank said. “That’s completely the opposite of what I intended in the first place. It’s always been my dream to have a shop again because it’s such a big part of how Poppy began. Still, to this day, I get calls from people in Asheville asking when we’re going to open another shop.”
independent stores and gift shops, as well as hotels. The business is tiptoeing its way into the grocery realm, and Frank said that’s probably where they’ll see the biggest growth over the next five years.
For the past 10 years, Poppy’s sales have been limited to their production capacity. Still making popcorn in very small batches in a 7,800-square-foot facility, the team is currently working on a new 45,000-square-foot production facility to accommodate projected growth.
“I had to stop and think about what I want for our team and how there can be room for all of us to grow, rather than just me growing,” Frank said. “I took some time to talk to my team, many of whom have been with me from the beginning, and asked what they wanted to do with the business. We were sort of at this crossroads, and we collectively decided to go for it. We can grow Poppy as big as we can grow it.”
During her last 10 years, Frank has participated in mentorship programs like Venture Asheville and forged connections with some of her fellow WNC entrepreneurs — a supportive community that has been instrumental in Poppy’s success. As she prepares to embark on the next phase of Poppy’s journey, Frank remains grateful for the lessons learned and the unwavering support of those who have been part of her entrepreneurial journey.
Poppy’s full-time staff of 48, including the first and second full-time employees ever hired by Frank, work together not only in production, but also in collaboration and dialogue while brainstorming ideas and supporting each other through this journey.
“It’s not always a rosy ride, but we definitely feel like we’ve grown up together,” Frank said. “When I think I’ve been through it all, even on the worst days, there’s a level of trust with my team that’s so important for getting through the kind of growth and changes we’ve seen over the last 10 years. Coming this far with such a dedicated
Recipe development for Poppy Popcorn, photo by Rachael McIntosh.
Diamond Brand Gear manufactures durable tents, and upcycles used tents to create a variety of bags.
accomplishment, not just for myself, but for all of us.”
Honoring Tradition with a Sustainable Vision in Outdoor Manufacturing
Starting as a fur and feather trading company in the Northeast in 1891 and later shifting to canvas production, Diamond Brand has since expanded to manufacturing and government contracting with a commitment to quality and local production.
Diamond Brand relocated its factory to Fletcher in 1942. The brand continued a long tradition of supplying military products when it was contracted to produce tents supporting Gulf War efforts. It also continued making backpacks for organizations and brands including the Boy Scouts of America and later L.L. Bean, REI, and The North Face through the 1960s and 1970s.
In 2015, Diamond Brand Gear was created. “Before 2015, there were two divisions — retail and manufacturing,” Diamond Brand Gear CEO John Delaloye said. “With two very different customer bases operating independently of each other, there were two different industries, goals, and models.
That was when Diamond Brand Outdoors, the retail sector, and Diamond Brand Gear, the manufacturing sector, were established separately. The names were important to both businesses, especially in the WNC community, so the ‘Diamond Brand’ name stayed for them both.”
Diamond Brand Gear is now focused on sustainable tent making. Crafting products which utilize a lot of material, the company’s leadership focuses on improving, recycling, or upcycling the material they use in order to present a positive impact.
“It’s not that we have the most innovative fabric or the most innovative items; it’s the breadth of the sustainability in our processes from the beginning to the end,” Delaloye said.
As the Asheville area is known for its outdoor amenities and enjoying them in a responsible way, Delaloye said the company’s location has a lot to do with its values and sustainability focus.
When the pandemic encouraged a significantly larger percentage of people to the outdoors for recreation opportunities, Delaloye and Diamond Brand Gear’s leadership noticed a spike in the amount of debris and waste left in campground and recreation areas, which even forced
a local campground to close because of all of the trash, including tents, that were left behind.
“What we’re trying to do is to lead people away from a one-time use mentality for things that should last a very long time,” Delaloye said. “We’ve always been about making durable, long-lasting things, and we also want to make sure we are making a positive contribution in that the things we leave behind do not cause more of a problem. It’s the way businesses should think in general going forward, especially a business like ours that’s built around the outdoor industry.”
Sustainability is not just a focus within Diamond Brand’s materials and products, but also within its employees and company culture. They also place a focus on the community, allowing children’s camps to tour the facility and see a demonstration and introducing those in the community to their products and processes to encourage an understanding of what manufacturing is like in the region.
Diamond Brand is also intentional in their product sourcing, looking to the best options for quality and environmental friendliness, not necessarily the cheapest choices. This focus intensified during supply-chain issues which happened as a result of the pandemic. Framework is produced in nearby Hendersonville, but while they’d love to source fire retardant coatings nearby, the most sustainable products are more available in areas like Europe, and durable hemp used in their fabrics comes from China, which Delaloye said has been perfecting hemp production for more than 50 years.
“We’re not chasing costs; we’re chasing quality,” Delaloye said.
While Diamond Brand Gear still makes items for Scouting America, there is an increasing trend for glamping materials which facilitate owners assembling and dismantling the tents with relative ease.
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The company also helps customers with repair and maintenance of their tents, and upcycles used tents by cleaning the material and using it to create bags, which they sell to fund their upcycling program.
“We are different from a traditional manufacturer in that we have an emphasis on creativity and we have a lot of creative people on our team,” Delaloye said. “From our products and materials to our programs and employee communication to how things are laid out on our production floor, we keep that as part of our culture. It all goes back to our goals and focus on sustainability in all aspects of our company.”
Global Manufacturer’s Environmental Commitment and Workplace Culture Reflects WNC Values
A Finnish corporation based in Helsinki, UPM has several businesses including WNC’s UPM Raflatac which produces a variety of labeling materials with a focus on sustainability, according to Senior Manager Anna Hunt.
Nearly 23 years ago, UPM Raflatac’s leaders were looking for a home for their first factory in the Americas. They already had a distribution terminal in Fletcher and had fallen in love with the Western North Carolina area. WNC was the ideal choice for the new factory, and now serves as the UPM Raflatac Americas headquarters, because it is located close to the East Coast ports, it has the proximity and infrastructure needed to support customers in the Midwest, and it is a vibrant, growing community. Today, UPM Raflatac operates two WNC factories — one in Mills River and one in Fletcher — as well as a business office in
Asheville, employing about 270 people in the region.
UPM Raflatac produces a variety of label material used by a plethora of companies to label and decorate their product packaging. These labels appear on items from juice and wine bottles to Amazon boxes to industrial products. Adhesive technologies allow some labels to easily wash off the packaging, enhancing recycling, and other labels, like safety warnings, to permanently stay put.
Focused on sustainability during all stages of production, a unique aspect of this company is that UPM has many investments in forestry. The corporation sustainably manages its own forests in an effort to safeguard and increase the multiple benefits that forests provide. UPM’s long-term view ensures they plant more trees than they harvest.
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Employees at UPM Raflatac - a label-manufacturing company in Henderson County.
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“UPM businesses such as UPM Raflatac are built essentially around forest-based industries,” Hunt said. “The wood, pulp, and paper, as well as other byproducts, are used as raw materials in different UPM products. For example, when wood from sustainably-managed forests is processed for pulp, the resin is used to make UPM BioVerno, used in Raflatac Forest Film,100% wood-based film label product.”
Product lines reflect the company’s sustainability commitment. UPM Raflatac is actively evolving their product portfolio to create labeling solutions with recycled raw materials and ocean-bound plastic, as well as making products that support the circular economy.
“There’s a shift toward more sustainable packaging across the board,” Hunt said. “For example, grocery stores and fast food
chains are transitioning to linerless labels, while consumer product brands want more recycled content in their plastic packaging. Here, we’re committed to providing solutions that meet these needs and help brands meet their sustainability goals.”
While the COVID-19 pandemic and the supply chain issues that followed impacted many industries, UPM Raflatac was able to maintain a strong presence by serving diverse markets, as well as supplying essential industries such as food and pharmaceuticals.
To engage with the workforce, Hunt said UPM Raflatac focuses on a strong company culture to attract and retain talent in the WNC community.
There is a strong commitment to balance employees’ work, life, health, and wellbeing. UPM Raflatac provides training for
employee development, career growth opportunities, and competitive pay and benefits. The company also lives its values of trust and be trusted, renew with courage, and achieve together.
The company’s commitment to creating a future beyond fossils is reflected in the attitudes of its WNC staff.
“UPM businesses are built on sustainable forestry and the potential it creates for bioeconomy innovations that will take us beyond fossils,” Hunt said. “And maybe it’s coincidental that here in Western North Carolina, we are blessed to be surrounded by forests. But as we look out the windows, it is a good reminder and motivator for us to run a business that provides for our customers, community, and society in a way that’s socially and environmentally responsible.”
industry spotlight Education
From boosting public school attendance to boosting the local workforce, educational institutions are the backbone of WNC’s economy.
According to Riverbird Research, the number of jobs in the region’s education industry decreased during the five-year span between 2019 and 2024.
Despite the 4% decrease in the number of industry jobs in an 18-county region of WNC, the number is 7% higher than the national average. There was no increase or decrease in this sector’s jobs on average for the whole state. The total of 30,441 jobs were supported by 741 payrolled business locations and earned an average annual salary of $64,580, excluding supplements.
The highest concentration of reported jobs occurred in Buncombe County, which supported 9,467 education jobs, followed by Watauga County which supported 4,509 of these jobs.
North Carolina’s Department
of Public Instruction Spearheads Comprehensive Education and Workforce Development Initiatives
The Department of Public Instruction in North Carolina plays a pivotal role in administering K-12 school systems, overseeing approximately 1.5 million students statewide, according to Kristie VanAuken, Special Advisor on Workforce Engagement. With education accounting for about 42% of the state budget, DPI is at the forefront of ensuring a robust public education system in the region.
From teacher licensure to funding allocation for school construction and transportation services, DPI manages a wide array of responsibilities that directly impact the state’s educational landscape. Moreover, DPI extends its oversight to
include charter schools and cooperative innovative high schools, offering diverse educational pathways for students.
One notable initiative is the Cooperative Innovative High School model, which allows students to earn both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree concurrently, providing a head start in higher education or workforce readiness. With 132 of these high schools across the state, this model aligns with DPI’s mission to foster advanced and accelerated learning opportunities for all students, with a focus on preparing them for future careers.
“This is for all students with a certain GPA, but we’ve set the bar at such a level where it really makes it accessible to the majority of students,” VanAuken said. “A lot of these models are aligned with a
Students learning Chess as part of Black Mountain Public Schools’ afterschool programs.
career so the student could graduate, for example, with their CNA, which is a health care credential, and be ready to go right straight into the workforce. We’ve also got some of those models with advanced manufacturing or biotechnology. There’s some really cool ways for us to really accelerate and to allow the student to get on that career journey if that’s what they want to do.”
Superintendent Catherine Truitt made it one of her campaign promises and priorities to more easily connect K-12 students to workforce and careers by providing increased readiness and opportunities for enrollment in postsecondary institutions, military enlistment, or direct employment.
Through the Portrait of a Graduate initiative, stakeholders from various sectors as well as community members, teachers, parents, and support service providers collaborated to identify these essential life skills that go beyond traditional academics, ensuring students are well-equipped for success in both their careers and personal lives. The integration of durable skills, such as communication, critical thinking, and personal responsibility, into the state’s educational framework helps to ensure students are adaptable and on the leading edge of rapidly-occurring changes in workforce needs.
Furthermore, the DPI is actively engaged in workforce development efforts, collaborating with employers, community colleges, and workforce development boards to align education with industry needs, ensuring students are readily able to acquire high-quality jobs that NC continues to invest in and attract.
This includes initiatives to expand career pathways, provide work-based learning opportunities, and equip students with relevant credentials and certifications for a variety of applications.
“The west and northwest parts of North Carolina, particularly, have really embraced the Portrait and the development of these
durable skills,” VanAuken said. “They’ve really doubled down on integrating these skills into strategic plans in the classroom. Performance tasks are project-based to ensure various student bodies can participate. This creates an intentional, deeper learning model that is task-oriented and competency-based alongside academic rigor.”
To help prepare teachers to instill these learning aspects into their curriculum, the NCDPI is creating online learning modules as part of a statewide resource library accessible to every teacher at no cost. There will also be additional regional training sessions to assist teachers in what they do naturally in the classroom, and eventually create accountability systems to ensure an educational foundation with the utmost positivity.
“We look at this as a mandate for us to align students’ learning to what employers say they need most,” VanAuken said. “These soft skills are what employers are saying entry-level talent is not bringing to the table.”
The Year of the Workforce in 2022 helped the DPI to double down with workforce partners including the NC Chamber of Commerce to engage employers, school districts, and students on four main pillars: economic development, student pathways, workplace learning, and workforce communication. Collaboration with the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina helped ensure these are part of NC’s education narrative. Being passionate about student choice, VanAuken said the broader range of skills will allow students to be more qualified for whatever path they see is the best fit for them, in an intentional way and with strong career planning support. An educational plan including the ability to earn badges displaying durable skill development partnered with technical credentials demonstrating progression
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31,683 Jobs in 2019
30,441 Jobs in 2024 -4% Job Growth -1,242 2019-2024 Change in Jobs
$64,580
2023 Average Annual Wage
741
Payrolled Business Locations in 2023
There were 7% more jobs in this sector when compared to the national average.. 2019-2024 employment loss of 4% was somewhat greater than the state’s 0% change.
Jobs By County (2023)
Self-employed and non-QCEW worker classification jobs are excluded from these estimates. Average Annual Wage includes wages, salaries, and proprietor earnings; excludes supplements.
Source: Compiled by Riverbird Research with Lightcast 2024.1
education
and mastery translates to workforce, military, or postsecondary qualification.
“Reframing perceptions of workforce options and educational choices for students and parents is imperative,” VanAuken said. “We are working to ensure students, counselors, and parents understand that there are a variety of opportunities that lead to a real, quality job. It can level-up opportunities for our students while maintaining alignment with sector partners and progressing workforce development for North Carolina.”
Navigating North Carolina’s Independent School Landscape
In the landscape of North Carolina’s educational sector, the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools offers crucial support to a diverse array of independent schools across the state. Founded in 1970 by a small consortium of independent schools, NCAIS has since grown into a vital resource, nurturing a network of around 90 schools, according to Executive Director Stephanie Keaney.
The educational ecosystem in North Carolina is divided into two main categories: public and non-public schools. While public schools fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Instruction, non-public schools, including home, private, and boarding schools, operate independently.
With approximately 900 private schools registered in the state, representing one tenth of the state’s schools and about 20% of the state’s students, NCAIS has a mission to help these types of schools achieve their mission.
“We have such a wide variety of schools, and they are all mission-driven,” Keaney said. “They all have great projects or new initiatives, but it’s hard to pick up on trends because they are all so different. One thing that is noticeable is that since COVID was an incubator for people to try
new things in many ways, it’s been fun to see what has stuck around and taken off. Many schools have expanded their technology use, but it’s hard to paint big strokes for all of these schools because they are all so unique.”
Membership in NCAIS is entirely voluntary and is contingent upon meeting specific criteria, including nonprofit status, independent governance, and accreditation. Through professional development initiatives, NCAIS equips educators, administrators, and stakeholders with the tools and knowledge necessary to effectively navigate the evolving educational landscape.
Offering collaboration opportunities with thought partners across the state relieves pressure from leaders of independent schools.
“Building a community of school leaders gives them someone to call when they have questions or new ideas,” Keaney said. “Things don’t happen in a vacuum, so it’s nice to have the ability to reach out beyond your school’s borders.”
Advocacy forms another pillar of NCAIS’s mission, as it engages with policymakers to ensure that legislative decisions
align with the needs and values of independent schools. Recent expansions in educational funding, such as the Opportunity Scholarship program, have sparked dialogue and action within the educational community, with NCAIS representing the interests of its member schools, discussing the ripple effects certain legislation can have, and sharing important updates with its members.
“Members are realizing the importance of being a part of a community that has a similar mission,” Keaney said. “I’ve been here for nearly 14 years and membership has stayed fairly steady, but we’ve seen some growth this year. I think as they see policies changing in Raleigh and the expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship and other initiatives, they’re excited to be part of our voice in Raleigh as changes are being made.”
While Keaney believes public schools are working hard to educate NC’s students, learning styles vary. Funding for schools and financial support for students’ tuition offers families the chance to find the best fit for their children by providing the ability to place them in a specialized education center that is able to best meet their needs.
High school students learning skills required of automobile mechanics.
This variety and the increasing support for families to choose the schools and missions that align with their children provides a hidden benefit to the state. As NC draws in companies to do business here, their leadership and employees may find the best education easily available for their families.
“Schools are definitely part of the conversation when folks consider relocating to North Carolina,” Keaney said. “We do employ a good number of educators and administrators in our independent schools, but this also impacts employment for other companies. Parents deciding where to send their students is an incredibly personal decision. The ability to look at all of the education options in their area and determine their own best fit gives parents the confidence they are able to send their child someplace they feel they feel known, valued, and safe.”
After-school Programming Additions Increase Popularity of Public Schools
For the last 15 to 20 years, funding for extracurricular and after-school programming has dwindled in some public school systems, leading parents to seek other educational choices for their children, according to Black Mountain Schools Parent Teacher Organization Vice President Frank Cappelli.
Some of the community’s other employees and citizens who would organize clubs are no longer participating. Paired with less focus on compensating educators for organizing and running after-school programs, fewer options have led to fewer students in attendance, which in turn reduces the amount of overall funding these schools receive. With funding lower than needed, teachers have no source of compensation to lead afterschool programs.
“We’re a pretty affluent community, yet we have a Title I school in Black Mountain,”
Cappelli said. “Even some local elected officials are choosing to send their kids to charter schools in Asheville instead of their own public schools. With little funding and little options, other schools look better on paper to parents.”
Currently only able to host three afterschool programs, all of which cater to a small portion of the student body, parents are eager to expand extracurricular options for their children. The Black Mountain PTO is currently working with local businesses, concerned parents, and community members to offer more options.
“We need our options to be both marketable and sustainable,” Cappelli said. “We’ve created a basic structure for programs within three pillars — humanities, STEM, and athletics. With each pillar having its own director and a faculty member or leader for each club,
With multiple fundraising efforts, the PTO launched a pilot program using this model in the Spring 2024 semester, and Cappelli said it was a great success and demonstrates the feasibility of this approach. The community has shown support and businesses have been generous with donations and sponsorships for current large fundraising events.
“It’s a small town, so we’re hesitant to ask for too much, but I’ve been pretty heartened,” Cappelli said. “Local businesses that have employees with kids are there. They’ve been mouthpieces to spread the word and donate time and things like auction items. They’re seeing the benefit of having these programs available.”
continued on next page all of which are compensated, we should be able to carry this model forward and allow it to grow.”
As funds are available to compensate teachers fairly for their time and efforts, more educators are willing to discuss running clubs and programs. As more programming options become available, more families are likely to return to their own public schools. As more children return and repopulate the classrooms, there will be more funding available for the public school and compensating the teachers for running its programs moving forward.
Cappelli has already heard feedback from principals who say they’ve seen an increase in interest since the pilot programs have been in place, not from people moving to the area from out of town, but from local families who have their children enrolled in private or charter schools and are now interested in returning to their public school.
This model has been successful in a
nearby public middle school. Cappelli said a United Way grant offered a large sum to compensate teachers for afterschool programming at Owen Middle School. Creating a robust set of clubs, the popularity and reputation of the school are improving and people are returning. “We’re so lucky to live in this community,” Cappelli said. “We’ve had everything except the schools as top-notch. By providing after-school programs, clubs, and extracurriculars that both parents and students need, we’ll have the best of it all. We’ve seen it done, and we know we can do it, too.”
Local Universities’ Role in Shaping Western North Carolina’s Workforce Landscape
With a variety of community colleges and four-year universities across the Western North Carolina region, post-secondary education institutions play a significant role as employers and economic contributors, in addition to cultivating the region’s incoming workforce.
In Buncombe County, University of North Carolina Asheville employs 698 permanent faculty and staff. In 2020, a study calculated an economic impact of $450 million; $31 million of which is attributed to the athletics program alone.
UNC Asheville also attracts students from across the state and the region to study, live, and work in WNC. With a student body of around 3,000, only 38% already live in the region. The remaining 62%, 20% from other states, relocated to WNC for school, and according to UNC Asheville Chancellor Kimberly van Noort, there are programs, partnerships, and internships to encourage them to stay.
“Historically across the UNC system, between 30% and 35% of out-of-state students who come into North Carolina to attend a public university stay here,” van Noort said. “We are helping with an incoming population of people who are going to stay here. They’re going to be young, educated, and they’re going to enter our workforce.”
Through the University’s Career Services Center, students receive assistance when considering careers and preparing for interviews, and can participate in programs which connect students with local employers. There are career fairs on campus, internship programs, and partnerships with other institutions to create career pathways for students.
The trending focus of providing students a better return on their investment is not just local; Chancellor van Noort said it is nationwide. Ensuring students are prepared for their jobs as well as for long-term careers is a priority. Providing an education that is a foundation which
and encourages lifelong learning offers students the ability to build a career over a lifespan, not just the skills for their first job out of school.
Conversations between University leadership and area employers have shifted curriculum programs to ensure graduates are prepared for what local businesses need in terms of incoming staff. New programs like New Media, Mass Communications, and Digital Design, and the expansion of programs like Computer Science are deliberate choices to ensure students have the skills employers are looking for upon graduation. The curriculum has also expanded to focus on data science, robotics, climate resilience, health science, business analytics, economics, and finance. These expansions reflect an emphasis on serving the region by improving the labor forces for the sectors growing in WNC.
“We spend a lot of time interfacing with local businesses to find out what it is they’re looking for,” van Noort said. “There has been a lot of emphasis placed on how we’re serving the region and how we’re preparing and attracting students not only to move into the region, but to stay here.”
Ensuring UNC Asheville’s academic portfolio is up-to-date and as innovative as possible is an ongoing challenge,
according to van Noort. Changing demands create a constant state of continuous improvement, which requires regularly reviewing portfolios to confirm the University is offering the right mix of programs that support the needs of the community’s employers.
Shifting demographics is another concern for UNC Asheville as well as other universities statewide and nationwide. There are fewer and fewer 18-year-olds entering post-secondary education institutions, meaning there are fewer and fewer people entering the workforce — a major consideration to examine for the next 10-20 years or more.
“This should be of concern to everyone,” van Noort said. “We’re constantly thinking about what we’re doing in order to promote in-migration, keeping those students
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UNC Asheville welcomes students to WNC from around the state and the Southeast.
education
here, and making sure our own younger students are college-ready. It’s not just the four-year or the post-secondary sector that needs to be engaged here; it’s also our K-12 schools and early childhood education facilities as well, because the continuum of the education pipeline starts at birth. We have to be ready to make sure that all the way along, our workforce is being cultivated and prepared in ways that will benefit the state.”
North Carolina Community College System Boosts Workforce Development with New Funding Model
In an effort to bolster workforce development and align education with the demands of the modern economy, North Carolina’s community college
with businesses and providing targeted support for high-demand, high-wage career sectors.
Propel NC represents a departure from traditional funding models by prioritizing sectors crucial to the state’s economic growth, according to NC Community College System President Jeff Cox and Chairman Tom Looney. Under this new framework, colleges will receive increased funding for programs in sectors such as healthcare, engineering, advanced manufacturing, information technology, and public safety.
According to Cox, with about 75% of employers concerned about their talent pipeline, double the rate of concern of 10 years ago, both the state and the community college system are motivated to increase the pipeline to meet workforce demand. By reallocating resources to high-demand sectors, colleges can better address the skills gap and meet the evolving needs of employers.
“North Carolina was recognized as the number one state for business two years in a row, and a big part of that is having a prepared workforce,” Cox said. “We recognize the urgent need to align our educational offerings with the evolving demands of the labor market and incentivize college programs in key sectors. Propel NC is our proactive response to ensure that our students are equipped with the skills and credentials necessary to thrive in today’s workforce.”
NCAIS holds professional development workshops for leaders of independent schools.
One of the key features of Propel NC is its focus on collaboration and partnership between colleges and businesses. Recognizing the role of industry input in shaping curriculum and training programs, the initiative aims to forge deeper connections with employers to ensure that graduates are equipped with the skills employers need.
“We’re witnessing a paradigm shift in the way businesses engage with our colleges,” Looney said. “Employers are increasingly taking ownership of student success by actively participating in curriculum development by offering internships, partnering in creating customized training programs, and providing mentorship opportunities.”
Propel NC has garnered widespread support from business leaders, chambers
of commerce, and industry stakeholders across the state, though final approval has not been acquired. With a price tag nearing $100 million, the initiative will be presented to the North Carolina General Assembly during their spring session.
“We need to meet the needs of the students and the demands we have in front of us, not the ones we had a year ago,” Looney said. “It’s imperative we remain flexible. The last tier structure update was in 2011 and the base-funding model hasn’t been updated since 1980. We’ve got to determine the needs of students and the labor market, and simplify that structure.”
While the new funding structure is pending, existing partnerships and initiatives are already in place. Advance NC is a collaboration of several community colleges, workforce development boards,
and other partners. Cooperative innovative schools help fast-track students toward certifications and associate degrees, customized training is in place for a variety of manufacturing companies across the state, and the Next NC Scholarship can cover tuition, fees, housing, and supplies for eligible students to enroll in a variety of college programs.
“There are lots of great programs currently available to support our growing talent pipeline,” Looney said. “What we’re trying to do now is take it to a whole new level to really execute this mission at the speed of business.”
HCC’s ‘Haywood Strong’ Scholarship Provides Lifeline for Former Mill Employees
In the wake of the closure of the Pactiv
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education
Evergreen mill, the Haywood Strong scholarship program emerged as a beacon of hope for former employees seeking to chart a new course. Launched within two weeks after the closure announcement, the Haywood Community College Foundation swiftly mobilized resources to offer educational opportunities to affected individuals.
According to HCC Foundation’s Executive Director Hylah Birenbaum, the initiative was kickstarted thanks to previously unutilized unrestricted funds.
“Ironically, we were sent unrestricted funds in November the year prior that were just sitting and waiting until we figured out how to utilize those funds,” Birenbaum said. “I talked to Dr. White and then to my Board chair and suggested we start a scholarship for the mill workers with these funds.”
The board swiftly greenlit the initiative, and within 48 hours, the Haywood Strong scholarship was set in motion.
It began with three tiers: direct employees, businesses associated with the mill, and family members of affected individuals. As the program gained traction, it opened its doors to all those affected by the closure, irrespective of their specific connection to the mill.
The financial support offered by Haywood Strong can cover a range of educational pursuits including trade certificates in areas such as EMS, truck driving, construction, HVAC, and plumbing, as well as traditional curriculum and continuing education courses. Recipients can receive up to $1,000 per semester for curriculumrelated expenses including tuition, books, fees, and necessary supplies.
A former Canton Mill worker participates in HCC’s tourism program which is a track under the Business Administration degree.
Since its inception, Haywood Strong has received overwhelming support from the community, with over 90 applications processed and approximately $55,000 disbursed to support 65 students. Participants have included individuals of a wide range of ages, some of whom worked at the mill for two years and some for as many as 25 years.
The program’s success is attributed not only to its financial aid but also to strategic partnerships with educational institutions like Caldwell Technical and Community College, which facilitated access to specialized training programs and offered three instructors to help with programs at HCC.
About half of the scholarship recipients are working their way through associate degree programs, and have about another
year until completion. Some who began with continuing education programs have already earned their certificates and have been able to re-enter the workforce.
The program aims to sustain its impact by continuing to raise funds through various events like trail runs, concerts, and disc golf tournaments. During the past year, these types of events have helped the Foundation raise about $18,000 to add to the Haywood Strong fund.
“As long as there are funds available and someone needs it, we will continue offering scholarships until the funds are zeroed out,” Birenbaum said. “Essentially, as long as there are former mill workers that need assistance, the scholarship will be there to provide that.”
Additionally, a new scholarship called Pivot has been launched to cater to
individuals pursuing high-demand, highearning trade jobs, further expanding the scope of support offered by the HCC Foundation. This scholarship, and several others available at HCC, do not specifically apply to former mill workers, but anyone who is interested in joining the College’s trade programs.
HCC’s leadership also works closely with various career resource providers in the area to continue the momentum and availability, providing as much support as possible. By serving in a way that is so important to these individuals and their families, it creates ripples throughout the entire community.
“It is a small town and just like a big family,” Birenbaum said. “We’d had a death in the family, and we all want to come together and work to support that family.”
get to know
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership
Mars Hill University Leverages Backrs Partnership to Add Value to its Entrepreneurial Leadership Programs
Focusing on entrepreneurship as a mindset, the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Mars Hill University is leveraging unique approaches to support its students, according to Director Sabrina Delk. Classes focus on a variety of aspects including new venture startup, strategy, and coaching, with an overarching focus on facilitating skill development which will be instrumental in graduates’ success.
“Entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting a business; it’s a mindset that fosters creativity, innovation, and resilience,” Delk said. “By integrating entrepreneurship into our curriculum and co-curricular activities, we’re equipping students with the skills they need to succeed in any endeavor, whether they decide to become a small business owner in Western North Carolina or go out and work for a Fortune 500 company.”
James Heinl joined MHU in 2022, bringing his own entrepreneurial skills to teaching in the University’s business department. Now the Executive Director of Mars Hill University’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and working closely with Delk, Heinl is helping to build the entrepreneurship program as well as a business partnership network to help provide mentorship opportunities for the program’s students.
Heinl attended a Demo Day event hosted
by Venture Asheville and he found himself captivated by Andy Bobowski’s presentation on mentorship, a cornerstone of the Backrs platform, and knew immediately that it could revolutionize how Mars Hill supports its students.
“At Mars Hill, we believe in offering cocurricular mentorship as one of the four most critical elements of our program,” Heinl said. “However, with our student numbers growing rapidly, finding individual mentors for each student became a challenge. That’s where Backrs came in.”
Backrs, co-founded by Bobowski, offers a scalable solution to mentorship, particularly beneficial for universities like Mars Hill with diverse student populations. Mars Hill became the first official university collaboration with the platform, allowing students to gain access to mentors who provide not only social support but also financial capital that may have been previously unavailable to them.
“We’re not just a small liberal arts institution; we’re an enabler university,” Heinl said. “We attract students from various backgrounds and walks of life, and Backrs aligns perfectly with our mission to provide equal mentorship opportunities for everyone.”
Delk said the entrepreneurship program invests $100 per student who is engaged with their mentors, and they are eligible for up to $500 in financial capital. Students have the ability to allocate their funds as needed, from paying for their meal plans to purchasing business attire for interviews, and students are already seeing positive outcomes.
“We’re already seeing progress in the fourth month of participation,” Delk said. “Despite being in the early stages, with just 10 students enrolled, we’re witnessing tangible results. From connecting students
with local businesses for networking purposes to improving student wellness or meeting other goals, the program and the Backrs partnership are making an impact.”
Looking ahead, Delk and Heinl envision expanding the program to accommodate more students and increase alumni involvement.
A large number of area businesses are already reaching out eager to build partner relationships with the entrepreneurial and mentorship programs at MHU.
“Our goal is to have all 1,000 students at Mars Hill engaged with Backrs,” Heinl said. “It’s not just about mentorship; it’s about empowering our students to thrive in their communities, whether they choose to start their own businesses or pursue other career paths.”
The program highlights many exciting business opportunities in the region by partnering students with local mentors and facilitating networking opportunities. This benefit is one means of attracting more students to the University and helping them find careers here in WNC, which Delk said is a means of placemaking, economic development, and community building.
“Placing students in jobs in our surrounding counties rather than having them go to where they think things may be bigger and brighter is our goal,” Heinl said. “We’ve got some big and bright things right here, and we’re helping connect students to those things.”
Sabrina Delk and James Heinl lead the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Mars Hill University. Learn more at MHU.edu/Academics/Majors-andMinors/Business-Administration/ Entrepreneurial-Leadership/.
it’s my job
Lloyd Jones
Associate Vice President of Content & Implementation, Curriculum Associates
Beginning a career in education to offer a positive impact to students, Lloyd Jones’ job with Curriculum Associates allows his positive impact to spread nationwide.
Jones taught middle school math for 11 years, and truly enjoyed engaging with students. In 2008, he hosted a workshop teaching teachers about using curriculum products. He was offered a job on the spot, and has now been hosting these types of workshops for 16 years, 10 of which have been with Curriculum Associates.
Curriculum Associates develops curriculum programs and products educators can use in the classroom. Jones’ role is traveling to cities and towns all over the US, hosting workshops and engaging with teachers with the intention of these products being adopted as tools to support their lessons.
“The idea is to make an impact for students,” Jones said. “These programs really help teachers figure out assessment data, and how to translate that data to
Jones teaches educators how to use programs and products including assessment and instructional resources and additional materials to support reading that can be customized based on the needs of the student rather than their current grade level. Teachers use these tools, some virtual-based and some teacher-led, to help build the confidence of children who are struggling at the same time as challenging students who are
Throughout the country, 30% to 40% of children in kindergarten through eighth grade, 440,000 of those in North Carolina, are using products created by this company. Jones and others in his position play an integral role in helping teachers understand how to best leverage this technology for their students.
Travel is a large portion of Jones’ work. His job requires him to travel to all 50 states to teach workshops, introduce programs to new districts, and gain feedback to learn about challenges teachers are experiencing. Jones takes this feedback to his product team, where it can be used to address specific issues and redesign lessons, getting updated materials to teachers much faster.
“Textbooks are updated every five years,” Jones said. “With 2,500 employees across the country sharing feedback with our product design team, they can create these needed materials and we can share
those lessons as soon as they are ready — even in the middle of the school year — wherever there is the greatest need and where we can have the greatest impact.”
With extensive traveling as part of Jones’ job, he particularly enjoys being able to participate in local workshops as well. A recent workshop hosting Henderson County principals analyzed and discussed how much math vocabulary students should understand in order to do well on NC math tests.
“I love it when I can do local things like that and work with teachers in my own community,” Jones said. “It’s great to have the discussions. I especially love to talk about different ways to solve math tasks, and how educators would teach children to solve these problems.”
Whether on the road or near home in WNC, supporting teachers is Jones’ top priority. In this work, he is able to help build confidence in children, and enjoys seeing new data showing positive trends in student performance.
“It makes my day to know so many teachers are using my techniques and kids are growing,” Jones said. “Data shows kids using our programs are scoring higher than kids who are not. It feels so good to know this work has such a positive impact.”
Lloyd Jones is an Associate Vice President of Content and Implementation at Curriculum Associates. Learn more at CurriculumAssociates.com.
Agriculture industry spotlight
As a local food increases in popularity, WNC’s small agricultural businesses make big impacts
According to Riverbird Research, the number of jobs in the region’s agriculture industry increased during the five-year span between 2019 and 2024.
The 8% increase in the number of industry jobs in an 18-county region of WNC was contradictory to the state’s overall loss of 7%, though there were 22% fewer jobs in this sector when compared to the national average. The total 2,260 jobs were supported by 305 payrolled business
locations and earned an average annual salary of $47,195, excluding supplements. Agriculture may also have a heavy presence of self-employed or otherwise non-census-reported employment.
The highest concentration of reported jobs occurred in Henderson County, which supported 1,252 agriculture jobs, followed by Buncombe County which supported 318 of these jobs.
Cultivating Growth and Innovation in a $111 Billion Industry
The latest economic report for North Carolina’s agriculture industry, released in May 2024, stated an agribusiness impact of $111 billion in economic activity, according to WNC Ag Programs Assistant Commissioner Kaleb Rathbone. With more than 90 different commodities
Participants learn about growing, harvesting, and making natural tinctures at a workshop hosted by BRWIA’s CRAFT program.
produced, the state’s agriculture industry is diverse and representative of a variety of climates. In WNC, the topography prohibits large crop and livestock operations, and features an array of high-value fruits, vegetables, and small livestock farms. Timber and trout farming are also valuable agricultural commodities in the region.
As an industry, agriculture is heavily reliant on and impacted by factors outside of the industry’s control. Weather affects production levels and the global commodity market affects demand, and with positive results in the last year, Rathbone attributes the growing industry to the state’s foresight and planning across several decades.
“The growth that we’re seeing is a direct reflection of those investments made by the state for several generations,” Rathbone said. “One of those is our network of research stations, and others include our overall business climate and the development of new domestic and international markets for our products. Ag manufacturing is also something our commissioner has been focused on, and we see it as a potential to be a great benefit to the industry.”
The recruitment of agricultural processing and manufacturing facilities can help preserve fresh produce as well as create new markets for NC’s products. The state’s General Assembly voted to provide $20 million in funding across two years to recruit these facilities, and this program is in its early stages. While still too early to determine specific operations and locations, Rathbone predicts the program will “pay great dividends” into the future.
In WNC specifically, trends Rathbone is noticing include increasing interest in greenhouse operations, which are becoming incorporated into a variety of local farms. GPS and drone technologies are becoming more widely incorporated in creative uses including pesticide applications and evaluating conditions
across steep terrain. Though these practices may create some easier production methods, the largest challenge for farmers continues to be the availability and costs of labor.
“While these technologies create ways to reduce the labor burden, the reality is the crops that are grown here are typically very labor-intensive,” Rathbone said. “There’s not a magic solution for harvesting in today’s market.”
Though the state’s H2A program exists to allow an international workforce to seasonally relocate while working on NC farms, those associated costs have increased in the last several years. Labor costs put pressure on farmers to increase product prices. While keeping the average consumer and the product’s market value in mind, farmers often work within small profit margins, and increasing production costs are not being offset by increases in revenue.
“This does put stress on these individual operations,” Rathbone said. “These are thousands of family-run and family-owned small businesses that depend on their income to put food on their tables and put their kids through school. When we see those tighter margins, it certainly creates a challenge.”
In addition to state and federal programs providing grants, infrastructure improvement, and risk management programs to support the industry, farmers in this region are increasingly creative in leveraging market opportunities which allow them to earn a premium for their product in hopes of offsetting some of the tightening margins. Efficiency in multiple stages and processes has become imperative, and additional revenue streams like direct-to-consumer sales and agritourism are becoming more popular.
“Agriculture and tourism are not completely separate, especially in Western North Carolina,” Rathbone said. “The local
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agriculture
(Modified Purdue Cluster Definition*)
2,089 Jobs in 2019
2,260 Jobs in 2024
8% Job Growth
171 2019-2024 Change in Jobs
$47,195
2024 Average Annual Wage Excluding supplements
305 Payrolled Business Locations in 2024
There were 22% fewer jobs in this sector when compared to the national average.
‘2019-2024 employment growth of 8% outpaced the state’s loss of 7%.
Jobs By County (2023)
Self-employed jobs are excluded from these estimates.
* The Purdue: Arts, Entertainment, Recreation, and Visitor defined cluster was modified to better represent ‘outdoor’.
Source: Compiled by Riverbird Research with Lightcast 2024.1
agriculture
foods movement is particularly strong here, providing farmers an opportunity to provide their products while sharing their story. The tourism side benefits because farms help maintain the region’s culture and appeal of the open spaces. So many consumers are separated by multiple generations from direct relationships with farmers, and there’s a natural tendency for people to lean toward that connection.”
Strengthening Communities and Sustaining Small Farms
Local food hubs are crucial in supporting small farms as well as empowering local communities through convenient and healthy food options, according to Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture Community Relations Manager Katie Ferrell.
Celebrating their 20-year anniversary in 2023, BRWIA is a nonprofit organization which began as a group of women supporting each other’s farms by sharing ideas and resources. Having expanded to engaging about 200 producers within 100 miles of Boone, it now works to support local farms in a variety of aspects including supporting the High Country Food Hub — a year-round online farmers market.
Paying homage to the grandmothers and great-grandmothers that were the original support of the organization, some of the organization’s original partners are still engaged with BRWIA. They have received consistent support from other organizations including the Watauga County Extension and the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University.
“While people have come and gone over the years, there’s consistent local support for the idea of supporting local farmers and making sure people in the community know about them,” Ferrell said. “It supports everyone and keeps money here in the local economy.”
Much of BRWIA’s community efforts are funded by grants from foundations
like Z. Smith Reynolds and Golden LEAF, which have supported school outreach programs, seed libraries, and grants to local farmers for professional development and conference attendance.
One of these grants assisted in expanding the Food Hub in collaboration with Watauga County. This project arose from a need for farmers to sell more of their vegetables and pasture-raised meats.
BRWIA opened a freezer for farmers to store processed products before they were taken to farmers markets, and this original freezer expanded to multiple freezers as well as a walk-in refrigerator for product storage.
“Whatever the needs of the community are, whether focus groups or farmer outreach, we work to find grants to meet those needs,” Ferrell said. “We also have individuals and organizations reaching out to us with partnership interests, and sometimes we search for grants to hire staff for these new programs. Through the years the needs have varied, and we continue to work to ensure farmer support and equitable access to high quality local food.”
BRWIA also facilitates a farmer mentorship and training program where farmers host workshops to teach others in the agriculture and general communities. Other outreach programs have included climate-smart agricultural research to increase farm resiliency, a seed library in partnership with the Ashe and Watauga County libraries, and a Community of Gardens program which fostered a network of school and community gardens to host educational workshops for teachers and community members.
“We’re not necessarily the experts, but we’re the convener,” Ferrell said. “We depend on the farmers to be the experts and help share their knowledge with others. The networking and the learning that happens as a result is just so great, and really helpful for everyone.”
Farmers in the High Country have said
without the support of the BRWIA, their businesses would not have made it through certain challenges, like the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, more than 12,000 orders were placed through the Food Hub, and between 2017 to 2023, BRWIA’s programs and grants have led to $3.6 million being spent in the local agricultural economy.
The Food Hub also allows farmers to track sales to follow demand trends. They are able to log in to their account and see what sold well in the past. BRWIA also hosts an annual meeting to discuss customer discovery surveys that share what customers would like to see more of, helping local farmers decide where their energy will be best invested during upcoming growing seasons.
Prepared foods are trending on the Food Hub and are a good way for agricultural businesses to add another market channel to their offerings. While Ferrell said she has also seen an increase in demand for added-value products, finding available commercial kitchen spaces remains a challenge, as does keeping those products at a reasonable cost despite the time and effort required for production.
“Whether it’s with our food, information, stories, or resources, we feel like our role is to help make the connections,” Ferrell said. “To help folks who want access to food that could otherwise be cost prohibitive at the same time as helping farmers learn more, reach more customers, and grow their business, we’re thrilled to continue expanding in all we are doing for the agricultural community.”
Four Decades of Nurturing Local Food Connections
A former farmer, Mountain Food Products Owner Ron Ainspan developed his organization about 40 years ago in an effort to help area producers get their products to local individuals and businesses in and around Asheville. Since most farmers need to focus their time on
growing and production, delivering their products can be a burden. Mountain Food Products was born to help farmers distribute their goods.
“At that time, grocery stores would take products through their back door,” Ainspan said. “It wasn’t all through big distributors. Soon after I began these deliveries, I would hear people asking for certain products, and I’d drive to go pick them up, and slowly this demand took off.”
With the continuous intention of promoting local food, delivering fresh produce was the original focus. As the number of restaurants grew quickly in Asheville, MFP easily grew to include warehousing and distributing a variety of local food products to these businesses.
“Earlier this year, TripAdvisor released a ‘Top 10 Food Destinations’ blog,” Ainspan said. “It was mostly bigger cities, and it included Asheville. It seemed like the main reason Asheville made it to the top 10 was the availability of local foods, so I guess we have been pretty successful in helping to make that happen.”
Ainspan said his business model has consistently been more about communitybuilding than building a business. From being a former grower himself to participating in tailgate markets throughout many years, building his network of farmers with available produce happened organically. Now located inside the WNC Farmers Market, he continues to come into contact with more and more growers from around the area, creating additional mutually beneficial connections to deliver products to local consumers.
MFP sells for about 150 different growers over the course of a year. With a definition of local food as anything grown within 100 miles of Asheville, Ainspan said his buyers know his definition of local has truth in its meaning.
“‘Local’ can mean a lot of things to a lot of people,” Ainspan said. “The word itself is not protected in any way. ‘Local’ can
mean ‘the Earth’ if you want it to, so when we promote stuff as ‘local’, it’s powerful.”
While MFP distributes produce for local growers, they also encourage growers to sell directly to restaurants, even if it means MFP doesn’t get that particular sale. Ainspan believes promoting the concept of local direct sales and supporting local can boost the entire community.
Restaurant-farmer relationships are important, though when a restaurant’s preferred grower doesn’t have a product ready when it’s needed, the organization can often find another source so the restaurant can still purchase locally.
At times, Ainspan and his team are actively searching for growers to invite to their programs, but usually growers find them. Their available products are incorporated into MFP’s list, which can be viewed by their 100 or so restaurant contacts. Restaurant leadership tells MFP what they’d like, and MFP ensures the restaurants’ orders are packed and ready for delivery within a couple of days. About five years ago, MFP also began a CSA program — essentially a contract between a grower and their customers. Growers offer memberships for a set dollar amount, and customers receive a weekly box of produce they pick up at the market. Since a wide variety of growers are involved with MFP, they began a multifarm CSA, and distribute about 100 boxes of food to area individuals each week.
“We fulfill a lot of needs, and we don’t have any contracts with any growers or any restaurants,” Ainspan said. “It’s all based on the quality of our relationships and the quality of service people are getting. We are vulnerable in some ways, but because we’ve been doing it a long time, we’ve been able to easily maintain our business. Over the years, Asheville has been such a strong supporter of ‘local’ and people really fight for that, and it’s been rewarding to be part of the whole area’s consciousness around that movement.”
agriculture
Increasing Farm-To-Table Popularity Serves Local Restaurants Well
Inspired by his grandparents’ farm, Chef William Disson’s philosophy of using fresh, locally-sourced ingredients consistently inspires his farm-to-table menu.
For 45 years, The Market Place Restaurant and Lounge in Asheville has maintained a focus on sourcing local ingredients for its dishes. Disson, who has been its chef for 15 of those years, was told “to be the best chef, you have to use the best ingredients” in culinary school. For him, this did not translate to using ingredients like truffles and caviar, but rather to eating fresh food with a connection to the land.
Disson noticed a resurgence in community-based local sourcing in Asheville in the early 2000s. Local organizations like the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project worked hand-in-hand with farmers, restaurants, schools, and hospitals because there are many benefits to eating local. Many of the area’s great restaurants have a localsourcing mentality, which serves the entire community in one way or another.
“Eating local helps the economy because it keeps money here,” Disson said. “It helps create a vibrant community, and there’s a health aspect to it. When you’re eating fresh ingredients, your body just feels better, and the food tastes better, too.”
The blossoming tourism industry in the 2000s and the booming beer industry in the early 2010s led to an increased number of journalists in the city, all of whom were going out to eat while they were in town. Local restaurants made their way into the spotlight, and the uniquely Appalachian aspect of a multitude of farmers growing certain varieties of fruits and vegetables became popular along with them.
“People would argue about who has the best heirloom tomato or whose variety continued on next page
agriculture
of apple tastes the best,” Disson said. “That doesn’t happen in other areas of the country. If you go to the Midwest, it can be hundreds of miles of wheat, corn, or soybeans. There are no unique heirloom ingredients that have a story and a flavor all their own.”
The plethora of small specialty farms in WNC allows local chefs to source remarkable varieties of ingredients. Farms specialize in a wide-range of products, from sprouts, mushrooms, and high-end vegetables to goat cheese to trout and sausage, and conversations of upcoming menu plans often influence what farmers plan to grow. There are also local foragers who collect ramps, morels, nettles, red buds, and other seasonal wild ingredients unique to the region.
product typically means a wholesale model, in which business owners would have to compete with grower markets in places like Florida and California, and likely earn a smaller profit. Heirloom varieties, which small producers often gravitate toward, help differentiate local businesses and boost demand for their products.
Local farm-to-table restaurants typically appreciate local produce varieties, and can help create remarkable dishes for seasonal menus.
Because of the focus on seasonal availability, menus at many area restaurants vary. Some offer dishes featuring ingredients like ramp pesto in the spring then butternut squash in the winter.
“That’s another thing I love about our concept of being a farm-to-table restaurant,” Disson said. “Just like the seasons, people change throughout the year and have different wants and needs throughout the year. It’s interesting how the world changes around us if you take a second to watch. You get to change yourself and what you eat all throughout the year.”
Relationships are the Backbone of Local Farm Businesses
While the local agriculture industry faces many challenges, the variety of opportunities for businesses continues to expand with community support, education on resilience methods, and increased demand for unique produce varieties, according to Gaining Ground Farm Owner Aaron Grier.
Unlike large wholesale-only farms, many
of WNC’s farm businesses are small family-owned operations who know their customers personally. Many sell through tailgate markets once or twice per week, some have CSA programs, and some sell to several of the area’s restaurants featuring farm-to-table models.
As tourism has increased during the last 15 or so years, so has the popularity of local restaurants and markets. The trending popularity increases demand for fresh produce, which boosts business for local farms. Markets at varying elevations attract customers looking for different items at different times of the season, which supports the longevity of the market season in general.
While some local farms specialize in a specific product, others have seen the benefit of diversification.
“We have tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, beets, carrots, lettuces, and herbs,” Grier said. “It means that our risk is spread out and it can be easier to bounce back. This also means that we do not have any one big cash crop which we are known for, so it’s kind of a double-edged sword.”
Diversification helps support the ability for direct-to-consumer sales, according to Grier. Growing large amounts of one
“We’ll meet with chefs over the winter with seed catalogs,” Grier said. “Sometimes they ask for things that are impractical to grow, and sometimes certain varieties can be much easier. We build relationships with them, which depends on a lot of trust, but for many of us, that’s a big part of our businesses.”
With relationships built on good intentions, farming is a business susceptible to external factors. Weather has become an increasing concern for many in the area, and the current generation of farmers have seen monumental flooding, wind, and hail damage that older generations say they never had to deal with.
Grier said the business relationships, communities, and support organizations like ASAP regularly rally around farms damaged by weather events, and gather to discuss possibilities of becoming more resilient as these events become more common. Financial preparation and awareness of available support is imperative for farming businesses to stay afloat in the midst of potential disaster.
“It’s impossible to fight against softballsized hail or four feet of water running through your farm, but you have to have an awareness that these kinds of situations can happen,” Grier said. “There’s a lot of education on what kind of support is out there through organizations like the USDA or Farm Service Agency. It’s these little things, and also the community support, is really what seems to reliably come through and lift everyone up.”
Local chef William Dissen visits local farms for his restaurant’s ingredients.
Genetics Research Aims to Relieve Pest Pressures From WNC’s Largest Cash Crop
North Carolina’s Christmas tree industry supports about 850 growers and their businesses, employing thousands of people in the state, mostly in WNC’s High Country. These businesses account for a total annual revenue estimated between $250 million and $400 million, not including greenery production like wreaths or other products crafted from the trees.
With Christmas trees representing a significant impact on WNC’s agriculture industry, mitigating the increasing negative impact of Phytophthora root rot disease is of the utmost concern, according to NC State’s Christmas Tree Genetics Program Director Justin Whitehill.
Working with growers as well as NC Department of Agriculture’s Mountain Research Station, Whitehill takes note of arising concerns and keeps this sector’s
leaders abreast of the latest issues, which widely involve Phytophthora. Other concerns growers have shared include the prevalence of an insect called the Elongate Hemlock Scale, which causes regulatory issues for exporting trees to other states. Increasing deer populations in areas like Ashe County create problems for growers during winter months, when deer can eat new buds off multiple acres of trees.
The Christmas Tree genetics lab maintains a Frasier Fir breeding program which takes trees from the wild and searches for those which have a higher tolerance to pests and pathogens. The program works to increase tolerance among tree populations using molecular and genomics tools to enable farmers to reduce the amount of growing time while helping trees to resist damaging pests.
“Our main focus is trying to mitigate the impacts of diseases and pests because that’s becoming the primary challenge for growers,” Whitehill said. “In the late 1990s, there was only one Phytophthora species causing disease in trees. There
agriculture
were six species found in 2014, but now, that total has increased to 11 species that can cause disease, and the end result is always that the trees die.”
The best available solution is grafting young Frasier Firs with the root stock or a more resistant species from Japan. As the plant fuses together, the roots resist pests while still producing the desirable tree. Water runoff management is also an important tool in decreasing Phytophthora occurrences, especially toward the bottom of mountainsides and in valley areas which tend to have wetter soil.
Whitehill is also conducting research on the Japanese species to understand its resistance with a hope of discovering genetic information that could be translated into Frasier Firs. As Japan is very strict on exportation of plant material, the potential ability to edit the DNA in the States could be impactful to the industry.
“It takes 25 to 30 years to get one rotation of genetic improvement because with the biology of conifers, that’s how long it takes to produce cones and pollen,” Whitehill said. “We’re trying to speed up that process using genomic tools to predict how the trees will perform in the field by looking at their DNA. There are also possibilities of propagating thousands of trees in a petri dish with prescreened genetics. The only route to save the species from the disease is probably finding something to put into its DNA to protect it, and we’ve got to protect this industry in North Carolina.”
WNC’s Christmas Tree Industry Notoriety Helps Balance Inflation Costs
Cline Church Nursery Owner Amber Scott said Whitehill’s genetics research, along with the NC Department of Agriculture and NC State University are an important piece of WNC’s Christmas tree industry.
Fraser fir Christmas trees killed by Phytophthora root rot disease at the Upper Mountain Research station in Ashe County. continued on next page
“We all work in partnership, and that’s been a huge driver for our industry,” Scott said. “We owe a great deal of gratitude to our parents’ generation of growers for helping lobby for funds to start programs like these. North Carolina is the envy of the country when it comes to support from Extension services and the Department of Agriculture. They help us cover every aspect of the industry.”
Scott said she has experienced Phytophthora, and Whitehill’s work to address its challenges creates hope for disease resistance. A secondary concern; however, is that pest challenges are discussed in the media, where issues are portrayed in a way that looks like the disease has taken out the entire crop and industry, which is not true. Field scouting and disease management programs are in place for many tree-growing businesses, though inflation has caused pesticide, herbicide, and fertilizer costs to increase significantly.
“It’s good timing though, because demand is also high,” Scott said. “Our wholesale prices have also increased, which helps, but there are other production challenges as well.”
North Carolina is one of the top five states leveraging the H2A program, which allocates visas for migrant laborers. As minimum wage for these laborers has increased to $15.81, in addition to supplying housing and transportation, labor is the largest expense of most farms.
Even with this program, availability of labor is a continued challenge. With 14,000 acres of trees in production in Ashe County alone, an estimated 24 million individual trees, finding enough labor to support the seasonal need of the sector is difficult.
“Make no mistake, these laborers are not taking local jobs,” Scott said. “It’s a matter of thousands of extra people that come into just the High Country during harvesting season. With Ashe County’s year-round population of 30,000 people, there are not 6,000 extra workers waiting
to fill these seasonal positions.”
Regulatory matters for migrant laborers cause concern for many farming businesses. During the last several years, visa delays translate to delays in planting or harvesting. Significant delays have the potential to put the entire season in jeopardy for many tree farms.
Despite multiple industry challenges, NC’s popularity as a source for quality Frasier Fir Christmas trees is growing. The National Christmas Tree Association, responsible for selecting the White House’s annual Christmas tree, has selected a WNCgrown tree as the competition’s winner multiple times.
“It’s a big deal and a huge honor,” Scott said. “It brings attention to our county and our industry, and as an integral industry to
all of Western North Carolina, this helps to put us on the map.”
Inviting Visitors Transitions a Culinary Farm to a Thriving Agritourism Business
Agritourism is an increasingly important aspect of the region’s agricultural business landscape. Increasing consumer demand, tourism popularity, and the need to diversify offerings to widen profit margins can all be addressed with variations of agritourism.
Good Ashe Lavender Farm Owner David Norman purchased the former Christmas tree farm from property owners who leased the land to commercial tree growers. Noticing a field full of people
Visitors at a U-Pick day at Good Ashe Lavender Farm. Photo Credit David Norman.
spraying pesticides and connecting that to their drinking water source, a conversation between Norman and the operator led to the depletion of trees as well as research for a potential cash crop that would not require such heavy pesticide application.
“We considered nut trees, hemp, and peach trees, but realized many of those options would require many years of growth before there would be a possible profit,” Norman said. “I remembered one of my trips as a professional photographer. If you know Provence and you know lavender, well, there you go.”
Being visually appealing, fast-growing, and deer resistant, it was decided that lavender would make a suitable choice to replace the tree farm. Needing few supplements for desirable growth — no soil additions, no amendments, and no fertilizer — lavender also offers a variety of uses for a variety of customers who make products including baked goods and hard ciders.
Lavender blooms only for a short period of time during the year. With about 2,000 plants blooming at once, and no other lavender farms in the area, individuals began to take notice of the dramatic display of purple.
When Norman relocated to the WNC area, his intention was not to purchase a farm; the opportunity to purchase a large property happened “quite by accident.” After he and his wife began the lavender farm, noticed public interest, and recognized they were producing more than they could handle harvesting alone, they realized opening an agritourism avenue could be beneficial.
“Our biggest users are now people who want to participate in U-pick days in late June through early July,” Norman said. “We open our farm to the public on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. We were more of a specialty culinary farm more than anything else, but moving into our fifth season of U-pick, it’s blown me away. People have
visited from areas like Charlotte and Raleigh just to come pick lavender.”
The agritourism portion of the business began somewhat spontaneously without much advertising or marketing. Gaining popularity quickly, Norman revamped an old tobacco barn into a pavilion. They’ve added a bathroom, a public kitchenette, and a space for drying lavender bundles, and have hosted small events on their property.
Using only social media to announce U-pick days, the farm attracts about 100 people daily during the season. Good Ashe is a certified naturally-grown farm, and their name and information does appear on that organization’s website. These listed farms are certified ‘naturallygrown’ by other farmers, and the majority of them are operating with similar models
agriculture
leveraging tourism in their business.
“Most everybody we know in our network is open to the public,” Norman said. “People we know have visited us and converted their farms into event spaces or as a place for people to come cut their own vegetables or flowers. They’re making a heck of a business out of that.”
Agritourism has become the most fun part of the business, according to Norman. Engaging with people from around the region and the state and having conversations about them, where they’re from, and how they plan to use their lavender helps diversify their work while adding a social aspect to their summer season. He said he would recommend agritourism to anyone in the industry.
COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL ROOFING EXPERTS
Big Guns Coffee get to know
A Young Girl’s Coffee Dream Blossoms into Revolutionary Farming Movement
Leveraging an opportunity with Isothermal Community College’s business incubator program has allowed the Johnsons to subsidize upfront costs including space, utilities, and lighting. Their research and development department is testing different coffee varieties, and in the meantime, they are expecting about 100 pounds of coffee from their initial harvest. The bigger vision involves selling and consulting on the concept and the process.
Merely six years old at the time, Charli Johnson expressed to her father her desire to start a coffee business. Accepting the challenge, her father, T.Shane Johnson, told her if she came up with a name and a logo, they would work together to make it happen. Sure enough, she created the brand idea of Big Guns Coffee that same day.
The inspiration behind Charli’s dream stemmed from her father’s strength. A military veteran, he achieved world records for pushups and participated in runs across America. Charlie wanted people to feel empowered, just as her father did during those intense workouts, and she believed coffee could be the conduit.
Having written multiple books, including Done by 2:30 focusing on work-life balance and the importance of fathers’ relationships with their children, T.Shane Johnson and his daughter opened the Big Guns Coffee shop. Once they were in business, they realized that despite coffee being the second most consumed beverage in the United States, its origins remain widely unknown by drinkers. This realization prompted the father-daughter team to embark on a mission to educate people about the journey from bean to cup. At a visit to Frontline to Farm, a program for disabled veterans by Appalachian State
University, Johnson met another veteran who worked with hydroponics. After extensively “picking his brain” as well as doing his own research, Johnson and his daughter took an entrepreneurial gamble and developed a hydroponic system for growing coffee.
“I took every bit of savings I had and dumped it into the project,” T.Shane Johnson said. “We failed a lot and learned a lot. It may not have been the best way to go about it, but we did it, and now we are growing coffee indoors.”
Their coffee shop serves as an educational platform to showcase the hydroponic system they developed, explaining the trees, cherries, and growing process to visitors. Their vision is to occupy empty warehouses to produce high-quality indoor coffee.
“We hope to create some kind of economic development opportunity out of this system,” T.Shane Johnson said. “Farmers deal with a lot of challenges. This type of farming can lead to more jobs right here, and we’re not going to turn them into tech geeks overnight because that’s not the aspect of farming they love, but it’s possible to attract a new generation of farmers who can allow people to combine technology to create easier work and potentially better-paying jobs.”
“The idea is to come to farmers who want to continue farming, but for whatever reason, cannot continue with their original product,” T.Shane Johnson said. “They can transition into hydroponically-grown coffee, allowing them to continue growing their business and farming tradition. We want to maintain the integrity of small town America by helping farmers generate enough revenue to have a decent quality of life in today’s society.
“It’s also about maintaining the integrity of dreaming big right now,” T.Shane Johnson said. “It shows how far we are willing to go, not only to educate people about coffee and farming, but more importantly about the relationship with a young girl who decides to dream. If we can support and get behind this as a priority as parents and listen more as students than teachers, it can create a paradigm shift in the world.”
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Owned by nine-year-old Charli Johnson and her father T.Shane Johnson, Big Guns Coffee in Tryon operates a coffee shop and North Carolina’s first hydroponically-grown coffee farm. Learn more at BigGunsCoffee.com.
it’s my job
Sally Dixon
Extension Director, Haywood County Cooperative Extension
Working at Haywood County’s Cooperative Extension office is a natural fit for Sally Dixon and her career path.
Growing up as a 4-H member in Haywood County, Dixon spent a lot of time at the Extension office from second grade all the way through high school and early in college. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science and a master’s degree in Agricultural Leadership, she became a 4-H agent with the Eastern Band of Cherokee and enjoyed that position for five years.
When Haywood County’s previous Extension Director planned to retire, people suggested Dixon apply for the position. In May of 2022, she was appointed new County Extension Director.
“I have been really fortunate to have two different really cool jobs with one organization,” Dixon said.
Much of Dixon’s 4-H work was in youth development and revolved around traditional food ways and indigenous food systems. This transposed well to much of
the work she does for Haywood County, which is agriculturally-focused community development. She works with local farmers to boost their presence in markets with efforts to collaboratively build a better food system, one that ensures the county maintains a robust agriculture industry despite developmental pressures.
“Extension revolves around two big things — food and community development,” Dixon said. “We like to say we grow North Carolina with Extension because we help people grow food, but we also grow community citizens and youth leaders. There’s a lot more than just farmer technical assistance; we do a lot to build capacity as well.”
In addition to assisting with the basics of farming, Dixon works to provide business support to agricultural companies of any size, helps businesses incorporate aspects of agritourism into their models, aids in legal liability understanding, and helps farmers get their products into local restaurants. She also serves home gardeners and home cooks with technical assistance.
Part of Dixon’s community development is focused on providing agriculturallyrelated education with a goal of keeping food and value-added products local. From the nutritional value of cooking and eating local foods to the economic benefits of keeping farmlands in the County, she hopes to help farmers localize sales by removing the middleman, allowing them to make more money and raise demand for their products, helping to insulate them from development pressures.
With their needs-based programming, services vary from county to county across
the state. In WNC and Haywood County specifically, a large effort is on fortifying local markets, increasing capacity for direct-to-consumer sales, and creating multiple avenues for agritourism.
“We are trying to reframe conceptions of what agriculture businesses have to look like,” Dixon said. “We’re debunking myths about purchasing from farmers markets by providing pricing reports to consumers, providing as many resources as we can to farmers, and building connections to make sure they’re successful. Getting more people to eat more local food helps to keep them in the game.”
While supporting an entire industry, Dixon finds her job incredibly rewarding. She maintains flexibility and is there for the people that need her services. From working with fourth graders in 4-H programs providing memorable experiences like milking a cow, to helping farm staff identify reasons crops may not be thriving, to providing additional outlets for businesses, she gets to do things that make a difference for others.
“It’s nice to see that what we are doing is helping to preserve agriculture here,” Dixon said. “Buying local food insulates local farmland, keeps it in production, and keeps people eating healthier. Our agricultural heritage has to coexist with our tourism economy, and there have been multiple wins with this trend. It feels good to support that.”
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Sally Dixon is the County Extension Director for Haywood County’s NC Cooperative Extension. Learn more at Haywood.CES.NCSU.edu.
Manufacturing & Technology industry spotlight
As the integration of innavative technologies gains momentum across manufacturing enterprises and processes, the concurrent growth of these sectors acts as a driving force for the region’s economic vitality.
Manufacturing
According to Riverbird Research, the number of jobs in the region’s manufacturing industry decreased during the five-year span between 2019 and 2024.
Though the 2% decrease in the number of jobs in an 18-county region of WNC lagged behind the state’s growth of 1%, the number of industry jobs in the region is 21% higher than the national average. The total of 35,481 jobs were supported by 1,016 payrolled business locations and earned an average annual salary of $73,100 excluding supplements.
The highest concentration of reported jobs occurred in Buncombe County which supported 13,897 manufacturing jobs, followed by Henderson County which supported 5,717 of these jobs.
Technology
According to Riverbird Research, the number of jobs in the region’s technology industry increased during the five-year span between 2019 and 2024.
Despite the 19% increase in the number of jobs in an 18-county region of WNC, the region’s employment growth was not
as fast as the state’s overall rate of 28%.
The region still reports 45% fewer jobs in this sector than the national average.
The total of 13,587 jobs were supported by 3,936 payrolled business locations and earned an average annual salary of $83,425, excluding supplements.
The highest concentration of reported jobs occurred in Buncombe County, which supported 6,817 technology jobs, followed by Henderson and Macon Counties, which supported 1,532 and 1,088 of these jobs, respectively.
Enka maintenance crew from 1930 and current Freudenberg factory and staff at the historic mill site.
Best Practices for Growing Manufacturing in North Carolina
In May, the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership at NC State University collaborated to produce a report highlighting the Best Practices for Growing Manufacturing in North Carolina.
The manufacturing industry has historically served as a significant portion of the state’s economy. The report said in 1994, manufacturing accounted for one-fourth of all jobs and one-third of private GDP in the state. In the wake of globalization and rapidly-changing technology and automation, the industry has since experienced the loss of thousands of jobs.
According to the report, the integration of “Industry 4.0” technologies offer opportunities to revitalize and grow manufacturing in NC into the future. This “technology revolution” represents the increasing combination of technology and manufacturing with advancements in areas like robotics, AI, 3D printing, virtual reality, and other processes manufacturers are implementing into their production practices.
Providing assistance to manufacturing companies, especially small- and medium-sized businesses, in adopting these technologies will help sustain their competitiveness in the global market. The state hopes to foster investments, offer hands-on experience through demonstration centers, and bolster cybersecurity among other strategies to support this technological implementation.
This creates a necessity for an increasing talent pool suited to the jobs created by this growing tech/manufacturing blend. Fostering education and industry partnerships, ensuring school curriculums align with the needs of employers, and expanding apprenticeship and work-
based learning programs, in addition to up-skilling the current workforce, will be necessary for ensuring companies have the ability to keep pace with these advancements.
Integral to the entirety of the industry, manufacturing’s startups and small businesses must also receive support enabling them to flourish. Financial and technical support, access to modern tools and infrastructure, and developing a network of mentors to help navigate changes while scaling can remove barriers to growth for these businesses.
Fortifying supply chains within the state will also be instrumental for manufacturing’s resilience. The state’s report suggests the development of local supply chains and the encouragement of manufacturers to source materials from within NC will not only support local businesses, but encourage foreign investments. This practice will also reduce vulnerabilities to supply-chain disruptions and encourage more B2B collaboration within the state.
The report concludes: “By adopting a proactive stance, committing to comprehensive and actionable strategies, and securing the necessary resources for implementation, the state can ensure its manufacturing sector thrives. This will not only bolster North Carolina’s economic development but also secure its place as a leader in the next era of manufacturing innovation.”
Source: Best Practices for Growing Manufacturing in North Carolina; Essentials for Success in Industry 4.0 by the NC Department of Commerce and the NC Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Asheville-Buncombe County Economic Development Coalition Nurtures
Manufacturing Industry Growth
continued on next page
(NAICS 31-33)
36,320 Jobs in 2019
35,481 Jobs in 2024
49% Job Growth -839
2019-2024 Change in Jobs
$73,100
2023 Average Annual Wage Excluding supplements
3,936
Payrolled Business Locations
There were 21% more jobs in this sector when compared to the national average.
‘2019-2024 employment loss of 2% lagged the state’s overall growth of 1%.
Self-employed jobs are excluded from these estimates.
NAICS refers to the North American Industry Classification System.
Source: Compiled by Riverbird Research with Lightcast 2024.1
manufacturing & technology
Operating under the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, the AshevilleBuncombe County Economic Development Coalition supports the area’s existing manufacturing industry by working with advanced manufacturing companies.
Director of Industry Services Ashely Swanger said there are about 360 companies in the county that consider themselves within the manufacturing industry, from large corporations like Pratt & Whitney with hundreds of employees to many smaller companies operating with teams of 10 to 20 employees. The EDC works to support all of these companies who are making a wide variety of products, connecting them to resources and assisting with workforce needs.
After coming out of “crisis mode” during the height of COVID, Swanger said most leaders in this industry seem to have
settled back into their regular routines. While employees seem to be working for longer terms, many employers’ focus has become staying connected to future workforce pipelines.
“They’re considering how to engage with students from high schools, community colleges, and universities as well as increasing engagement with underrepresented demographics in the community to help find career paths for people,” Swanger said. “They are now able to do more future planning instead of putting out fires.”
In addition to seeking future talent, many companies are working to retain their incoming and existing workforce. Companies are showing people the opportunity for a prolonged career path that is more than just a job. They are helping with education via offers like
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tuition reimbursement, allowing people to work while pursuing their degree or certificate, and training internally for higher-level positions. Some even offer options for employee childcare support.
The Mountain Area Workforce Development Board, a partnership of private business executives and the leading workforce development organizations in Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania Counties, is also helping support manufacturing workforce growth. They coordinate programs focused on eliminating barriers to employment, and manufacturing is often a good fit for the programs’ participants.
Working closely with Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s workforce development team, Swanger helps keep manufacturing companies informed about potential customized training programs, which can support both existing and incoming manufacturing companies.
“We also work to build a sense of community,” Swanger said. “We meet at different manufacturing locations to host a quarterly sustainability council event. This allows a chance for networking and for people to ‘talk shop’ about things like best practices, ways to recycle, how to evaluate waste streams, as well as discuss employee development.”
Other trends Swanger is noticing include considerations for growth planning. Expansion can be challenging when looking for commercial property, as there is not much flat land available. When the EDC does hear of space becoming available, they do their best to let companies know right away. Commercial property information also appears on their website. Other growth solutions that leadership teams of many companies are considering include automation complementary to their existing workforce and investing in technology to help people work more efficiently.
“It will be interesting to see how companies incorporate ways to be
flexible that may not be the way people have traditionally seen manufacturing,” Swanger said. “The narrative is changing around what workers actually do, what opportunities are out there, and how companies are collaborating with one another. The entrepreneurial spirit carries the community — a unique attribute of this area regardless of the types of work or size of the company. This is a place where people want to be, and it helps to have so many different ideas and experiences being brought to the region.”
A Century of Textile Tradition and Technological Advancement in WNC
The history of textile manufacturing in the Western North Carolina region spans more than 100 years. Eerst Nederlandsche
Kunstzijdekfabriek Arnhem, or American Enka, has been manufacturing textile products in WNC since 1929.
When the Dutch company came to the area, they invested millions of dollars in infrastructure, and created thousands of jobs — 600 people were hired in the construction phase alone — reaching a staff of 3,000 people with annual payroll around $5 million by 1940. With such a significant employee base, the surrounding community of Enka, named after the factory, was flourishing.
During World War II, they were asked by the federal government to produce items for military efforts including uniforms, parachutes, bandages, and more, similar to products currently produced by Mills Manufacturing in Woodfin.
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(NAICS 31-33)
36,320 Jobs in 2019
35,481 Jobs in 2024 49% Job Growth -839 2019-2024 Change in Jobs $73,100
2023 Average Annual Wage Excluding supplements
3,936 Payrolled Business Locations
There were 21% more jobs in this sector when compared to the national average.
‘2019-2024 employment loss of 2% lagged the state’s overall growth of 1%.
Self-employed jobs are excluded from these estimates.
NAICS refers to the North American Industry
manufacturing & technology
Today, the same plant, acquired by Freudenberg Performance Materials, manufactures construction, engineering, and technical textiles used in a variety of applications. According to Marketing and Communications Manager Carrie Smith, their products are included in green roofs, civil engineering projects, and for sound absorption and filtration.
“We’re seeing a lot of growth projected for the next five years, especially in building and construction,” Smith said. “We serve several different markets. While that sector is projected to grow, the supply and demand in the vehicle market is projected to go down. The positive thing is that what they’re making in Asheville is projected to keep up with US demand, so here, manufacturing of those products is projected to continue increasing.”
With the population increasing rapidly in WNC, non-woven textiles used in construction will continue to be in demand. Large producers of carpeting like Mohawk Industries will continue to use the non-woven textile products made by these companies, as local construction companies work to meet housing demands in the area.
Other companies in and around Buncombe County continue the regional tradition of textile manufacturing. Companies like Spiritex, Valiant, Glatfelter, Sew Co., and more produce a variety of textiles, and others, like the historic Beacon Blanket mill, are currently being repurposed to continue manufacturing products for a variety of sectors.
With a nod to the area’s textile tradition as well as a focus on the region’s outdoor recreation industry, companies like Diamond Brand Gear and Eagles Nest Outfitters currently manufacture textile products like tents and hammocks used by outdoor enthusiasts all over the world. This type of manufacturing supports a plethora of applications in use across the globe, but working for these types of businesses has become something of a hometown tradition for residents of WNC communities.
For several current Freudenberg employees, the experience of working at the same place their grandparents once did brings a bit of nostalgia and additional interest in the work being done at this site, according to Smith. She said the people
have always been prioritized here, and a uniquely tight-knit community exists in Enka’s factory.
“It’s a little bit different than what they have in places like Durham,” Smith said. “It just has a nice, cheerful kind of feeling about it. These people take a lot of pride in working at this 100-year-old plant in a sector that has been prominent for a century. Combine that with the family tradition aspect, and it creates something really special.”
Revitalizing Beacon Blanket Mill to Create a Hub of Manufacturing and Community
Once the largest blanket manufacturing facility in the world, the former site of the Beacon Blanket Mill in Swannanoa holds a revitalized vision for WNC’s community.
The 40+ acre site was purchased in 2019 by co-founders of Quility and Symmetry, Meridith Ellison, Brandon Ellison, and Casey Watkins, along with Jon Sarver, owner of Sarver Realty Group, with the intention of creating a headquarters for their businesses. As with many business owners’ plans during 2019 and 2020, COVID was a catalyst for shifting goals and missions.
Taking their time in deciding their approach to the project, Meridith Ellison and the team dove deep into purpose work and getting quiet with the land to determine exactly what they wanted their results to be. They thought about what it means to have a community, and a big component of that is having places for people to work that pay a living wage and treat their employees well. It also means having mixed-use spaces that can offer housing, recreation, and walkability in a safe space.
The partnership decided to begin the site’s revitalization by creating a park; a place for the community to play and be in nature together, with a nod to the region’s thriving
Phase one of the Beacon Village site plan, courtesy of Find The Line Studios.
outdoor recreation industry. The highlight of the park will be what Velosolutions said is one of, if not, the largest bike park of its kind in the Americas — a pump track with a paved surface alongside a variety of other tracks.
For more than just bikes, the tracks offer places to ride skateboards, scooters, adaptive wheelchairs, and more. This park will also offer courses that simulate trail riding in the mountains with jumps and other features. In addition, there will be a one-mile walking track around the whole property and a lawn for picnics and games and hosting activities such as concerts and movie nights.
“We want to start with the landscape component versus ending with that,” Ellison said. “That is one of our differentiators — starting with the end in mind.”
manufacturing & technology
“We want this to be a place people want to come to, including us,” Watkins said. “This is our home. This is where we work. This is where our headquarters is located. We want it to be enjoyable, and we want to share that with everyone.”
As the Beacon Blanket Mill was once home to more than 4,000 employees, manufacturing was the center of the community for many years. The partners have ties with this tradition, as some of their grandparents were mill employees, and many of the existing community members have ties to the old factory as well.
The project focuses on building community by creating spaces for manufacturing businesses to call home. While there is 100,000 square feet of space in the 10acre manufacturing site, there will not be thousands of employees here in the
future due to site constraints. However, the opportunity for entrepreneurial manufacturing to take advantage of these smaller industrial spaces is significant. As outdoor recreation is a function of the property, the space aligns well with outdoor gear production, though the property is not exclusive to that sector.
“The idea is to have many different types of users,” Server said. “Some larger and some smaller users can come together and share amenities, loading docks, and things like that, but it’s hard to say what the final mix or headcount will be. As we are all very entrepreneurial, we love the idea of this place becoming a launchpad for businesses to hatch and grow.”
With the mill site strategically located about two minutes from the interstate, the partnership is hopeful the prime location
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manufacturing & technology
will be attractive to companies as a center for manufacturing and employment. As the former mill also developed Beacon Villages surrounding the 40-acre site as housing for their employees, the current partnership envisions a new version of a town in Swannanoa as well.
Ellison, Sarver, and Watkins all agree the deep dive into the purpose discovery work in the planning stages of this revitalization project was of the utmost importance, and helped drive the direction and mission of the project.
“This is a business opportunity, but also a community opportunity,” Sarver said.
Ellison agreed. “I would encourage people that are developing land, space, and businesses to stop at the very beginning phases and do this deeper work to find what is truly their purpose and intended results, and then work from there. It is possible to discover a way to take care of our community, our environment, and to earn a purposeful profit in business all at the same time if people think about it a little differently.”
New Technology Developed in WNC Could Significantly Impact Clean Energy Providers
While designs of motors and generators have remained largely the same since the mid-1800s, a local inventor and entrepreneur duo, Dr. Tony Iacovelli and Michael Shore, created a startup business while working to patent technology that has the potential to revolutionize the clean energy industry.
While installing a wind turbine on his farm in Leicester in 2014, Iacovelli contemplated how these turbines are efficient in a very narrow window of wind speed, despite wind speed being highly variable. He developed an innovative technology that would instead enable a wind turbine to more efficiently harvest energy across a wider range of wind speeds. Reviewing the
concept for several years, he partnered with Asheville clean energy entrepreneur Shore to create NextPower 360 in 2022.
Generators inside hydrological dams or coal-fired power plants receive steady input streams to produce energy. These generators are very efficient inside of a steady stream, and so far, generators in wind turbines have operated in the same way. This means periods of low or high winds often leave a huge reservoir of untapped energy potential behind, and the technology developed by NextPower 360 creates the ability to capture energy during those times.
Using the same materials as conventional generators, internal magnets were reconfigured to create stronger magnetic fields and induce more current. This new technology is currently being developed for wind turbines, and can also apply to electric vehicles and potentially to other applications of motors and generators. Currently in the research and development phase, Iacovelli’s concepts are already impressing investors and industry leaders. Local angel investors have helped the company raise money to develop dozens of prototypes to optimize the design, and the goal is to continue fundraising to hire more technicians and an engineer and move into a more sophisticated lab space. While troubleshooting challenges to create the final design, they are executing an aggressive patent strategy.
wind industry. Wind and solar energy production used to be significantly more expensive than other energy sources, but that is no longer the case.
“In the last 15 years, the energy sector has been flipped on its head,” Shore said. “Nobody in the United States is building new coal plants. Now, wind and solar are the most cost-effective, and natural gas is close to those. Nuclear is significantly more costly than the other three, so we have a tremendous alignment on what is good for climate change also being good for economics.”
“Everyone who we engage in conversations about the technology is very impressed,” Shore said. “We are building the prototypes as well as computer models so we can test some of the things through computer simulations, so it’s all a slow process, but everybody’s rooting for us and excited to see what we come up with.”
Having had conversations with leaders at General Electric, Siemens, and others in the clean energy ecosystem, Iacovelli and Shore understand that there is currently a large amount of development in the
This new technology offers generators comprising many fewer parts, leading to less maintenance for wind turbines. It has the potential to increase energy output from a wind farm by 20% while also reducing maintenance costs by 20%, which offers compelling bottom-line benefits for producers.
An additional benefit for increased efficiency and cost-effectiveness is the ability to bring turbines closer to where the electricity demand is. Currently, turbines are located in the windiest places in the United States, but if producers can place turbines nearer to cities, the expense
Prepping for server repair at Google’s data center in Lenoir.
of infrastructure, transmission, and other associated costs within wind farm development could be reduced.
Headquartered in Asheville, Shore said WNC is an area that is extremely supportive of these types of startup companies, and host to an incredible community of employees. In the coming months, decisions will need to be made on where and how to make and assemble these generators, and the company also understands the region is great for manufacturing.
“We have a very committed and capable workforce that we are able to tap into here,” Shore said. “It’s a profound innovation that could lead to a huge technology revolution. The group of people helping to make this company happen is a great foundation for us, and a community that is supportive of the work we are doing
manufacturing & technology
makes a big difference.”
Lenoir Data Center Supports Worldwide Internet Capabilities
Constructed in 2007, Google’s Lenoir data center campus began with an investment of $1.2 billion in the facility, and creation of more than 250 jobs in Western North Carolina.
The Lenoir data center helps power the digital services on which people and businesses rely, and helps keep the internet up and running around the clock and around the world, according to Lilyn Hester, Google’s Head of External Affairs for the Southeast.
The data center employees support the infrastructure that makes applications
like Google Cloud, Workspace (including Gmail, Docs, Sheets and more) and Google Search fast and reliable. The services provided by the Lenoir data center team help people advance their careers and pursue new opportunities by making digital skills accessible to everyone.
In 2023 alone, Google helped provide $12.22 billion in economic activity for North Carolina businesses, nonprofits, publishers, creators, and developers by use of Google’s free tools to receive phone calls, bookings, reviews, requests for directions, or other direct connections to their customers. The Google Ad Grants program facilitated $18.5 million in donated search ads to nonprofits across the state.
Looking to the future, the data center continued on next page
manufacturing & technology
will continue to support applications that enhance small business resiliency through free and low-cost digital tools – including those powered by artificial intelligence –which are essential resources to address challenges, enhance efficiency, and position businesses for success.
Since 2015, Google’s commitment to new energy has led to an investment of $340 million in new energy infrastructure in the state. As a company, Google is working toward a 24/7 carbon-free future for all data centers and campuses worldwide by 2030. To support this ambition, opportunities to bring new, clean energy to Google’s grids continue to be explored.
Technology’s Evolution and Potential Future AI Impact
Fascinated by computers since his Army experience in the mid-1980s, Julio Barros is now an AI engineer and advisor coordinating a regional ‘AI in Production’ conference for July of 2024.
What we now call AI was formerly referred to as “machine learning,” and has been around for about 60 years. Back then, a group of computer scientists gathered to discover how it works and what it can do, and according to Barros, scientists have been working on it ever since.
Over the years, the definition of AI has meant different things. Some AI abilities like spell- and grammar-checkers were once a big innovation, and are now woven into daily life for just about everyone.
Recently, and largely referring to generative aspects, Barros believes the definition of AI is much bigger than that. It includes a lot of planning, optimization, logic, and more sub-disciplines, some with an emphasis on helping computers make decisions with imperfect information.
“The real strengths of the generative aspect of AI are language models and their ability to transform information,” Barros said. “It can be a great way to summarize notes or pull out points to highlight. It
mainly affects the text and image portion of a business, and every business has those parts incorporated into it.”
This type of technology can be useful to businesses in any sector, but are more practical in some areas than others. Clearly, AI cannot be used in addressing any physical work that needs to be done. It can go a long way in helping companies better understand patterns of invoices and inventory, forecast a variety of data sets, and process user requests in marketing, sales, and customer support departments. It can now be easily used in generating messaging towards consumers and target markets.
The current number one use of AI in business is developing new software codes. Even if the generated code is not perfect, it helps projects move along faster, though not all computer programmers would agree, according to Barros. Other popular uses include the automation of customer support as well as helping staff find answers to questions in document sets without using specific keywords.
“AI is getting really good at trying to understand what a human is asking for and trying to find where in the documentation that answer may be,” Barros said. “Whether businesses expose that to their customers, to the public, or use it for internal support, the ability to find answers to questions really quickly can be very useful.”
While these systems are powerful, Barros believes many are not yet being used to their full potential. Some people criticize generative technology because answers generated are not always correct. This can cause frustration for those expecting only correct responses, but it can be helpful if users can utilize select generated information to spark additional ideas and questions.
Computer scientists are continuing to figure out how to combine multiple types of AI systems and encourage more reasoning abilities for users to get more out of these
tools. While these may not be incorporated by all types of businesses, those on the cutting edge will likely work with these more advanced systems in the near future.
Right now, many AI users are asking basic questions without realizing less helpful answers can be augmented. Answers may be mediocre because they are reproductions of the average answers to these questions, but a human can ask for the answer to be reframed.
“You can ask AI to make an answer shorter, funnier, for adults only, or whatever you want it to be,” Barros said. “The more you ask for and the more specific you get, the better your answer will be. You can ask it to help in brainstorming and creating plans, and you can chain these things together to come up with a list of things to do, start addressing these items, and actually accomplish them. This will likely become a more popular and more useful part of business because it can process full plans in multiple stages, then people can loop back and adjust accordingly.”
The wide variety of uses and so many possibilities may seem like added complications, but Barros said it can simplify some operations allowing businesses to do more. Creating efficiencies can lend itself to increasing capacity and goals, but should simplify operations in the long run as people become more familiar with all the different capabilities.
“There are so many use cases in so many specifications, it’s hard to say where AI will go,” Barros said. “By becoming familiar with the current tools and what they can and cannot do, as different tools come out, it can become easier to integrate into your life, and you’ll be in better shape to really take advantage of it.”
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get to know Meet the Geeks
Bridging Tech Talent and Opportunities in Asheville’s Tech Community
Active since 2005, Meet the Geeks is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help connect local companies with tech talent in an effort to foster local hiring, according to Board President Chris Burton.
Meeting every other month, about 60 to 70 individuals, about half of whom are looking for work and half looking for talent, convene at a local brewery. These meetings are open to anyone interested in conversations about the local technology scene. A typical meeting consists of 10 to 15 minutes of announcements, followed by networking opportunities and pizza provided by various local sponsors like the Carolina Cyber Center at Montreat College.
In addition to six annual gatherings, Meet the Geeks launched several initiatives to support those in the area’s tech field. The group is adding on Make the Geeks, which supports building a career pathway in collaboration with local tech companies who share what skills incoming talent is expected to have for roles that are becoming available.
“Tech is a huge field; it’s massive,” Burton said. “This prevents those looking for work from having to guess what types of expertise companies are looking for. We’re going to lay it all out there for them. With so many career pathways available, this can be extremely helpful to those starting out in tech.”
The group received a grant for creating an internship program which aims to bridge the gap between college graduates looking to get their foot in the door and companies seeking talent with experience. The goal is to provide companies with the grant money to pay new interns while they gain experience needed for future roles, hopefully within the same company.
Meet the Geeks has other programs, including a device refurbishment program. Volunteers assist the organization in refurbishing laptops and other devices that would otherwise be thrown away, but can be used by nonprofit organizations or education centers in the community.
There is also an IT Bootcamp during the summer which has a curated set of online courses and lab sessions taught by experts in the community.
“Some of the mentors in the lab are the hiring members of the community,” Burton said. “It’s a very valuable program that can allow people to ask questions or even get their first IT job. It’s all about making connections.”
With many conversations around machine learning and AI, Burton said some in the tech community have expressed concern around career paths and what jobs are going to exist as these new technologies grow. With constant conversations in the area’s tech industry, he believes it is
important for people in this field to keep skills fresh, and hopes Meet the Geeks can help with that.
Spanning a variety of industries and companies of all sizes, tech talent is still in high demand. Meet the Geeks groups are host to local companies who still need regular IT talent as well as people who have been working remotely looking to return to an office setting, people making career changes, and those breaking into the industry.
With a good balance of incoming talent and companies seeking that talent, connections and education fostered by Meet the Geeks assists in linking people with complementary careers. By partnering with area organizations like the Mountain Area Workforce Development Board and A-B Tech as well as participating in local AI conferences, he hopes to grow the organization and, in turn, help more people find the next step in their career while leveraging their skills and working in their passion.
“Western North Carolina is an interesting microcosm,” Burton said. “Some companies creating tech products exist, but those are still rare. The area’s larger companies like Ingles or Aeroflow are always looking for talent to help with development and data analysis. We encourage anyone who wishes to learn more, grow, or change their career to come to our meetings, and we’ll do our best to help them find what they’re looking for along their tech journey.”
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Meet The Geeks is an innovative tech networking community in the Asheville area. Learn more at MeetTheGeeks.net.
it’s my job
Alan Nehemy
and work across multiple industries.
After attending engineering school at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Nehemy worked as a consultant for IBM before earning a master’s degree in sustainable engineering at Politecnico di Milano in Italy. He moved to the United States to earn a masters in mechanical engineering from the University of Central Florida before moving to Asheville to work at Innovative Solar Systems.
Working in solar, Nehemy worked in and developed multiple key business functions including operations, finance, IT, sales, and marketing. As the company grew from two to 25 employees in only two years, he felt accomplished and became eager for his next career challenge.
Having met an acquaintance who worked at System Logistics, he was able to get his foot in the door implementing SAP® as well as designing company processes before becoming the company’s IT manager. In addition, he assisted in implementing
sustainability initiatives and helped develop new energy models, among other tasks.
With a comprehensive understanding of the company’s operations and a well-established network within the organization, Nehemy now oversees an IT team and a Health and Safety leader. He is also responsible for facilities maintenance and expansion projects and has been appointed as the Sustainability Coordinator and Data Protection Coordinator.
“I wake up early in the morning to look at the schedule for the week and for the day because there are always multiple things going on,” Nehemy said. “It helps me get an idea of the structure of my day, visibility of what is going on, and allows me to prioritize and address what needs to be addressed.”
While approaching a multitude of projects, Nehemy said he strives to maintain a certain amount of similarity in the way he approaches everything. By taking a step back from his role, he addresses each project or challenge with a consistent, systemic point of view.
“It’s not about me personally, but it’s about how my role operates to repeatedly achieve the desired results of the company,” Nehemy said.
Nehemy understands that in a corporation, there is a structure of systems and processes. This structure must be documented and evaluated in order to understand the company’s current conditions. Implementing a methodology for how he approaches certain projects, he considers how to get every step executed in a clear and efficient manner while keeping all involved parties on the
same page. This allows each step to be completed with a full understanding of the details, and makes it easier for everyone to keep the ball rolling in the right direction.
“My value is more leadership and guidance than actually performing each step,” Nehemy said. “We are part of a multinational conglomerate, and in my role, it’s important to clearly manage communications to make the most of everyone’s time and understanding.”
Balancing multiple projects and overseeing multiple teams requires a significant amount of logistics, but for Nehemy, that part comes easily. His management system allows him to keep multiple projects on task, avoiding getting bogged down by details. By not overthinking or micromanaging, he is able to keep his teams and project contractors moving along efficiently and effectively.
While managing indirect departments in a company that has grown 50% year over year, the challenge Nehemy experiences is growing his team rapidly enough to match the productivity expectations. By implementing systems, coaching his employees, and collaborating with others who support the company’s goals, he is able to leverage his resources to execute the job at hand.
“I don’t have the means to complete all of these tasks myself, but by giving others on my team the tools to perform tasks efficiently and leveraging company-wide collaboration, it makes all of these things feasible.”
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Alan Nehemy is the Director of IT, Quality, Health, Safety, and Environment at a local manufacturing facility.
Community Colleges: Building the Cyber Workforce Pipeline
By Dr. Laura B. Leatherwood
Several weeks ago at Blue Ridge Community College’s commencement ceremony, hundreds of students celebrated the completion of programs preparing them to enter diverse industry sectors ranging from healthcare to manufacturing to education and more. But graduates of one particular field of study will fill a distinctly critical need across every other professional field.
Information Technology and cybersecurity
professionals are integral to the way we do business. With the cyber landscape evolving at lightning speed, it is vital that employers and governments have qualified candidates at their fingertips. Every industry has a need for someone who can both secure and defend its technology. While a highly skilled cybersecurity workforce is essential to the protection and defense of the country, a persistent shortfall in the number of qualified
candidates nationwide has compromised the talent pipeline. According to National Cyber Director Harry Coker, Jr., in North Carolina alone, there are over 18,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions. Said differently, right now our state has more than 18,000 opportunities for rewarding, gainful employment in the respected and growing field of cyber defense. Increasingly, community colleges nationwide are being called upon to
“Information Technology and cybersecurity professionals are integral to the way we do business. With the cyber landscape evolving at lightning speed, it is vital that employers and governments have qualified candidates at their fingertips.”
meet this urgent challenge head on, and Blue Ridge Community College is no exception. Since 2022, we have served as a designated national Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education by the National Security Agency of the United States of America.
Our college is also part of the Carolina Cyber Network, a collaborative cyber workforce development initiative involving 17 higher education institutions that enrolled 2,887 cyber programs students in 2023. Within the network, Blue Ridge has the unique responsibility of providing cybersecurity training around North Carolina’s number one industry – agriculture.
“When it comes to agriculture, most people don’t immediately think about technology, but the truth is, agriculture is full of technology,” Blue Ridge Community College IT Faculty Coordinator Dan Rickert explained. “Tractors, plows, drones that spray pesticide – all of this equipment relies on satellite data and over-the-air updates to software. All of that is vulnerable and can be circumvented by the bad guys.”
In the coming year, Blue Ridge’s IT and cybersecurity students will work closely in the development of the College’s new 4,727 square foot state-of-theart greenhouse, which will be used for instruction in technology-centered agricultural methods. The greenhouse will be automated and full of sensors, which
according to IT Instructor Tonya Stephens, provides a real-world opportunity for troubleshooting and safeguarding this critical sector.
Addressing these potential vulnerabilities is an interesting assignment. Our IT students learn how to set up the hardware and software infrastructures that make computer connections happen. Students also engage in “penetration testing,” essentially attempting to hack systems in order to expose areas in need of attention. Next, the students design and implement solutions.
In addition to being critical to the safety of industry, this line of work can yield a strong financial return for those who plan to enter the field. According to ZipRecruiter, the average annual pay for the cybersecurity jobs category in North Carolina in May was $110,271 per year.
As part of North Carolina’s workforce solution, Blue Ridge Community College offers a growing array of IT programs and certificates. IT learning pathways provide students with the opportunity to earn degrees, diplomas and certificates in areas including artificial intelligence; computer programming and development; cybersecurity; network management; and support and services. For learners new to the IT field, the technical support and services pathway provides a fast “in” to the industry with many opportunities for
upward mobility.
But while technology is certainly integral to cybersecurity work, it does not define it. According to Stephens, students interested in pursuing the field can come from diverse educational backgrounds.
“One misconception that we encounter is students who think they must be very technically savvy in order to enter this field,” she said. “Our ideal candidate is really someone who likes to solve problems and who likes to learn. What we need are candidates who think creatively.”
It should come as no surprise that community colleges are serving as the tip of the spear in addressing this national security issue. Community colleges excel at merging academic learning, technical skills, innovative solutions, industry connections and hands-on applications in real-world settings. In our state’s most critical sectors, we empower individuals with knowledge and skills to enrich our communities and build a competitive workforce.
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Dr. Laura B. Leatherwood is the President of Blue Ridge Community College. Learn more at BlueRidge.edu.
wnc business partners
Understanding Your Options: A Path to Better Benefits
In the face of rising healthcare costs, the traditional route often leaves businesses grappling with escalating premiums and dissatisfied employees. It’s a challenging (and at times a vicious) cycle, but you’re not locked into it.
Leveraging my insights as a former HR professional and current Benefits Advisor, Kimmel Benefits + recently held a community event which brought together thought leaders and local businesses to discuss realistic, innovative benefit solutions that address these very challenges.
Dr. Chad Krisel of Integrative Family Medicine of Asheville, Evan Bruder, Director of Benefits at Sona Benefits, and Sean Kerschen, CFO at Kimmel & Associates shared insights that highlight a different path—one that’s already improving lives and bottom lines right here in WNC.
Each story we heard underscored a key
theme: when you have the right partners and knowledge, transitioning to more sustainable health plans isn’t just possible; it’s transformative.
“Having partners that have helped us navigate the industry has been a game changer,” Kerschen said. “We pride ourselves on having improved our employees’ lives while reducing out-ofpocket healthcare costs for our employees and their families.”
The event’s discussion showcased practical strategies our local partners already deliver for WNC employers. These cost-management levers provide employers with better control over rising prescription costs, full access to claims data, and reliable navigation support in a complex medical system.
Another key strategy is Direct Primary Care, which addresses not only cost, but also quality of care, employee engagement, and satisfaction with their healthcare providers.
Goodman CPA Founder and Owner Nate Goodman was in attendance, and emphasized the practical benefits of Direct Primary Care. “It allows us to offer premium health benefits with personalized care at an affordable cost,” he explained.
Goodman CPA not only uses DPC, but also provides accounting services for DPC practices. “DPC is a no-brainer when it comes to keeping money in your pocket.”
“It seems too good to be true,” remarked another attendee. “But we can learn from businesses that have taken the leap and are willing to share their success stories.”
As I often say, the definition of insanity in the benefits world is continuing your insurance plan with a major carrier and being surprised when premiums and deductibles keep climbing.
The insights shared at the event served as a beacon of hope for innovative business owners navigating the complex world of employee health benefits. By exploring non-traditional solutions, educating themselves, and fostering community partnerships, businesses can chart a course toward a healthier, more sustainable future for their employees and their bottom line.
As you move forward collectively and in
5 Reasons to attend the Asheville Business Summit
By Bill Gilliland
reason to come. Being a very dynamic speaker, Sugars has a knack and an ability for knowing what strategies to put in place and when to act on those strategies. With all the conflicts, the politics, and the economic ups and downs, Sugars will give you relevant, actionable strategies and tactics that you can put in place in your business today. You will leave a better manager
networking easy.
4. You’ll get access to our Sponsors and Special Offers. You’ll meet our fantastic sponsors, who are all offering special “Summit Only” opportunities. Come learn from our sponsors and take advantage of their offers on the day of the event.
Presented by ActionCOACH Business Partners, the Asheville Business Summit is the premier business growth event in Western North Carolina.
1. You’ll Learn from Expert Keynote Speakers. Brad Sugars is a lifelong entrepreneur and an expert on business growth and building wealth. He has bought businesses, sold businesses, and been the CEO of nine businesses. He founded ActionCOACH, the world’s largest business coaching enterprise-which now has more than 1,000 offices in 83 countries. But that’s just part of the
You’ll Be in a Transformational You can read a book, you can watch a YouTube video, or you can listen to a podcast, and you will get better. If you truly want to transform, you must put yourself in an environment where there’s energy, where there are other like-minded people, and where everyone is there to win. You know this intuitively. Think about a time you attended a sports event, or a concert, or a speech. The energy is different, and the overall experience is different. To be transformed, you must attend live learning events like The Asheville Business Summit.
3. You’ll Network with Like-Minded People. “Your network is your net worth.” With over 300 other businesspeople just like you, you’ll be able to find your opportunities. You’ll be able to meet that person that you’ve been trying to connect with for the last few months. This event makes
5. You’ll Get $10,000 Ideas. The fifth reason to attend is that you’ll get actionable ideas that you can implement now. After attending one of these events, one client was so excited that he called his general manager and said, “Hey, you’re coming next year because they’re giving away $10,000 ideas here.” If you want multiple $10,000 ideas, attend The Summit.
Bonus Reason: You’ll Have Fun. We’ll learn together, and we’ll have a great time doing it. It’s more effective to learn in a fun environment. We call it “Edutainment.” It’s our thing.
So come out, learn, and have some fun!
To register, go to: WNCSummit.com and click on any of the ticket buttons. We’ll see you at The Summit!
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Bill Gilliland is an entrepreneur, presenter, and the Head Coach at ActionCOACH Business Growth Partners. Learn more at BillGilliland. ActionCOACH.com.
Asheville Business Summit.
Leap of Faith
By Tyler Brown
“If you put in the time, work hard, and grow your skill set, you will continue to advance in your roles.”
Have you been dreaming of diving into a business where your passion takes the lead? It takes guts and a fearless spirit to make that leap, but the adventure is worth it. I took the plunge back in 2012, leaving a steady job in digital advertising for the call of the wild in the outdoor industry. Growing up, I was always on the water, from fishing to kayaking adventures since I was three years old. There was a restless energy inside me, unfulfilled by working behind a desk in Atlanta. I knew I wanted to do something I was truly passionate about, but I also knew it would take a leap of faith.
I leaped from Atlanta to Asheville to chase a career in the outdoor industry in one of my favorite places in the world: Western North Carolina. At that time, Legacy Paddlesports (now BIG Adventures) was relocating from Greensboro to Fletcher, and I seized the opportunity to dive in headfirst. I began by running a rotational molding oven, crafting kayaks from raw materials to finished masterpieces. It was hot and hard work, but the thrill of seeing a kayak come to life was unparalleled. From there, I ascended to a Production Supervisor, then ventured into systems work, and later, marketing. Now, here I am, going on five years as the COO at BIG Adventures, nearly twelve years to the day as I write this, having transformed my passion into a dynamic career adventure. Here are some pieces of advice from my journey to keep in mind:
■ Don’t get discouraged. You may not start where you want to, but don’t
let that dissuade you. My main goal when making the leap was not to mold kayaks but to work in a higher-level position at a paddlesports brand. If I had said no to being a molding operator, I would have missed out on critical experiences that set me up for success later on.
■ Work hard and stay focused no matter where you start in your journey. When making a leap, you have to prove yourself in a new career. Let that be a motivator. Working hard goes a long way, even while you are just learning the ropes.
■ Listen to industry experts and take advantage of every possible learning opportunity. Spend most of your time, especially early in your transition, listening and learning from others who have been in the industry longer than you. This applies both inside and outside of your organization.
■ Stay the course. There may be times during the transition that are discouraging, but know that if you put in the time, work hard, and grow your skill set, you will continue to advance in your roles.
■ Your passion will be a competitive advantage. In the corporate world, especially in the outdoor industry, there seems to be more business consolidation and acquisition by private equity groups. These groups often possess strong business
acumen but lack the passion for the outdoor industry, which is critical for success. Your passion allows you to stay on top of the market and more actively connected to the community you serve through your products.
■ Don’t let day-to-day work erode your passion. Things can get very busy, and because you are passionate about what you are doing, it is easy to become overly focused. Make sure to take time to experience what initially drew you to your new career path. Proactively look at your calendar and block out time for this. It is invaluable to reset by doing what you love.
Our extraordinary team and I have built something special here at BIG Adventures, an outdoor business steeped in the thrill of paddlesports and fishing. From manufacturing some of the best kayaks in the world with our brands (Native Watercraft, Bonafide Kayaks, Liquidlogic Kayaks, and Hurricane Kayaks) right here in North Carolina to offering a vibrant marketplace both in person and online, we’re all about the excitement of getting
How Much Should Your Business Invest in Branding and Strategy?
By John Hornsby
“The answer is nuanced, reflecting the complexity of modern business landscapes.”
In the realm of business growth and market leadership, understanding the allocation of resources towards marketing, strategy, and branding is more of an art than a science. At Hornsby Creative, we often encounter the question: If a business should invest 10% of its revenue on marketing, how much of that should be dedicated to strategy and branding? The answer is nuanced, reflecting the complexity of modern business landscapes. Here’s how to approach this crucial investment decision.
Consider Your Business Lifecycle
Early Stage & Startups: For businesses at the inception phase, investing in branding and strategy is critical. A foundational allocation of up to 15% to 20% of your marketing budget can set the stage for your identity, audience understanding, and market positioning.
Growth Phase: As your business enters a growth phase, strategic reinvestment in branding to refine and adapt your message is crucial. Around 10% to 15% of your marketing budget directed towards strategy and branding can help you scale effectively.
Maturity: Established businesses should maintain brand relevance and resonance with 5% to 10% of their marketing budget, ensuring they remain competitive and top-of-mind for their customers.
Assess Your Market and Industry
Competitive Landscapes: In highly competitive sectors, your branding and strategy investment might need to be higher to differentiate effectively.
Niche Markets: Businesses in specialized markets may focus more on deepening customer relationships with a slightly lower, yet more impactful, investment in branding.
Evaluate Branding Effectiveness
A strong, established brand might not require heavy investment, but rather strategic tweaking and consistent alignment with market trends. Conversely, a brand facing challenges or undergoing a pivot might benefit from a more substantial allocation towards rebranding and strategic redirection.
Strategic Allocation Over Fixed Percentages
At Hornsby Creative, we advocate for a strategy-first approach rather than adhering to rigid budget percentages. Here’s how to make informed decisions about your investment in branding and strategy:
1. Conduct a Brand Audit: Understand where your brand stands today – its strengths, weaknesses, and market position.
2. Define Clear Objectives: What do you want to achieve with your brand in the next year, three years, or five years?
3. Align Budget with Goals: Direct your investment towards strategic initiatives that will move the needle for your brand, whether that’s a brand refresh, a new positioning strategy, or targeted marketing campaigns.
4. Measure and Adjust: Use metrics and feedback to gauge the effectiveness of your branding efforts, adjusting your strategy and investment as needed.
Branding and strategy are not mere line items on a budget; they’re investments in your business’s growth, differentiation, and long-term success. The right amount to invest will vary, influenced by your business stage, market dynamics, and brand effectiveness. The key is to remain flexible, strategic, and intentional with your investment, ensuring it aligns with your broader business goals and market opportunities.
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John Hornsby is the Founder, CEO, and Creative Director at Hornsby Creative.
For personalized guidance on allocating your marketing budget or to learn more, visit HornsbyCreativeGroup.com.
Funny Business work-life balance
As a new empty-nester, local professional photographer Juls Buckman began searching for an enjoyable activity that, in addition to her hobbies at home, would provide a good balance to her career life, and also allow her to meet other people in the community.
Buckman began acting in plays, and after discovering that memorizing scripts was challenging with her business schedule, she decided to take an improv class.
“I loved the experience of being on stage, but I didn’t like the homework part of it,” Buckman said. “I wanted something I could enjoy while I was there, and didn’t have to spend a ton of time working on. Improv provides that because you can’t script it ahead of time; you’re going in raw.”
After taking the first improv class offered through the Heritage Theatre, Buckman’s daughter, Abigail Buckman, expressed interest in taking the class. Realizing
this could be an activity for them to do together, Buckman signed both of them up for a weekly improv class held over the course of three months.
“Upon hearing the word improv, my initial thought was ‘I could never’,” Abigail Buckman said. “In improvising, I’ve grown more confident and curious which has definitely translated into how I approach my work and social life. As fun as improv has been, it’s more than an outlet. It’s been
The Improvables perform improv shows around the Hendersonville area.
a source of connection and empowerment I didn’t know I needed.”
The class taught skills including teamwork, communication, understanding facial expressions, and other concepts that allowed team members to be in tune with one another when presented with the prompt for a new scenario. At the end of the course, the team performed a show for a packed theater.
“I was surprised there was so much interest. So many people wanted to see this show,” Buckman said. “Many of those on our team wanted to continue practicing, so we decided to casually meet once a week at my photography studio.”
The group consisted of members from various career paths, religions, and ages; an “improbable” gathering of people whose common interest is performing improv. As such, the group deemed themselves “The Improvables.”
Originally unsure of what the response would be, The Improvables began by performing free shows for the community. When they noticed every seat in the theater was full, the team was encouraged to sell tickets for subsequent shows, and still — the shows would sell out.
“We’re still pinching ourselves, really,” Buckman said. “Apparently people are really hungry for something different; something that’s funny and fun.”
Audience participation and games are big parts of the improv shows. Suggestions for themes, locations, character relationships, and more are offered to the team, and they incorporate those into their performances without knowing what the outcome will be.
Andrew Mundhenk, Communications Manager, Henderson County Department of Public Health, said practicing and performing in this way has improved his speaking and listening skills when communicating with the media and large groups. He has increased confidence, has learned to think fast and adapt to
uncertainty, and is more willing to make suggestions as well as embrace the suggestions of others.
The ability to show up authentically, have a good time, and make people laugh has helped build individual and professional confidence for The Improvables’ participants who agree that their experiences have improved their social and work lives.
Adam Safer, Director of Economic Development Policy for the Carolina Small Business Development Fund, said he began improv classes with the intention of meeting people, having fun, and feeling more comfortable and spontaneous socially. He was surprised that improv helped him build meaningful relationships, discover opportunities for expressing and processing challenging emotions, and become a better communicator in his professional life.
Executive Communication Coach Kaia Sommers said improv is always at the center of her work. She’s found community, support, and a true sense of deep listening and connection and is more comfortable with the unknown; she now encourages her clients to live in the moment and accept what shows up in their lives.
Mountain Deli Manager Jerry Fitzgerald said improv has helped in both his professional and personal life. While working in a high-volume service industry setting, his ability to think on his feet while under pressure has improved. He has found more confidence socially, and enjoys improv as a stress reliever after a hard day.
work-life balance
— The Improvables are a group of individuals from the Hendersonville area who perform improv comedy at various area theaters. Learn more and check out some of their performances on YouTube @TheImprovablesHendo.
WNC Business offers FREE magazine subscriptions to the local business community. Request your complimentary subscription to the magazine and email newsletter at WNCBusiness.com/Subscribe
“Personally, I’m thankful for the stretch it’s created in me,” Buckman said. “I’m learning it’s okay to bring my sense of humor into my photography sessions. It’s always been fun, but it’s grown to a different level of fun because I’m more confident that it’s okay to cut up and enjoy myself while creating great photos for my clients.”
wnc people to know
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.
828-348-1787
BillGilliland.ActionCoach.com
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.
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.
828-275-6230
Cindy@KimmelBenefitsPlus.com
GREG ROBEL
CTO, Vistanet
Greg’s finance and economics degree from Mars Hill University means he’s fluent in cost savings and capital outlays. No matter your business goals, Greg’s telecom and network experience has given him a deep sense of appreciation of the powerful technology at the heart of Vistanet’s services and how it can help your company thrive.
828-708-6548
NIosue@UnitedFCU.com
Greg’s professional experience includes: Inspecting, studying, and stress-testing every single Vistanet phone— ensuring that businesses, like yours, receive the most feature-rich and reliable tech on the market today.
828-348-5366, Ext. 304 grobel@vistanet.co
Business Events Across WNC
Friday, July 12
Financial Series
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Virtual, Mountain BizWorks
This class will introduce the tools to understand the basics of business finance in order to make informed decisions on how to organize and manage business finances.
Wednesday, July 17
Asheville Area Chamber Orientation
3:30 - 5:00 PM
Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce
Learn how to get the most value from a Chamber membership investment.
Friday, July 19
AI In Production 2024
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
The Collider
A one-day, single-track conference designed for product teams and software developers tasked with building AI products, offering guidance on best practices and starting points.
Thursday, July 25
Insurance for Small Business
6:00 - 8:00 PM
Virtual, NC Small Business Center Network
Learn about business auto coverage, CyberLiability & Data Breach, Key-Person Insurance, product liability, properly ensuring business tools and equipment, personal/commercial umbrella protection, liability awareness, and more.
Wednesday, August 7
The Power of Connections: Leveraging Networking for Your Small Business
12:00 - 1:30 PM
Virtual, SCORE
Unlock the power of networking to open doors, create opportunities, and drive business forward.
Tuesday, August 13
Discovering Brand Strategy
1:00 - 3:00 PM
A-B Tech Small Business Center at Enka
This workshop will delve into the foundational elements that drive successful branding and provide the tools needed to build a cohesive and impactful brand experience.
Thursday, August 15
Farm-To-Fork Dinner & Social
6:00 - 8:00 PM
Eliada Homes Campus
Join the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and Eliada Homes for a dinner, social, and silent auction event.
Tuesday, August 20
Asheville Business Summit
8:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Embassy Suites, Asheville Downtown
Connect with fellow entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals in various industries while learning from a world-class keynote speaker on topics ranging from leadership to marketing strategies, hosted by ActionCOACH Business Coaching.
Wednesday, September 11
Crafted Conversations
4:00 - 5:30 PM
White Labs Brewing Company
Association of Fundraising Professionals, WNC Chapter will host Crafted Conversations around fundraising topics.
Tuesday, September 17
Caldwell Women’s Forum - Networking
6:00 - 7:30 PM
Happy Valley Filling Station
Join the Women’s Forum as they give an in-depth presentation about networking and how that affects certain businesses and individuals.
For more events, costs, registration links, and details, visit WNCBusiness.com/Calendar.
