Entrepreneurship and Education by i4 Business Magazine

NEW LEADERSHIP AT GROWFL

UP CLOSE WITH ISIS JONES AT FULL SAIL

HELPING VETERANS BECOME ENTREPRENEURS

HOMETOWN HERO JOHN YOUNG

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Ambassadors of

HOPE The Finley Project

Helps Grieving Moms

‘I Lead With My Heart’

Dick Batchelor: Longtime Visionary, Activist, Connector

JULY/AUGUST 2021

Harvesting

'Good'

Local Attorney Greg Francis Highlights Black Farmers Case

CONTENTS FEATURES

Harvesting 'Good'

'I Lead With My Heart'

Wildly Different

Intentional Growth

Attorney and Author Shares Tale of the Black Farmers Case

Business and Political Icon Dick Batchelor Pursues Activism With Compassion, Humor Event Planners Track Trends and Embrace Creativity

Customer Service Helps Rapid Prototyping Services Expand Worldwide

INSIDEFF JULY/AUGUST 2021

ENTREPRENEUR AND EDUCATION SPOTLIGHTS

Kimberly Rosier Jean-Louis, MBA:

Liefke Meyers:

Jose Ramon Riestra:

Ana Maria Leal:

Chain of Change

Perseverance Is Paying Off

Complex Issues, Simple Solutions

Making an Impact

Dick Batchelor with Nelson Mandela

New Leadership at GROWFL

A Lifetime of Learning

Ambassadors of Hope

NEW LEADERSHIP AT GROWFL

Advisory Board Chairs Are Dedicated to Supporting Entrepreneurs Data Entrepreneur's Career Path Started in Childhood Loss of Baby Leads to Finley Project, a Lifeline for Grieving Moms

UP CLOSE WITH ISIS JONES AT FULL SAIL

HELPING VETERANS BECOME ENTREPRENEURS

HOMETOWN HERO JOHN YOUNG

4BUSiNESS Orlando's Leadership Connection

$4.95

JULY/AUGUST 2021

ON THE COVER Greg Francis

18 Up Close with

Isis Jones

"This was something that had affected generations of families in terms of their inability to keep plying their trade, working the land and owning the land. It became a personal mission for me then.”

– Greg Francis, Pg 12

Photography by Julie Fletcher Ambassadors of

HOPE The Finley Project

Helps Grieving Moms

‘I Lead With My Heart’

Dick Batchelor: Longtime Visionary, Activist, Connector

Harvesting

'Good'

Local Attorney Greg Francis Highlights Black Farmers Case

2 JULY/AUGUST 2021 | i4Biz.com

Cover Concept Design by Tanya Mutton

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BEST PRACTICE

Guest Expert Columns

DEPARTMENTS

i4 Business Advisory Board

From the Editor and Publisher

Business Briefs

Signs of the Times

THE BUSINESS OF EXPORTING

Business Seen

Chris Leggett | Central Florida International Trade Office

Downtime

Watercooler

MARKETING

Embrace Virtual Events Because They’re Here to Stay Meaghan Branham | i4 Business

DIGITAL MARKETING

LEADERSHIP

SEO: The Unsung Hero of Small Business Growth Davia Moss | Next Horizon

Guiding Your Team Past Dysfunction and Into Performance

John Young Parkway

Bill “Roto” Reuter | R-Squared Solutions and Roto Speaks

Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative

INDUSTRY INSIGHT THE BUSINESS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

VEI Helps Veterans with New Mission: Business Ownership Rafael Caamaño | Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative

THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS

All Ages Are Swept Up in Local Soccer Mania Jason Siegel | Greater Orlando Sports Commission

56 58

Report: $3.6 Billion in Exports Boosts Central Florida Economy

THE BUSINESS OF EMPLOYMENT

Where Are the Workers? A Win-Win to Florida’s Labor Shortage

Unique Experiences for Your Day Off

Stuff You Didn’t Know You Wanted to Know

Nancy Brumbaugh | Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

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Orlando's Leadership Connection

SPOTLIGHTING

TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS

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EDITOR AND PUBLISHER Diane Sears MANAGING EDITOR Meaghan Branham COPY EDITORS Susan Howard, APR Terry Godbey DIRECTOR OF ENCOURAGEMENT Donna Duda PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Julie Fletcher JulieFletcherPhotography.com

FINTECH SUPPLY CHAINS HEALTH CARE

The technology industry is full of professionals whose work today is inventing our tomorrow. In our September/October issue, i4 Business will spotlight your stories:

WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU DO, AND WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS.

Build your relationship with our audience and yours with this special section spotlight. Each profile will be: • Published in our print and digital editions of i4 Business • Published on i4biz.com • Shared on our social media channels • Spotlighted in our Special Sections newsletter

Coming Sept/Oct 2021! i4biz.com Tel: 407.730.2961

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ART DIRECTOR Tanya Mutton SidekickCreations.com CONTRIBUTORS Maryann Barry, Meaghan Branham, Nancy Brumbaugh, Rafael Caamaño, Terry Godbey, Key Howard, Chris Leggett, Hannah Metevia, Davia Moss, Bill "Roto" Reuter, Diane Sears, Jason Siegel SUBSCRIPTIONS DIRECTOR Rana Stark

i4 Business is a participating member of:

i4 Business Advisory Board This Month's Featured Advisory Board Members Mary Shanklin

Thank You We’d like to thank our Advisory Board members for keeping their fingers on the pulse of our community and helping us bring you the best stories from around Central Florida.

Judi Awsumb, Awsumb Enterprises Jim Bowie, Consultant Jackie Brito, HR Asset Partners Cari Coats, Accendo Leadership Advisory Group Andrew Cole, East Orlando Chamber of Commerce Laura Dorsey, Florida Black Chamber and National Cultural Heritage Society Stina D'Uva, West Orange Chamber of Commerce Carol Ann Dykes Logue, University of Central Florida Business Incubator Program Susan Fernandez, Dignitas Technologies Lena Graham-Morris, HORUS Construction Mark Allen Hayes, Stockworth Realty Group Gwen Thompson Hewitt, United Negro College Fund Vicki Jaramillo, Orlando International Airport Chris Leggett, Central Florida International Trade Office Catherine Losey, Losey PLLC law firm Laureen Martinez, Orlando Economic Partnership Yog Melwani, Align Commercial Real Estate and Indian American Chamber of Commerce Davia Moss, Next Horizon Hope Edwards Newsome, Virtus LLP Rob Panepinto, Florentine Strategies Bill Reidy, LotLinx Inc. Jerry Ross, National Entrepreneur Center Romaine Seguin, UPS Global Freight Forwarding Jason Siegel, Greater Orlando Sports Commission Mary Shanklin, Fifth Estate Media Robert Utsey, Gilbane Building Company

Mary Shanklin is a journalism instructor at the University of Central Florida. Recognizing the disruption in newspapers years ago, the veteran journalist retooled with a master’s degree in publishing from George Washington University and launched Fifth Estate Media publishing company in 2015. Her group works with authors to deliver hardcover, softcover and e-books. Shanklin brings to the table experience covering business, politics and education for newspapers including the Orlando Sentinel, where she was part of the Pulitzer Prize finalist team for coverage of the Pulse tragedy. In 2019, she cycled cross-country to raise funds for the Adult Literacy League and now serves on its board of directors.

Jim Bowie Jim Bowie is an experienced consultant to early-stage businesses and provides services and insight to startups. He is the former associate director of Incubation Services at UF Innovate and also served as manager of the University of Central Florida Business Incubator in Kissimmee/Osceola County and interim manager of the UCF Life Sciences Incubator in Lake Nona. Bowie has more than 14 years of coaching experience including running the Columbus Regional Technology Incubator in Columbus, Georgia. He was an adjunct professor with the University System of Georgia, where his specialty areas included sales, management and persuasive professional communications.

Davia Moss

Davia Moss is the contracted marketing officer for Next Horizon, an IT and digital company based in Sanford. She has spent her career developing strategy and marketing programs that drive distinguished outcomes for organizations. A recognized thought leader on leading growth and change, Moss was awarded a Women’s Inspired Leadership Award in 2019 by i4 Business magazine and was honored with the University of Central Florida Public Administration Alumni Achievement Award in 2021. She serves on the UCF Alumni Board and Leadership Seminole board of directors. She earned a bachelor of science in English education and a master’s in public administration from UCF and an MBA from Florida Metropolitan University. i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

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Orlando's Leadership Connection

SPOTLIGHTING

MANUFACTURING PROFESSIONALS

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While the past couple of years have seen a lot of change in every sector, manufacturing continues to play a vital role in Central Florida’s economy. In our Sept/Oct issue, i4 Business will spotlight your stories:

WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU DO, AND WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS.

Build your relationship with our audience and yours with this special section spotlight Each profile will be: • Published in our print and digital editions of i4 Business • Published on i4biz.com • Shared on our social media channels • Spotlighted in our Special Sections newsletter

Coming September/October 2021! i4biz.com Tel: 407.730.2961

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i4 Business® is published eight times a year by i4 Business LLC, 121 S. Orange Avenue, Suite 1500, Orlando, FL 32801 Tel. 407-730-2961 i4biz.com The contents of i4 Business® magazine, i4biz.com and any other media extensions related to the brand, including advertisements, articles, graphics, websites, web postings and all other information (“contents”) published, are for informational purposes only. i4 Business® and all other affiliated brands do not necessarily endorse, verify, or agree with the contents contained in i4 Business®. i4 Business® makes no warranties or representations, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness, timeliness, or usefulness of any information contained or referenced. i4 Business® shall not be held liable for any errors or omissions. ©2021. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, in whole or in part, is prohibited

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From the Editor and Publisher

Our Work Guarantees We Are Always Learning Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. — Mahatma Gandhi

nyone who has been an entrepreneur will tell you the experience can be rewarding, but it can also be grueling. You’re challenged in ways you could never have dreamed of when you were working for someone else. At the beginning, when you’re giving birth to the baby that is your business, you have to be part parent, part student learning from everyone around you, and part gambler, taking a chance that everything is going to work out well.

As your business grows, you encounter new sets of issues: training and paying employees, purchasing equipment and property, adapting to government regulations and tax laws, and finding time to do all of these things while still producing your core products or services. Why do entrepreneurs do it? Many reasons. Some have an idea that can make money and intend to sell the business for a profit at some point. Others do it to maintain a lifestyle, working at something they love so they can enjoy (almost) every day. And others do it for legacy, with the goal of building wealth for their family for generations to come. Each reason has its pluses and minuses. So when I was writing the cover story for this issue, which has the dual theme of Entrepreneurship and Education, I thought about what it must be like to be an entrepreneur who is denied the opportunity to choose which path he or she would like to take. That’s exactly what the U.S. government has admitted happened to many black farmers over the history of our country. They started out with high hopes of owning their land, selling their products, making a profit and creating a legacy to pass down to their children. But their struggles with unfair business practices resulted in generations being denied a chance at wealth. One of our local attorneys got involved — and he wrote a book about the experience. Greg Francis shares his story on Page 12. On Page 18, read about longtime consultant and former Florida legislator Dick Batchelor, who

connects leaders for potential partnerships. If you’ve ever spoken with him, you know his most effective business tool is the persuasiveness that comes from Southern charm wrapped in humility and gentle humor. With one of the largest Rolodexes in Central Florida, although it’s mostly electronic now, he also uses his influence to champion children and families. Batchelor is being inducted into the Junior Achievement MidFlorida Business Hall of Fame in November, and we will be there to cheer him on. Also read about local entrepreneur Ken Brace, Page 26, who sold a business he had built with his father and created a 3D printing company he could operate without the pressure of managing employees. He has achieved the lifestyle he was seeking for himself — and his very special business partner: his dog Pepper. We also bring you the story of Patti Brownsord, Page 30, who co-owns a data analytics company and says she considers it an “off day” if she hasn’t learned something new and exciting — a concept she shares in her podcast called “Patti Is Still Learning.” The president of College Park Main Street, Brownsord says she learned to network in Girl Scouts. In our Up Close feature on Page 42, we profile Isis Jones, the chief information officer and executive director of education at Full Sail University in Winter Park. Learn how this self-professed “techie” has helped the rapidly growing private university stay ahead of the curve in education — while balancing life with her husband, Garry, Full Sail’s president. An entrepreneur’s work is never done, and I must get back to mine now. Have a great month!

Editor and Publisher

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

BUSINESS BRIEFS

President Biden Designates Pulse Shooting Site a National Memorial Pulse nightclub is now a national memorial. President Joe Biden signed a law on June 25 designating the site on South Orange Avenue in Orlando as a monument to the 49 people killed during the mass shooting in June 2016. The timing of the law commemorating the gay nightclub was especially significant because it came during LGBTQ Pride Month. "A place of acceptance and joy became a place of unspeakable pain and loss. We'll never fully recover, but we'll

remember," Biden said during a ceremony at the White House that included survivors of the attack. "May a president never have to sign another monument like this." The nonprofit onePULSE Foundation said in a statement that the national designation sends the message, “We will always outlove hate.” The foundation is planning a $45 million open-air museum, education center, reflecting pool, gardens and public plaza.

Disney to Create Regional Hub in Lake Nona With 2,000+ Jobs

Orlando scored a big win on July 15 when The Walt Disney Company announced it will be moving more than 2,000 high-wage corporate jobs from California to a hub it is building in Lake Nona. The professionals from Disney Parks, Experiences and Products will join more than 60,000 “cast members”

Business

8 JULY/AUGUST 2021 | i4Biz.com

who already work at Disney properties in Central Florida. The positions, which pay average salaries of $120,000 a year, represent less than 5% of the Disney jobs in California, according to an article in Forbes. Josh D’Amaro, chairman of the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products division, was relocated to California last year when he was promoted to that role from the job of Walt Disney World president. Previously he had served as president of Disneyland in California. “As someone who has moved with my family from California to Florida and back again, I understand that relocation is a

Innovation

big change, not only for the employees but also for their families,” D’Amaro wrote in an internal letter. “Therefore, moving these roles to Central Florida will take place throughout the next 18 months, providing flexibility in timing to accommodate individual situations and needs.” The economic impact on Central Florida will be significant because the professionals are in careers that include digital technology, finance, communications, product development and human resources, said Tim Giuliani, Orlando Economic Partnership president and CEO.

Education

BUSINESS BRIEFS

MacKenzie Scott’s $40 Million Donation to Help UCF Foster Social Mobility The University of Central Florida received the largest gift in its history when philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced June 15 that she would be donating $40 million. Scott, one of the wealthiest women in the world, made the donation with her husband, Dan Jewett. Scott previously was married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and reportedly is worth $57 billion. She pledged in 2019 to give away most of her wealth. The funds to UCF are unrestricted, which means the university can use them as it sees fit. An article on the UCF website said the donation will be used to strengthen the university’s focus on fostering social mobility while

developing skilled talent. UCF has long been committed to helping students of all family backgrounds and income levels earn a college degree. The money also will be used through the university’s endowment to help fund faculty research and to amplify partnerships that expand UCF’s work and academic standing. “We chose to make relatively large gifts to [286 organizations], both to enable their work, and as a signal of trust and encouragement, to them and to others,” Scott wrote in the announcement. "Because we believe that teams with experience on the front lines of challenges will know best how to put the money to good use, we encouraged them to spend it however they choose.”

Orlando City Soccer Club Morphs Under New Ownership Changes in leadership are taking place at Orlando City Soccer Club (SC) since the owners of the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings purchased the organization. The sale became final on July 21, with the Wilf family acquiring the club and all its assets from Flavio Augusto da Silva. The DeVos family, which owns the National Basketball Association’s Orlando Magic team, is a limited partner as part of the new ownership group. The purchase included the Orlando City SC of the men’s Major League Soccer (MLS) organization, the Orlando Pride of the National Women’s Soccer League, Exploria Stadium, the Orlando City Academy and Youth Soccer Network, and the club’s two official training facilities, the Orlando Health Training Ground at Osceola Heritage Park and the Orlando Health Training Ground at Sylvan Lake Park. Mark Wilf is serving as chairman and also as a managing partner with his brother Zygi and cousin Lenny. The family has owned the Vikings for 17 years. Dan DeVos, who is chairman

Tourism

of the Orlando Magic and the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation, will serve as his family’s lead representative in the Orlando City organization. In another development, Alex Leitão announced July 28 he was stepping down as CEO of the organization, although he will remain involved as a soccer operations adviser. A native of Brazil, he brought some of the game’s biggest stars to Orlando for both the men’s and women’s teams. He led the project to build Exploria Stadium as a soccerspecific facility after the team had been using the Florida Citrus Bowl, and he guided the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic, spearheading the initiative to bring the successful MLS is Back Tournament to Walt Disney World. “I’d like to thank everyone who has dedicated their efforts to the club and who has helped build Orlando City to the globally recognized franchise that it is,” Leitão said. “While my decision to step away was not easy, it is one I do with the belief that the club is in great hands with the Wilf family, and I am happy to help assist in providing a smooth transition

Growth

Alex Leitão

for this new era for Orlando City SC.” Additionally, the head coach of the Orlando Pride, Marc Skinner, announced he was leaving July 23 and was reported to be taking the top coaching spot at the Manchester United Women’s soccer team in England. Two days later, the Pride brought in a new interim head coach: Becky Burleigh, who had retired in February from the head coach position at the University of Florida, where she led the women’s soccer team for 26 seasons that included an NCAA championship and 14 Southeast Conference titles.

Inspiration i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Orlando Magic Youth Foundation Reaches $1 Million in Grants for 2021 The Orlando Magic Youth Foundation (OMYF) awarded a total of $700,000 in grants recently to 12 local nonprofits. That amount brings to $1 million the 2021 total distribution for OMYF, which had awarded three grants totaling $300,000 in March. It was a tough year for fundraising because the organization was not able to hold its community events during the COVID-19 pandemic. To make up for the shortfall, the DeVos family, which owns the Orlando Magic National Basketball Association franchise, provided the $700,000 for the recent grants. OMYF assists at-risk children and families in Central Florida and has distributed more than $26 million over the past 31 years, helping more than 2 million kids. This year’s recipients were: • Foundation for Foster Children ($100,000) • Pace Center for Girls – Orange ($100,000) • AdventHealth Foundation / Hebni Nutrition Consultants ($100,000) • Orlando Science Center / Early Learning Coalition of Osceola County ($100,000) • Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida / Grace Medical Home Inc. ($100,000) • Children’s Home Society ($50,000) • City Year Orlando ($50,000) • Early Learning Coalition of Orange County ($50,000) • Elevate Orlando ($50,000) • Foundation for Orange County Public Schools ($50,000) • Impower ($50,000) • Orlando Ballet ($50,000) • Orlando Shakes in Partnership With University of Central Florida ($50,000) • Tech Sassy Girlz ($50,000) • Valencia College Foundation ($50,000)

The Orlando Magic Youth Foundation presents a $50,000 grant to Children's Home Society (pictured left to right): OMYF President/Magic VP Community and Government Affairs Linda Landman Gonzalez, Magic CEO Alex Martins, and Children's Home Society of Florida Regional Executive Director Sherri Gonzales.

Red Lobster Hires New CEO to Replace Retired Leader Orlando-based Red Lobster Seafood Company LLC has hired Kelli Valade as its new CEO, with an official start date of August 2. She formerly served as president and CEO of Dallasbased restaurant tech firm Black Box Intelligence since 2019. Before that, she worked for more than two decades with Brinker International Inc., most recently as brand president of Chili's Grill & Bar. Valade succeeds Kim Lopdrup, who retired after 14 years at the helm of Red Lobster. The restaurant company had hired New York firm The Elliott Group to conduct the CEO search soon after Lopdrup announced he would be stepping down. Red Lobster has 737 restaurants, including 675 that are corporate-owned. “I love the restaurant industry because it’s about so much more than great food — it’s about the great people who are truly heroes on the front lines of the restaurants delivering a great experience to guests every day,” Valade said in a prepared statement. “Red Lobster has incredible people and an amazing culture in place, along with a solid business model and a strong foundation as an iconic and differentiated brand.”

Sports

10 JULY/AUGUST 2021 | i4Biz.com

Leadership

Technology

BUSINESS BRIEFS

UCF Lake Nona Medical Center Brings Incisionless Brain Surgery to Orlando UCF Lake Nona Medical Center has become the first hospital in Central Florida to provide incisionless brain surgery to treat essential tremor (ET) and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease unable to be controlled with medication. ET is a progressive, neurological disease characterized by tremor, most often of the hands or arms, which can make daily activities challenging. Nearly 10 million Americans are estimated to have ET, which is 10 times the number of people living with Parkinson’s. Using focused ultrasound guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the innovative, scalpel-free therapy directs targeted sound wave energy deep into the brain, treating the tissue that causes a tremor. No surgical incision or anesthesia is required, and many patients experience immediate improvement. “When we opened UCF Lake Nona Medical Center in March, we made a commitment to the residents of Lake Nona and surrounding communities to not only increase access to excellent, patient-centered care in the region, but also to bring innovative technology, treatments and tools to Greater Orlando,” said Wendy Brandon, CEO of UCF Lake Nona Medical Center. “We are proud to bring this revolutionary procedure to Central Florida and look forward to the tremendous impact it will have on improving the lives of our patients.”

Brightline Achieves Milestone in Planned Expansion to Tampa A plan to expand the Brightline rail system from Orlando International Airport to Tampa has been making headway. The train company received support in July from the Central Florida Expressway Authority to study a high-speed rail alignment along 17 miles of the State Road 417 corridor that would connect the airport and Interstate 4. Brightline is in discussions with the Florida Department of Transportation about constructing tracks along I-4 to Tampa. In the meantime, work continues on Brightline’s expansion connecting Miami to Orlando. That project is expected to be mostly completed by late 2022, according to a press release.

Finance

Grand Opening Westminster Winter Park, A Life Plan Community, held a ribbon-cutting recently to celebrate an expansion that includes apartments, amenities and short-term rehabilitation facilities. FK Architecture and general contractor Clancy & Theys handled the project, positioning homes to have views of either Lake Baldwin or Orlando Veterans’ Memorial Park.

Community

Health i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

COVER STORY

Harvesting

'Good '

12 JULY/AUGUST 2021 | i4Biz.com

COVER STORY

Attorney and Author Shares

Tale of the Black Farmers Case

BY DIANE SEARS

Photography by Julie Fletcher

reg Francis remembers riding in a car with Johnnie Cochran, who was heading back to Orlando International Airport. The famed attorney and activist had just delivered a speech to Central Florida lawyers during Black History Month in the early 2000s, and now he was about to deliver a private message to a young attorney who was honored to be in his presence. Cochran’s words have stuck with Francis to this day. He said, “Look, here's the best advice I'll give you: You can do good and do well at the same time. So make sure you do good.” Today Francis is living out that advice. The Orlando attorney, now a seasoned veteran himself and a partner in Osborne & Francis PLLC, is the author of the new book Just Harvest: The Story of How Black Farmers Won the Largest Civil Rights Case Against the U.S. Government, which outlines how a team of attorneys fought for the legacy of entrepreneurs whose work and earnings were cut short by systemic racism. In the two-part case, Black farmers won a 1999 decision that led to roadblocks and eventually a second decision in 2010. Francis was proud to be part of a legal team that pushed for the second settlement, which equaled about $1.25 billion from the U.S. government in the largest civil rights class-action settlement in U.S. history, which awards about $50,000 each for some 19,000 farmers or their descendants. Although the case is still making its way through arduous challenges, new publicity about it is pressuring the federal government to stick to the settlement.

“This is something that for so long has been swept under the rug,” Francis said. “It’s important to identify this for America as a whole. This was not just an attack on Black farmers — this was an attack on entrepreneurialism. This was taking away the opportunity to advance for a whole group of people.” Francis has also been part of a team of donors who created an endowed scholarship at the University of Florida, his alma mater, to help students from historically Black colleges and universities get into the prestigious UF law school. In order to endow the scholarship, which leaves the original donations intact and awards scholarships from the interest, UF needed $100,000. Two other donors put in $25,000 each, and Francis donated $50,000 to meet the goal. Since then, the investment has grown past $1 million, and he wants to see it reach $2 million by the end of 2022. “This scholarship is the first of its kind in America in terms of the focus,” Francis said. “We believe it will help the standing of the University of Florida College of Law. For me, it was symbolic because it was like the

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

COVER STORY

farmers who were discriminated against for so many years. They planted seeds and there was no way they could know who was going to benefit from the seeds and the produce they were growing. They planted the seeds in fertile ground, with the understanding that ultimately this would be a benefit to someone else. I don't know who's going to get the scholarship. But I know it's going to do good.”

Career Path Francis didn’t grow up wanting to be a lawyer. Like many other young boys in the low-income Richmond Heights neighborhood west of Orlando, he wanted to be a professional athlete. “I wanted to be a professional football player. I would be a great athlete and become famous. I didn't really think about any professional careers aside from sports, because that's mainly what I was exposed to.” But in high school, Francis was what he calls “painfully skinny.” He was not cut out for football. He needed a Plan B. He would be the second person in his family to go to college, and the goal was for him to earn a degree. “I went to the University of Florida with the intention of becoming an

14 JULY/AUGUST 2021 | i4Biz.com

engineer because I’d done well in math and that seemed like a likely path,” he said. “And very quickly, after my first semester with calculus and chemistry, that dream was gone. I had to recalibrate. I ended up, fortunately, running into an older student on campus who just came up and started talking to me. I told him I was struggling some academically, and he invited me to the library to study with him.” That student turned out to be the president of a fraternity, and Francis joined the organization. He heard guys at the fraternity talking about law school. Then one day as he walked past the bookstore, he made a decision. He went inside and bought a prep book for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). With the mind of an engineer, he methodically mapped out his plan. The next test was in 40 days. “I divided the book into 40 parts,” he said, “and every night, I studied. Ultimately I took the LSAT and did well.” In law school, he determined there were two kinds of attorneys: those who try cases in the courtroom and those who handle legal transactions. “I was not interested in being a transactional

lawyer, exchanging documents and that kind of thing. I felt that in order to effect change as a lawyer, I needed to be in the courtroom speaking out for whatever it was I was fighting for.” At the time, most minority students weren’t getting internships or clerkships with major firms. “A lot of people were kind of resigned to that fact,” he said. “I took it upon myself to get a volunteer job in the career services office and just hung around and talked to lawyers when they came to interview students. I figured out what they were looking for and who they were looking for, and I ended up getting a clerkship with a firm in West Palm Beach doing medical malpractice defense, where we represented doctors and hospitals, which fulfilled my desire to be in the courtroom.” The firm offered him a job when he graduated, so he moved to South Florida and started his career at what is now Bobo, Ciotoli, Bocchino, White, Buigas & Corsini P.A. Soon after, he was transferred to Orlando — something he initially was not too happy about. He had wanted to experience life away from his hometown. “But it worked out

COVER STORY

“In those farming communities, there would be an extension office from the USDA, and that served as a conduit to interface with individual farmers. Every year the USDA appropriates a certain amount of money that it lends to farmers so they can buy land, tractors, feed or whatever it’s going to take to get the crops going. The white farmers would go in and get their loan and be able to ply their trade, and the Black farmers would come in and sometimes get the runaround. They’d hear, ‘We’re out of money’ or ‘You're in the wrong office. You should be at this other extension office.’”

wonderfully because it was a smaller office, so I was able to do a lot more in the courtroom and on cases that I wouldn’t have been doing in the larger office, where there are more partners and more associates in front of me. It was a godsend.” He left the firm in 2001 to join what is today Morgan & Morgan, where he became a partner and a shareholder. It was there he first met Cochran and worked briefly with the famous courtroom attorney who had successfully defended O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, Sean Combs, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg and other celebrities. Cochran would die of a brain tumor in 2005 at age 67. “I wish I had more time with him,” Francis said. “But that wasn't in the cards.” However, another opportunity presented itself. As one of the people in charge of expanding Morgan & Morgan, Francis was working in the new office in Jackson, Mississippi, where the firm was representing a number of poultry plant employees who were not being paid proper wages. The team started getting some calls about a case involving Black farmers.

Pigford II “There were really two parts to the case,” Francis explained. In the initial case, Pigford v. Glickman, a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., ruled in April

1999 in favor of Black farmers in a classaction suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The suit claimed the agency had discriminated against the farmers because of their race and had failed to investigate or properly respond to complaints between 1983 and 1997, according to the Congressional Research Service at www.everycrsreport.com. The deadline for submitting a claim as part of the class action was in September 2000. Many of the farmers didn’t make the deadline for various reasons. The claims process was reopened under a provision in the 2008 farm bill, and a maximum of $100 million was made available to settle the additional claims. The circumstances led to what became known as Pigford II, which was settled in February 2010 for $1.25 billion — an amount that needed congressional approval to exceed the $100 million that had been allocated. It was signed into law by President Obama in December 2010. “There was a disconnect during the initial case, in terms of being able to connect with the farmers who were actually affected by the discrimination,” Francis said. “Many farmers were late. They didn't have the proper assistance of counsel or they didn't have enough counsel or, quite frankly, they didn't believe that the government that had discriminated against them was going to, in fact, now compensate them. So they missed the deadline.”

A colleague in Mississippi told Francis about the case, shedding light on the phone calls the law office was receiving. Francis started looking into it.

“The more I talked to him and the more I started talking to the farmers, I understood there was unfinished business that needed to be finished,” Francis said. “This was something that had affected generations of families in terms of their inability to keep plying their trade, working the land and owning the land. It became a personal mission for me then.” Francis has studied the history and can talk about the statistics. In the early 1900s, Black farmers owned and operated farms that grew food for what essentially was 30% of the population in America — everything from corn to livestock. By the time he got involved in the case in 2008, the number of farmers and the acreage they owned had dwindled. But what drew him in were the stories about the people. Francis and other attorneys involved in the Pigford II case held meetings in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and other states with large numbers of Black-owned farms. Knowing that many of them in rural areas were not connected to each other, the attorneys publicized the meetings on local television stations, i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

COVER STORY

Greg Francis prepares for his book launch tour. Greg Francis prepares for his book launch tour. timing the announcements to catch farmers watching the evening news. “We also had big meetings in places like Detroit and Chicago, where children of the farmers settled after college or high school, looking for a different way,” Francis said. “I'm certain that part of their thought process with that was, ‘I'm not going to subject myself to this. This is unfair, and I need to go where I have a chance.’”

The original case stemmed from a lawsuit by Timothy Pigford, a Black farmer who was growing corn and soybeans in North Carolina. He said he was denied loans because of racism, which sent his business into a downward spiral that had tax ramifications and created additional hardship. He sued the federal government, which made U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman the named defendant. Francis explains how the widespread discrimination took place: “In those farming communities, there would be an extension office from the USDA, and that served as a conduit to interface with individual farmers. Every year the USDA appropriates a certain amount of money that it lends to farmers so they can buy land, tractors, feed or whatever it’s going to take to get the crops going. The white farmers would go in and get their loan and be able to ply their trade, and the Black farmers would come in and

16 JULY/AUGUST 2021 | i4Biz.com

sometimes get the runaround. They’d hear, ‘We’re out of money’ or ‘You're in the wrong office. You should be at this other extension office.’” Farming is time sensitive. A delay of 30 days in getting funds and planting seeds could mean a farmer had to skip a season, Francis said. That meant earning less money, and the financial implications of missing out on that opportunity would compound season after season. Disconnected from one another, many of the Black farmers had suffered in silence. “They didn't know that this was systemic,” Francis said. “This was happening not only in Jackson, Mississippi, but also in Birmingham, Alabama, and in Nashville. So you would be denied and you’d just go home and sit the family down and say, ‘We’ve got to figure this out.’”

Personal Legacy Francis said he wrote the book to bring attention to the plight of Black farmers and others who are fighting similar historic battles, including Native American, Hispanic and women farmers. He also thinks it will offer hope to the next generations. His involvement spurred him to create a nonprofit, the Greg Francis Just Harvest Foundation, to invest in entrepreneurship and education in local communities. “I want to start here in Orlando,” he said. “Proceeds from my

book will help fund that. If you want to effect change, start with you. Look in the mirror. ‘What am I doing that I need to do differently?’ That will start a ripple effect down the line.” The celebrated attorney is a former president of the Paul C. Perkins Bar Association in Orlando, which promotes the advancements of African Americans in the legal profession and diversity within leadership roles in Central Florida. One of his proudest moments was when his peers in the National Bar Association recognized him with the Vince Monroe Townsend Award for leadership and achievement in the field of civil rights. “But I will tell you the most significant award for me came from my son, who is now 14,” he said. “He was a fifth-grader giving a speech at his school for Black History Month, and he was talking about what it is to be a leader. He had to say which leaders he looked up to, and he mentioned President Obama at the time and a few other names. Unbeknownst to me, he then broke into, ‘But my hero is my dad.’ “I didn't expect it,” Francis said. “My children are my muses. That's who I live for and plan for and try to create hope for.” He wants his son and his daughter, who is 17, to understand the importance of legacy and of doing good while doing well. “I teach my kids all the time, ‘Listen, this is a community, and you have to invest in it.’” P

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FEATURE

‘I Lead With My Heart’ Business and Political Icon Dick Batchelor Pursues Activism with Compassion, Humor

BY TERRY GODBEY

Profile Photography by Julie Fletcher

nyone who has spent more than 15 minutes with Orlando business consultant and former state legislator Dick Batchelor will not be surprised to learn he was a class clown. “I tell young people, ‘Thank God I finished Evans High School pre-FCAT or I’d still be in shop class making birdhouses.’”

After graduation, he joined the Marines and served in the Vietnam War before becoming a powerful figure in business and political circles as well as a champion for children and families. In his 20s, his fondest wish was to appear as a comedian on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. “I love humor. My desire to be in comedy was concurrent with my political ambitions to be in the Legislature,” Batchelor said. “I figured one was intentional comedy, and the other was accidental comedy. I didn’t get on Johnny Carson’s show, but I did do some things politically that people might have thought were funny unintentionally,” he said with a chuckle.

Public Service

He was only 26 when he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1974 after

campaigning for U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles, who later became governor, and Florida Gov. Reubin Askew. Batchelor, a lifelong Democrat, served eight years in the state House, five of them in leadership roles, and received more than 50 awards for his elective service. Those years sparked his enduring fascination with politics. These days Batchelor’s work is centered around business development. As president of Dick Batchelor Management Group, the consulting firm he founded in 1986, he works with large companies to help them find new business and secure contracts. To a lesser extent, he manages issues involving governmental relations and public affairs, an expertise he calls “an arrow in my quiver.” Batchelor succeeds because of what he calls the “earned credibility” he acquired during decades of community involvement and staying in contact with people. He started networking before networking was cool — in college, filling index cards with contact information about everyone he met to add to his desktop Rolodex. That Rolodex has been replaced by a cell phone and social media, but he said his business development model remains simple. “I approach potential clients of my clients. I always know somebody at any given

FRESHMAN LEGISLATOR DICK BATCHELOR PALS AROUND WITH SESAME STREET'S BIG BIRD IN 1976 AFTER HELPING GET A BILL PASSED TO PROVIDE FUNDS FOR A NEW WMFE-TV STATION.

18 JULY/AUGUST 2021 | i4Biz.com

My desire to be in comedy was concurrent with my political ambitions to be in the Legislature. I figured one was intentional comedy, and the other was accidental comedy. — Dick Batchelor

FEATURE

Dick Batchelor

DICK BATCHELOR WITH PRESIDENT CLINTON, WHO APPOINTED HIM IN 1994 TO SERVE ON THE U.S. DELEGATION TO OBSERVE THE ELECTIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA. HE MET PRESIDENT-ELECT NELSON MANDELA AFTER THE HISTORIC VOTING THAT MARKED THE END OF APARTHEID. company, or I know somebody who knows somebody at the company. Here is a rather elementary approach to what I do: Party A is introduced to Party B, they do business together and they pay Party C, which is me.” Batchelor, a skilled strategist, said he loves the field because it’s results-oriented, and those results are quantifiable and measurable for him and his clients. “I get to work with people in a very positive way, and I like to satisfy them because I like winning.” It was also in college where his interest in politics began. He started the Young Democratic Club at Valencia College before finishing his i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

FEATURE education at the University of Central Florida, then known as Valencia Junior College and Florida Technological University. When Batchelor was 22, he drove to Tallahassee to lobby for the vote for 18-year-olds. “It was my first foray into lobbying in the political process,” he said. Four short years later, he was serving as a state legislator. After four terms, he joked, “I thought I should do something with my life, so I decided to run for Congress.” But it was not to be. It was 1982, in the Reagan years, and he lost to the Republican incumbent, Bill McCollum.

“I was fortunate to get involved in politics when it was seen as a positive thing,” Batchelor said. “It was congenial and bipartisan. My biggest fear is that our divided nation will drive people, especially young people, away from the political process. The less voter participation we have, the more we put our democracy at risk.”

Power Couple

His congressional campaign was far from a wash, though, because he was interviewed by reporter Andrea Coudriet of WESH-TV, who would later become

his wife. The power couple have been married 38 years. They enjoy traveling and are planning a trip to Aspen, Colorado, this summer. His wife once said that with his Southern accent, she doesn’t understand half of what he says. His teasing retort? “To be honest with you, I never asked you to marry me. You just thought I did.” Coudriet became a news anchor but left her job in 1996 to spend more time with Batchelor and their three boys, Richard, David and Matt. For her goingaway party, her colleagues prepared a video with a tongue-in-cheek title: “Why Would Someone Who Makes a Lot of Money Working Three Hours a Day — Two of Which Are Spent in a Beauty Shop — Quit Her Job? A Special Report.” “She never looked back and she never regretted it,” Batchelor said.

Analyst, Not Lobbyist

Today, Batchelor is known as a savvy political analyst who provides commentary on television and radio shows including “Intersection” on WMFE-FM. He became locally famous presenting the Democratic view in “point-counterpoint” TV segments opposite Republican Lou Frey and later Tico Perez. Because of that work, he said,

DICK BATCHELOR WITH FLORIDA GOV. LAWTON CHILES, WHO FOUGHT FOR BETTER HEALTH CARE FOR CHILDREN. IN 2010, BATCHELOR WAS AWARDED THE CHILES ADVOCACY AWARD FOR HIS OWN WORK HELPING CHILDREN AND FAMILIES.

many people think he is a lobbyist rather than a consultant. “People say business development is kind of like lobbying at the senior corporate level,” he said. “The difference is you’re dealing with the private sector and you can get an answer, and you don’t have to kowtow to people like you do in the lobbying world.” Also, he said, lobbyists spend time with people who think they have influence but really don’t. “In the business world, you’re working with people with the power to make decisions. One of my favorite sayings that applies well to my work is this: ‘Don’t go around your wrist to get to your elbow.’ You can go from Point A to Point B in the private sector in an expedited fashion. You cannot go from Point A to Point B in the political world without going through Byzantine machinations that are usually fruitless.” A news junkie who reads The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Orlando Sentinel every day, he took a stab at describing why he loves politics and why it’s so important: “I look at politics as a tool to get things done, not to bludgeon people. I’m fascinated with how politicians use their political power. Some of them are satisfied with being well known for getting things done, but unfortunately, the vast majority of them are satisfied with being well known for being well known. By the way, that’s on the left and the right.” Batchelor thinks Central Florida, where he conducts about 80% of his work, is welcoming to new businesses. “Our community is also very philanthropic when it comes to responding to community needs and driven to what I would call problem solving,” he said, naming the opioid epidemic and homelessness as examples.

Hard Knocks

He has devoted his life to helping those less fortunate, and his perspective is not detached. He has been there. He and his six siblings were born to sharecroppers in North Carolina. “The good news is that since my parents were farmers, we always had plenty to eat. We didn’t know we were poor.” When he was about 7, his father started working in construction, eventually becoming a carpenter, and the family moved to public housing in Orlando. Later they bought a house in the Orlo Vista community, but his exposure to hard knocks stayed with him.

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FEATURE

A New Legacy

With all his connections, accomplishments and accolades in the business, political and philanthropic arenas, Batchelor’s influence and impact have been widespread in Central Florida. No doubt he has also managed to share his comedic talents with thousands without the benefit of a latenight TV show. Still, with his son David marrying next year, he has a new audience in mind for his humor. “For the next stage of our lives, Andrea and I are really looking forward to some grandchildren. I told my son, ‘If you and your fiancée want to have a baby, Andrea will pay for your house.’ I was exaggerating a little bit.” P

DICK BATCHELOR AND ANDREA COUDRIET, WHO MARRIED IN 1983, AT A GALA IN 2018. DICK BATCHELOR AT THE 2013 RUN FOR THE CHILDREN, AN ANNUAL 5K THAT RAISED $1.5 MILLION TO HELP ABUSED CHILDREN. HE SERVED AS HONORARY CHAIRMAN FOR 33 YEARS. “I lead with my heart,” he said. He became a crusader for victims of domestic violence and is co-chairman of the Orange County Domestic Violence Commission. For 33 years, he served as honorary chairman of the Dick Batchelor Run for the Children, an annual 5K that raised $1.5 million to help abused children. A former chairman of the Central Florida Urban League, he has been heavily involved in the African American community. He serves on boards of directors including AdventHealth, the First Amendment Foundation, Florida’s Children First, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando, Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida and the Orlando Housing Authority. Ironically, one of the housing authority’s properties, Reeves Terrace, is where Batchelor and his family lived. “From time to time I go by, park near the playground and reflect on Building 49, Apartment A,” he said. Right now he is focused on the opioid epidemic, which has worsened amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He serves on the executive council of Project Opioid, which is tasked with fighting addiction in Central Florida. His sister died of opioid abuse in Maryland after becoming addicted to OxyContin prescribed by a doctor following some injuries. “I lost a sister, so I can put a face on this crisis,” he said. “A lot of my passions come from life experience.” He has made Orlando magazine’s list of the “50 Most Powerful People in Orlando” at least a dozen times. The Orlando Sentinel named him Central Floridian of the Year in 2002 for his “Change 4 Kids” campaign to raise money to build new schools and renovate older ones in Orange County through a half-penny sales tax referendum. He spearheaded a similar successful campaign in 2014. In June, as part of the City of Orlando’s Civil Rights Awards, he was honored as 2021’s Visionary Community Leader for his commitment to civil rights, education reform and advocacy for children. i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

FEATURE

Wildly

DIFFERENT

Event Planners

Track Trends and Embrace Creativity 22 JULY/AUGUST 2021 | i4Biz.com

FEATURE Photo at left: Jane Schuliger and Lisa Jennings

BY MEAGHAN BRANHAM

Photography by Julie Fletcher

sk Wildly Different founders Lisa Jennings and Jane Schuliger about their three-year business plan, and you might not get the response you expected.

If there is something that keeps popping up in your path, taking you in a new direction, don’t be so scared to go where life is taking you and where the success is coming from. — Jane Schuliger

“We just laugh,” Jennings admitted. “We’re very much more the type to watch the trends and jump on what’s hot.” That might not work in some industries, but in the world of team-building event and activity planning, that “wildly different” strategy has proved to be key to their success and their partnership. “Some people are so fearful of bending to a different way of thinking, or of making changes,” Schuliger said of their approach. “But if there is something that keeps popping up in your path, taking you in a new direction, don’t be so scared to go where life is taking you and where the success is coming from.” That’s exactly how both Jennings and Schuliger came to be entrepreneurs. Jennings was attending Florida State University with “no idea what I wanted to do,” she said with a laugh, when she met a friend majoring in “leisure studies.” “It turns out to be a fancy word for recreation,” she said. “I was like, ‘Wait, you can get paid to play for a living?’” Schuliger agrees that the idea of working in “play” seemed farfetched. “When I went to school, this wasn’t a career that was brought up, ever.” Her path began early on with an internship at Walt Disney World. “That’s where I figured out that recreation, getting people to play, those were all things I was super passionate about.” From then on, Schuliger dreamed of finding a way to weave together her work within the corporate setting and her independent streak. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and began working in the hospitality industry — this time in hotels, where she honed her skills and experience in team building. After Jennings joined that leisure studies program that changed her course forever, she went on to an internship as well, coordinating events at South Seas Island Resort, a Captiva Island hotel then known as South Seas Plantation, before

transitioning into other roles doing team building for corporate groups. It was inevitable the two would cross paths. At one point they found themselves working for the same company, where the two of them often collaborated to create clues for treasure hunts that were part of client events. They thought how fun it would be to do that for a living someday. They recognized how well they worked as a team, but the two friends were busy with lives headed in different directions. It wasn’t until the two started their own respective companies — Jennings with a business in event planning and Schuliger with one in meeting planning — that Wildly Different began to take shape. “We started collaborating on projects together, and we did that so often that we realized it made more sense to just work together,” Schuliger said. “We were nervous because we were such good friends and we’ve seen other friendships get destroyed by going into business together, but finally we made it happen.”

Making It Different

Jennings pulled the name of the company from a book she was reading in all of her startup research. “It said, ‘It’s not enough to do a good job and provide a service. You must be wildly different.’” It’s not only the events they plan that live up to the name, although their “Team Building for People Who Hate Team Building” offerings include elaborate and inventive escape rooms, murder mystery games, and scavenger and treasure hunts that would be enough to set them apart. Beyond that, the two say their success comes from their complementary creativity.

“In our industry, creativity counts,” Schuliger said. “Lisa is so brilliant within that realm. While she’s our out-in-front, go-getter salesperson, I handle operations, which allows me to be behind the scenes. I think our differences have been really important to our business. You have to find someone who’s not exactly like you.”

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

FEATURE

In their custom events, where a networking, team building or training event can be designed specifically with a company in mind, creativity means coming up with ways to blow their clients away.

“If, say, a pharmaceutical client is trying to develop a training program about its latest drug, we can take that info and weave it into the clues we create. We can create a custom escape room scenario where the group has to get into the doctor’s office, or past the receptionist, and escape with the prescription,” Jennings said. “We take your training materials, or what makes your company special, and weave it into these creations.” On the customer service side, that same creativity helps them solve problems on the fly. “In the live event business, we’re conditioned to think, ‘What will go wrong?’ and ‘What’s another way to make this happen if it does?’” Jennings explained. “We’re always planning for worst-case scenarios, because with live events there is always something we have to be aware of.” Together, and with their team behind them, they have become a well-oiled machine. “In the event industry, people are running a mile a minute,” Schuliger

24 JULY/AUGUST 2021 | i4Biz.com

said. “If we can be the one cog in the wheel that gets them what they need in a timely and efficient manner, they’ll remember that.”

Constantly Changing

The partners have gotten used to constant change since founding the company in 2003. “People are always looking for what’s fresh and new,” Jennings said. “Every year we have to stop and re-evaluate. “People are always wanting to build on the latest crazes,” Jennings added. “When we first started, it was a lot of treasure hunts, then a few years after that a lot of escape rooms. And then you add whatever’s trending in pop culture at the time. For instance, when a new game show comes out, we look at how we can create something similar.” When COVID-19 emerged and live events were wiped from calendars, the partners adjusted quickly. Instead of waiting it out, they pushed their existing virtual programs to the forefront. “We have a full team of talented people. They are family — we couldn’t do what we do without them — and it was essential that we kept busy, so nobody was let go,” Schuliger said. Quickly, they went from three to 19 virtual events, expanding their catalog by translating some of their live events into the virtual realm.

“From the client perspective, it was rewarding,” Jennings said. “They would do it and say, ‘It was so refreshing to be able to connect again.’ I think it was a relief to them to be able to offer more than just a regular meeting, but to vamp it up with something that gets people to interact.”

Diving In

Now, as live events are returning, Wildly Different is still pivoting to the trends of today, with offerings that include virtual, in-person and hybrid. No matter what the latest trends turn out to be, Jennings and Schuliger have proved time and time again that their ability to provide consistency and reliability while embracing constant change is a formula that works, just like their partnership. “My advice to anyone looking to start is to just do it,” Jennings said. “I knew I wanted to, but I waited and waited. Save your pennies, do your research, but when you do it, dive in full force.” “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes,” Schuliger added. And when you do, she continued, it doesn’t hurt to have a good friend by your side. “When we’ve made those mistakes, we haven’t blamed each other. It’s more like, ‘Well, we made that mistake together,’ even if one person was driving it. That way, even in the things we’ve failed on, we’ve gotten stronger.” P

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FEATURE

Intentional Growth

Customer Service Helps Rapid Prototyping Services Expand Worldwide BY MEAGHAN BRANHAM Photography by Julie Fletcher

26 MAY/JUNE 2021 | i4Biz.com

FEATURE

It’s important to research your industry and what you’re offering well, and to make sure that whatever business you’re in will have a market. — Ken Brace

nly 2,500 square feet of workspace, over $1 million in equipment, one employee and one cocker spaniel named Pepper. Founder Ken Brace doesn’t need anything more to run Rapid Prototyping Services, his 3D printing company in Satellite Beach. The operation has changed in a lot of ways since its founding in 2004 — expanding from a 500-square-foot facility and only one used $10,000 machine on the floor — but he has learned over the course of more than 30 years just what it means to grow, as he puts it, “intentionally.”

Brace’s first foray into owning a business came before he graduated from college. He was just two weeks away from completing his engineering degree from the University of Central Florida when the news came that the company where his dad worked would be shutting down. “He asked me to help him start his own business, and I thought, ‘Sure, I’ll help for a couple of months.’” Brace and his father wound up running that company, Hi-Tech Fabrications, together for 17 years, making sheet metal cabinetry for the electronics industry. When his dad decided to retire, Brace was ready to start a new chapter. “We always planned on me just buying out his half. But in the time since we had started, so much had changed,” Brace said, referring not only to his industry, but to his own life. “In those 17 years, I had gotten married and started a family. I had many more priorities than running a factory, and the burden of having employees was wearing on me.” So he looked into what he knew was a rapidly growing manufacturing sector: 3D printing. After running the idea past his father and conducting more research, they made a decision: They would sell Hi-Tech Fabrications, his father would retire — although Brace still calls on him in an unofficial consulting role — and Rapid Prototyping Services would be Brace’s next entrepreneurial endeavor.

Diverse Clientele

Now nearing its 20th anniversary, Rapid Prototyping Services serves clients in nearly every industry, using industrial printers that can run 24/7 without constant supervision to create three-dimensional models using fused plastic filament fabrication. Building the parts from the ground up using 3D computer-aided design (CAD), printers deposit the material layer by layer until the model is finished. Brace has been attentive to the company’s growth, with incredible results. “I was really careful not to overextend myself,” he

said. “I’ve seen a lot of people overextend themselves and fall into debt. I wanted to be intentional about our growth.” Now, in addition to the company’s expanded floor space and acquisition of new equipment worth nearly 100 times the value of his first machine, Brace’s client pool has expanded both in types of industry and locales. “Locally a lot of my customers are in the defense industry,” he said, referencing clients that include Northrop Grumman and Harris as well as smaller companies started by engineers who serve that industry. “But it also includes artists who come to 3D print things they have created on their computers.” And 2020 brought an increase in another kind of clientele: the inventor. “I have people coming to me a lot more often saying, ‘I’ve always wanted to invent this, and I have all this extra time now,’” he said. As loyal customers move to different parts of the country or the world, they often still count on Brace, who can ship anywhere. Some things have remained the same, though. Brace still only prints in plastics, deciding to perfect that medium and partner with other companies for metal or bioprinting for the medical field. And he is still the sole employee. That is, unless you count his officemate, Pepper. “It’s the dog and me. She comes to work with me, and she has even cleared a space on my desk where she can look out my window,” he said with a laugh.

Learning on the Job

Brace didn’t expect to be self-employed for his entire career, and it didn’t happen without a learning curve. “With my first company, my dad and I were both learning together, and we knew we had to make it work,” he said. “It was nervewracking those first years. We were out there trying to sell ourselves among competitors who had been established for 10 or 20 years. We really had to focus on quality and customer service.” When it came time to start Rapid Prototyping Services, some of those nerves were still there. But this time, Brace had a few guideposts to light the way. “It’s important to research your industry and what you’re offering well, and to make sure that whatever business you’re in will have a market. And no matter what you do, remember that it boils down to customer service,” he said. When he launched Rapid Prototyping Services, he remembered: “I just started calling guys I had worked with on the sheet metal side for years and getting the word out. They knew I could do a good job for them, and that carried weight.” P i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

FEATURE

Jennifer Barrows

David Carrier

Business Development Executive

CEO

Withum

QuantumFlo

New Leadership at GROWFL Advisory Board Chairs Are Dedicated to Supporting Entrepreneurs BY HANNAH METEVIA

n 2018, after working through a strategic plan for the future of GrowFL, Jennifer Barrows and David Carrier could not have imagined what would happen between then and now. But although the path has not always been straight, mostly because of COVID-19, the results have been very positive, Barrows said.

“Over the course of the last two years, we had to pivot and adjust,” Barrows said. “The pandemic actually provided us the opportunity to rethink things and look for areas of improvement. If it had not happened, we might not have made some of the changes we did that ended up proving out and providing more value to the organization and secondstage CEOs we serve.” Throughout her term, Barrows guided the organization in its timely and crucial response to COVID-19, launched a new membership model and developed five key committees all working to better the organization. Perhaps most notably, she spearheaded the efforts for GrowFL to become a 501(c)(3), giving it official nonprofit status.

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GrowFL is the only organization in the state that focuses exclusively on supporting the growth of second-stage businesses, a small but mighty group of entrepreneurs that has significant impact on the state’s economy. Second-stage businesses are those that are beyond the start-up phase and focused on growth. They make up only 10% of companies but carry 30% of the jobs. Having led and been involved in other organizations across the state, Barrows says what sets GrowFL apart is the focus on Florida’s entrepreneurs and their growth. “When you see the passion these CEOs bring to the table, there is an energy that is hard to define or replicate,” she said. “Really, the only way you are going to understand it is to be part of it.” From her leadership, and the dedication of the GrowFL Advisory Board, made up of business leaders across the state, GrowFL is now positioned to support Florida’s entrepreneurs for years to come. In July, David Carrier, CEO of QuantumFlo Inc., took over as chair of the GrowFL advisory board. As a 2014

FEATURE

“When you see the passion these CEOs bring to the table, there is an energy that is hard to define or replicate.” — Jennifer Barrows, outgoing chair GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch honoree, Carrier was recognized as the leader of a standout second-stage company in the state. Just as he was celebrated, it is important to Carrier to further shine a spotlight on the business owners who are moving mountains in Florida. “One of the main reasons I choose to be a leader of GrowFL is because the organization has been so valuable to me as a CEO,” he said. “Being chair is my way of giving back to fellow business owners.” Over the next two years as his term unfolds, through his own story, Carrier hopes to inspire fellow CEOs to get involved with all that GrowFL has to offer. One particular program Carrier is focused on is GrowFL’s membership, operating out of four chapters in the southeast, northeast, Tampa Bay and east central regions. “My mission is to show other business owners the value they can gain from being a GrowFL member,” he said. “The learning opportunities to make you and your company better, the added business exposure or the outstanding networking opportunities, all help to provide CEOs with the tools they need to take their business to the next level. I look forward to leading over the next two years as GrowFL continues to show the world that Florida is the place where great entrepreneurs prosper.” P

Hannah Metevia is the programming and communications manager for GrowFL.

“One of the main reasons I choose to be a leader of GrowFL is because the organization has been so valuable to me as a CEO.” — David Carrier, incoming chair

Want to be part of accelerating Florida’s second-stage businesses?

Contact GrowFL 407-498-5323 or visit www.GrowFL.com i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

FEATURE

A Lifetime of Learning

Data Entrepreneur’s Career Path Started in Childhood BY TERRY GODBEY

Photography by Julie Fletcher

f data and marketing analyst Patti Brownsord hasn’t learned something new and exciting in any given 24 hours, she considers it an off day. It’s safe to say, though, that the co-owner of Grounded With Data in Orlando has a lot of good days, and so do the businesses she helps to strengthen with her insights.

“I like to tell stories with data,” she said. Here, in a nutshell, is why she says strategic data analysis is a crucial deep dive for every business: “Businesses and nonprofits can’t afford to put all of their eggs in one basket and fail, and they can’t put one egg in every basket and spread themselves too thin because that’s not effective either. Insights from data help them decide which baskets to use heavily and which to test lightly.” Her lifelong desire to learn new things was stoked during her nine years as a Girl Scout in Florida, she said. She started as a Daisy in Royal Palm Beach and quickly joined the troop in Crescent City when her family moved there when she was 9. “Girl Scouts was perfect for me because I got to learn with other girls who were interested in a wide range of things,” said Brownsord, who earned a Silver Medal for her project to entertain nursing home residents. “It wasn’t like learning in school, for the sake of taking a test and passing it. In Girl Scouts, we had some autonomy and could choose our

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own adventure.” She also loved windsurfing, sailing and swimming in summer camps. Meeting new girls and participating in Girl Scout cookie sales helped her overcome shyness and learn to network, skills vital to her career today. “When you have the opportunity to interact with people outside of your usual circles, it gives you more confidence and resiliency.” That confidence was pivotal in July, when she left her senior analytical consultant role at AAA in Heathrow after four years to turn her full attention to her growing company, which she founded as Data Wonderment in 2017. “I enjoy the camaraderie of being in a business with someone else,” Brownsord said, “because I can handle the marketing, someone else can handle the accounting and we can work together.” So when her original business partner left for family reasons, she partnered with business expert Jack Slingluff Jr. early this year and they rebranded to Grounded With Data. She said she is most passionate about marketing. “That’s where you can really move the needle for businesses,” she said. She should know. She earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations with a minor in marketing from the University of Central Florida and returned for an MBA. She

“Girl Scouts was perfect for me because I got to learn with other girls who were interested in a wide range of things. We had some autonomy and could choose our own adventure.” — Patti Brownsord

worked in advertising, public relations and marketing roles before her sharp turn into data analysis. The switch occurred when a friend at AAA learned that Brownsord had been performing analysis for her advertising clients and asked her to help on some projects. She proved to be a fast learner, and AAA asked her to come aboard. She shares her zeal for learning through a podcast called “Patti Is Still Learning,” which she and her husband, John, started in 2019. The show about

FEATURE

Message from CEO Maryann Barry

After more than 100 years, the Girl Scout Cookie Program has earned an iconic place in American culture, inspiring girls to become the business, government and cultural leaders of their generation. Every girl has the opportunity to become a budding entrepreneur and leader from the moment she becomes a Girl Scout. This aspect of the program is by far the most important.

Patti Brownsord at 8, preparing to graduate from a Brownie to a Junior

“change, growth, development and fun” features small business owners and activists as guests and is available on Apple, Spotify and at PattiIsStillLearning.com. Brownsord loves living in College Park and supports small businesses as the president of College Park Main Street. Her favorite place to work is her back yard, and she can often be found walking her goldendoodle, Eva, at Dartmouth Park. “I love College Park’s small-town feel, just outside the urban comforts of living downtown.” Her aptitude for easily getting to know others began when she met new girls in Girl Scouts, she said. “Today, at networking events, one of the first things I do is go up to people I don’t know and introduce myself.” She is a collector of hats and enjoys playing board and other kinds of games, especially those that help her build skills. As a child, she played piano and saxophone, and neither came easy. “I understood that I had to work hard and practice every day. I’ve always been diligent about wanting to do things well.” P

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES FOR SALE

The tasty treats have always been more about the girls and what they gain from their experience than about fund raising, although those funds are critical to educational enrichments they support such as community impact projects and life skills experiences in the outdoors. As girls progress through the program year after year, skills are honed and new ones acquired to prepare them to face the challenges ahead, no matter what path they choose in life. This year, your local Girl Scouts experienced a difficult and disrupted cookie sales cycle. The challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic required the girls — and those of us who support their cookie businesses — to innovate, create new customer connection models and flex different entrepreneurial muscles. While silver linings in the pandemic may be hard to find, the grit the girls have shown in meeting these challenges and the educational opportunities they have found have kept us true to our mission of building girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place. Before the pandemic, a cookie program had never extended into the summer, leaving a warehouse of surplus, unsold cookies. Contactless delivery models had never been necessary.

Local troops are left with a surplus of more than 200,000 boxes of Thin Mints and other delectable treats, in part because of the challenges of selling them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Buy cookies for yourself or your business or donate them to a food bank, first responders or members of the military by visiting

I am proud of the girls, and the volunteers who support them, as they persist in innovative efforts to #EmptyTheWarehouse and learn how to successfully manage a customer-facing business during a public health crisis. The girls will never forget what they learned from this experience.

https://www.citrus-gs.org/en/cookies/find-cookies.html A case (12 boxes) of cookies costs $60.

I am grateful beyond words to our community, which has shown unwavering support for our girls and our council. We still have nearly 200,000 boxes to go, but with girl-led innovation and the support of our community, together we can empty that warehouse. i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

FEATURE

Ambassadors

of Hope

BY TERRY GODBEY

Profile Photography by Julie Fletcher

Loss of Baby Leads to Finley Project, a Lifeline for Grieving New Moms

very year on July 25, Noelle Moore celebrates the birth of her daughter, Finley Elizabeth, with a big party. Sadly, the guest of honor never attends. Moore’s daughter died in 2013 when she was 23 days old. Finley had suffered severe brain damage during a delay in her birth at a Central Florida hospital. The harrowing ordeal led Moore to create The Finley Project, a Winter Park nonprofit to help other women who have lost an infant. In an equally important role, she has become an advocate for expectant mothers and for hospitals to be fully staffed with obstetricians 24/7. “I have always known I had a calling,” she said. “I’ve always had a passion for women supporting women, and leadership involving women, but I didn’t know what shape it would take until Finley’s death.” Moore had been in labor nearly 27 hours and needed an emergency cesarean section, but no doctor was available to perform it. During the 40 minutes she waited for an obstetrician to arrive, Finley was deprived of oxygen. The baby was put on life support, and doctors said she would never walk or talk. Every detail about the devastating day Moore left the hospital without her daughter is vivid. “I remember the smell of the soap in a dispenser on the wall that the nurses used. I remember the lake I could see out the window in the room where Finley died.” She felt lost. “The world looked different. I didn’t know how I could function and go forward,” she said, describing what she calls the “giant gap” between the hospital and home. Moore’s father had died five months earlier, and her husband left two weeks after Finley’s death. “I didn’t have anybody who could relate to my experience or talk me through how to deal with it, and for me that was the gap,” she said. “When you watch your only

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child die in front of you, it’s probably the greatest grief a person can ever know. If you don’t have somebody who can stand there and say, ‘I got through it. You can, too,’ the likelihood of healing or any type of recovery is very low.”

Hungry for Community

Friends and family members helped Moore find counseling and a support group. “I was not OK with grieving in isolation and suffering silently. I was hungry for community and kept thinking there had to be other people out there who had gone through this. Women who have lost a child need somebody to be an ambassador of hope for them.” Even in those early days, as Moore struggled to deal with her enormous loss, she began to think of how to help other mothers whose babies have died. “I thought, ‘Who helps women who don’t have a strong support system?’” That led to her lifeline, The Finley Project, a seven-part holistic program formed in 2014 that offers free physical, emotional and spiritual support to women who have lost babies from 22 weeks of pregnancy through age 2. The program helps with funeral arrangements and provides grocery gift cards, a maid service and massage therapy as well the counseling Moore had known she desperately needed. “Some women have never gone to counseling before,” Moore said, “and it can save their lives. For many women, it is the most important road to healing, but if there’s no food in the house or the house is a mess, they will not be able to make it a priority.” Every mother is matched with her own volunteer support coordinator ready to help with anything she needs. Almost all of the volunteers have also lost a child and understand the grief. “She serves as that ‘ambassador of hope.’ She has been in those shoes,” Moore said. Most women are referred to The Finley Project for help through hospitals.

FEATURE

NOELLE MOORE

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

FEATURE

Educator Role

Moore is just as steadfast in her role as an educator and advocate for fully staffed hospitals — and helping to prevent infant deaths in the first place. As CEO of Know Moore Consulting, she works with hospitals to establish a “hospitalist” model that staffs OB-GYNs 24/7 to care for obstetric patients and help manage emergencies. She wants to educate mothers so they are prepared to ask the hospital where they will give birth if there is an OB on staff at all times in case their doctor is not available or is delayed getting to the hospital. “Who would have thought to ask if there’s going to be a doctor there to help? It’s not a dumb question. Minutes matter! Women need to understand the staffing at their hospital. I want to shout this from the rooftops.” The Finley Project has helped almost 300 mothers around the country through the worst days of their lives. It raises money through grants, donations and its Annual Celebration of Life Gala, which honors the birthday of Finley and the lives of other babies who have died. Moore has set a goal to serve 600 mothers by 2024. First, though, she wants to raise enough money to help 90 mothers in the fiscal year that began July 1. It costs $1,500 to sponsor a mother. One of those mothers was Chelsea Johnson, who lost one of her twins, Christopher, to sudden infant death syndrome in 2015. The surviving twin, Calais, was born with Down syndrome. “The Finley Project helped us pick up the pieces, and we did not feel alone,” she said. At the time, her husband was laid off, so on top of the shock and grief, they were worried about how they would feed their family. “We prayed about it, and I kid you not, that day in the mail came gift cards for Publix from The Finley Project,” Johnson said in a video featured on the nonprofit’s website. “I can’t tell you how much of a blessing that was.” Soon after, Johnson became a volunteer.

Prepare to Hear ‘No’

Although building The Finley Project has been rewarding, it has not been easy. Moore has plenty of advice for budding entrepreneurs. “A lot of well-intentioned people want to do something good for the world. I tell people, ‘You’d better believe in it enough to hear “no” 100 times in one day and still know that what you’re going to do matters.’” Her other suggestions: Surround yourself with experts in their fields. “You can’t do everything yourself, and if you try, nothing gets done right.” She said it’s important to set up the

When you watch your only child die in front of you, it’s probably the greatest grief a person can ever know. If you don’t have somebody who can stand there and say, ‘I got through it. You can, too,’ the likelihood of healing or any type of recovery is very low. — Noelle Moore

Noelle and Finley foundation and put the right building blocks in place: Create your mission, develop your board, set up as a nonprofit, take classes, find a mentor. “Make sure you have a professional presence via your website and simple marketing collateral. Don’t go out there in the world before you’re ready.” She also has a tip or two about what to say to a woman who has lost an infant. “The biggest mistake people make is not saying anything at all,” Moore said. “You can say, ‘I don’t know what to say. It’s horrible and I’m sorry.’” Moore, who earned a degree in English with a minor in marketing and communications at Rollins College, returned to Rollins to learn about the nonprofit world. She earned a certificate in nonprofit management at the Edyth Bush Institute for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership. She is also writing a book about loss. In her down time, Moore enjoys the beach, her church, hiking and camping. A favorite spot is Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. Engaged with her community, she is a trained grief share facilitator, a founding member of the Pregnancy and Infant Loss Resource Network, and a member of the Association for Fundraising Professionals. She won Ovation Awards from the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce in 2017 and 2018. “I believe many of us are called to make meaning out of hard things,” Moore said, “whether it’s to start a business or nonprofit or to look at the world differently. I think we have to look at the hard things and evaluate why they happened and what we are supposed to do with them. “I’m grateful for my faith, which keeps me going, I’m grateful to be in a better place than I was in 2013, and I’m grateful for the people who didn’t give up on me.” P

H O W TO H E L P MAKE A DONATION www.thefinleyproject.org/donate

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ENTREPRENEUR SPOTLIGHT

“Starting my company, I knew I would be able to focus on advocating for small and diverse businesses.” — Kimberly Rosier Jean-Louis, MBA

Kimberly Rosier Jean-Louis, MBA President

3D Strategic Management Inc.

CHAIN OF CHANGE BY MEAGHAN BRANHAM

hat’s in a name? For 3D Strategic Management Inc., the answer is everything. For her clients, the moniker stands for the comprehensive services that owner Kimberly Rosier Jean-Louis, MBA, provides at her business development and community relations firm. For Jean-Louis, it’s a constant reminder of her deepest inspiration. “My three kids, Dallas, Dakota and Destin, inspire me,” Rosier Jean-Louis said. “I want to be part of a chain of change that will help them and the next generation truly live the American dream. It’s very personal, and I take the challenge seriously.” Rosier Jean-Louis is already a wellestablished link on the chain, with more than 22 years of experience in the world of business and diversity, including roles in the executive office of the Florida governor, Orange County Public Schools, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority and the Orlando office of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA). In 2019, she decided to use all of her experience in designing and executing programs for small businesses and form her own company, 3D Strategic Management. Since then, she has worked with more than 250 small businesses, government agencies and corporations to design training programs and offer consulting expertise. Her clients include

the African American Chamber of Commerce Central Florida, Duke Energy and the Commerce Department. As of July 1, Rosier Jean-Louis’s firm serves as the operator of the fiveyear Orlando MBDA Business Center program. Her latest ventures zero in even more on her passions: a Student Entrepreneur Educational Development (SEED) program, providing entrepreneur training to students ages 13-21, and Women Empowerment Wednesdays, which brings speakers from Fortune 1000 companies and agencies to women business owners from all over the world in a TV interview format. So far, the virtual series has reached more than 1.5 million people globally. Rosier Jean-Louis has long known this work was her calling. “In my first job fresh out of college at Florida A&M University, I personally experienced socioeconomic imbalance, racism, sexism and disrespect for the contributions of all Americans. It stuck with me as I progressed through my career. Starting my company, I knew I would be able to focus on advocating for small and diverse businesses.” As an Orlando Business Journal 2021 Outstanding Diversity Champion and an African American Stakeholder under former President Trump and President Biden, Rosier Jean-Louis has made incredible strides in that advocacy. “Seeing our clients exceed their goals and set new goals is absolutely my favorite part of the work,” she said. And with each client she helps, she adds another link to the chain of change that will create the world she envisions for her peers today, and her children tomorrow. P i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

EDUCATION SPOTLIGHT

“I don’t want to forget where I came from or the perseverance that got me here. Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.” — Liefke Meyers

Liefke Meyers Vice President of Development

Foundation Academy

PERSEVERANCE IS PAYING OFF

BY MEAGHAN BRANHAM

iefke Meyers had a charming childhood dream. “I always loved ballroom dancing. As a kid, I wanted to be one of those dancers and spin around through the air,” she said. “I love that feeling of flying you get when you dance. You really can just let go.” The vice president of development at Foundation Academy has since found new ways to spread her wings — first with a successful career in government, serving at the state level with Enterprise Florida, and then at the Orlando Economic Partnership, leading investor relations, for a total of almost 15 years. “I really enjoyed that time,” she said, “but becoming a mom for the second time in my older years got me thinking about working for a place where I could really focus on my family and God.” That calling led her to Foundation Academy, a private Christian school in Winter Garden, where she joined the staff this spring as vice president of development. The school was a perfect fit. “I was so excited because our mission is about molding men and women who can be influential on a global scale,” she said, citing the school’s 100% college acceptance rate and the millions of dollars in scholarships students have received. “We are sending them out in the world with values of kindness and caring for their community.” Those students include her daughters, who will start this fall.

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Even with many signs pointing her toward this new path, the choice still required a leap of faith. “Learning a new industry was a big change. I dove right in, reading the materials every night, from analysis to our strategic plans to our case studies — and I am taking plenty of notes. I’m grateful to serve with a great team. And I call our president, Dave Buckles, our ‘King Leonidas,’” she said with a laugh. “We are so lucky to have his tenacity and passion leading us.” Meyers is no stranger to tenacity. She remembers the nights she spent attending classes at Valencia College and then Rollins College, working while earning her undergraduate and then master’s degrees, all as a working single mother. “I don’t want to forget where I came from or the perseverance that got me here. Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.” Meyers described her new role as one in which she is learning every day. During her first month, she has gotten to know children and their families and attended more than a dozen events including kindergarten graduations and senior luncheons. She has especially enjoyed listening to the kids’ songs and prayers in the school chapel. It’s in those moments she finds the strength that fuels her perseverance. “God is still my guiding light as is the love I have for my husband and three children.” In this new chapter, it seems Meyers has found a new way to fly. “Right now, I’m experiencing every day as an exciting day and a gift from God.” P

ENTREPRENEUR SPOTLIGHT

“I like looking at other problem solvers, and watching and learning from them as they identify how to work out simple solutions to complex issues.” — Jose Ramon Riestra

Jose Ramon Riestra President

Empire Management Group

COMPLEX ISSUES, SIMPLE SOLUTIONS BY MEAGHAN BRANHAM

hen Jose Ramon Riestra was growing up, his family vacations were more than just stops at tourist spots. “On our trips to almost anywhere, my parents would drive through neighborhoods and look at the homes,” he said. “It helped my siblings and me develop an affinity for real estate and communities. We have always appreciated those places for their unique styles and the local culture.” Today, as president and owner of residential and commercial property management company Empire Management Group, Riestra has made a career out of understanding that a house is more than just a structure — it’s a reflection of how we live and who we are. In his current role, Riestra makes sure the communities and people he serves are happy in their homes. “It entails a lot of working with the team, our vendors, boards and homeowners to find solutions to often complex issues that affect our homeowners,” Riestra said. “You never know what might come with the day. A car might go through a wall, lightning might strike a junction box or a roof might leak, and we deal with all those problems while working with lawyers and boards. We work to find resolutions to help build better neighbors in a community.”

Earlier in his career, Riestra spent nearly a decade in international business, first at Procter & Gamble as a department manager, then at GlaxoSmithKline as a finance director. A twist of fate brought him to a new position as president of family-owned World of Homes, where he rekindled his passion for real estate, leading him to found Empire in 2019. Outside of work, Riestra stays involved in his community, serving as treasurer for Volunteers for Community Impact and as a home-builder volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. He was recognized as a top CEO in 2020 by the Orlando Business Journal, and he serves as an adviser on season 2 of the Amazon Prime TV series” 4 Days to Save the World.” In every venture, his entrepreneurial spirit shines through. “I like looking at other problem solvers and watching and learning from them as they identify how to work out simple solutions to complex issues.” P

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

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ENTREPRENEUR SPOTLIGHT

“PEOPLE OFTEN THINK OF SUSTAINABILITY AS A CONSTRAINT. PEOPLE THINK THEY DON’T HAVE THAT MUCH TO DO WITH THE ENVIRONMENT, AND THAT IT IS TOO EXPENSIVE TO IMPLEMENT OR OUT OF THEIR REACH. BUT THOSE ARE MISCONCEPTIONS.” — Ana Maria Leal

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ENTREPRENEUR SPOTLIGHT

AMLY Sustainability Helps Businesses Become Environmental Stewards

o you ever wonder what’s going on inside your phone? Not on it, where we spend so much of our time and attention, but in it, where dozens of tiny parts work together to keep our lives — the digital parts at least — in motion. “We only see the surface of the product,” said Ana Maria Leal, founder of AMLY Sustainability. “We don’t often think about how it’s made, what it’s made of, what the impacts are on the region where these materials are extracted from, the amount of energy it takes to transform a material, the carbon released during processing and the scarcity of the materials. But that’s all important because just making that one product with a short shelf life might have negative impacts on the environment for much, much longer. We need to start thinking about things more emotionally and with more respect for the world around us.” AMLY Sustainability is Leal’s own contribution to building that compassionate world. Founded in 2019, the full-service product and supply chain consultancy has already made strides in its work with Fortune 500 companies. Product manufacturers across industries with large supply chains, from electrical equipment to electronics to products for buildings, turn to AMLY when they’re ready to address the giant that is sustainable production. Leal first evaluates “hot spots” where companies can improve their practices. “Once we identify those, there is this feeling of, ‘What now?’ So we set up a road map, define their goals, and set up the strategies and tactics to attain those goals,” she said. And AMLY isn’t afraid to

BY MEAGHAN BRANHAM

Photography by Julie Fletcher dive deep into the details, tracing every piece back to a sustainable source. That includes taking stock of the impacts of materials, life cycle assessment, business-to-business communications, product assessment audits, and even sustainability of design. Leal’s own relationship with sustainable production started in that realm, when she was a product designer at Eastman Kodak Company. “While in the product design role, I joined the sustainability initiative, and it sparked this curiosity,” she said. “What were the environmental impacts of my designs, and what would happen with these electronics at the end of their life? And that made me wonder if there was anything I could do to alleviate the strain created by the industrial model take-make-waste.” Eager to learn more, she accepted a fellowship to pursue a Master of Science in sustainable systems at the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology, the same school where she previously earned her Master of Fine Arts in industrial design. She then went on to serve as a sustainability consultant for companies such as John Beath Environmental and Swiss SGS North America, a leading testing, inspection and certification company supporting global manufacturers. “It opened up new opportunities to let science influence my designs,” she said. “People often think of sustainability as a constraint. People think they don’t have that much to do with the environment, and that it is too expensive to implement or out of their reach. But those are misconceptions. “What we are seeing is that companies that have implemented

sustainability have been able to benefit from mitigating risks, saving materials, implementing more efficient product design, tracing their materials, lowering their carbon footprint, and removing problematic ingredients. Sustainable manufacturing actually adds product value and increases customer trust. As long as we have consumers who care about the impact of their consumption, they will ask manufacturers to take a more responsible approach. Then it will become a standard practice, not just the idea of a few.” In founding AMLY, Leal seized the chance to play her part in making sustainability that standard practice. She was able to continue working with past clients while gaining the freedom to share her knowledge with each new client she takes on and to make new partnerships to increase the breadth of the consultancy services to full material traceability, carbon allocation and whole supply chain using blockchain. In 2019, she moved to Orlando, where environmental and local government initiatives surrounding sustainability have allowed her to connect with likeminded people who are all striving for a more responsible way of doing business. “I saw Orlando as one of the cities moving toward becoming sustainable, and that attracted me here because that not only meant networking and work opportunities but a great environment to raise your voice in striving to make a better world,” she said. “Things just began developing organically. I made mistakes, of course. But I think making mistakes is important. It’s the only way to learn what works, and I want to take every opportunity to leave a positive imprint on the world.” P i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

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UP CLOSE With

Isis Jones By Terry Godbey

Isis Jones is chief information officer and executive director of education at Full Sail University in Winter Park. Popular with aspiring filmmakers, digital artists, record producers, game makers and other creative and technology-oriented students for over 40 years, the award-winning university is currently the academic home for more than 22,000 students, 80,230 alumni, and about 2,200 faculty and staff members. How did you get started at Full Sail University 34 years ago? You have said you were deciding what to do next in your career but were “bitten by the bug.” Can you explain? Growing up, I had many interests, in part because I grew up in a house of engineers and artists. Thus, my exposure to ideas and information was diversified in such a way as to appeal to both left and right brain. I wanted to work as soon as possible so I could contribute to the household and be financially independent while doing something I loved. While working at age 17 in a new hospital, I was introduced to its first mainframe computer, and my aptitude for it piqued my interest so much that it charted my education and career choice in technology. I would go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in computer programming and information systems at Orlando College. One of my first technology jobs was at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in Orlando as a systems programmer. I loved it there. Around that same time, I was helping Jon Phelps, the founder of Full Sail University, with the school’s technology. As Full Sail readied for a pivotal move to Winter Park, I was recruited by another company that wanted to send me overseas for a six-month installation of a mainframe to facilitate one of the first cellular phone system grids in Japan. It was a great opportunity for a person my age as well as for a woman in technology, yet it was also a little scary. Jon and my husband, Garry Jones, the current president of Full Sail, who was then vice president of admissions and career development at Full Sail, knew of my hesitation. They persuaded me to join Full Sail to purchase, install and train the staff on a new computer system that would empower the institution for growth. This move, in 1988, alleviated my trepidation about living alone in another country, but it also gave me pause since I would be working with my husband and would be an IT department of one. However, Jon asked me to come on board for six months and complete the mission, promising to then hire my replacement so I could return to corporate America. It didn’t take long to realize the magic of Full Sail — an alluring culture of people filled with passion for

fulfilling careers in entertainment and media production. My favorite thing is solving problems, and there was no shortage of challenges at this relatively young institution intent on growing into a world-class university. Saying “yes” to Jon’s offer was the best decision I ever made.

Full Sail University has long been a leader in educating students about technology as well as using technology in that education. It also has been at the forefront of providing online classes in addition to on-campus instruction. How much of an advantage did that focus and expertise provide to Full Sail and its students when the COVID-19 pandemic struck? Did all of your classes move online fairly easily and effectively? Full Sail University was at the forefront of virtual education when we adopted robust online education 12 years ago. Today, our faculty and students — including campus students — are well versed in our learning management system platform as well as Full Sail’s communications platforms. This played directly into the seamless transition of our place-based students into virtual education. One of the most significant factors in the seamless transition of campus students to virtual education because of the pandemic was that every student was equipped with what we call “Project LaunchBox.” We democratize technology by having every student equipped with the same model of computer with the software and peripherals they need to do their work. This was instrumental in the success of that transition. We also saw a tremendous amount of innovation and effort from our campus faculty to augment existing online education protocols with new, intuitive ways to deliver education from studios and hard-to-replicate campus-based environments. We learned much, and it will forever change the way we accomplish online education. A positive area to note following the pandemic will be how technology was catapulted 10 years into the future by the education world’s forced adoption of various technological platforms. We fared quite well during the pandemic and are now migrating back to campus in a methodical, safe fashion.

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

UP CLOSE

What differentiates Full Sail University and its faculty from other educational institutions? What are its most popular majors? Full Sail is the only university in the country with degree programs in practically every area of entertainment and media arts. In addition, we are experiencing a robust expansion in emerging technologies to serve job market needs and new trends in technology that continually change. Our most popular majors are game design, recording arts and film. However, our fastest-growing degree programs are those in emerging technologies serving job markets in the areas of visualization, coding, cybersecurity and the internet of things (IoT).

How do creative and technical pursuits, which some people might think are quite different, intersect at Full Sail? That intersection is at the root of our existence. Full Sail has always had one foot in art and the other foot in technology, a hybrid not often addressed in traditional education. I call it “whole brain” education. It’s like being bilingual. When you train for both left and right brain, you not only find where your strengths lie, you become a more rounded person. “Speaking” art and technology is similar to speaking multiple languages — you can effectively communicate with different groups. It has become increasingly important for designers to communicate with programmers in a language they can both understand. As for the technical part of production, the real-world experiences our students receive pave the way for their employment because they are technically proficient as well as creative. We strongly encourage the pollination of technical programs with creative programs, such as matching computer animators with gamers and sound designers.

How difficult is it to stay on top of changing technology? Most people might say it’s difficult to stay current with ever-changing technology. However, we find it easy. I am blessed to work with staff and faculty who are constantly pushing the envelope, always wanting to jump to the beta versions of the latest trends. We also have a generous board that agrees with funding the latest technological trends.

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A good example is the innovation in one of our emerging technology undergraduate degree programs, Simulation and Visualization. It entails a unique mixture of technological skill sets that combine coding, 3D manufacturing, circuit board programming and virtual reality. It’s quite revolutionary to have all those skill sets combined in one program. At Full Sail, we’re not afraid to take the uncharted path.

What’s it like being married to the president of Full Sail University and combining your work and personal lives? Of the two of you, who is the bigger techie?

Anyone who knows Garry Jones knows that it’s great to be part of his life in any capacity. We have worked side by side for over 30 years now, and in today’s environment it is a seamless colleague-to-colleague relationship. The earlier years took some adjusting, such as the establishment of home versus work rules regarding how long we would talk after hours about work topics. But I can’t imagine having made this journey without him — we are stronger together. We each bring something different to the table, and our strengths complement each other. And I am definitely the bigger techie!

What does the future look like in terms of curriculum, growth and innovation? We are excited about the future. Educational methods are moving to shorter-length options. Students are getting smarter every day. They know what they want, and they want it faster. We are launching programs in emerging technologies as well as shorter-term education options being sought by students looking for retraining or the acquisition of specific skill sets. Our degree program is also growing to meet the needs of new trends ranging from artificial intelligence to IoT platforms.

What are you most proud of?

Nothing brings me more pride than when graduates of our programs do well and win awards or come back to share their successes with us. I often pause and think about our first move to Winter Park into the original 24,000-square-foot space, when we offered two degree programs. I contrast that with today’s 1 million-square-foot campus with more than 100 degree programs. It’s incredible to have been part of Full Sail’s journey. P

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BEST PRACTICE

Meaghan Branham

is the managing editor for i4 Business, where she oversees the company’s digital media strategy, handles client relationship marketing for the print and digital magazines, and serves as one of the publication’s lead writers. A native of Brevard County, she splits her time between Central Florida and Nashville, Tennessee.

Marketing

EMBRACE VIRTUAL EVENTS BECAUSE THEY’RE HERE TO STAY

he Year of Zoom. How Zoom Won 2020. Zoom Took Over the World. These headlines from the past year make it clear that 2020 was the year of the virtual event. They also make it clear that what started as a short-term solution to pandemic problems has become a viable way to connect. More than a stand-in for the face to face, some would argue that Zoom and platforms like it have become an effective way to host meetings, events and trade shows — and they are here to stay:

The Benefits of a Virtual Event costs. Anyone who has ever 1 Reduced organized an event can tell you it is

expensive. In fact, Bizzabo reported that businesses spent nearly 25% of their marketing budget on events in 2019. From securing a venue to catering to speakers, in-person events can quickly burn a hole in any company’s pocket. The expenses are reflected in the price of tickets, with some events costing attendees thousands of dollars. Hosting a virtual event cuts your expenses dramatically, even when you work in the costs of event platforms, speakers and engaging experiences. That also often means a huge discount in ticket prices for attendees, making it a win-win for you and your audience.

Ɇ According to Bizzabo’s Post COVID-19 Event Outlook report, 93% of organizers plan to invest in virtual events in 2021.

There has never been a better time to take conferences, trainings, seminars and other exclusive events online. — Andrew Faridani,

president and CEO at BreezeMaxWeb

Ɇ More than half of event planners are looking toward hybrid inperson and digital events going forward, according to Northstar Meetings Group’s January survey of 812 event planners. Ɇ Satisfaction with online experiences is high, with 91% of respondents saying they are a success, AnyRoad’s The State of Virtual Events 2021 report states. It isn’t just Zoom, of course. Companies and people have turned to Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Join.Me, UberConference and other platforms in the past year. More robust platforms specifically designed to host events like BigMarker, Bizzabo and INXPO offer even richer experiences focused on ease of user experience and driving engagement. But some companies are still wondering whether they should continue to work virtual events into their marketing plans in the years to come, even after life returns to “normal.” The answer, according to most experts, appears to be yes.

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Accessibility. Cost is just one of the ways virtual events have proved to be more accessible. Without the burden of a commute time, many people have been able to attend more events than ever in the past year. Even events in different parts of the country or elsewhere in the world were suddenly available to people from the comfort of their homes. And for those with limited mobility, the uptick in virtual events has opened up a world previously difficult for them to enjoy. As Andrew Faridani, president and CEO at BreezeMaxWeb, wrote in Forbes magazine: “In-person events have been historically difficult or impossible for people who are sick, disabled or chronically ill, as well as individuals with sensory processing difficulties, to attend. Increased accessibility to virtual events will increase valuable, diverse perspectives, which will accelerate the advancement of individual organizations as well as entire industries.”

Expanded audience. That accessibility means your organization has the opportunity to expand its audience beyond the local realm. The chance to reach more people than ever, no matter where they are, allows you to spread your message and build your brand in new places and industries that before felt difficult to access.

More chances to wow. The fact that so many companies are new to the possibilities of virtual events equates to untapped potential and chances to impress. And with the money and time you save on in-person events, you can focus your time and resources on creative ways to engage your audience. For example, in our own i4 Business events, we were lucky enough to have internationally renowned violinist Gary Lovini open two of our awards shows. Other businesses have partnered with restaurants or wineries to bring attendees food or drinks to enjoy during the show. To increase engagement, speakers have put together presentations with polls, videos and even arts and crafts. The possibilities are endless.

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How to Market a Virtual Event

Once you’ve decided when your next virtual event is, it’s time to get the word out. Luckily, marketing a virtual event isn’t much different from promoting an in-person event. When it comes down to it, marketing these events is about consistency and a strong brand. Here are some tips:

Provide easy navigation to one event page. There’s nothing more frustrating than being directed to several pages when you’re trying to find the right one. Make sure all your marketing materials point to one well-designed event landing page where attendees can get the information they need on the event, register to attend and pay any fees. This can be done simply through platforms like Constant Contact or Mailchimp. Use every channel for increased visibility. From social media pages to e-blasts to banner ads on your own website, make sure you’re visible to your audience. Keep the messaging and branding consistent across all channels, and pretty soon you’ll have piqued some interest. Ask sponsors and speakers to help get the word out. The power of partnership here can’t be overstated. Tagteaming the promotion is sure to boost your visibility, benefiting both you and your sponsors and partners.

Virtual events offered the chance for us to connect with one another when coming together seemed impossible. They gave us the chance to share ideas, innovate, get creative and expand our understanding of what works. Now that we’ve spent the last year learning the ins and outs, we can spend the next year perfecting our planning and creating better and bigger events for all. P

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BEST PRACTICE

Davia Moss

is the contracted marketing officer at Next Horizon, a Sanford-based IT and digital marketing agency that provides holistic technology solutions for businesses looking to improve sales, increase agility and optimize productivity. She can be reached at dmoss@nexthorizon.net.

Mastering SEO can add a huge boost to your visibility and website traffic. More importantly, it can be incredibly cost effective. — Harry Ellis III

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Digital Marketing

SEO: THE UNSUNG HERO OF SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH HOW SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION CAN HELP DRIVE BUSINESS

odern-day business has evolved into a staggering battlefield of behemoth box brands and niche newcomers that are constantly competing for attention. Entrepreneurs can’t avoid the facts that customers are already inundated with ads, nearly every market is saturated, and new businesses are starting up every day. However, there is one secret weapon for driving business growth that more than 70% of small businesses overlook: SEO strategy. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the act of optimizing content and code on your website (on-page SEO), and on other sites (off-page SEO), to increase the chance of being delivered in top search results for web queries related to your business. A well-planned SEO strategy will include both a consistent content marketing strategy optimized for keywords and content pillars or sales funnels, along with user experience enhancements and technical performance optimization. “When businesses talk about increasing sales, they rarely account for search engine optimization as a viable option for growth,” said Harry Ellis III, chief information officer and president of Next Horizon, which provides technology solutions for businesses looking to improve sales, increase agility and optimize productivity. “However, mastering SEO can add a huge boost to your visibility and website traffic. More importantly, it can be incredibly cost effective.” Next Horizon uses its 40 years of experience to provide technical business advice. “Typically, when we have clients who understand the importance of SEO and invest time into the strategy and execution, they are successful,” Ellis said.

These tips can help businesses determine how to use SEO for maximum results: Unite text and tech A web search engine is a powerhouse system that delivers information generated by search queries. These searches are performed by eager audiences around the world. According to Internet Live Stats, users perform more than 3.5 billion Google searches per day — and that’s just on one search platform. “It’s all too easy to get buried in search results,” Ellis said. “It’s important that businesses do everything they can to ensure their brand is delivered in relevant results.”

Understand the benefits SEO can help win top spots in search results by leveraging the power of strategy. “The first page of search results is not unattainable, even for small businesses and entrepreneurs,” Ellis said. “It just takes a bit of time and effort.” SEO also helps build brand awareness, aids in creation of faster and better websites, finds and corrects faults in user search queries, wins targeted audiences, and increases conversion rates for sales and other activities — and produces long-lasting results.

Know that content is king Content delivers a branded experience to audiences while guiding them through the customer journey. “Quality content allows businesses to share stories, convey personality, build credibility and inspire trust with audiences,” Ellis said. “Top-notch content is valuable.” However, this is where businesses fall short of a true SEO strategy. Proper SEO includes consistently creating original, engaging articles for both users and search engines. For businesses looking to gain traction, this means producing long-form content (between 500 and 3,000 words) two to four times per week, optimized with relevant keywords and search terms.

Get technical … and get assistance Technical SEO is the other side of search engine optimization — and it might require the help of a specialist or agency. To win top positions in search results, businesses need to implement SEO best practices for both content and code while adhering to the previously mentioned ranking factors set by search engines. Website speed is a critical factor in SEO. According to Google, 53% of mobile website visitors will abandon a webpage if it doesn’t load within three seconds. “A slow-loading website contributes to a huge number of lost transactions,” Ellis said. “Optimizing user experience and page performance will contribute drastically to earning top placement on search results pages.”

Grow with SEO A website is a digital extension of a business. That means SEO should be interwoven into the fabric of every digital marketing strategy to promote organic growth online. “To get discovered in search results, companies must provide a user-friendly, well-structured, fastloading website that delivers value-packed content to audiences,” Ellis said. “This can only be achieved when businesses adopt healthy SEO practices as a driving force for their marketing program.”

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

BEST PRACTICE

Bill “Roto” Reuter

served for nearly 30 years in the U.S. Navy as a test pilot and as commander for its premier training and simulation development organization. He is now the founder and president of R-Squared Solutions, where he and his team facilitate dynamic workshops that empower organizations to reach greater success. He also is the founder of Roto Speaks, which books him as a keynote speaker, corporate trainer and executive coach. He can be reached at roto@r-squaredsolutions.net.

Leadership GUIDING YOUR TEAM PAST DYSFUNCTION AND INTO PERFORMANCE

ay you break a bone. While the fracture heals, the site of the break is temporarily stronger because of a protective callus that forms around it. You’ve probably heard this before. Teams are no different, but only if you account for the most significant factor in this metaphor: the doctor. Your pain and recovery process lead to a positive outcome because your bone was reset by a medical professional with not only personal experience to draw from, but the combined experience of all the predecessors and peers whose work the doctor studied. We would never attempt to reset our own broken limb while skimming through a used copy of Gray’s Anatomy, yet we often take on the responsibilities of repairing our flawed or damaged teams with little to no dedicated training or professional advice on the subject. As basic concepts, the core principles of both situations seem to be mostly common sense. It’s in the application that things get messy. I want to share some insights I’ve learned about teams and why the best ones work:

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teams are the most 11. High-functioning valuable resource of any organization — the deciding factor in achieving long-term success, stability and growth.

The process for achieving this functionality begins with a leader who can recognize that team members aren’t quite there yet and are possibly a long way off — and that this may include the leader as well. In a recent webinar — the debut installment of the i4 Business Leadership Webinar Series — we covered a lot of ground. Our focus was to impart some simple yet effective knowledge to committed leaders about overcoming dysfunctions to create a high-performance team. But to do that, we first had to examine the role leadership style plays in influencing a team.

reach their peak potential 22. Teams when their leader is not only open to improvement, but actively seeking it.

As an organization with decades of combined experience in the implementation and advancement of leadership principles, we at Roto Speaks are confident in this assertion.

It’s a common misconception that a leadership position itself is proof of ability. The assumption is that our earned rank or title, organizational wealth or impressive industry reputation must be evidence of our skill at the helm. Such is not always the case. Personal success does not guarantee capable team leadership. A leader’s merits are determined by daily action and service, not status. A leader’s greatest asset isn’t power, it is influence. A leader’s reward isn’t obedience, it is effectiveness and investment.

33. To enhance your leadership ability and confront

team dysfunction, you need objective assessment.

Human beings find motivation, process stress and communicate with each other in noticeably different ways. We’re diverse enough to feel unique, but similar enough that reliable patterns can be observed. As just another human, albeit the one at the top, leaders benefit as much from their own assessment as they do from that of their employees. We’ve found that a full roster of DiSC personality assessments proves to be an indispensable starting point, opening the door to the communication and understanding needed for tackling the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, first presented by Patrick Lencioni in his book by the same name. Each of the five dysfunctions is directly related to the next, both in cause and in solution. For example, an absence of trust fosters a fear of conflict, and the vulnerability required to build trust makes team members more open to engaging in the passionate debate required to get results. Team development continues along these lines, each dysfunction only able to be addressed once a solution to its predecessor has been found. Accurate assessments of how your team members function as individuals and as part of a group will prove highly advantageous throughout this entire process.

44. Every team, in every domain, struggles with

The West Orange Chamber s

Steps for SUCCESS Become a West Orange Chamber Member Seize the Opportunities Get Results Repeat Daily

dysfunction.

My firm has gained insights from our partnerships with Lencioni’s Table Group and The John Maxwell Team of coaches, trainers and speakers. In fact, Maxwell’s principles are incorporated in our leadership training and referenced in the webinar. These insights have proved universally relatable to audiences, regardless of background or organizational goals. We’ve had great success implementing these concepts in distinct and contrasting domains, from the federal government and U.S. military to industrial corporations and innovative tech firms.

55. If eliminating team dysfunction gets results, why don’t leaders prioritize it?

As we said, it’s in the application that things get messy. An experienced, objective outsider guiding you through the process is vital for success. As a leader, you take an active role alongside fellow team members on a journey that can feel awkward, confusing and even painful. Healing often is. But the highfunctioning team that results from it will be exponentially more effective than the one you started out with. P Hear more about leadership and The Five Dysfunctions from Roto Speaks CEO Bill “Roto” Reuter during the first installment in the i4 Business Leadership Webinar Series at www.youtube. com/channel/UC_6HB64zR9bYQSqfPKUIrrQ

Facilitating Opportunity for Over 45 Years

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Business of

ENTREPRENEURSHIP By Rafael Caamaño

VEI Helps Veterans with New Mission:

Business Ownership

will cherish my years of service to my country in the U.S. Army for my entire life. During my last five years of service, I worked with Force XXI 1st Raider Brigade 4th Infantry Division. This elite group was the first digital division that tested, researched and worked on the integration of new weapons technology in the battlefield — a large-scale experimentation enabling survivability, sustainability and versatility. That time in the military truly helped mold me into the person I am today. But when I left, I didn’t really know what to do next. So I became an entrepreneur, starting a logistics company called LandNet. I grew my business to a team of seven, supporting and servicing clients from Ocala to Fort Lauderdale, and eventually sold my portion of the business. I tell my story because it is not unique. Across Central Florida, thousands of men and women are leaving the military and trying to write the next chapter of their lives. They are starting businesses and putting the same skills from the military to work into their own companies. But as any entrepreneur will tell you, taking a business from an idea to a sustainable, growing company is a daunting task. You must understand so many different and unique fields. One day, you are the company lawyer or the human resources specialist, writing contracts and dealing with employee issues. Another day, you are the company accountant and finance team, balancing the ledger and ensuring proper sales

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RAFAEL CAAMAÑO is the president and executive director of the Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative, a not-for-profit military veteran service organization. He has been serving the entrepreneurial veterans community in Central Florida for more than a decade and is committed to supporting and empowering military veterans.

taxes are paid. And it seems that every day you are the company’s sales and marketing team. For that reason, I was proud to form the Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative (VEI), a notfor-profit organization, along with Ricardo Garcia, who serves as director of programs, and Rebecca Hertz, our director of operations. VEI is dedicated to empowering and supporting veteran entrepreneurs through business guidance, education and mentorship. Our team has worked with, mentored and trained more than 300 veterans throughout and beyond the Central Florida region. The group is specifically designed to equip veterans with enough entrepreneurial knowledge and tools to validate, build and execute a business idea or concept. We recently launched a multifaceted plan of services designed to help these entrepreneurs in a one-on-one atmosphere, in an online community and in small groups. Perhaps we are most excited about the launch of the Veterans Innovation Pitch Competition, which started taking applications July 1 for up to 20 veteran-owned companies to participate. The program, which continues until November, is a great opportunity for veteran-owned businesses in our community to come together and learn from experts, mentors and each other. The event will culminate with a formal pitch competition between the selected companies, with the winner receiving a cash prize for the business. The competition is for established businesses with revenue or investment of at least $250,000.

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

For all businesses, our program has launched a new veteran entrepreneur online community where veterans can communicate with other veterans and business experts to get a quick answer to a question or have a longer, indepth discussion. As this grows, it will also be a place where VEI alumni can gather, keep in touch and be reminded that they are part of a larger group of entrepreneurs and that they are never alone. Veterans who are seeking more indepth help — someone to look closely at their business and provide one-on-one coaching — can get that assistance from VEI as well. We recently partnered with the National Entrepreneur Center in Orlando to provide space for coaching of veteran entrepreneurs. Qualified companies can receive an initial assessment by making an appointment to meet with one of our VEI-certified, trained coaches. Of course, there are many other ways we would like to help this group of people. Veterans have proved time and time again that they are well suited to become business owners and grow their companies. In the future, we are looking at adding entrepreneurial programming and video instruction. We also want to expand our services throughout Florida. We are looking to the business community to help. First, as is common with new programs, more corporate funding is needed. We’re thankful for the support that Orange County and Veterans Florida have provided, but that only goes so far. With more corporate support, we can help more veterans. Also, look toward your team and yourself to provide mentorship for these growing businesses. I cannot express how helpful it is to work with someone who has experienced the entrepreneurship path and

Ricardo Garcia, director of programs, and Rebecca Hertz, director of operations, with Rafael Caamaño, president and executive director of the Veterans Entrepreneurship Initiative. can understand the emotions of being an entrepreneur. Your words of wisdom could provide that one piece of advice that keeps a veteran company in business and changes it into a sustainable, growing enterprise. Finally, look within your own company for ways to help veterans. Put together a plan to hire more veterans in your business — they always make great employees. Then make sure all veterans understand they can be entrepreneurs. Help them and encourage them as they start down the path. Helping veterans grow businesses is an economic development model that can benefit all of us. According to the

latest U.S. Census 2018 Business Survey, veteran business owners account for 6.1% of all U.S. employer businesses and employ about 4 million workers. Your support and involvement not only helps those who served our country, but it creates jobs. It creates wealth. It creates customers for your business and more. I’d welcome an opportunity to talk about what you can do to help the next great Central Florida company grow and succeed. Reach out to me at rafael@vei.center and together we can help veterans right here in our community. P

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Business of

SPORTS By Jason Siegel

All Ages Are Swept Up in Local Soccer Mania JASON SIEGEL is president and CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission. Longtime Orlando sportswriter George Diaz contributed to this article.

s there really an explosion of youth soccer in Central Florida?

Recently I’ve had interesting conversations with a lot of writers covering Orlando’s bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup about what’s happening here in terms of the growth of youth soccer. But the man they should be talking to is Orlandobased entrepreneur Ciaran McArdle. As CEO and co-founder of XL Sports World, McArdle is on the front lines of that explosive movement. As with most successful business plans, it has taken vision, risk and fortuitous circumstances along the way, but McArdle has found his sweet spot here in Orlando and Central Florida.

“The ability to play year-round here in Orlando is great,” he said. “As an entrepreneur, it’s always a risk starting any business. Our risk was, ‘Well, hang on a minute. We are building an indoor center here in Orlando where you can play outdoors pretty much year-round.’ “We were the ones crazy enough to build an indoor soccer facility during a global pandemic,” McArdle joked. But business is thriving at the XL Sports World fields of

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Ciaran McArdle

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

play scattered throughout Florida. The first complex in Orlando, launched off Courtland Street, encompasses six acres and a 40,000-square-foot building. There is room to accommodate a mix and match of indoor and outdoor fields — five small-sided and one full-sized. McArdle opened a second facility in Lake Nona in December 2020, marking the 10th XL Sports World facility. Besides Florida, there are locations in Maine, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia and Virginia.

The company is now expanding to sites on 20 and 30 acres or more. “We have our models of small-sided indoor facilities, and we’ll continue to add to those,” he said. “But the next frontier is the large campuses to be able to host large events.” For how it began, circle back to McArdle’s vision in 1996. McArdle, originally from northern England, was living and coaching at the Harvard University Soccer Camp in Boston at the time, when he noticed a significant uptick in interest in European soccer in the United States. McArdle and his partner, Kris Lamb, started a business that took youth soccer teams overseas to Europe to live like pros for 10 days. “We would take them over, they would train at the academies and they would play against academy teams,” he said. “They would stay in the same hotels the pros do, and we’d go to live games. They got a 10-day trip of living like a pro.” That business still exists today, but the expansive push toward Orlando came shortly after that, when McArdle noticed that Florida had the third-largest number of youth soccer players in the country. “We thought, ‘We’ll go down there and try to crack the Florida market,’” he said. Mission accomplished. Along the way, the business model disproved many people’s perceptions, including his. McArdle figured the facility would draw only Hispanic and European players. What he didn’t see coming was a lot of Americans playing the game.

“We attracted avid American soccer players who had clearly grown up playing soccer at a good level,” he said. “This means Orlando could be a real hotbed. It means we have a new generation of parents who played, so their kids are obviously going to be soccer players, too.” The interest continued exponentially when Orlando City Soccer Club began to play in 2015 and became the 21st Major League Soccer franchise. McArdle said he wasn’t surprised by the thunderous roar of approval reflected in the crowd of 62,510 watching the inaugural match at Camping World Stadium. “Unless you live in Orlando, you don’t realize it’s a soccer city,” McArdle said. “And a lot of people outside Orlando, I think, were surprised at the success of

Orlando City filling the stadium when it happened. Living here, it was inevitable. We knew that was going to happen.” Orlando City now plays in its own stadium in downtown Orlando. And McArdle’s Orlando business has grown to more than 20,000 members. Between its two locations in Central Florida, XL Sports World welcomes more than 600,000 guests a year. We at the Greater Orlando Sports Commission could not be more pleased. The exponential growth of “the beautiful game” fits nicely into our long-term strategic approach to bring more amateur, professional and internal soccer tournaments and matches to Orlando. Soccer promoters and governing bodies want two things when they look for a marketplace for their events: First, they want to make sure they’re going to have a positive experience. So they need a great place to train and compete. Their athletes are going to want to enjoy the city while they’re there. And when you talk about “the pitch,” soccer’s field of play in Europe, it should be pristine. Visitors want to know we care about the quality of the venue and the pitch they’re playing on. The second thing? They want to sell tickets. They want to know there’s enough interest in the marketplace to fill the venue they are renting. The folks at XL give us 20,000 reasons to believe we can meet their needs. Orlando checks all the boxes. That rumble you hear is the exponential rise of soccer in Orlando at all levels of play. P i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Business of

EXPORTING By Chris Leggett

Report: $3.6 Billion in Exports

Boosts Central Florida Economy CHRIS LEGGETT is the program manager at the Central Florida International Trade Office and serves as vice chair for trade policy of the Central-North Florida District Export Council.

he Central Florida International Trade Office recently published a groundbreaking Central Florida Export Report that provides insight into why exporting is important not only to Orlando area businesses and entrepreneurs but also to the community as a whole. The report will serve as a baseline for measuring future export success in the region.

“Orange County’s $2.1 billion in exports makes a vital contribution to the local economy,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings. “Foreign markets provide opportunities for homegrown small businesses — including those that are women- and minority-owned — to grow not only by increasing their sales globally but also by taking lessons learned abroad to find new ways to sell successfully here at home. With such a diverse local population, Central Florida is the natural place to do business with the world.” The report highlights the comprehensive international trade activity in Central Florida in 2018, the most recent year for which data is available. Overall, merchandise exports in the Greater Orlando region were valued at $3.6 billion. Of this amount, $2.1 billion was exported from Orange County, $835 million from Seminole County, $351 million from Lake County and $280 million from Osceola County. That $3.6 billion in exports is a big number — in fact, if Greater Orlando were a state, it would rank as the 45th largest exporter in the United States, just behind

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New Mexico and ahead of Vermont — but even greater than that is the ability to grow a small business through accessing a world of opportunities. With 95% of the world’s consumers and 75% of global wealth outside the United States, the rest of the world represents too large a market for Central Florida businesses to ignore.

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

Top 5 Markets for Orlando Exports in 2018 Orlando Top 5 Markets

$ Millions

% total

1. Canada

238.8

6.7%

2. Brazil

237.5

6.7%

3. Mexico

223.1

6.2%

4. Dominican Republic

166.5

4.7%

5. Colombia

149.6

4.2%

3,570.0

100.0%

Total all countries

Top 5 Industries for Orlando Exports in 2018 Orlando Top 5 Industries

$ Millions

% total

1. Industrial machinery

832.9

23.3%

2. Electronics

681.2

19.1%

3. Automotive

269.5

7.5%

4. Medical & optical

263.6

7.4%

5. Dairy & eggs

102.6

2.9%

3,570.0

100.0%

Total all countries Source: WISTERTrade

It’s not just businesses that are benefiting, but the whole community. Using the export job estimator prepared by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA), the data suggests that nearly 21,000 local jobs are supported by exports. These are high-paying jobs: The ITA estimates that exports contribute an additional 18% to workers’ earnings on average in the U.S. manufacturing sector. Overall, Central Florida exports are geographically diversified though heavily focused on North, South and Central America as well as the Caribbean. Orlando exports to 224 countries, from major markets like Canada ($239 million), Brazil ($238 million) and Mexico ($223 million) to more surprising ones around the world like the Faeroe Islands (in the North Atlantic Ocean), Lesotho (in Southern Africa), and Christmas Island (in the Indian Ocean). We all know the world recognizes Florida as the premier place to enjoy fun in the sun, but the report reveals that we are also major exporters of some high-value products. In fact, the region’s top export sector is industrial machinery, which includes engines, machines and computer parts as well as automotive motors and jet engines. Electronics — including computer circuits, radio and TV transmission apparatuses, batteries and electronic panels — make up our second-most-successful export sector. And rounding out the top five are cars, trucks and parts; medical and optical equipment; and, in a nod to our agricultural heritage, dairy and eggs (primarily cheese, butter and fresh eggs). The export report also highlights the many advantages Central Florida enjoys, including a diverse population with personal and business connections to South America and the Caribbean; easy access to three major ports (Port Canaveral, Port Tampa Bay and JAXPORT in Jacksonville); a world-class airport (Orlando International) and several smaller international airports; as well as access to rail and trucking through the I-4 corridor. Has this whetted your appetite to grow your small business and diversify markets by accessing the global marketplace? The report also provides an overview of the state, federal and local service providers available to help you become export ready, decide where you want to start exporting, find financing for your exports, and learn how to make connections with potential new customers. P

To learn more about what Central Florida is exporting and where, and why Orlando businesses should consider exporting, you can request a copy of the report at https://cfito.org/export-report-2.

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

The Business of

EMPLOYMENT By Nancy Brumbaugh

Where Are the Workers?

A Win-Win Solution to Florida’s Labor Shortage

ith nearly 10 million Americans actively looking for work, some employers face a surprising challenge: No one is applying for jobs. In small towns and sprawling metropolises alike, countless restaurants, hotels, construction sites and others are “now hiring” — with little to show for it.

It’s not a problem anyone expected to face in 2021. For the last year and more, our mantra has been “getting back to work” — keeping people in jobs, limiting the damage caused by mass unemployment, and helping businesses return to normal operations. But no matter the reason, it’s clear that Florida needs a supply of trained workers to supplement food service and hospitality, two cornerstones of our economy. It’s a serious problem, but the nonprofit Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida is helping to find a solution. While Second Harvest has been serving twice the usual number of meals every day during the pandemic, the organization has also been working to “shorten the line” of people who need hunger relief through initiatives like its Culinary Training Program. Launched in 2013, the program combats financial insecurity — a root cause of hunger — by providing disadvantaged adults with

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a food service education they can use to build skilled careers. Consider Frank, a current student. During the pandemic, he was furloughed from his job as a hotel bellhop. He took it as an opportunity to grow and stay active, and he enrolled in the Culinary Training Program. Frank said he views the program as a job, adding: “It’s easier to get a job when you already have one.” Another student, Elvin, was in the middle of moving his family from Puerto Rico to Orlando when the pandemic hit. Furloughed from his position as a banquet manager, he decided it was time to expand his skill set through the Culinary Training Program. Elvin already has more than two decades of experience in front-of-house roles — and he’s confident that mastering back-of-house skills will make him a more adaptable and valuable employee. Soon, Elvin, Frank and their classmates will be getting back to work — with a host of new skills to add to their résumés. In the last year alone, the Second Harvest program held three 16week sessions and certified 44 graduates in culinary and professional skills. Since its inception, 373 students have graduated, and 91% of individuals who were homeless upon graduation now have stable housing. But students aren’t the only ones who benefit. In restaurant and hospitality businesses, skilled and

NANCY BRUMBAUGH is the vice president of food services for Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

dedicated employees are hard to come by at the moment. Still recovering from the pandemic, it’s not easy for companies to cover the costs of hiring, turnover, in-house training or wage increases. For employers, the Culinary Training Program is a win-win. “Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida has been an instrumental partner for us and provided our Orlando hotels with outstanding employees,” said Rosanna Maietta, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association Foundation. “As the hospitality industry recovers from the pandemic, Second Harvest will play a critical role in connecting job seekers with fulfilling, lifelong careers in the industry.” More than a year after news of the pandemic broke, it’s clear that healing after COVID-19 isn’t as simple as “getting back to work.” We need long-term solutions, not short-term patches. Through proactive initiatives like the Culinary Training Program, we can create a pipeline of skilled workers who are equipped to build careers while giving businesses a chance to hire talented candidates. Whether you’re a restaurant owner who hires one of our graduates, an event planner partnering with the program for catering, or a donor to Second Harvest Food Bank, you’re helping to build a stronger community — not just today, but for years to come. P

Signs

HISTORY

Times of the

John Young Parkway

he saga of astronaut and decorated Navy Capt. John Young, Orlando’s hometown hero, is brimming with achievements and accolades. He was the ninth man to walk on the moon as commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972, and he commanded the first space shuttle mission. Over the next few years, Young took part in most space flights, becoming the first person to fly in space on six missions. In 1981, he served as commander of STS-1, the first flight of the space shuttle Columbia. Among the honors Young received were the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal. Young was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in 1993. Visitors can learn much more about Young, his fellow astronauts and the space program at the complex. Young died in 2018 and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. His boyhood home at 815 Princeton St. in Orlando’s College Park neighborhood bears a state historical marker dedicated in January 1999. John Young’s Space Missions John Young Parkway is a 21-mile, north-to-south section of State 1965: Gemini 3 – Pilot Road 423. It begins at Lee Road at its north end and extends to intersect Interstate 4, the 1966: Gemini 10 – Backup pilot Beachline Expressway (State Road 528), and State Road 1969: Apollo 10 – Command module pilot 417, ending just north of Pleasant Hill Road 1972: Apollo 16 – Commander (walked on moon) near Kissimmee. P

FBy Key HowardH

Born in 1930 in San Francisco, he moved to Orlando with his family when he was 6. He graduated from Orlando High School and earned a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. Soon after, in 1952, he enlisted in the Navy and was deployed to the Sea of Japan during the Korean War as a fire control and division officer on the USS Laws. When he returned, he was assigned to flight school at Naval Air Station Pensacola and then to a fighter squadron for four years, where he learned to fly just about anything with wings. From there it was an easy transfer to the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School in 1959. After three years there, Young began to mark his place in history, setting several world flight records. In 1962 he was selected to join NASA’s astronaut program.

Below, astronaut John Young, commander of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission in 1972, leaps on the surface of the moon as he salutes the flag.

1981: STS-1 – Commander 1983: STS-9 – Commander i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

BUSINESS SEEN

LEGACY POINTE AT UCF TOPPING-OFF

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BUSINESS SEEN

Future residents of Legacy Pointe at UCF gathered at the end of June for a topping-off ceremony and auto parade-style event to celebrate Orlando’s first university-affiliated continuing care retirement community, expected to open this fall. Guests gathered at The Celeste Hotel to hear an update from Legacy Pointe leadership and hang out with the University of Central Florida mascot, Knightro. Then they headed to the construction site two miles away for a drive-through event to see the construction in progress and signed their names on a truss from the community’s main building. Located near the UCF campus, the community will offer residents the opportunity to live independently or assisted, in either villas or apartment homes. Residents will have lifelong access to assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing and rehabilitation services. They will also receive UCF student ID cards, allowing them to take advantage of academic opportunities, lectures, libraries, sporting events and cultural activities at the university. Former UCF President John Hitt, who retired in June 2018 after 26 years at the helm, has posted a letter on the community’s site saying he and his wife, Martha, plan to live there.

i4Biz.com | JULY/AUGUST 2021

DOWNTIME

UNIQUE EXPERIENCES By Meaghan Branham

for your day off

TAMPA 30 Years of Summer Classics at the Tampa Theatre

Movies are back — and with them, movie theaters. Welcome them by catching a flick at one of Tampa’s most famous landmarks, the renowned Tampa Theatre. It opened in 1926, when opulent movie palaces were cropping up across the country, allowing everyday moviegoers to take in the hits of the silver screen in luxury. When the majority of these palaces began closing with the advent of television and at-home entertainment, the city rallied to save the Tampa Theatre from that same fate, and since then it has stood proudly as a monument to community and film. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Even before the movie starts, the theater transports you to a new world, with towering ceilings that mimic a twinkling night sky, a magical concessions courtyard, and an interior with Mediterannean-inspired details such as colorful tiles, jewel-toned walls and Old-World statues and gargoyles. Visit for the Summer Classic Movie Series, which will include movies such as The Wizard of Oz, Airplane!, North by Northwest and The Big Lebowski.

NOW SHOWING www.tampatheatre.org

HOMESTEAD Coral Castle

“You will be seeing unusual accomplishment.” This sign greets every visitor to the Coral Castle, and even those enticing words aren’t enough to prepare you for what waits beyond the stone arch. The sculpture garden was created by one man between 1923 and 1951. Edward Leedskalnin carved his works into more than 1,100 tons of coral rock. The most curious part? No one really knows why or, for that matter, how he did it. Making sure to work only under the cover of night and in secret, Leedskalnin never let anyone in on his methods. When asked, he would simply respond that he knew “the secrets of the pyramids.” Some people have speculated that his methods might have been supernatural. No matter how it came to be, the Coral Castle invites visitors to bear witness to one man’s “unusual accomplishment.”

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Edward Leedskalnin

www.coralcastle.com

DOWNTIME

ORLANDO Sister Honey’s

COCOA Stumpy’s Hatchet House

Ax throwing has become a popular pick for a night out with friends, and if you haven’t tried it yet, Stumpy’s is the perfect spot to start. As the first indoor hatchet-throwing venue in the country, Stumpy’s set the bar for the trendy sport. At its location in Cocoa Village, you can grab a glass of wine or beer before you head to your reserved, safe throwing pit where a coach will explain the basics and help you with your throws. You can book an hour for groups of six or fewer, or two hours for groups of seven or more, so it’s perfect for everything from date night to business events to birthday parties.

FORT WHITE Ichetucknee Springs State Park

The 2,669-acre Ichetucknee Springs State Park offers its visitors a little bit of everything, whether you want a lazy day on the water to get out of the heat or an outdoor adventure where you can experience Florida’s wildlife. Eight crystal-clear springs lead into the Ichetucknee River, and they are surrounded by the vibrant park forest, home to wildlife like beavers, otters, gar, softshell turtles and wild turkeys. Relax as you tube down the river, take a hike on one of three nature trails, or spend the day kayaking or canoeing in the springs.

Looking for something sweet? It doesn’t get any sweeter than Sister Honey’s. The bakery has been churning out some of the best pies, cookies, cupcakes and pastries since 2012, but its roots are a little more deeply planted than that. Owner and baker Evette Rahman grew up baking with her mother, and the shop is named after her. In 2006, Evette entered the National Pie Championships, where she won the Blue Ribbon. Since then, she has racked up an impressive list of awards and accomplishments. Her bakery serves up goodies that are both incredibly creative and comfortingly familiar. It’s hard to choose from the delicious menu, but there isn’t a wrong choice. Whether you go for the peach blueberry pie, the pecan tartlet, the blueberry lemon bread pudding, or one of the other cakes, cookies or bars, you’re in for a treat. www.sisterhoneys.com

www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/ ichetucknee-springs-state-park

www.stumpyshh.com/cocoafl

To scan the QR Codes, point the camera app on your smartphone toward the page and follow the instructions on your smartphone screen.

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WATERCOOLER

Stuff you didn’t know you wanted to know

94%

Percentage of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida seniors who graduated from high school in 2021, compared with 90% of all Florida seniors and 82% of students from low-income families.

ORLANDO’S RANKING AMONG 100 MUNICIPAL AREAS NATIONWIDE IN THE 2021 BEST & WORST CITIES FOR RECREATION BASED ON 48 METRICS. ORLANDO’S #1 RANKINGS IN ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES, RESTAURANTS AND COFFEE SHOPS PUT IT AT THE TOP. LAS VEGAS CAME IN SECOND AND SAN DIEGO THIRD.

“Is Florida-UCF a big game for the people in “WE WERE OVER THIS BIG LAKE. WALT LOOKED DOWN, SPOTTED AN ISLAND IN THE LAKE, AND SAID, ‘THERE’S TOM SAWYER’S ISLAND. BUY IT.’” — Jack Sayers, a Walt Disney Productions vice president, quoted in 1971 about flying over Central Florida with Walt Disney in the 1960s to choose the site for what would become Walt Disney World, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Price of most expensive home listed in Orlando in July. The custom-built mansion on the shore of Lake Mabel is six miles from the Magic Kingdom and situated on 12.9 acres with 16,000 square feet of living space that includes 10 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. Source: Orlando Business Journal

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but it’s a huge game for the people in the state of Florida. … It’s going to be fun.” — Dan Mullen, head coach at the University of Florida, after University of Central Florida struck a deal with UF for the two football teams to finally play each other again starting in 2024.

Source: Orlando Sentinel

“Our players and coaches asked me multiple times about the potential of playing Florida. These guys are fired up to play quality competition.”

Source: WalletHub

$12.95 million

Arizona? Probably not,

— UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir Source: Orlando Sentinel

Chief Growing Officer

Title of little Zane Kahin of Winter Park, who wa s named the 2021 Gerber Baby in the baby food company’s 11th annual national Photo Search. He is the first to ever hold the title.

40% Month-over-month increase in the number of homes that sold for $1 million or more in Metro Orlando in June 2021, up to 130 from 93 in May. Source: Orlando Regional Realtor Association

LOOKING TO SCALE YOUR BUSINESS?

Don’t Do It Without This Book! Author Nancy G. Allen

With over 20 years experience coaching leaders on business growth, Nancy G. Allen is your go-to resource. – Diane Sears

The Decision to Scale is a resource for all business leaders.

The book focuses on three key areas: personal, business, and company development. AMONG THE TOPICS COVERED: • Understanding what makes a successful president • Using mind mapping to generate new ideas • Identifying new business trends • Creating an excellent capabilities statement

• Forging strategic alliances • Embracing the power of delegating • Crafting a strategic plan • Using action plans for success

Nancy G. Allen is the President & CEO of the Women’s Business Enterprise Council of Florida and is an international speaker, coach, and consultant. www.wbecflorida.org

“I NEED A VAC AT I O N O F SIX MONTHS, T WICE A YEAR!” Missing that feeling of freedom and exploration you can only access through air travel? As Your Florida Airport of Choice®, Orlando International Airport hears you loud and clear. Quite honestly, we are in the same boat as you. But we’d rather be on the same plane.

Inspiration

FOR Y OUR N EX T ADVEN T URE HONOLULU

DUBAI

MCO. We’re Better Together. For Travel Tips & Requirements Visit orlandoairports.net/coronavirus

FRANKFURT

R E Y K J AV I K