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North Fulton Business Radio

Month: February 2017

MASTERMIND YOUR LAUNCH: Lauren Patrick with PrettySouthern.com and Terminus

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Stefanie Diaz and Lauren Patrick

Lauren Patrick/PrettySouthern.com and Terminus

Lauren Patrick is the Editor of PrettySouthern.com and the Storyteller at Terminus: Account-Based Marketing. She’s a graduate of UGA’s Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication, where she served as Editor of The Red & Black. Since her graduation from UGA in 2007, Lauren worked for Naylor publications, Jezebel magazine, AutoTrader.com, and RaceTrac convenience stores before making her “pivot” to the startup world.

Lauren is passionate about helping early-stage technology companies launch their marketing programs. As Storyteller for Terminus, Lauren manages PR, marketing communications, and social media for the brand. 2016 was a big year for Lauren, as she helped Terminus win Best Place to Work from the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Startup of the Year from the Atlanta Chapter of the American Marketing Association, and the TAG Social Savvy award. Terminus is her fourth startup in addition to Pretty Southern, and helping her husband, Kevin, with his car company Exomotive.

Twitter: @Pretty_Southern / @Terminus
Website: www.PrettySouthern.com /  www.Terminus.com

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

Jennifer McGilton with SelecSource Staffing Services, Donald Mitchell with Donald Mitchell Design, and Becky Berry with Becky Berry Career Coaching

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John Ray, Jennifer McGilton, Donald Mitchell, Becky Berry, Mike Sammond

Jennifer McGilton/SelecSource Staffing Services

This year SelecSource Staffing is celebrating their twentieth Anniversary! SelecSource specializes in light industrial, administrative, clerical, skilled trades, electrical, and direct placement staffing. Their branch locations in the Atlanta area include: Suwanee, metro Atlanta, and McDonough. They also have locations South Georgia and Savannah. In two thousand sixteen, SelecSource Staffing employed over five thousand people! They are recognized among the top one percent of staffing firms nationwide, having won the industry’s coveted Best of Staffing award several years in a row.

Donald Mitchell/Donald Mitchell Design

Donald Mitchell Design is a small boutique firm specializing in high-end residential, secondary homes and small business/commercial. A premier interior design firm dedicated to providing their clients with clever ideas, innovative designs and a creative professional atmosphere.

 

 

Becky Berry/Becky Berry Career Coaching

Becky Berry coaches women who are at a crossroads in their lives. Her extensive experience in career change, including multiple careers and 12 years at home, gives her deep insights into how women can discover and access meaningful careers. Her most recent program, The Women’s Tech Conservatory, is designed to help women access careers they wouldn’t typically consider, particularly in technology. Becky’s unique take on exploring tech careers is the result of her own tech experience, including founding, with her late husband, a tech startup. She is also a social entrepreneur. Becky works with clients both locally and remotely. She’s a North Fulton native, and currently serves on the Education Committee of the STAR House Foundation in Roswell. Find out more about her at beckyberrycoach.com.

 

 

 

 

NORTH ATLANTA’S BIZLINK: Ralph Pasquariello with Snellings Walters Insurance Agency and John Mamon with mPowered IT

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Ralph Pasquariello, Deborah Lanham, John Mamon, Mike Sammond

Ralph Pasquariello CLCS, Snellings Walters Insurance

Ralph is dedicated to many things; Cyber/Data/Network Liability Insurance is one of them. For the past 5 years Ralph has been hosting, moderating, and speaking at dozens of conferences on Cyber Liability & Data Breach Risk Management. Ralph is the committee Chairman for the Tech Forum’s annual Cyber Symposium, an advisor to the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and also a member of various organizations including the GNFCC, Technology Association of Georgia, Tech Forum and several special interest groups. SWIA is also a member of Globix International, providing clients with International Liability Coverage and representation.

Ralph Graduated from Villanova University and is active in the Atlanta alumni chapter.  In the evenings he coaches High School Football, and is very active in his community.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralphpasquariello/

John Mamon/mPowered IT

John Mamon is the President and CEO of mPowered IT, a leading Managed Services Provider in Metro Atlanta. Mr. Mamon has over 20 years of experience in all areas of Information Technology leadership including engineering and sales. He has been the part of several start-ups, including his last organization which was successfully incubated and sold in Atlanta, GA. His specialties include service design, team creation and oversight, increasing operational effectiveness, harnessing cloud and data center services, network security, and providing objective guidance and consulting to small business owners.

Mr. Mamon currently chairs the Tech400 committee for the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce and is in the process of publishing a book on customer service. He resides in Woodstock, GA with his two daughters and wife of over 20 years.

 

MASTERMIND YOUR LAUNCH: Melanie Romanaux with Somedia Solutions

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Stefanie Diaz and Melanie Romanaux

Melanie Romanaux/Somedia Solutions

Melanie leads a team of social media specialists who are passionate about connecting brands with their existing audience and reaching new audiences to:

– gain top of mind brand awareness
– provide excellent customer service
– share valuable information and remarkable content
– crowdsource to improve products and services
– develop community and loyalty among fans and followers
– establish credibility, trust, reliability, and consistency as a brand within social communities
– develop and nurture relationships with influential community members and every customer or client

Here’s how it works:

Somedia Solutions helps you form a strategy (based on their Discovery of your brand) that will place you in the right places (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Youtube, etc…) and attract prospects who will not only buy what you’re selling but who also will talk about you and recommend you to their friends, family, and colleagues.

When the strategy has been drafted and your goals are aligned – they help you execute that plan in 1 of 3 ways:

1. Training – they’re passionate about empowering business owners, athletes, entertainers, and authors to successfully and proactively navigate the social media waters

2. Consulting – your marketing team wants to work with Somedia to hear new and innovative ideas and strategies to create an even more engaging and remarkable brand experience for your fans on social networks. Bring them in for the day, pick their brains, and then your team can take those ideas and run with them.

3. Management – they’ll do the heavy lifting for you and manage all the points of a successful social media strategy:

– listening and monitoring
– responding to questions, customer service inquiries, and reaching out to new opportunities
– building your audience
– managing the conversation
– creating and publishing original content
– creating your social media policy
– reporting

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

 

 

 

Essie Escobedo with Office Angels, Amanda Wilbanks with Southern Baked Pie Company, and Amy Holcomb with SkyMedicus

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John Ray, Amy Holcomb, Essie Escobedo, Amanda Wilbanks, Mike Sammond

Essie Escobedo/Office Angels

Office Angels’ mission is to restore joy to the life of small business owners, enabling them to focus on what they do best. At the same time, Office Angels honors and supports at-home experts who wish to continue working on an as-needed basis. Not a temp firm or a placement service, Office Angels matches a business owner’s support needs with professionals who have the skills and experience necessary to handle work that is essential to creating and maintaining a successful small business. For over sixteen years, Office Angels has been helping small business owners, associations, and non-profits with administrative tasks, bookkeeping, marketing support, presentation preparation, speaking engagements, business development, document formatting, database management, research, writing services, and much more.

Amanda Wilbanks/Southern Baked Pie Company

Founded in Gainesville, Georgia in 2012, Southern Baked Pie Company (formerly Buttermilk Pie Company) was launched by University of Georgia graduate and creative entrepreneur, Amanda Wilbanks. With family recipes, Southern charm and an all-butter pie dough that melts in your mouth, Amanda and her team of bakers create gourmet sweet and savory pies for all of life’s special occasions and celebrations. Southern Baked Pie Company masterfully creates a variety of decadent flavors and specialty selections utilizing seasonal fresh fruit from local Georgia farmers and businesses. They offer pies in a variety of sizes including: whole pies, petite pies, and bite-size tassies. While they’re born and baked in Georgia, Southern Baked Pie Company ships pies to corporate and individual clients nationwide.

Amy Holcomb/SkyMedicus

Have you ever considered having dental work done in Mexico, a hip surgery in India or Plastic Surgery in Brazil? SkyMedicus offers the first online, patient-driven healthcare marketplace that allows patients and credentialed physicians across the globe to directly connect in a secure and private forum.  Patients can get procedure approvals, costs and even book their appointments and travel accommodations directly online, while being supported by their very own medical concierge.

MASTERMIND YOUR LAUNCH: Candice Campbell with Nimble. Design Company

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Stefanie Diaz and Candice Campbell

Candice Campbell/Nimble. Design Company

With nearly a decade of proven experience bringing connected brands to life in the built environment, Candice brings a strategic, thoughtful eye and holistic, experiential approach to every new engagement. Known for her relentless drive, meticulous attention to detail, and connected design approach, Candice has developed a reputation for delivering powerful brand experiences, and an undeterred level of Client service.

In 2014, Candice formed Nimble. A Design Consultancy to help clients realize and extend brand stories beyond the logo and into the built environment to differentiate, inspire and influence audience behavior.

Since formation, Nimble. has grown from one to an established team of four, producing award-winning, multi-disciplinary brand experiences for clients in real estate and hospitality. In under three years, Nimble. has launched over 75 new brands, led nearly 50 property repositioning campaigns, and traveled 1,000’s of miles to bring innovation and consistent brand exposure to projects in 13 core markets.

With a love for real estate, and a relentless drive to perfect the connection of brand to place, Candice leads strategic vision, art direction, and all signage and interiors work on behalf of Nimble.’s property repositioning projects and key accounts. She directs a growing internal team, and works closely with the firm’s external collaborating creative partners, to craft holistic brand experiences, spanning the gap of branding to built environment.

She is a proud Savannah College of Art and Design grad, holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design. Outside of the studio, Candice enjoys spending time with her husband and son, Landon, endlessly renovating her 50’s ranch and experiencing design through travel.

https://www.nimbledesignco.com

https://twitter.com/nimbledesignco

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

 

Steve Stroud with Roswell Inc. , Merrill Oakes with Urban Escape Games, and Mark Crutchfield with Roswell Infiniti

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John Ray, Steve Stroud, Merrill Oakes, Mark Crutchfield, Mike Sammond

Steve Stroud/Roswell Inc.

Roswell Inc guides the economic development initiatives for the City of Roswell through a public-private partnership, supporting the business community through education, promotion, and building impactful relationships, and cultivating strategic partnership and economic opportunities to ensure Roswell’s competitiveness and strengthen the quality of life for Roswell residents.

Merrill Oakes/Urban Escape Games

Real-life escape rooms are a new concept and Urban Escape Games developed the first game in Georgia. They design all of their games in house with the immersive technology and themed to a story. Upon arrival there will be seating for everyone to watch a briefing video. Once in the game room you watch a video to immerse you into the storyline. Then the countdown clock starts and your team has one hour to find clues, solve puzzles, crack codes, and investigate everything to make it out in time! It is great team builder for companies. Their most recent addition is a Conference Escape Game where they come to your office, hotel or conference center, hosting groups from 50 to 2,500.

Mark Crutchfield/Roswell Infiniti

As one of the nation’s original Infiniti dealers, they have witnessed the growth of our area and how today’s customers expect and demand more than ever before. Their goal is to exceed your expectations. Their satisfied customers, many of them repeat customers, come from all over Georgia and the Southeast because buying or leasing a new Infiniti from Roswell Infiniti is both a pleasant and rewarding experience.

 

MASTERMIND YOUR LAUNCH: Mark Wyssbrod and Jason Binder with Envision Alpharetta

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Stefanie Diaz, Jason Binder, Mark Wyssbrod

Mark Wyssbrod has intertwined quality of work with small business economics, the importance of financial position and a tax strategy. He is referred to as a Small Business CFO™. As an Eagle Scout, he understands the significance of being prepared and, as an economist; he understands the worth of being efficient.

Mark has lived in the Northeast, Midwest and Southeast. This diverse background allows him to communicate well with individuals with different backgrounds, as well as understand their motivating factors. Mark has integrated improv in his business, which allows him to be a better active listener and to think creatively for “outside the box” solutions for his clients.

Mark earned his Bachelors of Science in Business and Economics with a concentration in Accounting at the University of Kentucky. He earned his Certified Public Accounting designation from Georgia in January 2002.

With an entrepreneurial spirit Mark has started several successful small businesses. A past business venture was the award winning Pro@ctive CPA. After attending a retreat in the spring of 2013 he made a decision to sell this company in order to spend more time with his family and community. Mark is a “local capitalist” and is a part owner of a local payroll company, sign company, water-collection and reuse company and development company.

Mark believes it is important to give back to his community and he does so with both his time and resources. Mark has been a temporary foster parent, a volunteer at a halfway house, supporter of numerous community activities and events (including the Alpharetta Veterans Memorial in 2015) and just completed his term as the co-chair of Leadership North Fulton. Prior to 2015, Mark volunteered over 180 hours per year; in 2015, Mark volunteered 494 hours; and in 2016 Mark volunteered over 600 hours. The increase in time invested in his community is a result of following a calling to selling his CPA firm and surviving a near-death event.

Mark has been recognized as a Business Person of Excellence by the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce honored him as the 2013 Small Business Peron of the Year. This award was achieved for his focus on quality and commitment to his clients, team members and community. He has also been awarded the Five Star Wealth Manager Award for tax services since 2009 to 2013. In 2015, Mark was honored by the Georgia Society of CPA with the Public Service Award.

Jason Binder is a small business owner and independent financial planner for the firm Acolyte Advisors. He and his wife, Nicolette, have two daughters, Cecilia and Maggie. They enjoy attending local events like Food Truck Alley or taking the girls to the parks and greenway.

Jason has a passion for service within Alpharetta and the greater North Fulton area. Never one to sit back, he takes responsibility and works with others to make a difference for the community. His activities in the areas of community service, civic responsibility and economic development include the following:

  • Working with area nonprofits and organizing projects as the Community Service Director for the Alpharetta Rotary Club. Jason was recently honored as the 2014 Alpharetta Rotarian of the Year.
  • ​Appointed to the Alpharetta Design Review Board in 2012. The Design Review Board’s responsibility is to preserve Alpharetta’s historical and cultural character and enhance the city’s aesthetic value.​
  • Worked to bring Alpharetta’s community together as a co-organizer of multiple Day of Service events. Over 500 volunteers have gathered together to help beautify Alpharetta and support our local non-profit organizations.​
  • Led the development of the Alpharetta Business Academy for the Alpharetta Chamber of Commerce.​
  • Serves on the Board of the Alpharetta Public Safety Foundation to support our city’s First Responders.​
  • Completed the Georgia Academy for Economic Development in December 2014. Selected by the Alpharetta Chamber of Commerce, the Academy’s multi-day regional program provides participants with an understanding of the complexities of economic and community development.

envisionalpharetta.com

https://twitter.com/@thenimproveit

https://twitter.com/@jasonbinder

Stefanie Diaz/Mastermind Your Launch

Stefanie Diaz has always had a keen ability for developing marketing strategies for entrepreneurs, but it’s her ability to position startups for accelerated momentum through personal branding and content marketing that has become the cornerstone to her professional success. Her background includes being a strategic adviser to CEO’s spanning startup phase to over $100 million in annual revenue. She has led strategic partnerships with global retailers and Fortune 500 companies, as well as facilitated multi-million dollar government contracts. There is something magnetic about the energy of startup founders that draws Stefanie in. They’re hungry, driven, and committed to making positive change for themselves and the greater community. After conducting over 60 interviews to date, Stefanie is excited to bring Mastermind Your Launch to the Business Radio X platform. Learn more at MastermindYourLaunch.com.

Ted Rykoski of Sandler Training, Bryon Evje of Village Vesl and Baha Zeidan of Azalea Health

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John Ray, Ted Rykoski, Bryon Evje, Baha Zeidan, Mike Sammond

Ted Rykoski/Sandler Training

Whether you are an entrepreneur entirely responsible for everything in your business or a leader in any size organization, Sandler Training can help you identify the right solutions to help you achieve the goals you have for yourself and your teams. Sandler Training’s global network helps businesses with solutions for Customer Service, Sales, and Sales Management wherever they are on the globe. Sandler’s fully customizable training allows us to effectively serve clients in variety of industries, and company sizes. Their clients are in IT, Banking, Healthcare and many others, and include small to mid-sized through large organizations.

Bryon Evje/Village Vesl

Village Vesl is all about community – for and between community members. Serving residents and visitors of Alpharetta, Milton, Roswell and other Georgia communities, Village Vesl provides information that truly matters – as it happens, in a trusted environment that all participants are passionate about and have a vested interest in: their town. Vesl creates for local residents and businesses a mobile community that enables real-time, location-based communication.

Baha Zeidan/Azalea Health

Azalea Health is a leading provider of cloud-based healthcare solutions and services. The complete Azalea solution provides Electronic Health Records (EHR), Practice Management (PM), Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) billing services, as well as Patient Health Records Portal, and a mobile mHealth application. With a focus on patient engagement, Azalea’s integrated solution has the flexibility to accommodate multiple specialties of any size practice and can immediately improve workflow as well as revenue cycle. The organization also provides tools and resources to help customers navigate the various requirements of MACRA, Meaningful Use, ICD-10 and other regulatory impacts. For more information, visit www.AzaleaHealth.com or call (877) 777-7686.

Thanks to Taco Mac (4305 Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta) for providing lunch, delivered by ChoicesToYou.com.