2021 MED Week Speakers

Jerry Coleman, director of CFCC’s Small Business Center, has decades of experience in business and consulting, having owned his own consumer products manufacturing company in Wilmington NC. Jerry is committed to helping other small business owners succeed. “Starting, managing and growing a small business can be a daunting task. At CFCC’s Small Business Center, we help entrepreneurs plan and navigate the startup process; getting off to a good, solid start is essential. We really do become a partner and are always available to act as a coach and cheerleader for our clients. We will work with them as long as necessary to keep them going and help them achieve their goals and be successful in the long run.” Jerry earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from East Carolina University, and Master of Business Administration at UNCW. He earned his certificate in Project Management from UNCW and has secured multiple patents.

Heather is passionate about empowering individuals and communities to succeed through entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainability. She is the Regional Center Director of the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), which serves a large multi-county region in southeast NC with free and confidential assistance to help businesses start, grow, and prosper. She is also the Interim Director of the UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which connects, leverages, and ignites regional strengths and university expertise to create innovative and entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges.

Gustavo Rodea has lived in Wilmington since 2008. He is married to Lupe Duran. Together
they have two boys, Anthony, age 13 and Leonardo, age 3. 
Gustavo Rodea is an entrepreneur who has 18 years of experience in the retail business world. Having
moved to the United States from the largest city in the world, Mexico City, Rodea began his career at
the tender age of 22 and became a successful entrepreneur. He attributes his success to the seminars,
books and continuing education that he pursued along the way, as well as his self-taught abilities
through trial and error. During the national economic recession of 2008, Rodea’s dream of becoming a
business owner were put on hold as he was forced to sell his company as part of a wise business
strategy to stay ahead.

April Scott is originally from Bristol, Pennsylvania; having relocated to Wilmington, NC in 1993. After graduating high school in Pennsylvania, she decided to relocate to North Carolina, home of her parents. She currently holds the position of Director of the Small Business Center at Brunswick Community College. She enjoys trying new recipes, traveling, dancing, gardening, volunteering with the youth, and family time. She’s currently on the board of Going Beyond The Pink, State Employees Credit Union, North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce and a member of WIN. One of her many favorite quotes is “Success isn’t about how much money you make it’s about the difference you make in in people’s lives”. Michelle Obama

Patrick Brien currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the Cape Fear Collective, a collective impact and social innovation nonprofit organization based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Prior to his work with CFC, Patrick served as the Director of Strategy Implementation for the University of Global Health Equity, a new health sciences university in rural Rwanda and an initiative of the global health nonprofit, Partners In Health. Before transitioning to his work in Africa, Patrick served in senior level positions at Boston Medical Center and led organizational development and program management for the global lifestyle and event company, Spartan Race. Patrick began his career in the United States Army where he spent nearly a decade leading infantry units in combat operations in Afghanistan. Patrick holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Rochester and is certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP).

Don has been with SBA 13 years providing service to Eastern North Carolina. His previous capacity was Executive Officer for the US Department of Defense Schools in Europe. He is happily married to the love of his life, Elena, a Russian national, for 16 years.

Tracey Newkirk, is a Certified Personal Resilience Coach and the Founder of UNEXO, a boutique consultancy helping leaders build high-performance teams. She and her husband Girard Newkirk co-founded Genesis Block, a coworking space in downtown Wilmington providing business development services, workspaces and building entrepreneurial communities. Genesis Block was created with the idea that each community needs a place to collaborate, create, discuss ideas and gather. Building the small business ecosystem and supporting community collaboration is our goal in each neighborhood.

Chief Empowerment Officer, Stefanie Adams, has an M.Ed. in Multicultural Education, and 15 years experience leading and training in corporate, non-profit, and educational settings. She worked as an organizational consultant in the Southeast for Johns Hopkins University School of Education (Baltimore, MD), served as Director of Customized Training for Cape Fear Community College (Wilmington, NC), and led the corporate training function for CastleBranch (Wilmington, NC). Stefanie is a member of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, and Lower Cape Fear HR Association. She serves on Boards for the Community Boys and Girls Club, the YMCA Youth Services Board, and formerly served on Communities in Schools and WILMA's Women to Watch Advisory Board. Stefanie is a mother, wife, and small business owner; she has been a Wilmington resident since 2008. She enjoys the beach, yoga, and cheering loudly for the Philadelphia Eagles.
 

Managing Partner of Harris Whitesell Consulting LLC. Lori is a Human Resources Executive providing world-class service in assessments, talent optimization, employee engagement, strategy, development, and organization culture effectiveness. Lori is a certified and accredited executive, leadership, team, and performance Coach. Lori helps leaders, teams, and employees improve behaviors, leadership skills and competencies, and develop road maps to be a more successful and effective employees, team members, and leaders - maximizing excellence, optimizing talent, organizational effectiveness, and business results!

Managing Partner of Harris Whitesell Consulting LLC. Lynn is a Human Resources Executive providing world-class service in assessments, talent optimization, employee engagement, strategy, development, and organization culture effectiveness. Lynn is a certified and accredited executive, leadership, team, and performance coach. Lynn helps leaders, teams, and employees improve behaviors, leadership skills and competencies, and develop roadmaps to be more successful and effective employees, team members, and leaders - maximizing excellence, optimizing talent, organizational effectiveness, and business results!

Travis Corpening is a Raleigh, NC native, a graduate of the University of North Carolina Wilmington and an author, speaker and consultant. Corpening considers it a blessing to have spent over 20 years improving personal development, equity, and student outcomes. In 2010 he created a company to train agencies to work with diverse groups of young people. Eventually he saw the need to expand the program and created a non-profit called the Young Mogul Development Group, teaching young men entrepreneurship and self-branding. In 2014 Travis was selected by StarNews of Wilmington as one of the 12 to Watch in the Cape Fear Region. Through his continued work, he has been recognized with numerous awards like the NAACP Youth Award and UNCW’s 2016 Young Alumn of the Year. In 2016, he achieved Best Paper at the Clute International Conference for writing and presenting on barriers for ex-offenders in higher education.

Chakema Clinton-Quintana is vice president of Inclusive Small Business at Live Oak Bank, where she leads the inclusive small business center. She focuses on strengthening and supporting inclusive small business growth in our communities and verticals through research, job creation programs, capital allocation, mentorship, and programming. Chakema has 19 years of banking experience and has a degree in business management from Strayer University in Herndon, Virginia. Her background includes foreclosure, real estate short sales, loss mitigation, relationship management, and compliance. Chakema currently serves on the board of directors for three non-profit organizations, including treasurer of Voyage Wilmington, treasurer of Red, Black, & Love, Inc., and board chair for The OOPS Foundation.

Melanie Diehl is a digital marketing expert specializing in the fields of email marketing, social media marketing, and training and education for small business owners and DIY marketers.

Dani Black works with all kinds of food-based entrepreneurs and the organizations who support them. Her work as chef, teacher and consultant includes "Cook School", a prison-based culinary program, as well as designing facilities, programming and curriculum for eating disorder treatment and other unique culinary ventures.

Toya Wilson-Smith is a keynote speaker, digital marketing consultant and brand storyteller. She has taught over 1,500 service-based business owners on how to create winning social media advertising and video marketing campaigns to attract new customers. Toya brings a unique approach to her coaching and workshops by combining her sales strategies, ability to simplify “tech talk,” and humor. Her background as an award winning sales professional managing multimillion-dollar territories for three Fortune 100 companies over a 15-year career prior to launching her own digital marketing agency has allowed her to relate to a variety of audiences.

Jose Alvarez is the vice president of Prospera North Carolina, a nonprofit focused on providing bilingual and in-culture support and consulting to Latino entrepreneurs looking to start or expand their businesses in North Carolina. Jose's current responsibilities include promoting the mission and upholding the values of Prospera by overseeing general management, statewide operations, strategic planning and the implementation of the organization’s program. This includes spearheading fundraising efforts, managing staff, helping in identifying programmatic priorities, playing leadership roles within the state and the broader field of economic development, actively listening to and learning from partners and communities across the state to ultimately assist the Latino community assimilate into our communities while increasing economic opportunities through entrepreneurship.

Jeanne Eury is a North Carolina born marketing professional whose clients have ranged from AARP to small two-man operations. While she spent twelve years honing her crafts in Washington, DC, she credits her creativity, enthusiasm, and dedication to finding her clients the best ways to use their stories and their passions to grow their businesses to her southern upbringing. Jeanne created the 8 Arms Group, LLC, a digital and traditional marketing agency specializing in creating narratives that distinguish clients from their competitors, draw their ideal clients to them, and result in continued lead generation success through SEO, Content Creation and Repurposing, PPC, sales funnels, social media, and solid and successful old fashion sales and marketing strategy. She loves NC State, her sons, her black lab Sam, Dr. Pepper, and obviously, octopuses.

A wife, mother, and dog-lover who enjoys seeing goals reached by others, Tangie Fleming has designed websites for over 20 years and opened TGF Consulting, Inc. in 2013. Tangie obtained her B.S. in Technology Education with a minor in Graphic Communication and a M.A. in Liberal Studies with a minor in Business Management from NC State University. She also has a Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill, adding to her diverse educational background. She has an employment and consulting background that includes her serving as a statistician at NCAA basketball tournament games, managing research and professional development conferences, researching the school-to-prison pipeline, and working with groups that encourage students to pursue graduate education. In each endeavor, the experiences involved an opportunity to help others in some way, which is the driving force behind TGF Consulting, Inc.

Dr. Jess Boersma has progressed from a first-generation, Pell-eligible college student and student veteran to serving as the College of Arts & Science Associate Dean for Student Success & Applied Learning at the University North Carolina Wilmington. He is a regular contributor to the Chancellor’s High School Business Plan Competition and was the project manager and campus representative for the UNC System’s Social Entrepreneurship Program, in which UNCW produced an overall runner-up and a winner in the statewide competitions' 2 years. He earned a BS from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, an MBA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a PhD from Emory University, along with professional certifications in management and entrepreneurship from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the Project Management Institute, Stanford University and the Wharton School.

Robert ‘Scott’ Barker is from Lockport, Illinois and moved to Greenville, North Carolina in August of 2015 after retiring from the U.S. Army with over 30 years of active-duty service.  He enlisted as a private out of high school and left the army as a colonel; he was commissioned through the ROTC program at the University of Houston.  After relocating to Greenville, he taught a few courses at East Carolina University prior to starting his employment with the Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) as a Procurement Counselor at ECU.  He was subsequently elevated to the PTAC director position effective November 2020.  PTAC became the Government Contracting Assistance Program (GCAP) in April of 2021.

With over 20 years of online marketing experience, Logan has built several businesses and technologies that have led him to innovating across multiple industries. As the Owner of Awesome Internet, Logan aspires to educate and empower as many small businesses as possible with the power of the internet.

Tiffany Cripps is the Managing Director of Health Begins From Within (HBFW). She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise Science and Wellness from Florida Atlantic University and Master’s Degree in Public Health from Florida International University. Tiffany’s experience includes delivering health coaching to diverse populations through corporate wellness initiatives. In addition, she has served as a personal trainer for various fitness facilities and has over 18 years’ experience in the field of Clinical Research and Clinical Trial Management. This unique combination of experience has led her to develop a passion for helping individuals see the importance of wellness, chronic disease prevention and lifestyle management. Due to this passion, HBFW was created with the mission to offer affordable health promotion and wellness services to decrease health disparities, increase health literacy and equality.

Tiffany D. Tucker is a “superstar in college athletics” as the Deputy Director of Athletics/Senior Woman Administrator at UNCW. She is also a facilitator, keynote speaker, consultant and president of Tiffany Transforms, LLC. Tiffany believes that polishing your presentation skills, refining your leadership style and implementing strategic collaborations is the foundation to creating the transformation you deserve. She has served as a keynote speaker, panelist, and/or mentor for the Head Coach Training Center, Women’s Coaches NEXT UP, Coaches Inc., Women Leaders IAA, NACDA, MOAA, NACDA, MOAA, WBCA and NABC. Tiffany is a graduate of Hampton University with a Master of Science in Sport Administration with a specific interest in Organizational and Sport Business Leadership and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s in philosophy.

We are Freshco Marketing Agency, a Latina-Owned Business established in Wilmington, NC by Jennifer Galeano. 

Our team of 10+ professionals, including Graphic Designers, Videographers, Writers, and social media experts, with 25+ years of combined experience, helps organizations and companies create and realize their goals through effective marketing and brand recognition. 

We were inspired to start in 2014, by business owners’ need for professional marketing solutions. 

Our founder, Jennifer Galeano, has a background in radio announcing, journalism, and social communication, and saw an opportunity to provide bilingual marketing services in the United States after moving from Bogota, Colombia. 

We thrive on developing fresh brands, producing effective marketing strategies, and serving our community with our creative expertise.