Student Pitch Competition participants are pictured. Back row, left to right: Hurley Buff, CBBI executive director; Christian Nolen, fourth place winner; and Rodney Burrows, second place winner. Front row, left to right: Sandra Godsey, CSCC dean of Business and Healthcare; Jessica Fields, competition judge; Talis Moody, first place winner; Elizabeth Blair, third place winner; and competition judges Frenise Mann and Beau Burris.
Student Pitch Winner, Talis Moody (center), with Sandra Godsey, CSCC dean of Business and Healthcare, and Hurley Buff, CBBI executive director.
Community Pitch Competition participants are pictured. Back row, left to right: Kristi Rice, Canaan Bowling, Kaylee Brown and Janson Brown. Middle row, left to right: Dr. Andy White, CSCC president, Ryan Albright, Tonya Daniel, Laura Ashley Fairbanks, Bryson Killian, Liana Magda, Sarah Berry and Hurley Buff, CBBI executive director. Seated on front row are competition judges Jim Fairweather, Margaret Schenck and Dr. Corey Campbell.
Community Pitch Winners, Janson and Kaylee Brown, owners of Ruddle’s Bread and Bake
The George R. Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Cleveland State Community College recently hosted an Entrepreneurship Event that included student and community pitch competitions. The event was sponsored by the Lynn Jones Foundation, the Cleveland Bradley Business Incubator and the Small Business Development Center.
Four students competed in the fourth annual Student Pitch Competition. Talis Moody, a business major, won the competition. She will graduate in May and plans to expand her pet care business, Talis and Tails.
With the $2,000 prize money, Ms. Moody will invest in a website and marketing for her business. A Tennessee Valley Early College student, Ms. Moody is also a senior at Cleveland High School. She will graduate in May with an associate degree a week before high school graduation.
The remaining student finalists were also awarded prize money from the Lynn Jones Foundation and CBBI.
Seven businesses competed in the third annual Community Pitch Competition. The businesses are located in Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe or Polk counties and have been in operation for at least six months, but no longer than two years.
Janson and Kaylee Brown, owners of Ruddle’s Bread and Book, won first place. Ruddle’s is a coffee shop and used bookstore in historic downtown Cleveland. The Browns will purchase a commercial grade coffee grinder and commercial grade refrigerator with the $7,500 prize money donated by the Lynn Jones Foundation.
Ocoee River Distilling in Polk County won $4,000 for second place, and the Red Barn Pet Resort, LLC won $1,500 for third place. Other finalists were Ryan Albright with Apex Pro Home Repair, LLC, Liana Magda with Liberty Acres Dog Lodge, Bryson Killian and Canaan Bowling with Take Root Studio, and Kristi Rice with Trailhead Counseling and Consulting, PLLC.
Judges for the Community Pitch Competition were Dr. Corey Campbell, CSCC vice president for Academic Affairs, Jim Fairweather, owner of Fairweather Financial in Monroe County, and Margaret Schenck, founder of United Knitting in Cleveland and an advisory board member of the George R. Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Judges for the Student Pitch Competition were Beau Burris, vice president of SmartBank, Jessica Fields, CBBI board of directors president, and Frenise Mann, owner of Mann Financial Consulting and an advisory board member of the George R. Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.