Fearless Fundraising for Small Businesses - Conyers

Moderator
Donna Lowry is an award-winning journalist who combines a passion for storytelling and a desire to empower others with communication and critical thinking skills surrounding political, educational, and financial issues.

Through her firm, Donna Lowry Communications, she provides consulting, writing, and producing services for educational, media, professional, and business outlets.

Donna serves as host/producer for several programs, including Lawmakers on Georgia Public Broadcasting. 

Donna is an eight-time Emmy award winner, a three-time national Gabriel Award recipient, and has garnered honors from countless organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists, Atlanta Association of Black Journalists, Georgia Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists, Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), and the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE). 

Her media peers inducted Donna into the prestigious NATAS Southeast Silver Circle to recognize her lasting contributions to the broadcast industry.  

Donna has a master's in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Bachelor's in Mass Communications and Administration and Management from Chatham University. 

Her professional affiliations include the Atlanta Press Club, the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the Southeastern Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS SE).    

In her 15th year as a Girl Scout Leader, Donna has led girls ranging in age from kindergarten through 12th grade. Her community service affiliations also include Magnolia (GA) Chapter of Links, Inc., and Nu Lambda Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.     

Donna and her husband, Army Major (Ret) Bennet W. Reid, Jr., are the parents of three daughters. 

Owner of Nancy’s Candy and Spice

Oftentimes the most successful businesses are those born from an understanding of a need of something in a particular neighborhood. That was the case with “Nancy’s Candy & Spice.” People in Lawrenceville and surrounding cities used to have to drive 20-40 miles to get fresh herbs and spices.

​Nancy Alhabashi opened her shop shortly after Christmas of 2012. The first thing you notice when you walk in into the shop are the historic red bricks surrounding you. The character and the warmth of the space are very enchanting. You can sense right away the aroma of the spices that is taking over.

Nancy gets her spices from a distributor that she knows and trusts. The special seasoning mixes are one of a kind that you can’t find at a regular grocery store.

​Like they say every small business has a story behind it. Amazingly the space that Nancy’s Candy and Spice is in used to be a local gallery where Nancy used to display her own artwork. She always felt that this little gallery brings her luck, since she sold many pieces there, and had a solo exhibit at one point in it. With the success of the gallery, the gallery owner had to move to a bigger space a few blocks down, leaving it up for lease. This gave Nancy an idea.

​She wanted to start a spice and candy shop similar to those old shops in Jerusalem where Nancy is originally from. So it did not take much thought for  Nancy to combine both the spice shop and her art in one place. People from Lawrenceville and surrounding cities drive to Nancy’s to get the best spices and seasonings in town. They also enjoy the sampling of all different and unique sweets and gummies that are imported and locally made.

​Opening the shop was a big step that she wanted to take for many years. 2012 was the year she did just that.

With hard work, time, and love put into this great little shop, Nancy knew that this is a beginning of a long journey. Please join her on that journey by coming by and seeing the shop.

Operations Manager of Pro Cutters Lawnscapes, Inc.

Steve Bromell is the Operations Manager of Pro Cutters Lawnscapes, Inc., a Right of Way and Commercial Mowing, Vegetation Management, Company.  He oversees operations ensuring the company has continued growth that exceeds expectations with excellence.  PCL clients include County Governments, Businesses, Department of Transportation’s, and Utility Companies.   

Steve is a Graduate of Tuck School of Business High Performing Minority Business Program and is a graduate of the 2015 Georgia Mentor Protege’ and 2016 Georgia Power Mentoring Programs.  Pro Cutters has won multiple awards, including 2015 GMSDC Supplier of the Year- 2016 NMSDC National Supplier of the Year Class II - 2017 SBA Minority Business Champion, 2018 GMSDC Supplier of the Year Class III and 2019 NMSDC Regional Supplier of the Year Class III.  Representing Pro Cutters Lawnscapes, Inc. just to name a few. Steve was featured in the 2017 July/August issue of The Atlanta Tribune celebrating Minority businesses with his business partner and lovely wife Shawn.  They have been married 22 years and have 3 children. Steve is a proud Alumni of Leadership Rockdale 2019 and recently Steve was honored as The Conyers-Rockdale Chamber 2022 Volunteer of the Year. 

 Steve served 8 years in the U.S. Army and believes his commitment to excellence, willingness to serve others, and his strong faith are the keys to his success. 

Engineer, Founder CEO, Nead Werx, Inc.

Nickolas (Nick) Downey is founder and CEO of MerchLogix, Inc., an Atlanta-based software company. Nick graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2002 with a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Nick is a former member of the Atlanta Technology Angels and sits on the Board of Directors of several Atlanta organizations. Nick has served as a coach for the Georgia Tech Business Plan competition, and the Startup Runway Foundation.

Assistant Vice President, Branch Leader III, Truist Bank

Victoria DuBose is an experienced and dedicated professional serving as a Branch Leader and Small Business Lender for Truist Bank. With over twenty seven years of experience, a strong background in finance, and a passion for helping small business thrive, Victoria is committed to providing exceptional service and support to entrepreneurs in their financial endeavors. 

As a Branch Leader, Victoria oversees the daily operations of the branch, ensuring smooth functioning and efficient customer service. In her role as a Small business Lender, Victoria works closely with business owners to understand their unique needs and tailor financial solutions that align with their goals. With a deep understanding of the lending landscape, Victoria helps small businesses access the capital they need to grow and succeed.

Market Development Manager of Accion Opportunity Fund

Desha is an experienced economic development enthusiast and strategic partnerships creator with a successful track record in business development for growth-stage and established companies. She has a background in finance with an additional ten years in media and tech. Currently working as the Market Development Manager for Accion Opportunity Fund, Desha focuses on access to capital and partnerships while providing advising for businesses' digital marketing, operations, and capital needs.

America’s Financial Wellbeing Coach, Operation HOPE

Linden Jackson was born in Kingston, Jamaica.  His family later moved to the U.S. and settled in New York’s Flushing, Queens.  By 1970, he was living in Brooklyn, where he became the 5^th. grade school valedictorian and later, a contributing author in several nationally published books on creative writing and child rearing by author/educator Bernard Percy (bernardpercy.com). These books were published by Price/Stern/Sloan (“How To Grow A Child: A Child’s Advice To Parents”) and Prentice Hall (“The Power Of Creative Writing”). Linden enjoyed music, but became more interested while in Los Angeles, after a friend gave him a synthesizer in 1980.  Quickly adding Electronic Music, Musicianship and Microphone Technique to his college curriculum, Linden became absorbed in music and picked up a job at popular Los Angeles-based record retailer V.I.P. Records, while attending Los Angeles City College. 

Moving to Atlanta in 1982 to complete his college education at Georgia State University, he came armed with a Bill Lowery scholarship and a major in Commercial Music & Recording, with an emphasis on business. Linden soon began working at the distribution center for an Atlanta record retailer in the daytime, while working at a local recording studio programming synthesizers & drum machines, engineering and mixing music, at night.

An internship quickly produced a job at one of the world's largest record companies - CBS Records.  By the time he graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Science degree, Linden had a full-time job in CBS Records' southeast regional branch, where he marketed records by Columbia, Epic and Def Jam. During his 10 years, CBS Records became Sony Music Entertainment and Linden had personally worked with just about every act on the label’s roster such as Celine Dion, Billy Joel, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Alexander O’Neal, Ozzy Osbourne, Shabba Ranks, The Jacksons, Mariah Carey and Public Enemy, just to name a few. Linden created and implemented dozens of sales and marketing campaigns, artist promotions and in-store appearances, received numerous gold/platinum albums, won a wide variety of awards, and traveled throughout the U.S., Canada and Jamaica attending record label and industry events. 

Continuing to delve deeper into his passion – the recording studio – Linden built MKM Studios, where he oversaw the production and marketing of numerous local and regional acts.  Expanding his hand into the audiovisual industry, Linden became a freelance technician for one of the world's top audiovisual companies -Total Audio Visual Services (TAVS), where he later became an audiovisual manager at a busy Buckhead hotel. In addition to working for Operation HOPE, Linden owns Atlanta-based media management company MKM Multimedia Works LLC, where he oversees operations of audiovisual and home theater, music production at his recording studio, marketing, and sales. For the new millennium, he executive produced the Atlanta Artists Against Gun Violence compilation CD for the Million Mom March Foundation and secured a major international advertising contract with The GAP for legendary music group Arrested Development’s Baba Oje. This led to a TV commercial that ran in several different countries, as Arrested Development kicked off a long-awaited tour, which Linden tagged along on. As an author, he has a line of music-related books and multimedia products in development, beginning with the MUSICOLOGY 4-book series. Experiencing the devastation caused by Covid, he joined Operation HOPE in 2021 to help assist the community with Business development and Credit.

With a clear vision of where he wants to go etched in his sights, Linden is at his best working in a positive, successful environment with successful people…and a unified goal in mind.  A favorite quote that he picked up from mentor/author Bernard Percy is: "Everything turns out right in the end - if it isn't right, it isn't the end."

Chief Compassionate Capitalist, Owner of Kugarand Capital Holdings

Karen Rands is the leader of the Compassionate Capitalist Movement and a nationally recognized expert on angel investing and entrepreneur business capitalization. Karen wrote the best-selling finance/investor primer:  Inside Secrets to Angel Investing (Step-by-Step Strategies to Leverage Private Equity Investment for Passive Wealth Creation). She now offers a digital course for new and committed angel / crowdfunding investors:  The Compassionate Capitalist Wealth Maximizing System™.  The knowledge she shares and her commitment to funding innovation is based on her decades of experience as the Managing Director of the nationally-ranked angel investor group: Network of Business Angels & Investors (NBA&I); where she screened, prepped, and positioned entrepreneurs to succeed and so that her investors reduced their risk, leading to over $50M invested through her monthly pitch events and annual conferences.  She is the host of a weekly podcast:  The Compassionate Capitalist Show™; ranked top 3% globally. Her firm, Kugarand Capital Holdings, assists entrepreneurs who are struggling to get access to capital to move to the next level, and investors with screening and due diligence to reduce risk in their angel investment portfolio.  Before starting her firm, Karen was the Complex Opportunity Business Manager at IBM.  She graduated with an Economics/English Bachelors Degree from Emory University and her MBA in Marketing from the University of Florida. More Info: http://kugarand.com

Business Consultant, UGA SBDC in DeKalb

Ryan Swanson comes to the UGA SBDC after 20+ years in Venture Capital and Private Equity. For the last 15 years Ryan was a Partner and COO of a family office that focused on sustainable business. He has a wide range of experience from serving as the CFO of an Icelandic geothermal power company, COO of a regenerative agriculture company in Southwest Vermont, to founder and President of a packaged food company in Georgia. Ryan started his career with Deutsche Bank where he was an analyst for an early-stage venture fund. Ryan received both a bachelor’s degree in Management and an MBA with a focus on accounting from Georgia Tech. He is also a charter holder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Association.

Ryan attended Georgia Tech where he received a BA (Management) and MBA.