Curated Collection Of The Best Interviews From Our Chattanooga Studio
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Angela Proffitt // Vivid Experiences
Angela is a leading expert in the wedding & events industry, traveling the world, sharing her technology tools to go paperless, and using her background in creative psychology, to help others become more productive and profitable entrepreneurs.
She is a productivity coach, an author, consultant, designer, educator, planner, and speaker.
You can contact Angela by emailing her at connect@angelaproffitt.com
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Phil Shmerling // InCrowd Capital, LLC
InCrowd’s platform was developed to make anyone feel comfortable investing in startups. Our web-based, local investment platform provides angels with access to investment opportunities from accelerator, incubator and university programs across the Southeast and Midwest.
With our low minimum investments and access to a co-investment pool, investors are able to build portfolios of startups without having to invest large amounts of money in one particular investment.
You can contact Phil by emailing him at pshmerling@incrowdcapital.com
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Felicia Jackson // CPR LIFEWRAP LLC. 
Felicia Rena Jackson, a resident of Hixson Tennessee is a local inventor and Physical Therapist Assistant at Memorial Hospital. She holds an AAS from Chattanooga State Technical Community College and has over 20 years medical experience in acute inpatient rehab, outpatient care, and home health care settings. After a beloved family members death as well as a near death experience with her toddler son, Felicia had a vision of a product that could help save lives. Felicia sought help from LAUNCH’s Business Entrepreneurship Academy. After graduating from LAUNCH Felicia was able to debut the CPR LIFEWRAP. Her invention was published in Nooga.com, the Edge Magazine and Our Voice, a CHI Memorial Hospital publication. She has been on Channel 3, Channel 12, and Channel 9 . Her vision is to make performing CPR less intimidating.
“A life is the most precious thing on Earth so its up to us to be prepared during life and death situations.”
You can contact Felicia by emailing her at cprlifewrap@gmail.com
Kelly Hoey // Author & Investor 
Charlie Brock // Launch Tennessee
Haseeb Qureshi // Audiohand
Liju Pillai // Performatix
Robbie Hillis // ARK Labs
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Elaine Merritt // Sandler Training
Elaine Merritt has more than 25 years of sales, media and training experience, including developing marketing and business development strategies for local and national businesses. She has conducted sales and management training for businesses ranging from car dealerships to beverage distributors.
Elaine is a Sandler Award winner and conducts training for Sandler using the adult learning curriculum. Sandler Training is a global training organization of over 500 Sandler® trainers located in major cities throughout the United States and more than 29 countries, with materials translated into 15 languages. For over forty years Sandler has helped sales organizations, ranging from small- and mid-sized businesses to Fortune 1000 companies, improve the effectiveness and efficiencies of their sales and management processes.
While living in Muncie, Indiana, Elaine was an independent business owner, and she specialized in customer service, leadership training and sales. In addition to her professional training experience, Elaine was an assistant professor at Ball State University in the Telecommunications Department.
Elaine is a past national president of the American Business Womens Association and a past Top Ten American Business Woman. She is a southeast regional director for BNI (Business Networking International).
Jane Kaylor // Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Chattanooga
Jane Kaylor is the President & CEO of RMHC of Chattanooga. She has put 26 years into the development of the RMHC through Non-profit management, fund development, grants and scholarship administration.
Over the past 10 years, the Ronald McDonald House of Chattanooga has provided a “home away from home” for more than 800 families with patients in the hospital who have had respiratory problems, nearly 700 families whose children were born prematurely, and over 300 families of children receiving craniofacial evaluations and surgeries.
In 10 years, families from 37 states across the U.S. have called the Ronald McDonald House “home”, serving over 400 families every year in its 14-bedrooms, and the staff looks forward to serving twice as many in years to come.
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Rachel Gammon // Northside Neighborhood House
Rachel Gammon fell in love with the Northside Neighborhood House years ago as a college sophomore at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. It was then that she worked with children served through the after-school and summer programs. The focus on family and the NNH’s mission of providing a hand up to children and their families was inspiring to her. For the past ten years, Rachel has served as Executive Director/CEO at the NNH. Thanks to a great team, the NNH has increased capacity, as well as increased and added programs through a recession.
Working together to serve families at the NNH is a family endeavor. Rachel’s husband, Seth, can often be found helping out and their daughters, Kaitlin, Emma Grace and Laura Beth, have been known to ask people for money to “help keep people’s lights on”. Rachel and her family attend Red Bank Cumberland Presbyterian Church; another part of her family that gives great support to the NNH!
Erik McNair // Papercut Interactive
Erik McNair has been working in web design and online marketing for more than 7 years and has witnessed the breakneck speed of the industry’s innovation firsthand. After serving as VP of Search Marketing at an Atlanta marketing firm, he moved to Chattanooga to join Papercut Interactive. With Papercut Interactive, Erik works with clients to navigate determine their business needs as it pertains to the world of web design and digital marketing. He specializes in paid search advertising for client campaigns and social media.
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Katie King // Katie King Law
“How do you negotiate your value?”
Katie King is our introduction into the Corporate Women in Business series – “uncut”. On the show, Katie is talking about combining her experience of living in Chattanooga and expertise to move from a major utility company to her solo law practice.
“After working ten years as in-house counsel for a large energy and technology company, I decided to start listening to what used to be a whisper and grew into a shout from my heart. I decided to leave what was in many ways a dream job because I felt in my soul I was not doing what I was called to do.
I wish to be the kind of woman my daughter will be proud to know when she is grown. I wish to use my time, talents, energy and voice to help my clients achieve their dreams, to be a positive influence in my community, and to create opportunities for others.”
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Joy Krause // Boomers Together
Joy Krause seeks to inspire. A writer, filmmaker, speaker, performer and producer, Joy has gained national acclaim. She recently graduated from the GigTank accelerator program at the Company Lab and is now woking on scaling her business, Boomers Together.
Boomers Together helps baby boomers gather together in their local communities. We offer events, workshops and parties that inspire, educate and celebrate this stage of life.
John Hargraves // PM Environmental Inc.
John Hargraves is a licensed Professional Geologist (PG) in AL, AR, TN, MS, GA, NC, SC, LA, and FL.
He has approximately 27 years of experience in environmental consulting working for banks, developers, attorneys, realtors, municipalities, regulatory agencies and industry. He has been involved in the completion of leaking underground storage tank investigations and cleanups, site remediation, Brownfield redevelopment and consulting, EPA Grant Application consulting and management and Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments.
Specialties: Environmental consultant for Brownfield re-development projects, environmental due diligence for M & A activity and the purchase, refinance and foreclosure of commercial properties. Licensed UST professional with expertise in contaminant delineation and remediation at numerous leaking UST sites in various geologic settings throughut the southeastern US.
