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Meet our Outreach Team – Tasha Brown

Small Business Majority’s Outreach Team advocates for entrepreneurs on two fronts: It supports policies that benefit small firms and it offers workshops and events that help small business owners grow their companies. We have found this work to be even more important as small businesses experience rising inflation, supply chain disruptions and workforce challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic.

This week we are spotlighting Tasha Brown, Small Business Majority’s Midwest Director, to let small business owners know how our team members can assist them.

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State reports: Small business owners support criminal justice reforms to address persistent workforce challenges

Publisher: 
Small Business Majority
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Date: 
Wednesday, January 25, 2023

While small businesses employ nearly half (46.4%) of the private workforce in the United States, many are struggling to hire and retain a ready workforce. One viable solution to their persistent workforce challenges is the passing of Clean Slate policies, which seal and expunge certain criminal records and allow justice-impacted individuals to seek employment opportunities and entrepreneurship. Individual state analyses of small business responses in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas found widespread support for Clean Slate policies at the state and federal level.

Illinois business owner addresses lack of cultural representation and starts Spanish-focused learning center

Vanessa Avalos noticed a need for bilingual education for young children in her community, and she immediately decided to execute on it. She launched Luna y Cielo, a play café and Spanish learning center to aid Latino and Hispanic mothers in raising bilingual, bicultural and biliterate children. 

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Illinois Small Business Council

Illinois Small Business Council

Our Illinois Small Business Council consists of small business owners from various industries across the state. Council members volunteer their time and entrepreneurial expertise at board meetings, public events and in the media to help Small Business Majority identify and address the biggest issues facing small businesses today.

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Chrishon Lampley

Chrishon Lampley is a negociant, wine enthusiast and founder of LCS Entertainment, LLC, which features Love Cork Screw wines. Love Cork Screw is a lifestyle brand that launched six varieties in 2013. Since its inception, the LCS brand has been acquired by over 1,800 retailers including Target, Jewel-Osco, Walmart, World Market, Mariano’s, Binny’s, Whole Foods, Miejers, Total Wines and more. Lampley leverages her platform to mentor young women and budding entrepreneurs who can benefit from her lessons and her success.

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Johnathon Bush

Johnathon is a passionate entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience running and managing a business. At the age of 13, Johnathon Bush started his Chicago-based business Not Just Cookies (NJC). As a young entrepreneur and passionate baker, he's focused on providing delicious, quality baked goods the right way. This spirit of “baking hustle” carries on today and is what makes Not Just Cookies Wholesale Bakery a different kind of bakery. 

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Rachel Bernier-Green

Rachel Bernier-Green is the owner of Laine’s Bake Shop, LLC. She initially started her business using a shared kitchen space, working on the side to get her business off the ground. After a few years of baking part-time, Rachel decided to finally quit her job and start a bake shop full-time with her husband Jaryd.

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Lisa Weiss

Lisa Weiss is the founder of Storybeat Studio. As a 3x Emmy Award-winning producer and journalist who worked for Oprah Winfrey and CBS News, Lisa harnesses deep industry knowledge and expertise to help organizations and leaders tell compelling stories. She was named a Forbes Next1000 entrepreneur (December 2021) and a Tory Burch Fellow (2021-2022). Through her 20+ year career, Lisa has created and supervised content viewed and streamed by mass audiences.

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