​The Gwinnett Entrepreneur Center (GEC) will be a County-sponsored facility designed to support entrepreneurs and nurture small businesses startups. The GEC will provide budding entrepreneurs with instruction, networking connections, coworking space, and offices.  The center is scheduled to open in late 2020 in existing space on Perry Street in downtown Lawrenceville. The GEC is funded by the County and federal Community Development Block Grant revenues.
Services available to regional entrepreneurs will include:

• Classes
• Workshops
• Business coaching
• Peer learning
• Connections to customers, capital, and market research

WorkspaceWorkspace will be available for fledgling entrepreneurs who live in Gwinnett and have gone through an application and interview process. Selected members who are launching growth-oriented businesses can work out of the center for a set period. During that time, the center will help them as they will develop plans to stand up or ramp up their business.
Later this year, an online application will be available on this site. See below to sign up to be notified when the application is available and to receive periodic updates on the center.
Sign up for news about the centerThe County will email periodic updates beginning in 2020 as development of the GEC progresses. If you are interested in receiving updates, click here to sign up.  

​Dr. Holden has defied the odds as she has gone from being homeless with six children in the streets of Atlanta to a Political candidate in the “2017” election, from a GED to a Doctorate degree in Leadership Studies and a 12x Published author. She’s now an inspirational speaker and the creator of a Christian comic book called “The Light Shall.” She has an inspirational t-shirt line named “Genuine Expressions,” that was launched earlier this year. She recently made U.S history as she was chosen as the 85th National Mother of the Year “2020,” by American Mother’s Inc.
They are in the preproduction stage of turning her story into a movie The Hidden Glory, the LaTarsha Holden Story.

 LaShawn’s passion is teaching women how to own their power (self-love). As an intuitive, love coach, author and speaker she specializes in guiding women to accept and embrace their soul’s mission, see themselves as God sees them and know that they are enough! 

She’s fulfilling her purpose by speaking, coaching, writing books and having conversations that empower women to: grow closer to God, love themselves unconditionally, speak their truth, operate from courage instead of fear, and define what they want out of life and their relationships. As a result, they become better women, mothers, wives and professionals.

A former Fred Pryor/Career Track certified trainer, she holds a BA in Communications from Bowling Green State University and is a CTM (Competent Toastmaster) a distinction with Toastmasters International. LaShawn is experienced in life coaching, public speaking, personal training, Reiki, hypnotherapy, energy healing, dream interpretation, intuitive readings, guided meditations, and television production.

LaShawn loves to travel, read, learn, teach, exercise, and have fun. She currently resides with her husband in Atlanta, GA.

​ Dr. Braxton A. Cosby is a physical therapist, receiving his Clinical Doctorate from the University of Miami. With over 19 years of professional experience as a presenter, licensed Physical Therapist, program facilitator, Certified Clinical Instructor, Sports Nutritionist, and Personal Trainer, Braxton currently works with both bariatric and geriatric patients in Atlanta, Georgia, while helping clients obtain their fitness goals.

Cosby earned his Doctorate of Physical Therapy, Masters of Science in Physical Therapy and Bachelor of Health Science Health Science from the University of Miami. As a Health and Wellness Specialist, Cosby has penned the book Fat Free For Life: 13 Principles for Guaranteed Weight Loss and Ultimate Health by Siloam, released in early 2016 and has provided seminars and instructed Boot Camps to both educate and assisted clients to lose weight and achieve their fitness goals. Cosby was also featured on the cover of OMTimes (One Mind Times) magazine for his dedication to health and wellness where he is columnist contributing articles to educate people on fitness and wellness. Cosby is also a bestselling and award-winning author of over 16 novels and multiple screenplays.

​Penny is a wife, mother sister and friend and daughter of loving parents.  She loves God and is a follower of Christ.  

She has been a community member of Gwinnett for 39 years.  She is in love with her African American Heritage and is a Geechy Girl in her soul.  She is passionate about loving and advocating for her Black Community.  She has diligently worked for equity and the dismantling of white supremacy for an inclusive community especially at the local and state level.

She is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc, and has been awarded a B.A. in Political Science from the University of South Carolina.  She is a licensed Real Estate Agent and has worn many hats.  She lives in and loves Gwinnett and aspires for it to be a place of  inclusivity and welcoming to all.  

 Chef Hank Reid Hank Reid is the Founder and Executive Director of Trinity Community Culinary Institutes, Inc. a non-profit organization purposed to establish an educational and creative learning program, offering classroom instruction, seminars, workshops and employment training to the local community in a recreational environment in the area of Culinary Arts. The foundation of TCCI is strengthened upon the desire to support the everyday challenges parents face to help their young adult sons and daughters transition into self-sufficient, productive adults.

​In 1990 Chef Hank made the transition from the Architectural Engineering field to pursue his underlying passion for Culinary Arts. While studying Mathematics at Clark-Atlanta University as a Dual Degree Major he combined his entrepreneurial spirit and his culinary skills and starting a catering business from his dorm room. Armed with only a hot plate and a toaster oven Chef Hank realized he had the gift to do a lot with very little. A true Southerner from Griffin Georgia, a small town forty miles south of Atlanta, Chef Hank began to worry less about how he would fund his education in the engineering field and more about how he could explore his talent for cooking. Rather than totally abandoning a career in Engineering, Chef Hank transferred to Southern Polytechnic in Marietta, GA to pursue an Architectural degree while working in the Baking and Pastry department of the Atlanta Hilton and Towers in downtown Atlanta.

Unable to share his love for Culinary Arts with the pursuit of an Architectural degree, Chef Hank made a full commitment to his passion and enrolled in the Culinary Arts program at the Art Institute of Atlanta and accepted a part-time position at a prestigious fine dining establishment, Carbo s Café and a full-time position with Houston s as a lead production Chef. As Chef Hank excelled in and earned his degree at the Art Institute, he took an active handson learning approach to his training by working through the ranks of a popular string of Liberty House Restaurant Group establishments; OK Café, Blue Ridge Grill, Kudzu Café and Bones. In 1994, Hank was appointed the Executive chef of Lulu s Bait Shack Restaurant and Bar, specializing in Louisiana Creole cuisine, in the popular Buckhead community known for its active night-life and multitude of restaurant and bar options. From there continued his Cajun Cuisine tour as the Executive Chef at Comeuax s Louisiana Bar and Grill.

​In 1999 Chef Hank would work his way into the dual role of Executive Chef and Assistant General Manager of Cripple Creek Taphouse and Grill, an upscale lodge theme casual dining concept in the fast growing suburbs of Gwinnett County located north of Atlanta. Throughout his culinary endeavors, Chef Hank always made time for kids in his community. As a volunteer baseball coach for the DeKalb County Recreation Department, Hank not only excelled as a Chef, husband and Father, he embraced the responsibility of mentoring young men and women in that community. In 2000 Chef Hank moved to Snellville, GA with his wife Rachael and two sons Davonta and Chace and immediately fell in love with the community. There was an instant desire to get involved as he did in DeKalb County so he repositioned himself in the culinary industry by accepting a position as General Manager of Woody s Barbeque located right in the heart of the Snellville Community. The blessings for Hank and his family continued. The convenience of a position at a restaurant very close to home was topped by the birth of Hank and Rachael s third, fourth and fifth children, triplet daughters; Niiah, Neeyah and Neenah. As his culinary career continued to thrive as Chef Hank remained focused on his efforts in the community.

As the founder of Trinity Athletics of Snellville, Hank established this non-profit organization to support the youth in the local community focused on programs for students addressing physical and social health deficiencies. It offered support in the areas of athletic camps, seminars and study groups relating to academics, personal finance, social interaction, peer pressure and physical health. Additionally, he served three terms on the W.C. Britt Elementary School Council and one term as P.T.A. Co-President. In 2006 Chef Hank was appointed to the City of Snellville s Parks and Recreation Board where he served for two terms. After a four year run with Woody s Barbeque, Chef Hank remained in the same location for another two years after the Woody s franchise left town and Ground Round, an American Cuisine concept from the north, came in. In 2006, Chef Hank began the most natural process for a person with his level of experience. He began the process of opening his own establishment. That establishment was to become the town favorite Trinity Bistro and Coffee Bar. Chef Hank and his family enjoyed two years of success until the harsh economy of 2008 claimed the small businesses of many including Trinity Bistro. The passion never left Hank as he vowed to be back in the fold of the Snellville community.

Forced to work outside the community, Hank spent two years with the growing Panera Bread Corporation and then the call came for Chef Hank from Sweet Georgia s Juke Joint, a popular Southern cuisine concept right in the middle of downtown Atlanta. He was appointed to the prestigious position of Executive Chef. Tailor-made for Hank s style of cooking, the Juke Joint quickly rose from average ratings to an internationally recognized downtown Atlanta eatery. Chef Hank enjoyed great success making one television appearance after another. He continued to grow the Juke Joint brand and stabilize the organization s cuisine with quality traditional recipe building and establishing concise cost-effective culinary procedures resulting in the increase of the company s bottom line. Seemingly the job of a life time, Chef Hank was still not content with his path. He embarked upon what would be the culmination of all his experiences, Trinity Community Culinary Institutes, Inc. This is Chef Hank s true dream, a community enrichment program taking all of his experiences and the greatest attributes of all of them, organizing them with the purpose of sharing and offering direction, helping kids and inviting the entire community to experience the joy of cooking by opening a recreational style culinary school. TCCI, short for Trinity Community Culinary Institute is purposed to provide community enrichment by offering a recreational Culinary Arts program designed to offer essential direction to community youth that will develop a population of young men and women better adapted to be contributors to society than detractors from it. Its goal is to be a resource for an alternative recreational outlet for families in the community by hosting activities accenting the fun, creative and competitive elements of Culinary Arts. Chef Hank declares an obligation to enhance the hospitality aspects of the community by establishing student-run dining and catering operations and supporting local dining establishments with quality human resources from the local community.

​TCCI also positions itself to lead other organizations with similar ideas and encourage them to put some action behind your passion. Chef Hank opens the door and sets the table to unite a coalition of Cultural Arts innovators purposed to activate the creative nature in all young adults, nurturing their dreams into constructive, productive reality. Finally in a role Chef Hank has desired for years, his dedication and commitment has never been greater and the community has been very receptive and even excited about TCCI. He is currently serving the Snellville Community as an Executive Board member of both the Snellville Economic Development Council and Integrity Christian Academy of Snellville. Chef Hank is also a potential Mayoral appointee to the Snellville Board of Appeals. In addition, a number of political figures have endorsed Chef Hank s community enrichment program which will support TCCI s goals to establish the concept anywhere there is a need for support to young men and women starving for positive encouragement and realistic hope for their futures.

​William Hayashi is a life-long member of the Information Technologies industry. Beginning as a programmer in the early 1970s. He currently owns his own business consulting firm and donates much of his time to the creation and maintenance of computer labs for schools, after school study centers and adult education programs. He is an author of novels, short stories, motion picture scripts, and a movie producer.

Hayashi's first ever movie script was the winner in the 2009 Chicago arm of the International 48 Hour Film Project competition. His script for the film short, Fallout, won against 41 other scripts filmed for 2009's entries in the international competition and is available on YouTube. His short story, Your Two O'Clock Is Here, was also filmed in the same month and submitted to several film festivals around the world.

Quarantine, the first installment of the Archangel-X Trilogy is a sequel to Hayashi's Darkside Trilogy and continues the story of a community of African Americans who beat Neil Armstrong to the moon and resided there in secret for four decades before being discovered by those living on Earth. Quarantine picks up ten years after the events in Conception: Volume 3 of the Darkside Trilogy where the African American colony had confined mankind to the surface of planet Earth. The embargo from space was enforced by the crew of a space station left in orbit once the colony left the moon to move out toward the solar system's asteroid belt.

In addition to writing nearly full time, Hayashi can be found hosting The Genesis Science Fiction Radio Series, a weekly online show for the blacksciencefictionsociety.com Web site interviewing Black artists and content creators in the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres. Guests include comic book, short story, novel, spoken word, TV show and movie and other medium creatives.
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 Mississippi State Coach Football Coach Tre' Bell joins me today at the table.  We will be talking education, football, discipline, careers and more.  Tre' shares his life in football.  We talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of the sport.  He shares how he was able to bounce back after he didn't make it to the NFL.  He openly shares how he fought depression during this time and how important it is to have great relationships.

If you have a son who has aspirations to go pro, then you really need to listen to this episode.  

John was born in Atlanta and have lived in Georgia his whole life.  He went to North Gwinnett and Collins Hill High School.  He graduated from the University of Georgia where he graduated with a bachelors in business administration with a major in management information systems.  He worked in software development for about 15 years.  It was during that time that he started to home brew as a creative outlet and fell in love with the whole process.  It was during this time that he started talking about the possibility of starting a brewery with his brother in law Marty during this time and Slow Pour Brewing Company was born.

​Joe Allen started his career of service to Gwinnett County in the Tax Commissioner's Office, where he served as Director of Administration and then Chief Deputy Tax Commissioner. Later, he was Gwinnett’s Division Director of Risk Management and Employee Services. Allen also spent a number of years as the Director of Public Affairs and Business Resources for the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. While at the Chamber, he helped organize the business leaders that later formed the Gwinnett Place Community Improvement District. In April 2006, Joe was named Executive Director for the CID. Joe is married to Melanie and they have two children.

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