All Entries in the "Social Activism" Category
Save the Tortillas
In these tough times, it seems to a lot of local businesses are falling apart. Tampa’s own tortilla favorite La Bonita Olé (La Bonita Ole, Inc. 5804 E. Columbus Drive Tampa, FL 33619, 1-800-522-6648), is about to become one of those casualties.
In 1992, Tammy Young started making Tam-X-ico’s tortillas in the traditional Mexican way. After several years in the food business, she discovered that there were few choices for high quality tortillas, particularly in the Tampa area. She wanted to produce a high quality product that was fresh and available in all major supermarkets. 17 years later, La Bonita Olé now employees over 40 employees in the Tampa Area, making $12 million in sales and supplying 20 food retailers in 28 states. This is a true ground up entrepreneur’s story, and it’s on the verge of ending.
In 2008, La Bonita Olé was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy to satisfy lenders in the current credit climate. The move allowed La Bonita Ole to reorganize, continue paying its bills, meeting the payroll, and producing tortillas for you to enjoy. In fact, they are among a small percentage of viable companies in bankruptcy that are successful. However, the situation has become critical. SunTrust Bank may move to sell the company. They are a solid and profitable business in a growing industry under the present management. A change in management could lead to a change in recipe, in process or a complete disintegration of the company. This would put 40 families out of work. This would put a local Tampa company on the docket with the rest of the failing companies in our economy. That said, we can all help.
By signing the petition on their website, you’ll help keep convince SunTrust Bank to be a hero in the banking industry by supporting local Tampa entrepreneurial spirit. In today’s national financial crisis, this is a viable success story that needs it’s customers and it’s financial institution to stand behind it’s products and it’s methods.
La Bonita Olé Financial Highlights (from their website)
1. We continue to grow despite the economy and chapter 11.
2. We have had positive cash flow every year except 2007 when growing pains related to expanding into new markets caused losses.
3. During the chapter 11 in 2008 we grew our sales by 9% and accomplished a $2.0M dollar positive financial turnaround.
4. This is a viable successful business and existing management has implemented an operational and financial turnaround plan that has is succeeding.
To learn more, check out their website and consider joining their twitter.
http://twitter.com/savethetortilla
Tampa Job Fair Coming up this weekend
Some of you may remember a post I made a few weeks back that caused quite a commotion. I want to clear the air on behalf of the company putting this together, Tavern Media. I have spoken to the organizers of the event at Tavern Media who ensure me that this is a legitimate job fair, it costs very little to get in and it’s completely safe.
There have been issues brought up that this a job fair where you have to “pay to get a job”. That’s ridiculous. Entry is either $5 or two canned items, which they donate to charity. With hundreds of jobs at 45+ companies available and so many people out of work, is two cans of corn really going to stop you?
Secondly, there has been a number of accusations of Tavern not paying it’s invoices and ripping off it’s vendors. The contact I spoke with offered to hand over his books to me (or any other member of the media) for examination.
So, all of that said, if you’re looking for work and you want a chance to meet prospective employers, you should attend the job fair this weekend.
June 26th, 27th and 28th.
18061 Highwoods Preserve Parkway, Tampa FL
(Former Circuit City Building, next to Muvico on Bruce B Downs)
St. Petersburg Tweetup
Last night, Dereck and I went to the St. Petersburg Tweetup, held at Savannah’s Cafe (1113 Central Ave, St Petersburg, FL 33705-1650, (727) 388-4371). This was a much different crowd and vibe than any Tweetup I’d been too before. The crowd was more mature, more segmented and a bit frazzled. That said, I did shake a lot of hands and meet a lot of interesting folks involved in social media.
I also managed to get a few pictures in the packed upstairs meeting room. Here they are:
LocalShops1: Hyperlocal shopping for the Tampa Bay Area
One of the things I’ve always found interesting about the web is how easy it is to get to powerful databases of information. What I’ve always found annoying is trying to find that information specific to a region.
For us Tampa Bay residents (and those in the surrounding counties of Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota), you may find some help in the hyper local shopping site, LocalShops1.com. They are committed to promoting locally owned, independent shops. The mission of this site is to be a place where shoppers and business owners can come to network, on social and business levels to exchange ideas, post sales, become involved in the community. Out in the “real world,” they plan lots of fun community events, charity fundraisers and store parties.
About to celebrate their 1st anniversary, Local Shops is focused on highlighting high quality businesses in and around Tampa. This site does what other yellow-pages style sites do, but in a cleaner format and each business is hand selected and reviewed for inclusion instead of an across the board inclusion that many directories do. Signing up is FREE, and can be done here:
http://www.local-shops-1.com/LocalShops1/membership-options.html
There’s lots of good news coming out of this organization. They recently began embarking on a $250,000 advertising campaign with the Tampa Tribune, WFLA, tbo.com, Tampa Bay Magazine, Tampa Bay Business Journal and Genesis radio stations 1040 and 820. They are in the midst of a complete redesign of the website to make it easier to use. In August, they are launching “1Card”, the ultimate discount card for local business.
Comedy For A Cure, benefit for Pediatric Cancer Foundation
Tampa’s own NBA rising star, Tarence Kinsey will be hosting his First Annual TK’s Celebrity All-Star Weekend, June 26 and 27. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
Hyatt Regency Downtown is where events kick off June 26 with Comedy’s the Cure, Tampa’s funniest show this summer. The comedian all-star cast includes: Joe and Guy Torry, Gary Owen of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne (TBS), and Doug Williams – Host of Martin Lawrence’s 1st Amendment Stand Up (Starz). The laughing commences at 8pm. General Admission tickets are $25; VIP tickets are $40.
Tarence and his friends will return to the Hyatt Regency Saturday, June 27 for part two with his Cloud 9 All-White Affair. This will be an event for the truly grown and sophisticated. Guests are encouraged to come dressed in their finest all white attire and mingle with the stars as they party with the likes of NBA players; LeBron James, Mo Williams, Joe Smith, Rudy Gay and many more. Doors open at 10pm, but guests must be 21 to enter. Tickets are $15 in advance online and $20 at the door. VIP reservations are also available online.
To purchase tickets to either event, visit www.TKallstars.com.
Date/Event: Friday, June 26th – Comedy’s the Cure
Venue: Hyatt Regency Downtown Grand Ballroom
Time: 8:00pm – 10pm
General: $25 VIP: $40
Red Carpet Entry
Date/Event: Saturday, June 27th – Cloud 9 All White Affair
Venue: Hyatt Regency Downtown Courtyard
Time: 10pm – 3am
General: $15 (Advance) / $20 (Door) VIP: $100
Red Carpet Entry
For more information, visit www.TKallstars.com.
What About Blue? St Petersburg man helps solve the Global Water Crisis
When you meet Kevin Lilly, you probably wouldn’t assume that he’s out to change the world. He’s a young guy with disheveled hair, a rock and roll wardrobe and a quirky smile. To look at him, you probably wouldn’t realize that his actions and the actions of those he’s helping to rally will go a long way to put an end to death and disease that dirty water (and lack of water) in remote areas all over the world.
Kevin runs the website “What About Blue“, a social network bringing people together to solve the global water crisis. He’s based right here in St. Petersburg and attends events to promote his cause. The mission is simple, to bring awareness of an issue that many of us in the civilized world take for granted. Starting in July and ending in October, he and two of his fellow adventurers (Brian Coggan and Danielle Katz) will kayak 2500 miles down the length of the Mississippi from Bemidji, MN, to the Gulf of Mexico, in order to help raise awareness of Water and inspire action to preserve, cultivate, restore, protect, conserve, and share safe water.
‘What About Blue?’ exists to encourage people to think specifically about Water and all the ways it is used in our lives. WAB aims to not only raise money to help combat this critical issue (Did you know that over 1.2 billion people live without daily access to clean drinking water?) but to create a network of individuals around the globe who are linked by their passion and concern for water.
Money raised will go to charities working on water issues, locally and nationally preserving and restoring waterways, and internationally to help build wells for those without access to clean water. For just $5 per month, you could help bring water to dozens of people who need it. Such a small contribution (about what you’d pay for a Latte!) could dramatically reduce water born diseases, and cut death in third world countries considerably.
Here’s a video by Fox Tampa Bay covering Kevin’s quest:
Being in the Tampa Bay Area, we’re all surrounded by water. We swim in the gulf. We deal with hurricanes. We are constantly at odds with our city government over when to water our lawns and how much water to use. Now consider what would happen if our water supply dried up. Consider how bad it is in developing nations where no one has access to clean water and the water they do have is filled with bacterial, viruses and waste.
Even if you don’t have money to donate, sign up for What About Blue and listen to the encouraging stories of Kevin Lilly and his collective. You will think twice before wasting water again.
Homemade Music Symposium Photo Post
This year’s Homemade Music Symposium played out over the weekend at the Ybor HCC campus, bringing together musicians, singer-songwriters, music industry professionals, entertainers, writers, photographers and most every other aspect of the music industry to discuss the state of music, the nature of creating and marketing musicians and give a taste of things to come.
Overall, the symposium was a great success. Saturday opened with “Poets of Popular Song, The Lyrics and Lyric Writers of the Great American Songbook”. Featuring the piano work of Paul Wilborn and the 107 year old Rosa Rio. After their performance, many of the attendees broke for the lunch while the rest of us sat at our tables and handed out free swag and met with people.
As the day raged on, the crowd continued to morph. After noon, the rock kids all awoke and made an appearance, many to show off their demos and many more to attend seminars including “Marketing, Touring and Band Management” and “Alternative Media Promotion” with BrandTampa’s own Queen of Social Media Julia Gorzka. Classes on getting the most out of studio time, shooting a music video and a “meet the press” session provided even more value to those who came looking for help getting their music careers off the ground.
There was a good showing by all the key players at the vendor tables including Bay Area Beat, WMNF, Creative Loafing and Reax.
Here are some random photos from the event:
Rhino P.A.C. Political mixer brings strong messages, open minds
Last week, I attended the Rhino Political Action Committee’s political mixer at NOVA. Like the first event I attended, local mayor candidates and other politicos met with the common man, answering questions and trying to convince us that they were the right person for the job.
Unlike the first one I attended, the candidates actually seemed to have an agenda now. Many spoke on the importance of keeping our children in programs to avoid gangs. Others spoke of keeping the streets clean, both of garbage and of drug users and prostitutes. Still others pushed issues involving the St Pete Peer. It seems that everyone was making good points, making this a valuable (if somewhat overwhelming ordeal). Here are some photos of the mixer.
The rest of the photos can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denisbaldwin/sets/72157619595410198/
Review of the Tampa Bay Music Conference
I recently attended the 6th annual Tampa Bay Music Conference, held at the Ritz Theatre (503 7th Ave. Tampa, FL. 33605)in Ybor City.
The event was not what I expected. Being billed as a top class event ($40 tickets), I figured it would be a lot of fun with a lot of people and plenty to see and do. It turns out that it wasn’t nearly as robust as I had hoped.
Firstly, let’s examine the name and why it’s misleading. When you think of Tampa Bay Music Conference, what do you think of? I think of musicians from Tampa Bay coming together, preferably from all walks of life and musical backgrounds, to meet and “confer”, jam and socialize. This was a very acute version of that ideal, as the musical scope was limited to rap, hip hop and R&B and very little of this had anything to do with Tampa Bay. While I don’t know the background on all of the acts involved, I was told by several people there that very few of the musical acts actually were from Tampa.
Secondly, when I picture a music conference, I picture vendors that are suited to the music industry. Where was Guitar Center? JBL? Fender? Shure? Where were the brands I come to know and love? Who was there? LaCie, the hard drive manufacturer. Why were they at a music conference?
Thirdly, for a highly publicized event, there were very few warm bodies. I hung around for about three hours and in that time counted maybe 100 people total in and out of the door. One would think that an event with this potential could draw thousands of people. Perhaps other people knew what I didn’t and simply chose to avoid paying $40 for a half-hearted rap concert.
Fourthly, when I think of a Music Conference, I don’t think of one guy on stage rapping while 20 people sit around looking bored. Where are the additional stages? Where is the crowd participation? Where is the excitement in the air? There wasn’t even anyone near the stage calling out the rapper’s name. There were three people standing up front with camera phones snapping photos, but where is the crowd that a big show should bring?
All of that said, there were a few good things going on. The waitstaff was awesome. Bartenders made me several good drinks. The side room was full of people actually talking about music and attempting to network. I just wish the whole event had the kind of chemistry that the side room was flirting with.
Rhino PA.C. has second “Meet the Candidates” political mixer on June 10th
Rhino Political Action Committee will be holding a second political mixer at NOVA 535 on June 10th. Free food and booze, starts at 6PM.
The thing I enjoyed about the first event was that you can just show up, ask questions of your leaders and potential leaders, and get frank one-on-one attention from them. I can’t say everyone was being honest, but I did get a lot of answers and face time.
Anyone is welcome. Admission is free.
