Mentors: COMMUNICATIONS
Summary of Qualifications Todd Waldo is an engineer, artist, and community advocate. With a BSEE from North Carolina State University, he has a career in systems development, maintenance and operations. Todd Waldo is the Enterprise Engineering Manager at Royall & Company. He is responsible for the development, maintenance and operations of all systems to support clients’ needs and requirements. He graduated from North Carolina State University (BSEE) and the Interactive Marketing Institute at VCU. His recent focus has been on operations ensuring quality and performance for users and clients as well as resolving issues with products and data. He is also making investments in other colleagues as a mentor and adviser to increase diversity, inclusion, mission awareness and engagement. All of this carries over in his service to the Richmond community with his work for various non profits. He serves on the Board of Directors for Better Housing Coalition, the President of the Board of the Robinson Theater Community Arts Center, board member for Church Hill Activities and Tutoring (CHAT) and the Church Hill Academy. He also serves Church Hill through the Church Hill Central Civic Association. He leads development and execution of annual special events like TEDxRVA and the Hill Topper 5k. His goal is to partner with leadership adding value for client and employee management, applying his expertise in operations, technology and data, while supporting mission and values. Want to meet with this mentor? Talk with your Lead...
Summary of Qualifications Sondra Epley is the Office Manager and a Certified Business Mentor for Richmond SCORE, which provides mentoring and workshops for small startup and established business clients. For the past seven years, she has also taught primarily graduate students online for a small, private college just outside of Minneapolis. Sondra Epley works for Richmond SCORE, which provides mentoring and workshops for small business clients. As Office Manager, Sondra covers the logistic needs of nearly 50 chapter members and serves as a matchmaker, pairing more than 620 clients each year with mentors equipped to guide them. As a Certified Business Mentor herself, Sondra is partial to startups and “fixer uppers.” Since April 2010, Sondra has also served as an online instructor for a small, private college just outside of Minneapolis. She teaches graduate student courses in community development, nonprofit management as part of an MBA degree program, and academic writing for evaluation and research. A quick study herself, Sondra achieved a financial turnaround for a store that was eight months away from the chopping block, despite having no significant background in retail. The experience reinforced her belief not to wait for a better day, but to create it. This belief enables her to supply nimble advice to clients wondering which business to pursue, what to look out for, and how to say what they want to say when promoting it or training others to do the same. Want to meet with this mentor? Talk with your Lead...
Summary of Qualifications As a fractional CMO Deborah helps organizations identify their brands, identify their key goals, and determine appropriate marketing strategies to achieve those goals. Throughout her career, she has worked in corporations, ad agencies and currently as an independent consultant. Deborah has worked with large organizations and smaller organizations. She gets involved in creating communications plans (external and internal), marketing plans, and the pieces and parts that make up marketing plans; as in strategies and tactics including branding, research, public relations, and advertising. Frequently, the first step is the most difficult. Helping clients understand what it is they are really offering, and why their product meets the need of the prospect better than the competition is not easy, but it is almost the most important step in the process. Without a clear grasp of the brand the marketing strategies may fall on deaf ears. Over her career, she has worked in the business 2 business arena, and business 2 consumer. She has worked with retail, tourism, education, health care, housing and the financial industries. Want to meet with this mentor? Schedule an...
Summary of Qualifications Chantel is a Master Tax Advisor for Block Advisors and an Enrolled Agent authorized to represent all clients before the Internal Revenue Service. Chantel Buchin, whose career has focused on the numerous tax implications of individuals, small businesses and corporate mergers, has spent 27 years in Richmond working in a number of different taxable organizations. Most notably, she managed a small business LLC focusing on all aspects of limited liability formation and compliance with Virginia SCC, and IRS and SSA regulations. A graduate of the New York University School of Law, while practicing Chantel specialized in the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions and employee benefits. She subsequently held positions as a small business manager, tax office leader, and tax professional. Her passion is educating small and new business owners to get the best possible tax outcome. A recent client stated, “Chantel was very professional in every sense of the word. She helped us through the tax season as first-time business owners and was very articulate and clear about every step in the process. We didn’t know where to turn as first-time business owners and feel like we either made the perfect choice with Block Advisors or got really lucky with Chantel. Probably both.” Chantel also has an extensive background in education. She was a substitute teacher for 14 years ranging from elementary through high school grades. Currently, she teaches basic and advanced taxation courses for H & R Block. Want to meet with this mentor? Schedule an...
Summary of Qualifications Leah Fremouw is a familiar face in the Richmond business community and has a rich history of managing dynamic, fast-moving projects with multiple stakeholders. Leah currently serves as an Assistant Vice President at Virginia Community Capital, a financial organization deploying loans and advisory services to projects in all regions of the Commonwealth. In this role, she partners with businesses in a variety of industries and growth stages to support their movement to the next level. Prior to this role, she led talent management and cultural initiatives for CarLotz, a fast growing Richmond business, served as an organizational development consultant with the Performance Management Group at Virginia Commonwealth University, and for three years worked in the city’s public housing communities. Leah’s commitment to the Richmond community brings her out of the office and into initiatives moving the greater region forward. She helps lead TEDxRVA, the innovative speaker series initiated in 2012, along with Impact 100, where she supports strategies to raise large grant funds for local nonprofits. Leah earned her Bachelors and Master’s degrees at VCU, where she was recognized as an L. Douglas Wilder Graduate Scholar 2008-2010. She is also a 2011 graduate of the Partnership for Nonprofit Excellence’s Emerging Nonprofit Leaders Program. Want to meet with this mentor? Schedule an...
