Mentors: TRAINING
Summary of Qualifications Chris Zobel is a sales and management professional with extensive experience in small and large businesses. He has worked with Fortune 500 and Mom and Pop businesses throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Chris has a degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. After a successful career of over 30 years in the private sector, working with Miller Brewing Company, Arrow International, Yuengling and others, he accepted an Economic Development position with the US Small Business Administration assisting businesses in Delaware and later in Virginia. In 2014, he was relocated to Hampton Roads to concentrate on the very important small business community here. During his tenure with the SBA he interacted with small business owners from all cultural backgrounds. He was actively involved with assisting businesses with SWAM, HUBZone, 8a and Veteran certifications. An additional duty that Chris held was the District International Trade Office (DITO). As DITO, he held Export training events and met one on one with businesses to educate them on the specifics involved with establishing International Trade. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and served for 5 years in the US Navy during the Vietnam Era. Chris and his wife Susan live in Norfolk and enjoy life in Hampton Roads. Want to meet with this Lead Mentor? Schedule an...
Summary of Qualifications Polly is a veteran entrepreneur and consultant whose experience spans all industries and whose expertise focuses on people. She is a founding partner and owner of Gather, whose coworking spaces provide a community to more than 200 entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small business people. In 2002, Polly left the corporate world to start her first consulting business serving large and Fortune 500 companies in the areas of leadership and organizational development. Her business continued to grow in both size and capabilities over the next several years adding services in HR, compliance, strategy and workforce development. In 2009, she joined forces with her husband, Doug, to form Whitestone Partners, a full-service small-business consulting firm. Together, they work with clients across all industries and have extensive experience in real estate, construction, the trades, professional services, non-profits, advertising and marketing, manufacturing and financial services. They help businesses that want to get to the next level as well as those needing to get back on track. Today, Polly is recognized as a small business expert, successful serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and founding partner of Gather, coworking spaces that create community for more than 200 entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small businesses. She writes weekly columns (with her partner, Doug) for both RTD Business and Entrepreneur.com. She is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and business consultant. Want to meet with this Lead 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...
Summary of Qualifications Sydney Lester is a personal stylist with over eight years in the fashion industry. She is the founder of Chic Stripes, a full-service personal styling company designed to help women create sustainable and timeless wardrobes that work for them, not against them. In 2009, Sydney launched Chic Stripes, her personal style blog that focused on creating individualized style by shopping second hand first. She parlayed her blog into a successful personal styling business where she now works one-on-one with clients and focuses on giving women confidence through their wardrobes and teaching them how to create a timeless, personalized style and sustainable wardrobe that work for them, not against them. Services include: closet audit, personal shopping, and outfit creation. Sydney has been featured in the Richmond Times Dispatch, Richmond Magazine, R-Home, Richmond GRID, and Coffee with Strangers; appeared as a style expert on Virginia This Morning, ABC8 News Richmond, and NBC12 News Richmond; has worked with local brands such as VCU Massey Cancer Center, Jackson and James, and Elements Beauty Shop, national brands such as Kendra Scott and J. Crew; and has been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal and The Today Show and continues to be the area’s go-to style expert. Before her career switch to fashion, Sydney spent over ten years working in fundraising in the nonprofit field, holds dual masters degrees in Social Work and Christian Education and was part of the 2014 class of Leadership Metro Richmond. Sydney earned her fashion credentials at the Los Angeles-based School of Style, and currently lives in Richmond with her husband and their three cats. Want to...
Summary of Qualifications Christina consults on social media, public relations, content strategy, marketing, blogger/influencer outreach, media buying, customer/user experience, advertising, content creation/copywriting and branding (brand voice, community management, customer relations). Christina has worked with large, national brands through The Martin Agency and Capital One, and has a passion for bringing those big ideas to small businesses. She also works as a recruiter, and can consult about hiring, recruiting, talent management, workplace culture – basically, connecting entrepreneurs to the right types of people. Christina is a social recruiter for AQUENT and a creative communications consultant for agencies and small business. She began her career at The Martin Agency, buying media and then developing social strategies and building communities for Kraft’s Cool Whip and Stove Top, Walmart, GEICO and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Christina has also worked on Capital One’s social media team and built a social media and content strategy offering at Big River Advertising. She is an adjunct professor Virginia Commonwealth University, where she earned a bachelors in Mass Communications with a concentration in Strategic Advertising and a Minor in Marketing. Christina is also active in the Richmond Ad Club, serving as the current president while working to grow the club’s mentor and speaker series programs. In a partnership formed through her personal blog, Tiramisu For Breakfast, she launched and manage the Elements Beauty Bloggers program for ElementsBeautyshop.com. She loves the local arts community and chairs the Richmond CenterStage Associates Board. Ready to meet with this Lead Mentor? Schedule an initial...
