Stacy Strauss

“Our goal with the Innovation Center at Ohio University is to help startup companies break down the barriers that would impede their launch and growth. The Center started in 1983. The University’s president at the time and another leader realized they needed to leverage the resources we have here to benefit the regional economy. They […]

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James Martin

“I’m originally from London, England, and lived there for 35 years. I have been an entrepreneur since I was 11 years old. I quit school at 16. Going to college and university was never on my radar and I’ve never regretted that. I’m not saying that’s the path that everybody should take, but if you […]

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Snowville Creamery

This is a combined interview with Anna Shields, General Manager, Heather Fuston, Business Development & Marketing Manager, and Victoria Taylor, Owner. “Dairy production on a large scale is a commodity, and we believe that takes so much of the connection out of it. Satisfying a bottom line makes the product about money—not the customer, not […]

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Rich-Joseph Facun

“My family and I had just moved from the south into a very rural area of Millfield, a former coal mining town in the Appalachian foothills of southeastern Ohio. I’m indigenous Mexican and Filipino, and at the time, racial tension in the country was increasing — especially towards Mexicans. As I watched everything transpire in […]

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Jennifer Kocher

“I grew up in a rural area in Belmont County, in a town called Bridgeport, Ohio, on the east-central side of Ohio along the Ohio River. We’re under an hour from Pittsburgh and it’s a tri-state area. There’s Ohio, a little sliver of West Virginia, and then Pennsylvania. I went to Ohio State, so I […]

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Steve and Melissa Hammond

“Steve Hammond: I’m an insurance agent. I have my own insurance business. Melissa is a middle school teacher. I worked in the paper industry for about 20-25 years. With the ups and downs in that industry, and the buyouts and the mergers and takeovers In 2013, I got caught up in a salary headcount reduction. […]

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Jenny Massie

“I grew up in Jackson, Ohio, and like many of my peers, I wanted to move away and never, ever come back. I headed to Ohio University in Athens and graduated with a degree in advertising management. Shortly after, I married my high school sweetheart, and we relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, to begin our professional […]

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John Winnenberg

“Back in 1990, folks here were frustrated because although we were one of the poorest communities or micro-regions in Southeast Ohio, we hardly ever saw any dollars come down to our level to help out. So, we decided we needed our own organization to begin talking about the future instead of just being the poster […]

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Larry and Candice Hess

“We both grew up in West Virginia, right across the Ohio River. Being so close to the border, people travel back and forth from West Virginia or to Ohio often. You make friends or you have family close by. Larry went into the Navy and was stationed in Virginia Beach for 10 years. Candice went […]

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