Tiffany Malapanes / Positiffitea Tea Company 

Tiffany Malapanes is the owner of Positiffitea, a herbal tea blending company in Tennessee that hand blends organic, loose leaf herbal teas.

While attending Middle Tennessee State University in pursuit of a B.A. in Global Studies with a concentration in Nutritional Science, Tiffany started Positiffitea as a fun side hobby to share her herbal tea passion with friends and family.

The company took off and upon graduation she opened The Tiny Tea Factory, a small tea shop in Murfreesboro, TN. She also started partnering with some amazing companies in Nashville by creating custom unique herbal tea blends just for their businesses.

Now Tiffany has closed the Tiny Tea Factory and moved to Chattanooga TN in hopes to expand and develop Positiffitea to its full potential. She still works closely with her Nashville partners and has also developed some new partnerships in Chattanooga.

Though extremely passionate about herbal tea blending, Tiffany’s true passion is in education and teaching. She loves to study traditional herbal medicine, tea culture, nutrition, botany, gardening, bee keeping, neuroscience, fitness, yoga, mindfulness, health and wellness; and loves to find how everything links and works together. She also loves to teach and share what she knows with others and works to do so with Positiffitea which has given her an outlet to educated and inspire everyone she meets.

Keith McConnell / Renovare Distillery 

Keith McConnell, founder of Renovare Distillery, wants to revive the tradition of grain-to-glass spirits. Renovare will feature the farmers who produce the company’s grains and connect each glass with the land and community behind it. The initial lineup will include whiskey, vodka, gin and flavored variations.

A life-long entrepreneur and whiskey enthusiast, Keith started his business ventures in college when he was growing and selling cantaloupes on his family’s farm. His career path has taken interesting turns, including being an airline pilot, an artist, and a logistics specialist. It was his passion for handcrafted spirits, the perfect blend of art and science, and a longtime dream that fueled him to start a distillery. A recent graduate of Co.Labs accelerator program, Keith is laying the groundwork to open Renovare Distillery and bring locally crafted spirits to Tennessee.

Ryan Davis / Reliance Human Capital Management

I grew up in Louisville, Ky where most of my family still resides, but when I left for college I decided I wanted to experience the small town feel. I attended Union University in Jackson, TN and graduated with a degree in Economics and Marketing. While there, I got involved in Young Life, which would eventually lead me to Chattanooga, Tn.

Young Life of Chattanooga brought me on staff to serve as a Development Director so that I could help raise awareness along with funds for the non-profit. After leaving Young Life I went to work for an employee benefit brokerage where I learned the basics of the benefits world and also began to heavily research the latest trends in hr technology.

Jack Silberman, my business partner, and I founded Reliance HCM because we saw a void in the broker community for hr technology and a broker to become one single source vendor. Many tech companies have entered our space, but are truly more technology companies than advisers. We want to be both.

I am excited about the future of our company, both building a progressive culture in our industry and helping make our client’s businesses more efficient.

Marcel Schwantes / Leadership from the Core 

Marcel Schwantes is an executive coach, leadership trainer, entrepreneur, columnist, thinker, Dodgers fan, defender of the least of these, husband and father. He’s also the founder of Leadership From the Core, the only servant-leadership development boutique in Chattanooga dedicated to growing leaders and healthy work cultures.

Victor Agreda / Superpixel Studios   

Prior to founding Superpixel Studios, Victor was editor in chief at The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).

James Cowan / ProviderLinc   

James Cowan is a native of Flint, MI who moved to Chattanooga, TN in July of 2014. In addition to his previous entrepreneurial endeavors, he has spent the last 5 years helping large investor owned utilities with their energy efficiency and sustainability programs.

Micah Johnson / GoFanBase   

Seun Erinle / Grid Principles and A.I.R. Labs 

Seun Erinle is a designer, teacher, and entrepreneur. She owns two companies, Grid Principles – a graphic design and web development shop, and A.I.R. Labs – an environment to inspire your imagination

and build your digital confidence. Her educational background is in Computer Science and Digital Art & Design. She loves being creative and teaching.

Rebecca Solomon / Envoy Mortgage 

Rebecca has been in mortgage business for over 30 years , She has owned and managed her own companies for several years. She has been a member of the community for many years. and has a great love for Chattanooga.

Nate Wilson / Weekly Fig   

Nate moved to Chattanooga three years ago with our three small children, and fell in love with the town. He has been supporting our local farmers through his local CSA and wanted to do more to give back to them and Chattanooga. Weekly Fig was born out of a desire to save time for the things that mattered. He have always been part of the food scene, running a food co-op and getting real food out to the people without being a financial burden. His motto is that real food should be for all!