These Women Mean Business
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Superwomen Candace LaForge,
Linda Bridges-Kee, Virginia Gibbs and Nancy
Price
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One might wonder what
a state volleyball championship contender, a 'Miss
Flame' runner-up contestant, a former "dead-head"and
a seniors' travel cable television co-host could possibly
have in common. They've become some of Fayette and
Coweta counties' most accomplished women all
with the mutual goal of uniting community and commerce.
Fayette and Coweta counties are hovering around
the 100,000-population mark with evident increases
in recent years. Along with such growth comes the
necessity to provide a strategic and well-implemented
plan for creating a high-quality community with
ample cultural and business opportunities.
Up for the challenge are Virginia Gibbs (President,
Fayette County Chamber of Commerce), Candace LaForge,
(President, Newnan-Coweta Chamber of Commerce),
Linda Bridges-Kee (Director of Business Development,
Main Street Newnan) and Nancy Price (Director, Main
Street Fayetteville).
Upon speaking with these women, it's not hard to
envision a super-heroine team with outstretched
arms and flowing capes flying high over and 'past'
the city of Atlanta to touch down south of Hartsfield-Jackson
airport. With hands on hips and chins jutted forward
in expressions of unwavering determination, these
women assuredly mean business and aim to facilitate
continued growth and prosperity to the South Atlanta
Metro area.
A 10-year Newnan resident, Linda Bridges-Kee's
extensive community-volunteer involvement gave her
valuable insight into Newnan's business climate,
which ultimately prepared her for her role as Executive
Director and more recently, Director of Business
Development with Main Street Newnan. Bridges-Kee
says, "My biggest challenge was gaining the trust
of 'Old Newnan,' many of which were downtown merchants."
The Streetscape program was launched to renovate
downtown sidewalks and improve infrastructure. "I
preached the 'build it, they will come' philosophy
every day and inevitably that's what happened. We
are now a thriving, full downtown area with soaring
property prices. What more could you ask for?" she
asks.
Bridges-Kee actively recruits businesses to fill
existing spaces around the city. "The challenge
with any type of economic development is the fact
that there is so much confidential information that
can't be revealed until the contract is signed,"
she explains. "It's frustrating to public officials
and citizens when a property does not fill up within
what they consider a reasonable time frame."
Bridges-Kee believes her greatest accomplishment
is in the relationships she's developed with downtown
merchants. "We all work as a team towards a common
goal," she says. "They mentor new business owners
and cross advertise with shops that complement each
other." She has found that once she's assisted investors
in forming successful networks, they are willing
to come back into the community and invest in other
properties.
Nancy Price joined the City of Fayetteville over
three years ago as the Main Street Program Manager;
she's recently had her title changed to Main Street
Director. Fayetteville was designated as Georgia's
37th Main Street in 1996 and has since become one
of the state's fastest growing of its kind. Simply
listening to what Price encounters in a 'normal'
day could exhaust even the most energetic. She overseas
Fayetteville's Villages Amphitheater, Historic Train
Depot, Holiday-Dorsey-Fife House Museum and Hollingsworth
House Special Events Facility with assistance from
the house managers.
"This job is never boring," Price quips. Her fifteen
years of event-planning, marketing and promotional
experience were ample preparation for her Main Street
duties. Price's concert production and promotion
experience became particularly handy just three
months after her employment when the city initiated
the Villages Amphitheater project. "It was unexpected,
but a perfect fit," she says.
She was on the construction site each and every
day and celebrated when the amphitheater went on
to finish its first concert season in 'the black',
a rarity in the industry. "There was great vision
and oversight from both the Main Street and Department
of Authority boards," says Price, "and event volunteers
were crucial to our success."
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Mitch Seabaugh and Arnie
Geiger at a Fayette Chamber events
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In addition to amphitheater sponsorship negotiations,
promotion and general facility operation, Price
plans to dedicate increased efforts to Fayetteville's
downtown economic development. Several improvements
are currently in the works. The Backstreet project,
featuring brick pavers and turn-of-the-century lighting,
will add to downtown parking. The city will enjoy
increased walk-ability with the installation of
a brick promenade in the square and around the Dorsey-Fife
museum. Aesthetic improvements will include park
benches and the completion of the historical city
cemetery entrance improvement project.
"Fayetteville's town square is unique in that it's
intersected by two major state highways," says Price.
"Along with that, comes the challenge of slowing
folks down, getting them out of their cars and walking
around town to patronize local businesses."
The Fayette County and Newnan-Coweta Chamber of
Commerce Presidents echo Price's sentiment for encouraging
commerce. Though both Virginia Gibbs and Candace
LaForge are relatively new to their positions, they
have impressive business and leadership experience.
Virginia Gibbs has over twenty-two years experience
in the plastics trade, a manufacturing industry
that touches nearly every aspect of exchange. "There
are very few manufacturing companies that don't
have the need for some type of plastic component
in their products. Working in that industry allowed
me to see first-hand the challenges a wide variety
of businesses encounter from product conception
to delivering it to the consumer," says Gibbs.
Candace LaForge came to her position in September
2003 with extensive chamber and non-profit experience,
including her role as Executive Director of both
Fulton County's Partnership For Tomorrow and the
Fulton Education Foundation where she acted as the
primary liaison between the school system and the
business community.
As chamber presidents, Gibbs and LaForge wear many
hats; fundraiser, marketing and public relations
consultant, event planner, trainer and collaboratoreach
with a primary focus on building relationships in
business and community.
"Relationships are at the heart of everything we
are trying to achieve," says LaForge. She stresses
the importance of providing links between businesses,
education, community leaders and elected officials
"all for a common purpose of adding value to the
community by increasing opportunities for people
to live and work within the community rather than
commuting into Atlantawhich touches on transportation
issues as well."
Gibbs and LaForge agree that it's critical to form
a strategic business approach to establish and achieve
goals for the chamber members and the communities
they support. Chamber of Commerce's regional over-arching
theme is to be the 'Voice of Business,' which goes
hand-in-hand with helping to lead the community
and assist in developing vision for the future.
According to LaForge, part of achieving this vision
is to assess the current situation by surveying
and collecting community data, ascertaining gaps
and then strategically planning how to remove the
disparity and ultimately add value to the community.
"When we create a high-quality community, we're
creating wealth that is then funneled into better
roads and healthcare, for instanceit's an
interdependent relationship," she says.
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Bill MacDonald, Vicki Turner,
Mike Jablonski and Virginia Gibbs at the Grand
Opening of Peachtree City Jewelers in The
Avenues. - Photo by Marie Liang Schlosser
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This is the intent of the chambers' Vision 20/20,
a community-wide initiative to assertively approach
all municipalities and give citizens an opportunity
to provide input on how they'd like their community
to look down the road. Different individuals and
businesses value different things, whether it's
education, housing, healthcare, transportation,
etc. According to LaForge, 80% of growth comes from
existing industry, so it's imperative the chambers
provide training and networking opportunities to
small business members as well as make sure that
mid-size companies have expansion opportunities,
and larger corporations are able to get their names
and services out into the community.
Gibbs states that it's the chamber's charge to
keep a pulse out in the community, to encourage
citizens to share their views on community vision,
as well as keep the public informed of the services
and products that are locally available. This can
be as simple as providing maps and user-friendly
websites highlighting local businesses, but it goes
well beyond that. "A strong business infrastructure
and a vibrant community go hand-in-hand," says Gibbs,
adding, "It's critical to keep communication lines
open between businesses and the community to achieve
mutually beneficial goals."
It's the challenge of the Chamber of Commerce and
the Development Authority to ascertain how to reach
these goals and citizens can play a vital role by
speaking up about their future community aspirations.
If you'd like your opinions to be considered, step
out and get involved with shaping South Atlanta's
future, by sharing your vision with the people who
can make a difference. It's one thing to sit around
the dinner table and chat about how things should
be different, but quite another to get involved
in making it happen.
Simply utilizing the services in your own neighborhood,
rather than commuting to other counties to make
your purchases, can play a huge part in supporting
community growth. Join forces with this band of
'superhero' women and together, Coweta and Fayette
counties will reach for the stars. Who knows? Maybe
even 'to infinity...and beyond.'
If you're still wondering which professional competed
in the 'Miss Flame' competitionthe answer
will only be revealed to those who get to know these
influential women. Once you meet them, you're sure
to agree, it's difficult to determine which one
has a more burning desire to effectively connect
community with commerce and continue South Atlanta's
trend toward white-hot success. Their contagious
energy is spreading like wildfire.
For More Information
Newnan-Coweta Chamber
of Commerce: www.ncchamber.org, 770-253-2270
Main Street Newnan: www.cityofnewnan.org,
770-253-8283
Fayette Chamber of Commerce:
www.fayettechamber.org, 770-461-9983
Main Street Fayetteville:
www.fayetteville-ga-us.org, 770-461-6029
