There is no doubt that small businesses are greatly impacted by COVID-19 pandemic. While the challenges are great, the pandemic has also created opportunities — transforming to digital services and events, engaging a broader customer base, website updates, online sales, and more.

As communication leaders, we play a critical role in helping our communities navigate this time — from staying connected, to communicating during crises, to serving those in need.

With this in mind, we invited small business owners across different industries to join our panel discussion to share what challenges they’ve faced and how they’ve solved them. We’ll further discuss what opportunities these small businesses have seen or they can seize. In this session, Comm Lead consultancy will also prepare some tips and suggestions for you as takeaways to put into practice.

Join us on Zoom, January 15th, Friday 6-7 pm PST to hear about how we can navigate and survive during this challenging time.

Our panelists:

• Efrem Fesaha from Boon Boona Coffee

Efrem Fesaha, is a first generation Eritrean American whose family moved to the US (West Seattle) in 1988 for an opportunity his Father received to work for Boeing as a Mechanical Engineer. Efrem attended grade school in West Seattle, attended Washington State University for his B.A., and is currently a candidate for a Masters in Business Administration at Seattle University. Prior to establishing Boon Boona Coffee, Efrem worked 13 years in corporate finance for local companies such as Holland America, Nordstrom and Amazon. In 2011, Efrem returned from a three-month stay in his families native country of Eritrea where he became inspired by the Cafe culture that existed in the capital Asmara and returned to Seattle with the desire to venture into coffee. Boon Boona Coffee was launched with the aim of sourcing the highest quality coffee from Africa. In collaboration with coffee farmers across many African nations they look to develop long lasting relationships and support the sustainability of their crops. Boon Boona Roastery & Café operations are located in Downtown Renton with wholesale distribution throughout US & Canada.

• Linda Fang from Banyan Legal Counsel

Linda Fang is an attorney and the founder of Banyan Legal Counsel, a boutique employment and business law firm in Seattle that supports women- and minority-led businesses and nonprofits in Washington and California. Linda started the firm in 2015 after 10 years of practicing law by other people's rules and seeing that others like her - middle-class children of immigrants - were largely sidelined in the business world and left out of the legal marketplace. BLC was born from the belief that women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA, persons with disabilities, and other individuals from historically underrepresented groups can achieve their highest level of business success through access to affordable, client-focused legal services and support networks. Linda and the BLC team strive to level the playing field by helping our clients hone their business skills, expand their networks and resources, and overcome language, cultural, and other systemic barriers.

• Jake Prendez from Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery

Jake Prendez is a renowned Chicano artist and the owner/director of the Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery on the border of West Seattle and White Center.

His oil paintings and digital artwork are created with a specific focus on themes relating to Chicanx and Indigenous culture, social justice, pop culture, and satire.

Jake’s work is an amalgamation of his life experiences. It represents his Chicano background, his life lived back and forth from Los Angeles and Seattle, it represents love and heartbreak, oppression and resilience, laughter and tears. It’s as if I took all his life experiences, put in a blender and poured out onto canvas.

• Jennifer Wong from JLW Health Consulting

JLW Health Consulting had an incredible 13 month run in the midst of a global pandemic. JLW Health Consulting was founded by Jennifer Wong, Ph.D. Dr. Wong’s work is centered around creating innovative solutions to support health and well-being in aging individuals, families, communities, and systems of care. In November 2020, Dr. Wong closed her small business to lead GenSpace, a longevity center being built in one of the most diverse communities in Los Angeles. Previously, she worked with Seattle-King County Public Health and the Washington Health Care Authority through the Health and Aging Policy Fellowship and American Political Science Association’s Congressional Fellowship. Dr. Wong was a Senior Fellow at the University of Washington’s Rehabilitation Medicine Department after serving as a Researcher for the Rural Institute at the University of Montana. Dr. Jennifer Wong completed her Doctorate in Experimental Psychology at the University of Montana, holds a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from the Cal State Sacramento, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of San Francisco.

This event will be moderated by Comm Lead Consultancy creative director Susan MacLaren.

Susan is the Creative Director at Communication Leadership Consulting, working with clients on content strategy, remote collaboration tools, and digital communication. She oversees the creative direction of the consultancy, organizes and provides support for the volunteer program, and helps facilitate team workflow. She owns Susan with Camera, a creative consulting business that provides content strategy, guidance, and communication support to small businesses and nonprofits, with a particular goal of working to empower women in business startup and success. She is a graduate student in the Communication Leadership Program.

Any questions? Please contact Evelyne Kuo at evelyne1@uw.edu