Joanne Funchess is the founder and owner of Joanne Funchess Custom Stationery, Greeting Cards and Invitations. Launched five years ago, her company created cards on a seasonal basis. It has since evolved to meeting client needs year-round, as well as providing them with a concierge mailing service.

Joanne has a background in print media, and has written promotional copy for one of the largest newspapers in the Southeast. She is a wife, mom of three (including twin boys - never a dull moment) and does not meet a stranger (something she's proud of)!

Website: www.joannefunchess.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/joannefunchess.com

Twitter: @funchessjf

Monthly Newsletter Campaign: http://conta.cc/1mNZ2A0

Gavin McCulley is the Chapter President of Angel Capital Group – Charleston, a nationally syndicated group of over 200 angel investors.

In addition to serving as the Chapter's first president, Gavin is the Managing Partner of the Charleston based Private Equity Firm, Twin Rivers Holdings, whose investments range from digital media, tech start-ups, real estate development, film studios, restaurant chains, educational products, and manufacturing. Gavin is also the Co-Founder and Chairman of the South Carolina Film Council, a group that represents South Carolina's Film Industry and its Professionals in local and state politics.

Gavin served as an Officer in the U.S. Army's Special Operations Command, and served 2 tours of duty in Iraq and 1 tour in Afghanistan where he was decorated 3 times with the Bronze Star Medal. His passion for the Technology and Entrepreneur community, coupled with his focus on disciplined execution and operational excellence are his driving force. Gavin, his wife Michelle, and their daughters, Mila and Morgan live in Mt. Pleasant, SC.

He writes the Southern Seraph Blog – insights in raising Angel and Venture Capital. southernseraph.com, twinriversholdings.com @gavin_mcculley

Kashi Sehgal is Co-Founder & CEO of Gigabark (www.gigabark.com), an integrated mobile solutions company rooted in phone and text messaging technology. Kashi is also Executive Director for SouthWiRED (www.southwired.org) – one of the largest technology conferences in the Southeast. 

Kashi serves as Executive Director of the Campus Community Partnership Foundation (www.c2pf.org) that hosts the Mentor Walk (www.MentorWalk.org) which aims to reduce the high school drop-out rate in Georgia through various awareness-building touch points. She is Co-Founder and Director of Partnerships for Music For Tomorrow (www.MusicForTomorrow.org) which was launched to provide immediate financial assistance to jazz musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina and now provides economic opportunities for jazz musicians around the country. 

After spending time as a Management Consultant at Accenture, she now works with select clients specializing in strategic planning, visioning, communications planning, and startup and non-profit strategy. 

Kashi is actively engaged in the Atlanta community serving on various boards such as WonderRoot (www.wonderroot.org), Georgia’s WIN List, Fulton County Career & Technical Education and WINGS for Kids and committees such as the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Mobility Leadership Council, ChooseATL (www.chooseatl.com), Amplify 4 Good, and Lovett School’s Sustainability Committee. 

Kashi is a native Atlantan. She graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in Psychology and minors in Communication and Music. She attended Georgia Tech for graduate school in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. She is a member of the 2013 LEAD Atlanta and LaunchPad2X classes and volunteers her time mentoring and with CARE, Acumen, and other organizations in her community.

Ursula Lentine is a certified Associate Pranic Healer, Pranic Healing teacher, licensed Minister with Centers for Spiritual Living, and Practitioner of Internal Family Systems.

She has facilitated over 1500 individual healing sessions and worked with 1000’s of people in groups, helping bring emotional, physical and spiritual balance to their lives. Ms. Lentine practices these and other forms of healing in her private practice as well as at The Living Foods Institute in Atlanta, and in Dr. Robert Springer’s medical office. She has facilitated a weekly group meditation since before 2009. Ursula answers the call to assist clients with the human longing for peace, clarity and wellness as a part of her life’s purpose.

You can learn more about how she can serve you at www.ursulalentine.com

Starting at age 8 with Leo’s Lemonade Stand, Jon became addicted to creating and building. While earning his BSBA in Entrepreneurship at Elon University, he and two partners were inspired to create DC Entrepreneurship Week to bring interested capital and resources in front of entrepreneurs. Past Entrepreneurship Weeks have successfully funded half of the presenting companies and Jon has reproduced the event model for over thousands of attendees across 8 cities, under the new brand Forward City.

His passion for connecting people and creating experiences lead him to create The TanZ Group in late 2013 with Sam Krichevsky and Aron Schoenfeld. As CBDO, Jon focuses on exploring new opportunities and partners to help create unique experiences and content to connect artists with their audiences.

Jon currently serves on the board for Elon University’s Doherty Center for Entrepreneurship, Dream Artist Music, and interim director for the Charity Lacrosse Foundation. As a philanthropist, he helps raise money and support for local charities in North Carolina and villages in Guatemala, Jamaica and Costa Rica. From Boston, Jon recently moved to Washington D.C. and enjoys playing guitar, practicing yoga, and feeding his addiction to gummy bears.

Joel Goobich is a big-picture guy with sharp insight into how the individual parts of a business work together to make a strong company. He’s tireless in pursuit of solutions to boost the growth and success of businesses small and large, helping them adapt to the changing business environment and, ultimately, putting them on track to a profitable transition and exit. From Service to Success Joel’s drive to solve problems and create positive change is evident from his background beginning with service in the Israeli army and his advanced degree in Applied Chemistry. His technical background and product development and innovation skills have resulted in multiple patents and trademarks. With this start, Joel has gone on to success in every type of business function from executive management, business development, operations and product development. A Born Entrepreneur He founded Colorations, Inc. in 1991 and built the company to a leading international brand of children’s art products. Using the first-hand knowledge gained from a rewarding and well planned sale of the company, he continued his entrepreneurial path. He now focuses his considerable business experience and knowledge on working with business owners to strengthen their businesses through his consulting and marketing firms, Big Picture Advisors and i3 Marketing. A Passion for Mentoring & Podcasting Over the course of his wide ranging career, Joel has devoted a considerable amount of his time to mentoring young adults and entrepreneurs, including his recent activities as a mentor at the Citadel College School of Business. Having dipped his feet in the world of radio and podcasting with his first podcast – Don’t Get Stuck in Your Business, Joel has recently dived head first into the unlimited potential that podcasting offers to impart knowledge to others. His most recent podcast BizBuzzCharleston provides behind the scene stories and context to what’s going on in the local business community of Charleston SC. His newest podcast project, Build Business Muscle explore the skills, assets and resources that business owners, executives and professionals need to grow a strong business core. A Fresh Perspective Armed with the knowledge that quality content marketing is a powerful tool, Joel has partnered with The Better You Network to create the BizBuzz Radio network which will host and curate leading business podcasts from around the country. Joel can be contacted through LinkedIn or via email at joel@bigpictureadvisors.com

After 25 years of Corporate America, Denise Cardin is now following her dream of owning her own business. It started in 2008 with a metro-Atlanta hiking group called Mongrels Mania. Denise knew shortly after creating the group that she was surrounded by some pretty awesome folks who wanted to be active with their dogs, with others, and have fun...to socialize their dogs in a positive way. So, upon losing her corporate job, she jumped at the opportunity to follow a dream. Inspired by and through the love of dogs, on 1/11/14, Bark Parc was launched with an entirely new concept in mind -- to address pet ownership as a whole. To uphold the ideals of that little neighborhood shop...to offer both friendly and caring service and the most wholesome quality foods and treats from the U.S. & Canada; to offer unique and different products made, whenever possible, by local cottage industries. And finally, to offer an outlet for the interactive dog lover...by incorporating her hiking group into the business plan and it's been further expanded to even urban and historic town walks. Bark Parc is approaching 600 members.

Kelly Azevedo is the founder of She’s Got Systems and an online business systems expert. Beginning in the corporate world, Kelly used her innate ability to create and utilize systems to streamline accounting, marketing, human resources and administrative departments before she sought out a more challenging environment. Kelly believes that every single online business needs systems to support clients, document results and dominate in the field. She’s Got Systems provides courses and programs in the easy to access and affordable System Academy as well as private coaching programs for clients worldwide. Kelly frequently writes for media outlets such as Forbes, the Washington Post and Women 2.0 and her unique brand of life work balance was featured in the New York Times.

Ashley Watkins, owner of Write Step Resumes, LLC, helps job seekers who are eager to make a career change build resumes that fascinate employers and increase their marketability to bring in more job offers than they could ever imagine. Write Step Resumes, LLC also offers interview prep to help clients tell an alluring story about their skills that grabs the employer’s attention and enhances the confidence needed to secure the careers they deserve. For the 10 years prior to starting her company, Ashley has been a team member in human resources departments in various industries including education, banking, manufacturing and non-profit healthcare. Ashley's career took a surprising turn when she moved to Birmingham, AL in 2007 for a recruiting job with a national healthcare non-profit organization after being laid off. It was at that moment she realized her true passion was helping others to boost their job search impact in order to better their lives and land their dream jobs. Ashley understands that job seekers are often denied opportunities for the careers they desire, not because of their credentials but due to poorly written career documents and lackluster interviewing skills. She prides herself on taking job seekers from the point of receiving no interview call backs at all to getting so many job interviews and offers they have to pray about which one to accept. Forget about that cookie-cutter, one-size fits all madness! She connects one on one with her clients to provide specialized services to fit each of their unique career needs.

Julie Lowe is a Social Media Strategist and the Founder of Socially Aligned. Julie creates social media strategies for busy entrepreneurs who desire more leads, more sales, and a real plan to grow their business! In addition to strategy development, Julie offers group coaching programs and digital training products for entrepreneurs. With 14 years of experience in advertising and marketing, Julie leverages a wealth of hands-on experience and proven results to help her clients succeed online. You can find Julie at SociallyAligned.com and on Facebook at Facebook.com/SociallyAligned