Scale Up in the Spotlight | Meet Yazan Alhakim, Owner of FASTSIGNS® of Charlotte, NC - Independence Blvd
I am Yazan Alhakim, owner of FASTSIGNS on Independence, an individually owned and operated signage company that helps businesses tell their stories visually.
At FASTSIGNS, we believe in helping you make your statement. From signs and graphics to printing and promotional products, we offer innovative solutions to help our clients stand out. Whether it's a one-man operation or a multinational corporation, we work with all sizes of businesses.
Our services help businesses:
- Create an inspiring work environment
- Uniquely engage customers
- Ensure safety and compliance
- Promote new ideas and services
- Stand out from competitors with superior branding
- Navigate facilities with ease
Our team is comprised of experienced professionals with a deep understanding of the impact of signs and graphics on your business. We take the time to understand your priorities and work with you to bring your project to life, on time and within budget.
As a community-driven business, I am committed to giving back. I serve on the leadership board of the National Small Business Association (NSBA), the UNC Charlotte Belk College of Business Alumni board, and the board of the Muslim Education Center (MEC), a non-profit offering a food program and free health clinic.
FASTSIGNS is also a proud member of various trade groups such as the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association (GCAA), Charlotte Hospitality Tourism Alliance (HTA), Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority (CRVA), Latin American Chamber of Commerce Charlotte (LACCC), Charlotte Regional Business Alliance® and EOA Charlotte.
I started FASTSIGNS with the vision of helping entrepreneurs position their businesses for success through superior branding and graphics. If you're looking to enhance your business image, visit our website (www.fastsigns.com/67) or email us at (67@fastsigns.com) to learn more.
CLT Alliance Foundation’s New Head of Small Business Talks Top Goals
A Charlotte nonprofit recently tapped a leader for its newly created role focused on bolstering small businesses.
The CLT Alliance Foundation, an arm of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance®, brought on Tya Bolton in April as its new director of small business and entrepreneurship. She is responsible for guiding small businesses to the right resources to support their companies, increasing supplier diversity opportunities and bolstering Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities in the Charlotte area.
Bolton will also serve as a primary referral source for other technical assistance providers and community development financial institutions across the city, the CLT Alliance Foundation said.
Bolton has a deep commitment to Charlotte's entrepreneurial landscape, with an abundance of experience in community engagement, social and racial equity, economic development, coaching entrepreneurs and other work. The nonprofit noted that she led community outreach and engagement within the six Corridors of Opportunity for the Beyond Open grant, administered by Foundation For The Carolinas.
Bolton has also served as an interim contract director for ASPIRE Community Capital to help launch and scale the organization. In addition, she was director of the Global Wealth Exchange and played a key role in helping to improve Mecklenburg County Office of Economic Development's goals on minority, women and small business enterprise, the foundation said.
Through CLT Alliance Foundation, Bolton can continue performing similar work but under a more permanent platform, she recently told CBJ.
"What's beautiful about this is that I have now one platform that I can come in and build some amazing products and programs to help build businesses and business leaders, which are the priorities of the foundation," she said.
Bolton said one of her top priorities is to help business owners gain better access to capital. The foundation will be launching a C3 program later this summer to help entrepreneurs navigate the complex and fragmented entrepreneurial landscape.
Read more about Bolton and the experience she brings to the CLT Alliance Foundation team, here.
Tya Bolton Joins CLT Alliance Foundation as Director of Small Business and Entrepreneurship
Tya Bolton joined the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance® in April 2023 as the director of small business and entrepreneurship for the CLT Alliance Foundation. In this role, Bolton helps small businesses navigate the business support ecosystem, creates intentional connections among employers and entrepreneurs for supplier diversity opportunities, and heavily serves the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) communities, targeting underresourced neighborhoods and corridors of opportunity. She is a one-stop referral source to other technical assistance providers and community development financial institutions throughout the region.
As an advocate, cultivating community partnerships and helping small businesses reach higher levels is her jam! She is dedicated to helping the businesses in this region develop wealth, legacy, and healthy business mindsets. Bolton’s Top 5 StrengthsFinder traits are: strategic, achiever, connectedness, relator, and learner. With more than two decades of international management consulting experience that cross pollinates community engagement, social and racial equity, economic development, project management, business management, event production, training and coaching entrepreneurs, and nonprofit management, she is well equipped to guide others to success.
“Tya is the right leader at the right time in the CLT Alliance Foundation’s history,” CLT Alliance Foundation President Nate Hogan said. “As we create opportunities for access to capital, connections, and customers for our small businesses, Tya brings a wealth of relationships, expertise, trust and credibility that are critical to our ability to grow businesses in the Charlotte Region! I couldn't be more pleased with the team we have built over the last few months and Tya is an important part of the CLT Alliance Foundation’s strategic direction.”
Deeply rooted in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Charlotte, you may have seen Bolton around town in one of the many projects she supports. Bolton led the community outreach and engagement within the Six Corridors of Opportunity for the Beyond Open grant, administered by Foundation For The Carolinas. She served as an interim contract director for ASPIRE Community Capital to help launch, scale, and grow the organization. She also served as director of the Global Wealth Exchange, and helped improve Mecklenburg County’s Office of Economic Development MWSBE goals. Through her work with Project 70Forward, Bolton was a consultant to help lead several census caravans and activations, as well as 18 voter safety events during the 2020 elections.
Bolton is a graduate of Amp Up! Charlotte and the American Leadership Forum. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Washington Post Magazine, Propel Charlotte, PRIDE Magazine, The Daily Journal, QCityMetro, WBTV, FabJob, and other media outlets. Bolton is a sought after speaker and strategist, and she has been recognized by Meta, Google, LinkedIn, and Airbnb.
A native of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area, Bolton loves traveling around the world, being immersed in other cultures. She loves to dance, and fun fact: she’s a certified beekeeper.
CLT Alliance Foundation Board Chair Champions Upward Mobility During UNC Charlotte Fundraising Campaign
This week, UNC Charlotte held its 8th annual 49-hour digital fundraising event. Niner Nation Gives is the one time of the year that the university galvanizes the entire community - students, faculty and staff, alumni, and friends of the university from around the world - to support undergraduate and graduate student success needs like scholarships, the Jamil Niner Food Pantry, athletics, or specific academic programs.
In addition to ranking 2nd in the state for graduating Black students with bachelor’s degrees and 1st in the state for bachelor’s degrees awarded to Latino students, UNC Charlotte is recognized as a national leader in upward mobility. However, without the support provided during Niner Nation Gives, many of the innovative approaches to student success that produce these outcomes would not be possible. Nearly 75% of UNC Charlotte students receive some form of financial aid. And of these, just over half receive federal Pell Grants, meaning their expected family financial contribution towards college is $0. For these students, scholarships provide life-changing access and experiences that will impact the course of their personal and professional lives.
CLT Alliance Foundation Board Chair and 704 Shop Co-owner, Christopher Moxley can attest to this first hand.
“Without outside resources to help pay for college, there’s a good chance I would not have been able to attend,” Moxley said.
A Charlotte native, Moxley is a product of public, subsidized housing, growing up in the Inlivian (formerly the Charlotte Housing Authority) community Dillehay Courts in North Charlotte. Determined to beat the odds, Moxley never allowed the would-be trappings of his environment to limit his reach and ambition. With the help of financial aid and much needed scholarships, Moxley was the first in his family to attend a four-year university. He would go on to become a Division 1 track athlete, study abroad in Costa Rica, major in international business, and ultimately become a 2003 cum laude graduate of the Belk College of Business, where he was a member of the Business Honors Program and belonged to several academic honor societies. His education allowed him to chart a successful corporate career with several Fortune-ranked firms and now run his own award-winning business full time.
“I am extremely passionate about giving back to and uplifting our community, a community that has given so much to me,” Moxley said.
In 2018, Moxley founded the Jaylen C. Moxley Scholarship for Academic Excellence to provide a stepping stone for economically disadvantaged incoming UNC Charlotte freshmen. The scholarship is named after Moxley’s son, Jaylen, and is awarded to students with a demonstrated financial need as determined by UNC Charlotte’s Office of Financial Aid, with preference given to students from public housing communities and first-generation students with a history of volunteerism.
While the official window has closed, you can still help Moxley in his efforts to make a difference in the lives of deserving students by clicking here.
Scale Up CLT in the Spotlight | Katelyn Strumolo, Founder The Molo Group
Hi! I'm Katelyn Strumolo, Scale Up CLT member. It's been a privilege to be involved with this fantastic group of entrepreneurs as we all carve out our unique business paths in the Charlotte area.
As founder and owner of The Molo Group, I'm committed to changing how executives see sales and marketing integration. My passion for UI/UX website design, purpose-driven messaging, and impactful branding inspired me to form my own digital marketing company in 2016. The Molo Group has grown and evolved accordingly as the Charlotte region has blossomed into a true manufacturing hub.
Today our focus is activating sales for B2B clients in manufacturing and distribution through fractional marketing and web design. We fill in the vital missing marketing pieces that B2Bs often miss and help them achieve success with solution-forward messaging, consistent web presence, and meaningful brand strategy.
A strong brand strategy should help your company achieve specific goals over the long term. It's essential to understand where you came from, what drives you now, the value of the solutions you offer, and how to bring these things together into a unified story that resonates and drives engagement with your target audience.
A recent study from LucidPress found that companies with consistent branding can see revenue increases of up to 33%. Consistency generates three essential things your B2B customers will remember — familiarity, credibility, and trustworthiness. That translates to customer loyalty.
If marketing feels like you are throwing a dart with the off chance that something will hit, you're not alone. It can be complicated and time-consuming, but The Molo Group can help. We are the local fractional marketing agency that takes the time to understand your industry-specific needs.
In web design and marketing, clarity is crucial. Let us focus on the details that make the difference in growing your business. Whether you need expertise in brand identity, copywriting, SEO, web development, ad management, HubSpot CRM integration, or more, we will work with you to build a winning plan that keeps your Charlotte area business booming.
Meet Nate Hogan, President of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance Foundation
Nate Hogan joined the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance® in March 2023 as president of the CLT Alliance Foundation. As president, Hogan will lead the Foundation’s work to support entrepreneurs and employers with the goal of growing businesses and growing business leaders. For this work to be successful, Nate will leverage the talented team at the Foundation, working collaboratively with a broad range of community stakeholders (entrepreneurs and employers) and ensuring voices of those constituents most impacted by the work are at the table.
Professionally, Nate has 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, intrapreneur and senior executive with proven success in defining strategic vision, providing transformational leadership, advocating for equity in urban public education, leading high-performing public and nonprofit boards and driving business growth in hyper-competitive markets.
Civically, Nate leads with authenticity and creates a shared, inclusive, organization-wide intent to establish an environment where stakeholders actively contribute, and the organization succeeds. As the president/board chair of the Kansas City Public School board, Nate leverages his personal life story as a mobile student of the district who grew up experiencing a lot of the same challenges as KCPS students to advocate for students and their families. Nate serves on the boards of the Missouri School Board Association and Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey and as a community advisor for KSHB-TV 41. Nate also founded the Hogan Family Scholarship Fund, providing scholarships for students traditionally left behind.
Personally, Nate is married to his best friend, Felecia Hogan and has two surviving sons, TJ (29) and Jaiden (23). On October 24, 2014, Nate’s oldest son Monty was killed in a senseless act of violence. Monty’s death was a defining moment in Nate’s life that continues to play an important role in how he engages with community and uses his voice on social justice issues.
Scale Up in the Spotlight | Kim Brattain
It’s counter-intuitive. When you narrow your focus through a camera lens, your universe actually expands. Narrowing down one’s field of vision can provide clarity and focus. And if you use that hyper-focus correctly, you can steer emotion, create a breathtaking visual story, sell a thought, promote a service, even make somebody want to buy a widget.
That thrill of looking through a lens is the value-add at Kim Brattain Media, our full-service video production house. We create everything from corporate commercials, training, and branding films, to nonprofit fundraising films, to documentaries. We approach each project with a fresh eye and perspective, looking through that lens for a unique edge that allows our clients to standout and shine.
Our core values: Integrity, Satisfaction, Creativity and Respect guide our interactions with our clients and with each other. As the CEO of this company, I believe those values enable our team to lift each other up, always expect the very best from each other, and continually strive for new and better ways to make our work superlative.
Our clients range from large international corporations like Continental Tire to mid-size businesses like Greer-Walker to nonprofits like The Relatives and Teen Health Connection.
A lot of times, the difference between a really great video and a so-so one is not apparent on the surface. People are fantastically perceptive when they see quality. But they can’t tell you why a video is better. My secret: It’s recognizing the visual story as a separate entity. When those visuals, that look through the lens, meshes seamlessly with the spoken or music track, you have well, what we like to boast as a ‘work of art.’
Our team of directors, videographers, editors and producers is getting national recognition. Just this year, we won two Gold Telly awards for Public Relations and Charitable Films, four Muse awards and six other national Tellys, for work as diverse as Documentary to Corporate Branding to Social Impact.
Personally, I am thrilled to be part of the Scale Up program at the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance®. We’ve produced videos for the organization for years, and I know firsthand the impact this group of hard working, insightful people have on our region. Look at the growth! Being an entrepreneur is the most challenging thing I’ve done in my life. There’s no blueprint. The CLT Alliance emphasis on business plans and budgets and marketing is absolute heaven. Plus, we’re thinking we’ll run into a few folks that need great video!