After a long hiatus, the Kissimmee/Osceola Chamber’s monthly Business After Hours are back!
For years the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber membership was trained to expect a Business After Hours each month on the second Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at a local member business. The pandemic put a halt on that monthly tradition back in early 2020, but for 2022, Business After Hours is back on the schedule.
The first Business After Hours of 2022 took place on January 19 at SouthState Bank. With the exception of last year, SouthState (formerly CenterState) Bank’s Downtown Kissimmee location has hosted the January Business After Hours for many years. The event has become known for the excellent steak and mushrooms they serve each year, great networking, and top-notch raffles. Their 2022 outing was an example of that very hospitality we have come to expect.
Black History Month kicks off at the start of February, and we begin it here at the Chamber with the inaugural meeting of the our new African American Business Coalition on February 2. The African American Business Coalition grew out of requests from individual members to bring together Osceola’s Black business community to look at their collective business needs and assess opportunities to address them, while sharing support, resources, and understanding. The first Coalition meeting will be held on February 2nd, 3:30 – 4:30 pm at the Chamber and is open to all. Chamber membership is not required to attend.
Anyone interested in the African American Business Coalition can register at the Chamber’s website to take part in this meeting and stay apprised of the group’s futures endeavors. This first meeting will allow attendees to introduce themselves and their concerns and interests, assess the proposed direction of the group, and settle details such as meeting dates and regularity and official name.
The African American Business Coalition will join the Chamber’s Warrior Coalition, launched back in November to correspond with Veterans Day. The Warrior Coalition is a group of veterans in business in and around Osceola County. Many members of the group are business owners, though many also work in other capacities in the community.
Said John Newstreet of the Coalition, “As a veteran advocate and proud member of The American Legion, I am proud of the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce’s efforts to establish the Warrior Coalition. The Chamber’s Warrior Coalition seeks to bring together veterans to support veterans and the greater Osceola community. Open to both Chamber members and non-members, the Coalition will meet regularly to identify and discuss the needs and opportunities within the local veteran community.”
The Warrior Coalition met twice before the end of 2021 and will next convene on January 19, 3:30 – 4:30 pm at the Chamber. You can register on the Chamber website if you would like to join the meeting.
The hope is that these two Coalitions will be joined in the future by other needs- demographic-specific groups. Coalitions give the Chamber the opportunity to bring together specific business interests in the County in an informal setting where individuals can pool their collective talents and insights in support of the community and each other. John Newstreet also sees opportunity for discussion at these meetings to aid the Osceola Works initiative that the Chamber recently launched to aid the talent pipeline for our employers, educational partners, and dynamic local workforce.
12The Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber’s Young Professionals Area Council celebrated their 4th class of Tomorrow’s Leaders Today on Tuesday, December 7 with a reception at Windsor at Celebration. Tomorrow’s Leaders Today recognizes professionals and entrepreneurs under the age of 40 who live and/or work in Osceola County. Every year this award goes to a diverse group of individuals across a variety of professions. This year’s group of five was honored at a cocktail reception at Windsor at Celebration‘s SkyBar, which provided a picturesque indoor/outdoor setting to acknowledge the achievements of this group.
This year’s honorees were LaVell Monger with RTW Photography, Kendyl Bass with the Osceola County School District, Henry Thacker with Balfour Beatty Construction, Kari Ewalt with the Osceola County Supervisor of Elections, and Natasha Billyer. Each award recipient was presented with an engraved statue by 2021 Chairman of the Young Professionals Board of Directors, Melissa Thacker. The COVID-19 pandemic prevented the Young Professionals from holding a reception for the 2020 Tomorrow’s Leaders Today winners, so those recipients were acknowledged as well.
A big thank you goes to Windsor for their assistance with this event and to Lizzie’s Memphis-Style BBQ for catering. View some photos of our award winners in the gallery below. Click on an image to enlarge and scroll through.
