The second annual Engage Small Engagement Week has come to a close. The team at 26Made loved seeing so many join in the week long celebration of everything that is small business!
In case you missed it, we selected five areas of businesses – Food, what we call “Main Street”, Service, Creative and Non-Profits – and learned how to engage with them most efficiently and effectively this year. They all may have their differences, there are still many similarities between them – and on how to best support them.
This year’s Engagement Week highlighted some incredible, thriving, Cleveland-based small businesses. We invite you to get to know them better and what it means to #EngageSmall with them:
Go Buddha Meals
Engagement Week Interview Here
On our first day of Engagement Week, we met Joshua Ingraham, owner of Go Buddha Meals. Their mission is to create the most affordable and accessible functional plant based food program in the world, inspiring healthy families and supporting stronger communities.
Josh is excited for future collaborations with local businesses, and watched the demand for their first 24-hour food ATM grow in the past year. They are about to launch more ATMs in the Cleveland area and are finding other ways to expand this year.
Amalu Bakery and Confections AKA Busy Bee
Engagement Week Interview Here
Day Two featured an interview with Angela Luca, owner of Amalu Bakery and Confections, also known as Busy Bee. She is known for her comfort baked goods including breakfast breads, cookies and cakes.
She is in the process of a rebrand to her new business name, so making sure her clients can still find her small business online is top of mind for Angela these days. She found great success during the pandemic via Facebook Lives and, most recently, via a feature on New Day Cleveland.
SimplyStunning Media
Engagement Week Interview Here
Our discussion on Day 3 of Engagement Week featured Lisala Peery, owner of SimplyStunning Media. She sets up and manages social media accounts, primarily focusing on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
Lisala spends part of her week keeping up with updates to those social media platforms while working on clients’ social media needs. She’s also a virtual assistant, offering a whole series of services to people that may not have time to do, especially in the time of COVID.
Media Design Imaging
Engagement Week Interview Here
Johnny Wu, owner of Media Design Imaging (MDI), was featured on Day 4 of Engagement Week. MDI offers everything from video production and editing, commercial and independent filming services, event production and more.
Johnny enjoys sharing his knowledge with others, whether that be info specifically for filmmakers or more generalized information for those in business. He also recently became a COVID Compliant Officer – a person who is responsible to ensure that events, operations and productions are compliant with the current safety guidelines through the CDC and the geographical area.
The Flight To Remember Foundation
Engagement Week Interview Here
Last but not least, Day 5 of Engagement Week brought us Tom Davis of the non-profit, Flight To Remember. Through the lens of their drones, Flight To Remember transports hospice patients to places they may never see again.
Tom shared some great advice from the lessons he learned from starting the non-profit, including to seek out individuals that are experts in the topics you need help with and learn from them. If running a non-profit wasn’t enough – plus a full-time job and family life to keep up with – Tom’s finishing up a PhD in Psychology within the year. Incredible!
Thanks again to our featured Engagement Week small businesses for their time and talents in helping us spread the word about Engage Small’s initiative.
Looking back on Engagement Week has us wanting to keep the small business love going all year long! Remember: when interacting with your favorite small businesses on social media, use the hashtag #EngageSmall in your posts. We want to help you celebrate the small business community each and every day!
Alicia Hansen is a Cleveland born, raised and educated marketing professional, writer and event producer. Her event credits include work with Cleveland Magazine, the Arthritis Foundation, Playhouse Square, Great Lakes Theater, the Cleveland Metroparks and more. Previously as L’Nique Specialty Linen’s marketing director, she played an integral role elevating the brand awareness of the organization with recognitions like L’Nique’s Top Workplaces awards from The Plain Dealer in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. She teaches yoga at GrooveRyde, Platform Beer Co. and at pop-ups around Northeast Ohio. You can find her spreading a realistic yet hopeful look on life on her social feeds (@aliciamhansen) and her blog, aliciamhansen.com.
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