Small Business Roll Call

As a small business owner, I try to support other business owners not only by being a customer but by promoting others to do business with brick and mortars, online, and service based companies.

SBA Administrator Karen Mills, with Yuri Cunza, David Tiller, and Genma Holmes

According to the Small Businesses Administration:

•    Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.
•    Employ half of all private sector employees.
•    Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll.
•    Generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years.
•    Create more than half of the nonfarm private GDP.
•    Hire 43 percent of high tech workers ( scientists, engineers, computer programmers, and others).
•    Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises.
•    Made up 97.5 percent of all identified exporters and produced 31 percent of export value in FY 2008.
•    Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.

Saturday, November 24, 2012 is officially Small Business Sunday. For the third year, millions of Americans are being encouraged to shop small by purchasing goods and services from small business owners.

Small Business Saturday is an American shopping holiday held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. First celebrated on November 27, 2010, it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local.

In 2010 the holiday was conceived and promoted by American Express via a nationwide radio and television advertising campaign. That year Amex bought advertising inventory on Facebook, which it in turn gave to its small merchant account holders, and also gave rebates to new customers to promote the event.

 American Express publicized the initiative using social media, advertising, and public relations. At least 41 local politicians and many small business groups in the United States issued proclamations concerning the campaign, which generated more than one million Facebook "like" registrations and nearly 30,000 tweets under the Twitter hashtags #smallbusinesssaturday (which had existed since early 2010) and #smallbizsaturday.

I believe that small business owners must lead the charge by promoting and spending with each other first. To celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship, Living Your Best Life will announce the business owners that leave their company info in the comment section beginning Saturday November 24, 2012 through December 31, 2012 on air to encourage their listeners to spend with small business during the holiday season. It is my way of showing my appreciation for the small business community and helps jump start my "Year of Living and Giving".

Happy Shopping !
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Coach Joe Gilliam at Woodmont Hills on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Update: Audio of Coach Gilliam at Woodmont Hills can be found here .

Living Your Best Life will broadcast a special show featuring keynote, Coach Joe W. Gilliam, Sr., at the Family of God at WoodmontHills speaker series; Loving God, Loving Others, Serving the World from 2008. Coach Gilliam spoke about "Good Diversity-Bad Diversity" and how his faith in God was the foundation of his life.

Join us on Saturday, November 24, 2012 to hear Coach Gilliam share lessons from chapters of his life. Hear him talk about his parents leaving the life of sharecropping in North Carolina for Steubenville, Ohio in the middle of the night in 1919 in order to provide a better life for their growing family. His parents were determined to find a better economic opportunities and to provide their children with an education.

In Ohio, Coach Gilliam excelled academically and in sports which allowed him to receive scholarships offers to college. But his intelligence and athletic skills did not shelter him from the harsh realities of life during the forties. Hear him share why he did not attend Ohio State University. That decision lead him to play for Indiana University's championship team. Although he played for a winning school, his experiences were painful, mentally and spiritually. His negative experiences as a collegiate athlete made Coach determined to coach, mentor, mold, teach, and train his players with fatherly guidance and positive values throughout his lifetime.

Hear Coach discussing a variety of topics as he answered questions from the audience. He reflected on his mother's enduring love; his devoted wife's influence on his life; his love of the classroom; his coaching at Tennessee State University; his relationship with Bill Parcell; how he barred the NFL from administering the wonderlic test to Ed "Too Tall" Jones and the 20 year repercussion on Coach Gilliam's coaching career; how race relations permeates sports, then and now; his insights from studying constitutional law and why only following God can change man's heart not legislative actions; and the importance of sharing good diversity-bad diversity experiences in order to learn from them.

You will also hear Coach share thoughts on women coaching football; mentoring young black males; and personal regrets from his own family life. Listen as his compassion for others is shown by how he cared for his athletes and their families long after they have stopped playing sports, collegiate or professionally.

Coach Gilliam with Coach Merritt in 1973

                                  

Coach Gilliam with players in 1980

Coach Gilliam with Bernard King @ 2007 TN Sports Hall of Fame Induction

For the legions of Coach Gilliam's players, students, adopted family and sports enthusiasts who lives Coach touched and for those who respected and followed his life closely; this show will empower, inspire, and motivate you to live your BEST life. 

Living Your Best Life can be heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST.

More About Coach Joe W. Gilliam, Sr. 

Joe Gilliam, Sr. will be remembered as one of the most respected football coaches in the history of the game. He began his intercollegiate football career at Indiana University, where he played on the Hoosiers' national championship football team. He then went into the armed services, and upon his discharge, enrolled at West Virginia State College, where he played both basketball and football. At West Virginia State College, he received All-American honors as a quarterback and earned a place in the Yellow Jackets' Sports Hall of Fame. Coach Gilliam began his 35-year coaching career on the high school level in Kentucky, where he earned the Kentucky High School Football Association's Coach of the Year title.

He went on to coach at Jackson State College in Mississippi where he helped lead the Tigers to two consecutive Black National Championship titles. From 1963-1981, Gilliam was the assistant head football coach and defensive coordinator for Tennessee State University. During this period, Tennessee State University had nine Black National Championship teams. In 1989, he took the helm as head coach for four seasons. As head coach, Gilliam was inducted into the TSU Sports Hall of Fame and was selected as Coach of the Year in the Ohio Valley Conference in 1990. His career record of 254-93-15 included coaching five undefeated teams and five teams that lost only one game. He coached 10 national championships teams and helped facilitate 144 players into the National Football League.

For several summers, he worked with the Arizona Cardinals' coaching staff as an offensive consultant. In later years, Gilliam conducted a summer youth football camp in Nashville, Tennessee to raise funds for his Joe Gilliam Foundation. Throughout his coaching career, Gilliam earned numerous awards including the All-American Football Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and the College Football Hall of Fame Contribution Award. Coach was a frequent guest speaker and sought-after lecturer at football clinics, on radio programs, and sports banquets.  He was widely renowned for his teams' abilities to employ his innovative offensive concepts and insights. (Bio: Coaches Choice/Edits: Genma Holmes)

Coach Gilliam was the author of four books.
Coach Gilliam's scholarship fund is held at TSU.
Franz Holmes tribute to Coach Gilliam can be found here .
Franz Holmes introduced Coach Gilliam and Golf Pro, James Paschal, was the moderator.
Special thanks to Woodmont Staff and Mona Knight, audio archivist at Woodmont Hills.

Photos Credits: Tennessean; Billy Kinglsey, Joe, Rudis, and Frank Empson; and Genma Holmes

Faces of Patriotism: Women In the Military

In 2010, the Center for Women Veterans, led by the efforts of Dr. Betty Mosley Brown (USMC) took an active role to raise the visibility of women veterans. The Center for Women Veterans started a successful campaign, HERStory, to profile women veterans. The campaign spread to all branches of the military to highlight the contributions of women veterans, active, and reservists who serve in the United States Armed Forces.

With the branches of the military working to honor women of the armed forces, several independent studies were conducted around the same time that gave statically data on women in the military. One that has been quoted often was conducted by the Pew Research Center that was released in 2011. According to the Pew Research Center:

Women in this decade have made up a much greater share of the active-duty military than they have at any time in U.S. history. Among the ranks of the enlisted, 14% are now women (up from 2% in 1973), and among commissioned officers, 16% are now women, compared with 4% in 1973.

As the share of women in the military increases, so does the share of veterans who are women. The 2010 Current Population Survey estimates that there are just over 22 million veterans, almost 1.8 million of whom are women (8%); and among the estimated 2.2 million post-9/11 veterans, more than 400,000 (19%) are women.

Compared with their male counterparts, a greater share of military women are black.  More than three-in-ten (31%) military women are black (including black Hispanics). This is almost twice the share of active-duty men who are black (16%), as well as more than twice the proportion of civilian women ages 18-44 who are black (15%). In addition, more women in the active-duty force than men in the active-duty force and civilian women ages 18-44 are of mixed racial background or some other race. 

With the increased number of women serving in the military and the growing pool of women veterans, here a few women who we salute:

HERstory, Many-Bears Grinder, Commissioner of TN VA

Commissioner in Afghanistan

Pakistan in Background

In January 2011, Governor Bill Haslam selected Colonel Many-Bears Grinder to be the Commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs -- the first female in the State to serve in this capacity. She is responsible for the operation of the Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs' Field Offices, Claims Office, and four State Veterans Cemeteries. She is also an ex-officio voting member of the Tennessee State Veterans Home Board, which controls the three existing State Veterans Homes, and plans for future homes in Tennessee. Commissioner Grinder serves as the Southeast District Vice President for the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs.

In order to accept the State post, Grinder retired from the Tennessee Army National Guard as a Colonel with over 35 years of service. She is an Operation Enduring Freedom combat veteran, having served as the Head of Secretariat for the International Police Coordination Board. She traveled throughout Afghanistan, working with international diplomats and police as well as the Afghan leaders and local police officers, to ensure standardized training and equipment for the Afghan Police.

Grinder was inducted into the Fort Benning Hall of Fame in 2004. She is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army War College, and the Joint Forces Staff College. Her military awards include the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star Medal.

Grinder holds a Master's Degree in Strategic Studies from the Army War College and a Master's Degree in Human Resources Development from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Commissioner Grinder is a member of numerous military and Veterans associations, including AMVETS, Vietnam Veterans of America, Women Veterans of America, Military Officers Association, the National Guard Association of the United States and is also a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion and the Disabled American Veterans.

A native of Salt Lake City, Utah, Grinder moved to Tennessee in 1989 where she met and married Ernie Grinder.

HERstory, Colonel Jacqueline Nave

Colonel Nave's Final Flight

Colonel Jacqueline Nave was the Commander of the 118^th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron (AES) at the 118^th Airlift Wing, Tennessee Air National Guard.  Colonel Nave entered the Tennessee Air National Guard in 1986 with a direct commission as a Flight Nurse. 

She served as a Flight Nurse Instructor and Flight Nurse Examiner while assigned to the 118^th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron.  Her assignments included deployments to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates. 

In 1999, Colonel Nave transferred to the 118^th Medical Group as the Administrative Officer.  She was commissioned as a line officer in 2000 assigned as a full time technician to Joint Forces Headquarters. Colonel Nave was selected as Deputy

Commander of the 118^th Medical Group in 2002.

As one of the first three full time Deputy Commanders in the Air National Guard, Colonel Nave was instrumental in the development and implementation of the manpower study and job descriptions for this position.  Col Nave served as the Commander of the 118^th AES from March until December 2007 when she was appointed as the Command Nurse of the Air National Guard and Chief of AE Plans and Operations by the National Guard Bureau.  She maintained oversight for 89 Medical Groups and 10 Aeromedical Evacuation Squadrons during her two year tour in Washington, DC.  Col Nave coordinated patient movement during the most active hurricane season in history, safely moving more than 500 patients from Texas and Louisiana.  She was responsible for planning the Air National Guard Homeland Security medical response for the 2009 Presidential Inauguration.

Colonel Nave returned as the Commander for the 118^th AES in November, 2009 and continued until her retirement April 7, 2012.  Under her leadership, the Squadron earned and “Outstanding” on the 2012 Health Service Inspection and “Mission Ready” on the 2012 ASEV.

HERstory, Lt. Colonel Daphne Ferguson-Young, DDS

Lt. Colonel Ferguson-Young

Lt. Colonel Daphne C. Ferguson-Young, a General Dentist and Academician, is currently the Director of the General Practice Residency Program and an Associate Professor in the Department of Restorative Dentistry at Meharry Medical College where she has been a faculty member for 14 years. Lt. It was at Meharry where Lt. Colonel Ferguson-Young made her decision to join the army in her mid-forties. A recruiter came to speak to her students and she enlisted.

A few years after enlisting in the Army, Lt. Colonel Ferguson-Young was sent to the front lines of the Iraq War with the Army’s 380^th Medical Company based in Millington, Tennessee.  Lt. Colonel traded her classroom at Meharry for the Desert Sands of the Middle East from 2004-2005.

Her deployment to the Middle East encouraged her to stay in the Army while still continuing to train future dentists.  Her leadership training she received from the military  transitioned into professional career. She participates on several college committees and has served in numerous leadership positions. Lt. Colonel Ferguson-Young is also very active in the community. She served for ten years on the Governing Board of Matthew Walker Community Health Center. She was appointed by Dr. Riley, President of Meharry Medical College, as liaison to visit Hawler Medical College, School of Dentistry, Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq to assist with their curriculum committee. Lt. Colonel Ferguson-Young has also completed the prestigious ADEA Leadership Institute as a scholarship Fellow in 2011.

Here are a few of the awards Lt. Ferguson-Young has received during her military career:

National Defense Service Award-2, Global War On Terrorism Service Award, Army Service Ribbon - 2, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” Device ( Received two of these), Combat Action Badge, Global War On Terrorism Expeditionary Medal

Photo Credits: Commissioner Many-Bears Grinder, 118th Airlift Wing, Genma Holmes

Story Originally Printed in Mocha Market's Faces of Patriotism Edition 

Full Circle: A Marine's Story

Guest Post by: Lance Corporal Roger Cornelius Holmes, II

The reasons why many join the military are varied as the stars above. My reasons for enlisting shook up my family but helped usher me into manhood without me ever looking back.  I was always curious about the military. I inquired about military service often during my high school years. But I also wanted to follow in the footsteps of my dad, Roger Holmes, (88); my uncle, Eric Holmes (90); and my brother, Franz Holmes (2008 and 2010), who are graduates of Tennessee State University (TSU). They also played sports at TSU.

As a freshman in the fall of 2009, my only care was being able to try out for the football team in the spring semester. While dreaming about football, I paid no attention to my grades. I was enrolled in school full time but my heart was not in it. By the second semester, I had lost track of any sense of order. Let me not forget the girls and partying were also part of my problem. Chaos seemed to rule my life.

In a chaotic state at every turn, I eventually got tired of drifting. I had a long conversation with myself. I did not want to be 21 living at home with family with disorder as a way of life. I had squandered my first year of college on everything but getting an education. I wanted to be on my own but I knew I needed structure, discipline, and maturing. My curiosity about the military started to resurfaced again. After weeks of contemplating my future and getting counseling from family members who were in the military, I chose to join the United States Marines Corps.

 The structure, discipline and maturity I craved, I got. And then some.  I was bused to Parris Island with only my tooth brush and my driver license. I left behind my very bad freshmen year and was challenged mentally and physically that only the few, the proud could endure. After graduating from Parris Island, it did not take me long to realize that I chose the right path in life for me. I was doing something I loved and was honored to be a part of Marines. After my first year in the Marines, I began to inquire about becoming an officer. My mentor, Gunnery Sergeant Bryant, sat with me in a meeting to help me chart a military career. My life came full circle after that meeting. In order to become an officer, I needed to finish college.

Instead of the unsure immature person who enrolled in college in 2009, I came back to TSU confident with goals to become an officer, while still serving my country. I felt my life had a purpose and found my calling. I made my decision to join the military over two years ago. I believe that every step I took led me down that path. I have not looked back.  While I am following in my dad, my uncle, and brother's footsteps with an education from the family's Alma Mater, I am also charting my own course as I continue to serve my country as a member of United States Marine Corps. I am one of the few, the proud. I am a Marine. Semper Fi.

Holmes story is printed in the issue of Mocha Market Magazine. (Faces of Patriotism)

Photos: Genma Holmes and John Cross (TSU photo)