Interim Chamber CEO Carla Hawkins holds meet and great at Little Brother’s Bistro

Published 9:47 am Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Interim CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Carla Hawkins held a meet and great at Little Brother’s Bistro October 17. She told how she was excited to represent the communities of Sumter County. “It’s a privilege to step into this role, and I want to talk about how our mission remains clear, to foster a thriving business community, an environment that benefits everyone in Sumter County.”

She told how the Chamber is the face and voice of the local businesses, but that in addition she wanted to be mindful of the community as a whole. “I want to hear from everyone what’s working, what’s not working, what has worked with the Chamber, what has not worked with the Chamber, so we can improve. I’m all about growth, even for myself, personally and professionally.”

She gave updates. “We have our social media sites thriving now, and we’re posting almost daily, but absolutely weekly.”

Hawkins expressed a desire to keep the community informed. “Any announcements, any celebrations, anything you all have going on, we’re going to make sure that it’s posted on our social media site.”

She gave five goals. “Economic development. We want to attract new businesses to Sumter County, and so far that’s already happened. We just had a successful ribbon cutting event with Septic Solutions.” She stated another goal was to support existing businesses. “I met Miss Yorka from The Spot downtown. She’s an amazing woman, and she’s getting ready to celebrate next Tuesday evening her one-year anniversary, and I’m going to make sure that communication goes out again on tomorrow with all the details.”

She also gave workplace development as a goal. “My former job was a regional coordinator for the Department of Education. I was the state regional coordinator, and I took care of South West Georgia, making sure young people in high schools had received employability skills training, and I helped connect them with job opportunities and made sure they had the skills that they needed to be successful.” She gave a third goal as networking and communication, stating a love of connecting people. She also gave advocacy and support as another goal. “I’m going to advocate for you.” She told how she planned to be involved. “I’m going to be actively engaging with local government and stakeholders to ensure policies support the businesses and address the needs of our communities.”

She gave the fifth goal. “Last but not least, I believe in community engagement. I believe in the importance of giving back so our Chamber will champion initiatives that support local nonprofits and community programs.” Hawkins also stated she welcomed meetings, having an open-door policy at her office off Rees Park.

Four board members were present, Cynthia Carter with South Georgia Tech, Kimberly Horne with Horne Pecan, Bren Dubay from Koinonia, and Jackie Holmes from Jackie’s Tooty Tots.