Member Spotlight: Andre Gist
Andre Gist is owner of BG Innovations Safety Systems and MIG Steel Fabrications. He also won our Best in the West competition in 2015 for The Lighting Bug. Learn more about his businesses and how theCO has been a resource to him in the interview below
Our Jackson Home: Never Unraveled
At theCO, we're all about supporting local businesses and watching entrepreneurs go far. Check out this Our Jackson Home story by Asanta Brooks on local business Wilbourn's Sewing & Alterations and how a family of sisters has carried on their mother's legacy.
CO.STARTERS Grad Spotlight: Dion Thornton
CO.STARTERS continues to help business owners just like Dion Thornton who want to be inspired to ignite their businesses. Check out this interview asking about how the program changed her life, and make sure to attend our Business Strategy Night on Tuesday, March 21, at 5:30pm to learn more about our next class starting in April.
School Makerspaces Matter
Liberty Tech students were peacefully assembled together, awaiting their latest creation around a laser engraver in the school’s makerspace. Written on a sheet of paper next to the laser were the dimensions for a pegboard with a purpose.
“We're working on pegboards for therapists to help kids with disabilities ,” Liberty manufacturing science student Austin Vande Zande explained, “[to] strengthen their hands and have them be more hands-on. ”
These teens were using their resources for good.
Made at theCO: Multi-Layered Wooden Sign
There is something so mesmerizing about a computer-motorized machine like the CNC router we have in theCO’s makerspace, and we’ve been getting a lot of fun use out of it lately. It might be the super smooth curves or the sheer precision of the cuts, but one thing is for sure: it allows you to make some cool custom signs! This week’s Made at theCO article is all about multi-layered wooden signs.
Our Jackson Home: Proudly Made In America
Next week at our second MakeShift lunch session, we are proud to welcome Preston Powell of Yukon Outfitters to share about the why taking risks is essential for success—something he knows personally since uprooting his life and business from Hong Kong to Jackson, Tennessee. Read this family's crazy story for yourself on the Our Jackson Home blog, told by his wife Lexi Powell of Alexandra Lauren Design.
MakeShift 2017
We can't wait to kick off MakeShift with a bang next week with Brad Montague's session on intention and imagination—and so many other great ones to come! Read below for a little insight into each of our speakers and their presentations, and if you can't decide which one to attend, click here to register for the full series at a discount.
Our Jackson Home: The Escape Artist
Through his continually growing business Jackson Escape Rooms, CO:member and CO.STARTERS graduate Lee Wilson has made us proud in a handful of ways—not to mention through his most recent endeavor, starring on CBS's new reality TV show, Hunted. Check out this Our Jackson Home story by Josh Garcia giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the show and how entwined it is with JER, and don't miss the premiere this Saturday.