Andy Robertson – District 3

Can you tell me about yourself and your business?

My name is Andy Robertson, representing Ionic Sciences in District 3, for the Salt Lake Business Advisory Board. I wanted to join the Business Advisory Board to share life sciences unique needs with the community and the city. 

Can you explain what these needs are?

We have needs for STEM, for wet labs, dry labs, engineering labs and we need folks who are regulatory experts to work with the FDA in the United States and other regulatory bodies around the world. We need go-to-market professionals in sales and marketing, clinical, and customer support. We need quality teams and manufacturing experts and global shipping and warehousing. We need a lot of folks to make life sciences work.

What is the life science community like here in Salt Lake?

I’m proud to say that the life sciences community here in Salt Lake City and Utah is one of the fastest growing nationally and the third largest nationally. Collectively, we’re known as the BioHive. The BioHive has made tremendous contributions and amazing breakthroughs with life science. From early research, to medical devices, to pharmaceuticals, and everything in between. Utah has a rich history in health care innovation including the first artificial heart, the film array for diagnostic testing, and for a number of amazing breakthroughs. I’ll bet that in your neighborhood you have a number of men and women working hard to make the world a healthier and better place.

Michelle Saucedo – District 2

Can you tell us about yourself and where you work?

My name is Michelle Saucedo. I am the marketing manager at Suazo Business Center. I am representing them here in the BAB. Suazo Business Center is a nonprofit organization. We focus in empowering and the development of small business owners in the community. 

What is your relationship with the SLC community and why did you join the BAB?

We work closely with the Hispanic and Latino and other underserved communities. This is the main reason for why we joined the BAB. It is really important for us to be here and understand what kind of changes and opportunities the city is offering for the communities and we want to make sure we can help them with language barriers or helping them understand if their are grant opportunities. And how this can help them in a positive or negative way. We have been serving the community for over 20 years. We are one location that helps anyone really that wants to understand the basis of a business. We help register their business. We teach them basics about it. I would like to say that we are a location that you can start understanding an entrepreneurial journey and what it takes to do so.

Jeff Carleton – District 3

Can you tell us about yourself?

My name is Jeff Carleton. I am the owner of Mountain West Hard Cider Company. We manufacture hard alcoholic cider.  

What is your relationship with the SLC Community?

Mountain West is a focal point for the north end of town, the capital hill marmalade district. It is one of the few places, where people can gather, have a drink, see some live entertainment. And so we get to meet a lot of interesting people including neighbors and businesses that will stop and say hello. 

Why did you want to join the BAB?

I came out of a cooperate environment. My wife and I started the cider company and I had an opportunity to interact with a lot of small businesses as part of that transition. I want to learn more and if there was a chance to offer some help or assistance, advice, I was all for it.

Darin Piccoli – District 4

Can you tell us about yourself and your experience with the BAB?

I am Darin Piccoli. I own the State Room and I have been on the BAB for several years now. As a small business owner in a growing city, you want to know what is going on and it felt like there was a great opportunity to be tapped into the changes in the city, the changes in zoning, what kind of awareness the city has for small businesses. I had some other businesses acquaintances that were on the board and suggested I joined. We opened the State Room in 2009 and I think by happenstance, it became a landmark of State Street. It’s a live music venue with 300 capacity. We opened during the last recession and during a time of sort of a desert of live music venues and live music. So it has become a go to place for a lot of people. 

Jocelyn Kearl – District 5

Can you tell us about yourself?

My name is Jocelyn Kearl and I am the co-founder and owner of Third Sun Productions and we do branding and web design. Third Sun has made its name doing a lot of work with non-profit organizations and we work with a lot of small businesses as well.

Can you give some examples of the work that you do?

For example, we work for the Utah Arts Festival for 18 years. We have a Design for Good Community Grant. We get hit up for a lot of in-kind work because of all the non-profits we work with and we’ve decided to make that a little bit more of a formal process. We have an application to find a non-profit and identify someone who we can really help and make an impact. We do that once a year because we want to give back something to our community. 

Why did you want to join the BAB?

I know that a lot of the workings that the city impact small businesses. I’ve been involved in the Local First Utah and things like that over the years. I know that there are a lot of things that not just our elected officials, but the folks who work here and beyond that impact our lives. This can be in terms of setting the tone for what’s possible within the city especially for those of us who are very small businesses as well as maintaining the quality of life in Salt Lake City. It is important to keep the small business communities healthy and thriving.