864.250.9713 (o)   •   843.364.0218 (c)   •   Jacqui@JBMShows.com

“I’ve had an amazing career. It all started in the mid 80’s selling radio ads for an AM country station in Worcester, MA and then for a brief stint in Boston radio, several years in marketing for a city newspaper and then as marketing director for convention centers. In 1995, I was recruited by a company in Charlotte to start an events department and run events nationally and internationally. I found this position to be a great challenge, it took me all over the world where I negotiated with hotels, arenas and convention centers, booked countless celebrity guests, and created events from 10,000-40,000 people. There was one weekend that I flew back and forth between Boston and Toronto because we were running simultaneous events in those two cities. What a time that was. After keeping up this pace for six years, my family was going through some hard personal times and I was burned out. My flame was no longer bright and I knew I had no choice but to STOP. I resigned without a plan of a new job, and I didn’t care. I did have some kind of plan, and that was to board a plane to New Zealand where I spent three weeks decompressing and doing things I would never have dreamt I would do, like bungee jumping 440 feet off a cliff. It was my own personal leap of faith. I left New Zealand after three weeks of meeting amazing people, climbing mountains, learning to kayak in the Tasman Sea, and basically trying to discover who I was and who I wanted to be. My next stop was Australia where more adventures awaited, like hanging with kangaroos, walking on top of the Sydney Bridge and seeing the astounding beauty of Ayers Rock.

I came home to Charlotte and quickly found myself staying with my Mother in Charleston. Remember those personal problems I mentioned, well I was not comfortable being anywhere else. Within a month of staying with Mom, I ended up going on a medical mission trip to the Amazon in Peru with a great group and did more searching. I came back and realized the money was dwindling and my energy was back. The Post and Courier hired me as a consultant on consumer show production. I officially started JBM & Associates from my Mother’s fourth floor home in downtown Charleston in July of 2001. My company was two months old when 9/11 happened. On the same day, I signed my contract to produce the Charleston Boat Show for a marine association, thus beginning my 16 year-run as a boat show producer and now owner of three of my own boat shows.

Looking back over the 30 years, I can still see myself sitting at my desk at the small radio station, unsure of what to do, who to call, where to go. I think about all the amazing people I have met along the journey of my many chapters. I had good women mentors as well as not so good. I have life-long friendships from various stages of my career, all over the country. I have had bosses I have loved and some I never want to think about again. Through it all, I find that the best satisfaction has been when I see someone who has worked for me, or who has asked for help from me do amazing things and grow. I still have the letter from an employee back in 1998. She sent it to me after she left the company for bigger and better things. The words she wrote of what I meant to her have stayed with me so many years later. I do not need to have praise or to be pat on the back, but to know I have had some small positive impact on others, maybe I encouraged someone to take a change or take a risk, and they did. This matters to me.

Coffee Talk is a movement, inspired by my life’s journey and it is a way to pay it forward and give back. It is my desire to help women help others through their lifetimes. STOP and take time for yourself. Take time to answer this. “I AM__”

Hopefully you won’t have to jump off a cliff to get your answer, but do it. Take your own leap of faith. Join the Coffee Talk movement. Let’s have some bold conversations.

It is amazing what we can do together, one Coffee Talk event at a time!

864.250.9713 (o)   •   Chelsea@JBMShows.com

In 2011 I attended Greenville Technical Collage working toward my degree of become an ultrasound technician. As the year went on I questioned my career path and decided to take a semester off from school.  This would allow me the time needed to regroup and figure out exactly what it was I wanted to do.  I have always had a passion for event planning; however had no knowledge of what steps I needed to take to make it happen. My mother wanted to help me find a lead and little did I know she pulled out the phonebook and called the first Event Company she found, JBM & Associates.

My mother spoke with Debbie Taylor, Director of Operations at JBM about how she got started in events and asked for tips or advice for someone starting out in the field. JBM was actually looking for an intern; my mother requested her contact information and passed it along to me. After I was over the initial l shock of my mother taking matters into her own hands, I became thrilled about the possibility of this opportunity. I interviewed with Debbie the next week and the following week with Jacqui. Luckily, I was given the wonderful opportunity of the internship.

The following semester I went back to school for Business management. I continued to work with JBM & Associates as I worked toward my degree.  For the next few years I helped with logistical aspects of the Women’s shows, The Charleston Boat show and The Savanah Boat show. I also directed the first year of Coffee Talk and Greenville Business Expo. The experience I received from working these shows is something I’ll always be grateful for.

Being a woman in today’s society I have experienced first handedly the necessity of women uplifting and empowering each other as they are the voices for their future. Jacqui and Debbie both mentored me along the way. They helped me gain the knowledge, leadership and development skills needed to be successful in the workplace.  Coffee Talk is the perfect outlet for me to purse my passion for event planning and be a part of a powerful movement. If it were not for the women in my life who believed in me and saw my potential even when I didn’t see it in myself, I would not be where I am today. 

864.250.9713 (o)   •  864-901-4752 (c)  • designbjts@bellsouth.net

Originally from Clinton, South Carolina, I moved to the Greenville area in 1976. Studied at UNC Charlotte, New York School of Design, married in 1968, divorced in 1979. I have one son and I knew I had to find a great job to be able to take care of us both and I set out to do just that. I went to work for a Major Computer Company, #2 in the world at that time. I managed Inventory Control and Negotiated major Contracts with suppliers.  This was not my DREAM job, but I had the security and the benefits for my son and myself.  I also changed and was offered another Corporate position, after 9 years with the computer company. It was a switch in that I was now in Corporate Sales for a Major Office Supply Chain and I was in charge of landing major contracts for them. This again was not my DREAM job. In 1994 I remarried and decided to go back to my first love, which was Resident Interior Design. I loved helping people change their homes in to the HOME OF THEIR DREAMS. I worked on existing homes, New Construction, Designer Show Homes, Symphony Show Homes and other projects in design. I found that I really enjoyed helping others and over the years I have been involved in many women’s and children’s issues, working with various Local and State Groups.

I served on the Foster Care Review Board for 13D and saw just how great the need was to help women and children be able to see that they could elevate their lives and have better for themselves and their children and that they do have a voice.

I attended the First Coffee Talk and was so super impressed with this program and what its goal was in Elevating Women and getting to the Heart of what they needed and desired for their lives.  This just plugged in to my PASSION FOR THE CAUSE.  I continued to talk with Jacqui over time and wanted to see COFFEE TALK return and be the impactful program I knew it could be not only for the Greenville, SC community, but a vision to see it all across South Carolina and beyond.  “FIND YOUR PASSION AND YOU WILL ACHIEVE YOUR DREAMS”