Santa Cruz Small Businesses Unite

Santa Cruz has a great community for small businesses. This was once again apparent at today’s Small Business Summit organized by Event Santa Cruz alongside the Small Business Development Association. It was an energetic morning full of inspiring talks and the buzz of entrepreneurship.

Musical Moment

The event kicked off with a moving and memorable performance by a talented local artist. He followed up his rap with an impressive impromptu freestyle riffing off of objects the front row held up for him.

A Thoughtful Penny

The first talk was an interview with Zachary E. Davis of Penny Ice Creamery. Matthew Swinnerton of Event Santa Cruz led him through a story of the brand with a highlight moment when Joe Biden called the young business 13 years ago.

Magical Media Maven Liz Birnbaum

The day was split into different talks at various locations and I chose to attend the founder of Curated Feast to hear what she had to say about social media in 2023. Liz is a thoughtful and talented marketer and it was inspiring to hear her stories.

Community Over Competition

The last talk I was able to attend was held at Childish, a fun toy store on Pacific. The owner of Childish and Home Work (a boutique located in Midtown) discussed how they have embraced the practice of building community. It can be difficult to overcome the fear of competition, but the benefits of community outweigh the effort required to build it.

I was very happy to attend the morning session of today’s summit, and I hope that people got a lot out of the event.