Community Capital

On this special edition of Community Capital, Jennifer Bond sits down with Dorothy Harrison from Bank of Ann Arbor Livingston to talk about Brighton's Smokin' Rock-N-Blues Festival returning to Downtown Brighton on September 11th and 12th. The conversation covers the lineup, the barbecue contest, the rockin' kidpreneurs, and what it means to kick off the festival on the 25th anniversary of September 11th with a tribute to first res...

On this episode of Community Capital, Rob sits down with John Alban, Vice President of Michigan Clear Water. John shares how a referral from a common contact led him to leave an 18-year career in office equipment, take a leap with a 3-month-old at home, and build a bottleless water cooler company from the ground up. Ten years later, Michigan Clearwater covers the entire state and is just getting started on its next phase of growth....

On this episode of Community Capital, Rob sits down with Chris Berry, founder of Castle Wealth Group in Brighton. Chris is one of the few professionals in Livingston County who is both a certified elder law attorney and a certified financial planner, and he built his practice around a simple idea: your legal, financial, and tax planning should work together instead of against each other. The conversation covers what elder law actua...

On this special live edition of Community Capital, Chamber President and CEO Karen Storey sits down with Sandy Rachwal and Jerrad Beauchamp of Beauchamp Water Treatment Solutions at the Country Boots and Beats Festival. The conversation covers how a dad taking apart a water softener in a basement in 1976 turned into one of the most community-minded businesses in Livingston County, and what the 322 initiative means for people around...

On this episode of Community Capital, Rob sits down with Elyse Moore, founder and co-owner of McClements Farm Country Store on Main Street in Brighton. Elyse shares the winding road that brought her from freeze-drying fruit on a hobby farm to navigating a toxic business partnership, losing her storefront, and landing in a space she never could have planned for. The conversation covers what it really means to build a business around...

On this episode of Community Capital, Rob sits down with Chijioke "CJ" Nwabuike, founder of Malachi's House of Hope and iPrecari Fingerprinting. CJ shares the story of his son Malachi, born with a rare and complex cardiac condition, and how a week-long trip to Chicago during COVID turned into a year away from home. That experience became the foundation for a nonprofit that helps families navigate the financial and emotional weight ...

Welcome to a special live edition of Community Capital, recorded on location at Brighton's Country Boots and Beats Festival. Jennifer Bond sat down with four local businesses and organizations making an impact in the Brighton community: Alexis and Christian from Jet's Pizza Brighton, Logan from Texas Roadhouse, Shana from White Blossom Farm Boutique, and Matt Rose from the Michigan Music Initiative. Four conversations, one great da...

On this episode of Community Capital, Rob sits down with Coleen Roulo of Next Stop Fun Travel Advisors to talk about why booking your own vacation online might be costing you more than you think. Colleen breaks down what a travel advisor actually does, why her services are completely free, and why the time to book your bucket list trip is probably sooner than you realize.   Timestamps 00:00 From IT to Travel Advisor 02:44 Why ...

On this special edition of Community Capital, Jennifer Bond sits down with Amanda Huszti from Lake Trust Credit Union to talk about the second annual Country Boots and Beats Festival coming to downtown Brighton on June 20th. The conversation covers what brought 24,000 people to Main Street last year, why Lake Trust keeps showing up as presenting sponsor, and what to expect this summer, including live music, line dancing, local vend...

On this episode of Community Capital, Rob sits down with Desiree Martinez, founder of The Kast Agency and author of "Stop Marketing, Start Belonging." Desiree makes the case that most small businesses aren't failing at marketing because they lack tools or budget. They're failing because they're doing it without a plan and without intention. The conversation gets into why the businesses that last are the ones that invest in relation...

Welcome to episode 200 of Community Capital! We are grateful to the Brighton community for four years of support that made this milestone possible. To mark the occasion, Rob sits down with Erica Ancel, Director of Operations at Next Steps 4 Seniors, a senior living referral and placement company serving families across Michigan. Erica talks about what it really means to navigate the senior space, why no two placements are ever the ...

On this special edition of Community Capital, Jennifer Bond sits down with Lauren Coffman, Communications and Marketing Director for Brighton Ford, to talk about the 51st Annual Brighton Chamber Golf Classic at Oak Pointe Country Club on June 8th. The conversation covers what makes this scramble format outing such a great networking event, what Brighton Ford is bringing to the table as presenting sponsor, and why you might want to ...

On this episode of Community Capital, Rob sits down with Ashley Forner, Ashley Frederick, and Mackenzie Turley from Medi-Weightloss to talk about the clinic's new Brighton location and what sets their program apart. The conversation covers why accountability and education matter just as much as the weight loss itself, what the surge in GLP-1 medications has meant for their patients, and why so many people who come through their doo...

On this episode of Community Capital, Rick Beaudin of the Pinckney Putnam Hamburg Hell Chamber sits down with Rob Smiley, co-owner of BJ's Heating and Cooling, to talk about Art in the Park and why this festival has been a community staple for 34 years. BJ's is the presenting sponsor again this year, and the 2026 event is shaping up to be the biggest yet, with over 100 juried artists and more food trucks than ever before. Art in th...

On this episode of Community Capital, Rob sits down with Amy Gallegos, founder of Peak Physical Therapy in Brighton. Amy has been a physical therapist since 2002 and built Peak around a simple conviction: patients deserve an unhurried, one-on-one hour and a practitioner willing to find the root of the problem. She talks about starting your own business, how her approach goes well beyond traditional PT, and why aging in pain is not ...

David Lawrence founded MECA Personal Training in a small Wixom warehouse in 2012 with one client and a clear vision for what a performance training company should look like. On this episode of Community Capital, Rob sits down with David to talk about building a business that gets results, retains great coaches, and has grown almost entirely on word of mouth into four locations across Michigan.

Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to David...

This week on Community Capital, Rob sits down with Alison Pol, owner of Alison Productions in Pinckney, Michigan. Alison creates high-energy, short-form videos for small businesses and nonprofits, helping them communicate their mission or story in under 60 seconds. She shares her winding path to entrepreneurship, from serving in the Navy to teaching through COVID to discovering video editing. The conversation covers how she transla...