Flippin' the Switch
Flippin' the Switch
S6 E2: Empowering Community and Honoring Heritage with LaShea Cavers (Part 1)
Discover the incredible journey of LaShea Cavers, a trailblazer in business diversity and a beacon of inspiration for budding entrepreneurs. After two decades of serving in the Marine Corps, LaShea transitioned from a career in food service to higher education in psychology, ultimately carving her niche in business psychology. Her dedication to fostering minority entrepreneurship and her deep connection to Jacksonville's vibrant community are nothing short of inspiring. In part one of this special two-part episode, LaShea shares how her faith and commitment to education have fueled her passion for empowering others and giving back to the community she now calls home. Plus, receive exciting information about local events that celebrate culture, connection, and growth.
Run Time: 18 minutes
Welcome back listeners For this edition of the podcast. We have a very special two-part episode celebrating Black History Month and minority entrepreneurship in business. Jones-onslow feels so lucky to be part of such a diverse community and melting pot of individuals, and our small business community is a direct reflection of that. We are honored to speak with Lachey Cavers, the business diversity consultant from Jacksonville Onslow Chamber of Commerce. But a woman of many hats, she helps us celebrate the roots of community with her expertise and passion for our community. Specifically, in part two, she dives deeper into the rich African-American history right here in our backyard. You don't want to miss both parts of this episode and with that let's start Flippin' the Switch.
Speaker 2:In this edition of Flippin' the Switch, it is February and there are so many different things that happen in February, but one of note is most certainly Black History Month and we are honored today to have Lachey Cavers, and she is with Onslow-Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. But I would like to say that you probably see her at a multitude of things. The chamber, notably, is number one, but I think if you look around, she's either promoting a food truck somewhere, setting up a booth somewhere, if it's in Jacksonville, lachey is there. So welcome today, lachey. Thank you.
Speaker 3:It's an honor to be here. I'm very happy. I like that flipping switch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for flipping it every time. You know so creative, we try, we try. So let's start off. Lachey, Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of your connection to Jacksonville and our military community?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, so I'm originally from Texas and I joined the Marine Corps. So I'm a proud Marine and I served 20 years in the Marine Corps. So Jacksonville, Camp Lejeune was my first duty station. So I came here in 1996 and full circled back around and retired from here in 2016.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow OK.
Speaker 3:And so. Camp Lejeune was my first duty station, and it was my last duty station, and so once I retired, I had to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up.
Speaker 2:I think some of us are still trying to figure it out.
Speaker 3:I did not realize how sheltered I was as a Marine. But then I had to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up, Cause you know, my background in the Marine Corps was food service.
Speaker 3:And we'll talk a little bit more about that later, because I want to share something with that but my background in Marine Corps was food service, so I know everything food you know related, like cooking and baking and food inspections and everything you name it Executive chef, all those things and so I knew that I did not want to go back to work, I guess as a W2 person. I wanted to venture out and be an entrepreneur, and so that's where the Chamber of Commerce came in at, and then I went to school. I said, well, I need to do something. I spent the first two years getting my bachelor's degree. I didn't do anything after I retired, just went to school and I got my bachelor's.
Speaker 2:You did something. Yeah, I did.
Speaker 3:So I went to school and got my bachelor's in psychology. You know, psychology is such a broad field so I had to figure out what I wanted to do. And by going to one of those awesome small business centers, seminars and webinars, doing small business week, I went to a workshop where the instructor was a business psychologist. Oh wow.
Speaker 1:So I was like what is?
Speaker 3:that, what do you guys do? So he told me and he asked me how far along I was in my education career and he encouraged me to do my master's degree in industrial organizational psychology. So I did and I earned that degree and then he encouraged me to do the PhD in business psychology with a consultant track. So I am in that program right now. Well the next time you come on the podcast we'll say doctor.
Speaker 2:I love it. So that's a really nice ring to it.
Speaker 3:And all those, all those things and things that I've been learning throughout my education career has been very helpful and instrumental to how I can serve the business community, because everything that I've been serving learning in the curriculums have I've been able to apply to real time situations to help our business owners here in Oslo County. So I'm very, very grateful to be able to attend college and pay for it, yeah, and then also give back to the community with what you're giving back daily, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:You know, before these podcasts we always make a list of questions and we were like, okay, this is what we'll start with. But you know they always kind of weave a bit. But one of the things I'd like to ask is you've kind of saw the world through your 20 years in the Marine Corps and you started in Jacksonville and you ended your career in Jacksonville. You could have gone anywhere. What made you want to stay in Jacksonville?
Speaker 3:The people, like I, tried to escape. It has a way, doesn't it? It does. I tried to escape. I spent 14 years of my career in California, on the West Coast. Ok, so I was a West Coast Marine.
Speaker 3:You know, they, you know. So I was a West Coast Marine, but you know, and I had every intention of moving back to California. I had a plan, I had all that set up and I got accepted into Align International University for my master's program. And I told them I was like hey, I am going to do the PhD program too. And they were like well, if you're going to do that, you might as well skip the master's, but you can't start in January, you have to start in August. So that held me here. So I had to wait.
Speaker 3:And then you know I'm a woman of faith, you know, so I love Jesus Christ. And I'm like I'm waking up one morning and he's like you're not going to California, you're staying here. You're staying here. So I'm like, well, why, what's my purpose? We got to do another podcast for me to tell you about the purpose that he has shown me that has come to light.
Speaker 3:You know for me to be here but just following his guidance, and then he's showing me exactly why I need to be here and then being obedient to that. And then it just happened where I got connected with the right people and I was been in, been able to help so many people along the way and business owners, and still being able to do that with so many resources and programs that's provided here through Oslo County for the business community, and that's what made me stay like wanting to be here around all these amazing people in Oslo County.
Speaker 2:Well, I think one of the things that you kind of bring to note is, first, that you know you're a doer and you're a helper, but you also bring a unique perspective about. You've been through this cycle. You know, you've gone to the small business center, you've gone and utilize these resources and now you're showing other people how to utilize those resources.
Speaker 3:That's very important.
Speaker 2:Which I think that kind of brings that passion to life, which I think that kind of brings that passion to life, and there's a lot of things. As far as we talk about passion, during your time here in the community have there been individuals that have kind of inspired you throughout your journey and tried to educate our community you have. Definitely the Small Business Center was something that inspired you and that person did. Can you think of some other instances where those resources that our community provides inspired you to take it to the next level?
Speaker 3:Every entrepreneur I'm trying to say this without tearing up because I get so emotional about it Every entrepreneur that I have met that haven't launched their business yet and they are in the planning stages. They're launched. They're like, oh my God, this is happening. Stages, stages, they're launched and they're like, oh my God, this is happening stages. Or they're trying to scale their business and they're doing very well, but they try and take it to the next level. Every last one of them have inspired me. It's them.
Speaker 3:That's huge, because it is not easy starting a business. No, and you have to have the correct mindset. You do, and when you have a cheering squad that's with you, that has the same mindset but also can say oh, wait a minute, you're going too far, you might want to bring it back a notch. Oh, you might want to talk to this person, or you might want to go do this, then you know it makes it a little easy. It makes your journey to entrepreneurship a little easier, absolutely, but it's definitely not an easy task. So, meet the people surrounding you and I always say that if you are the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room. You need to go to another room, that's true.
Speaker 3:And then you become like the five people you hang out with. So if you want to become a millionaire, you need to hang around some millionaires. That's true, you need to stop being scared and go talk to them.
Speaker 2:They're people just like us.
Speaker 3:If you want to be a doctor in the medical field, go talk to the doctors, just go surround yourself with people that want to see you win Absolutely, and then you find yourself a whole different person within like maybe a month or two months, and you'll be a force to be reckoned with in a year.
Speaker 2:So I think that's you know, you think about the stories that make a person and you have a lot of different. You know different chapters in your life and now we're starting this chapter of where the past few years you have been a huge advocate for minority businesses within our community and, like we mentioned at the beginning, it is Black History Month, so we want to celebrate, kind of, the roots of our community and one of the things that I think that makes Jacksonville unique is that we are such a diverse population. So Black History Month is here and what are some of the ways that our community is celebrating this? You know you as a person has you've seen all of these things, so we'd love to kind of roll into the next layer here, this next chapter of how we're celebrating our community.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, so we're starting with the Jacksonville-Onslow Chamber of Commerce why not we? Our Business Diversity Council is celebrating Black History Month and we'll be doing that starting February 4th and then February 5th. On February 4th, we will be offering a professional development day. Oh, very cool. Yes, starting at 930 in the morning. We have three different classes scheduled. We have customer service magic because, you know, we have to know how to make sure that we provide great customer service.
Speaker 2:That's right Right.
Speaker 3:So we have customer service magic, transforming every interaction into a wow moment. And then we have another class, which is going to be a lunch and learn. That's 11 to 3, from 11 am to 3 pm, and that's generational diversity bridging the gap for success. So this was actually requested because we did this class before and it was requested to come back because they felt like it wasn't enough time. So we changed it from two hours to four hours.
Speaker 1:And what this is.
Speaker 3:It is talking about the generations that are at work your baby boomers and your millennials and your generation X and Z and how we all can work together, even though we think differently according to our generation. How we can work together to accomplish the mission. So this is a really fun interactive class right.
Speaker 3:And then we have another one. It's called it starts at 3.15 and it's till 4.15 PM and it's called Empower your People the Secret Sauce to Business Success. This one is going to be talking about teaching about employee wellness and taking care of your employees while you're at work making sure that they don't want to leave work when they come to work.
Speaker 3:It's all about creating a culture. Yeah, okay, that's important because, if you know, sometimes employees, sometimes it is about money for employees and sometimes it's not, so you have to figure out that. And if you create a culture of I'm not making a lot of money here, but I love going to work every day because every time I walk to the door, miss Joanne always makes sure she says hello to me and you never know how that may make somebody feel. Like the awesome Maya Angelou says, you may forget what someone says to you, but you'll never forget how they made you feel. And so when you create a culture environment in your workspace where your employees never want to leave work, you have to tell them you got to kick them out of the office, then you definitely have done something.
Speaker 3:Absolutely we will be teaching those classes on February 4th that is a busy day. Yes, it is a busy day and it's a busy planning situation. I'm sure, yeah, so, um, on February 4th I hope they come out and join us. Um, you can find that information on on the chamber website. Okay, and um yes, and then on February, february 5th, we are having a networking mingle. We want you to come and tell us about your business, mingle with the people who are in the room and have some soul food while you're doing it.
Speaker 3:And just have a great time. So that's going to be February 5th, from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Chamber of Commerce Very cool yeah. And then you have the NAACP. They're having their Onslow County Black History Festival on February 8th. That's going to be from 5 pm to 8 pm at the Jacksonville Common Center no-transcript, so that's another one. And then there is Celebrating Black History the Rhythm of Resilience. That's February 23rd 2025, of course, and so it's join us for a captivating celebration of black history as we honor the rhythm of resilience.
Speaker 3:This event is a private tribute to the strength, creativity and enduring spirit of black culture and history. So what to expect? Live performances. Experience the power of music spoken and enduring spirit of Black culture and history. So what to expect? Live performances. Experience the power of music, spoken word and dance. Inspirational speakers. Hear from community leaders sharing stories of resilience and empowerment. Art and culture. Explore a showcase of local Black artists, crafts and historical exhibits. Delicious cuisine. Enjoy food that celebrates cultural heritage. This event is free and open to all ages. Come and celebrate the achievements and contributions of Black history with us. Let's honor the past, inspire the future and embrace the rhythm that connects us all.
Speaker 3:Oh, that one sounds great too, and this is going to be at the Commons as well, and that is February 23rd.
Speaker 2:Now, those are a lot of events that we know of off the top of our head, and I'm sure there are plenty more out in the community. So if you happen to see something and you want to share it with us, you can go to our Facebook page, Jones Onslow EMC, and we'll be happy to give you a little shout out.
Speaker 3:Okay, great, yes, that'd be good.
Speaker 2:Now, these are some things that are happening during the month of February, but there are lots of things that happen throughout the year, and one to note is our African-American Trail that we have. That's not a seasonal event, that's something that I think goes to the roots of our area. You guys have done such a tremendous job to create history markers throughout our communities where important things have happened or things of note or a person has been Right. So can you tell us a little bit about the African-American Trail?
Speaker 3:Yes, so the African-American Heritage Trail is one of my favorite things to be a part of. It is the Jacksonville-Onslo African-American Heritage Trail. It is a joint project of Onslow County Tourism and Onslow County Museum and the Business Diversity Council and also of the Chamber of Commerce, and it highlights a lot of the African-American heritage that is significant to individual contributions in Onslow County. So the African-American Heritage Trail celebrates the accomplishments of local African-American leaders, as well as African-American history, arts and culture in Oslo County. The trail begins at the Linda Richardson Memorial, which is at the Chamber of Commerce, and Linda is. I never got the opportunity to meet Linda, but I heard so many amazing things about Linda.
Speaker 3:And our Business Advocate of the Year Award is named after Linda and I'm so happy to be a recipient of it. So of the Linda L Richardson Business Advocate of the Year for 2023, because she really brought a lot of great things to the county. So the trail begins at the Linda Richardson Memorial at the Chamber, 1099 Gunbratch Road. Richardson dedicated 13 years of her life to public service. Richardson dedicated 13 years of her life to public service and, as a result of her knowledge and passion, she was instrumental in forming what is now known as the Business Diversity Council. So she helped create us and she did that in 2008.
Speaker 3:From there the trail spans for more than 200 years of African-American history in Oslo County. You got the sites that include schools and religious institutions and cemeteries and recreation areas, and we just added a business. It was um the mciver legacy, which it was the first funeral home, um in the only funeral home where blacks can go um what to be, to be buried, to be taken care of when they were buried um. The trail takes you to now. It's a lot, the trail is a lot. You're not going to be able to complete the trail in a whole day.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, no, no.
Speaker 3:Unless you get up at like four in the morning and you end it four.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we tried one day I'll tell you. Mike, one of our fellow coworkers, and I went and we're like we're going to really go for it today, and we went to take pictures.
Speaker 3:But you're making tracks.
Speaker 2:Yes, you are, yeah, so I mean, you're going down to verona you're going to richlands, you're going to rich, I mean, you're going everywhere, you're going everywhere. So I would you know chunks, yes, chop it up we were mentioning yesterday. If you want to go and see it, just maybe plan an extra hour in your trip to go somewhere and make it a point to go there.
Speaker 2:You know, like you know one. If you're heading out to go towards Wilmington or Topsville, stop in Verona and go to the cemetery. Yes, that was one of the coolest experiences we had, just to see all of the old markers that are out there there's things that you just don't know are around.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, yeah, it's a great time.
Speaker 1:Thanks, listeners, for tuning into part one of our February podcast episode. Stay tuned for part two. You won't want to miss it. Follow us on social media for updates and we'll talk to you soon.