Florence, Ky. – What’s in a name? The change in name from Bad Girl Ventures to Aviatra Accelerators personifies a new growth strategy for the seven-year-old women’s business accelerator in Northern Kentucky. The name change signals an expanded emphasis on attracting new clients, opening new markets and “encapsulating who we are,” said Angela Ozar, the organization’s market manager. “Our mission…
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Willis Music Comes to Rotary
Florence, Ky. – Need to rent a musical instrument because your child wants to try out for the high school band? Willis Music will rent you the instrument at reasonable cost, repair it and replace it if lost. What about sheet music and lessons? Willis publishes a huge music catalog and arranges lessons at three locations in Ohio, one in…
Read MoreRotarians Meet the Boone County Distilling Company
Florence, Ky. – The inclination for the Boone County Distilling Company came from a casual conversation between friends over adult beverages. The inspiration came from a bit of “forgotten history.” After Josh Quinn and Jack Wells sipped on the idea of making their own brand of bourbon, they googled “Boone County bourbon,” as Quinn tells it. He found a research…
Read MoreCVG and Amazon Drive Boone Economic Growth
Florence, Ky. – Northern Kentucky University’s top economic analyst expects Amazon’s $1.49 billion expansion of its e-commerce operations in Boone County to impact industry growth, air cargo operations and salaries for workers positively. “Greater Cincinnati is one of the top ten e-commerce hubs in the United States,” said Janet Harrah, senior director of the NKU Center for Economic Analysis and…
Read MoreDream Comes True at Richwood on the River B&B
Florence, Ky. – Colleen Sutton’s love story reads like a business plan. In fact, it was a savvy business plan that made her lifetime dream come true for the wedding planner turned owner of Richwood on the River B&B in Milton. “This is a love story of a mother and wife who really loves her job,” said Sutton, a business…
Read MoreOur Famous Zoo Babies
FLORENCE – When Gladys’ mother rejected her at birth, the Cincinnati Zoo and its “Zoo Babies” program came to the rescue. Zoo keepers dressed in gorilla suits and attended to her needs 24 hours a day until she got used to her new environment. Family matters to gorillas, you see. They are social animals that live in family groups. So…
Read MoreLiveWell Campaign Comes to Rotary
FLORENCE – Nancy Costello and Lea Beck are trying to raise an army in Northern Kentucky to combat a tenacious public enemy. The enemy? Poor health habits. Kentucky stands No. 47 of 50 states in overall health, according to their recruiting literature for LiveWell NKY. And, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks the Commonwealth No. 1 in the…
Read MoreLiving With Polio
FLORENCE – Rotary International’s three-decade battle to eradicate polio worldwide means more to Barry Kienzle than to most others. Kienzle, the chief financial officer for Paul Hemmer Companies, contracted the crippling disease a month before his second birthday. After six surgeries stretched over 15 years, he enjoyed a pretty normal life for half a century, he said. That all changed…
Read MoreBray Brings Animal Shelter Awareness to Rotarians
FLORENCE – Hedgehogs can be a problem. They are a bit prickly to handle. Cats can be a problem, too. They tend to proliferate. That’s the assessment of Colleen Bray, field sergeant for the Boone County Animal Shelter in Burlington. “Cats are our biggest challenge, especially in the spring and summer,” Bray said. “We get kittens all year long.” Bray…
Read MoreThe Ghosts of Boone County
Bridget Striker, Local History Coordinator Boone County Public Library, spoke about ghosts in Boone County. The Local History Department does a lot of genealogy research, including house and property genealogy. They receive a lot of questions about “who died in my house or on my property.” From these questions an idea was born—Ghost Walks of Boone County. This has become…
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