Location: PeeDee and Grand Strand

  • Fran Coleman

    Fran Coleman

    “Anything is possible. You just have to be creative”

    Fran Coleman is an associate professor of voice and choral activity at Francis Marion University. Coleman’s teaching spans from voice lessons, directing choirs and other choral activity. Coleman is located in Florence, S.C., and currently teaches, performs, and is a producer with a regional party band called Emerald Empire band.

    About

    Fran Coleman explains the multiple hats she wears throughout her career in the arts. Coleman has been teaching at Francis Marion University for seven years, on top of being a performer and producer. In addition, she’s also a classical singer, and says “when it comes to the arts, I always like to say that you have to wear a lot of different hats…if you’re willing to do that, you’re going to be fine.”

    Coleman emphasizes the importance of being comfortable with a variety of genres in the music industry, “that’s who, in my opinion, we need to be as singers”. To remain active in this profession, one has to be diverse in their abilities, because there is so much talent. With this, Coleman believes the life of an artist is not for the faint of heart, but if it makes you happy, then you should pursue it, “be happy and spread happiness…the only way to do that is to find what brings you joy.”

  • Dallas Vickers

    Dallas Vickers

    “The more that you travel, the more you learn.”

    Dallas Vickers is an event and wedding planner working from Myrtle Beach. She explores the importance of learning how to deal with stress at work and the role that a healthy work-life balance plays in those stressors. 

    About

    Dallas Vickers is an event and wedding planner working from Myrtle Beach. She attended Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas, but she sought out an internship in Myrtle Beach because of family connections. While event planning can be a high-stress and high-pressure business, Vickers focuses on a healthy work-life balance and the importance of knowing your professional community.

    The community surrounding event planning is very tight-knit and people are always willing to help and collaborate. Many people within the even planning world know each other, as many of them have interned for Sarah McCall, the CEO of Stunning and Brilliant Events: “Everyone knows everyone. We all help each other out.”

    Dallas manages many schedules, creates budgets and handles “high emotional and energy events,” such as weddings. She handles this stress is an ever-present process that is done through on the job experience, “I’ve learned a lot about how I handle conflict and how to properly handle conflict.”

    As an event planner, she explains, “our clients want to see that we’re fun people. They want to see that we’re going on vacation and experiencing things and doing creative things”. Dallas says that it is important to find that balance, but it is a personal journey to find it.

  • Tina Spaltro

    “Sometimes, flexibility in this field is everything. Some people are very particular with what they want, and you have to use your creativity within the guidelines they give you. You have to realize it’s not all about you, but you can still use your creativity to put out something amazing.” 

    Tina Spaltro, originally from Philadelphia, is a pastry chef at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club. Spaltro earned a degree in interior design at Radford University in Virginia and moved to Myrtle Beach 35 years ago. After working different jobs, she entered the International Culinary Institute of Myrtle Beach at Horry Georgetown Technical College (HGTC), graduating in 1997, and began her career as a pastry chef.

    Interview

    Transcript

    Tina Spaltro 

    My name is Tina small town I am from Philadelphia originally. I’ve been living here in Myrtle Beach for about 35 years now. I moved here after college.  

    Sara Sabota 

    So where did you go to college? Was it up in Philadelphia or down here? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    No, actually into Radford University in Virginia. I graduated there with a Bachelor of Science and interior design, not from culinary at all. I came down here and found a job in that field. And basically, it was all it was all on commission. And I wasn’t, I wasn’t a salesperson. So, I kind of really realized that about halfway through my career. I wanted initially to start with going to culinary school, but my parents were like, No, absolutely not. But I came here, and I worked for a little while and I waited for tables. Thats where I met your husband (interviewer and interviewee met through interviewer’s husband) and I decided I wanted to go to culinary school. Down here and I ended up graduating I think 97 at Ori Georgetown tech.  

    Sara Sabota 

    Tell me a little bit then where you went from there. How has your culinary career developed? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    During school, I did a couple internships. With some small places around town, really the first job that I had was with the island Vista, or actually with the Sea Island Inn. I learned a lot, there it was like a fixed price menu, so it rotated on a two-week rotation. And that’s kind of where I started baking. Because really, initially, I was hired to bake. Although I didn’t have any baking background at school. We didn’t have that program set up yet. But I’ve only taken a couple baking classes.  

    Tina Spaltro 

    But Mike, the chef there, was really into having fresh desserts, and fresh bread. So that’s kind of where my love started with it. I did learn a lot there by you know, working the line and doing prep work and ordering and stuff like that. But basically, I went from there to a small place like NYX on 61st. It was like the old Latiff’s. I went there, worked there for about nine months, and then this job at the Dunes Club opened up and I moved over to there. And that’s where I started as the pastry chef.  

    Sara Sabota 

    So, tell me about your titles from Sea Island inn Island vista all the way up. What was your title? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    Straight out of school I mean, just you know, a little bit everything. I mean, like I said, Baker, you know, line cook. 

    Sara Sabota 

    You were just hired as a cook? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    Yeah, just hired as a cook. And I just kind of like learned my way, you know? A little bit more baking over at NYX on 61st. Actually, that was probably my first pastry chef position. And then, when I came here, I was hired as the pastry chef. So, I was here for six years. And then I went over to the Marina Inn for six years and opened that property. And then they sold, and I came this job became available again. So, I’ve come back here, so I’ve been here twice.  

    Sara Sabota 

     I’m going to go ahead and go through these questions. What do you do for work and where are you currently working from? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    I’m working at the Dunes Club as the pastry chef. I mean, we do pretty much a little bit of everything, a lot of menu planning, a lot of like creative wise would be like the menu planning and seeing projects go all the way through. Like coming up with an idea figuring it out and then figuring out how to do it for like 300 people. You know, that’s a lot, I know it sounds funny, but somebody will come to you with an idea and then you have to make it work, you know?  

    Sara Sabota 

    When you say somebody comes to you with is that a client, so you meet directly with clients?  

    Tina Spaltro 

    Yes but, sometimes not you know, we run off a banquet package too. A lot of times members will come to me saying you know, I really like lemon what can you do for me with lemon dessert, or you know, stuff like that just. Basically, membership or you know, outside clients.  

    Sara Sabota 

    I know you don’t have a typical day but just pick a recent day and walk me through the kinds of things that you do from beginning to end if you can.  

    Tina Spaltro 

    Oh yeah sure. Like today so we just opened a new property down the beach club I don’t know if you’ve been down there yet or not. We have a small menu down there. So, this morning, I went down there to check out what was left over. We prepared a prep sheet for that came back up here and we also had dinner service up here, so we went checked. Wednesday starts dinner service so checked all the desserts up there made another prep list whenever the BEOs for the day to see what we needed. A BEO is a banquet event order that you know any like large banquet that we might have. Like today we have wine tasting for between 70 and 100 people which we have to have many desserts for.  

    Tina Spaltro 

     I registered and referred to prep sheets for that got some orders together for what we needed for the weekend. Like what we went over the banquet sheets, we decided what we were going to make for the weekend and what we needed, what we had already on hand and what we needed to use up. We do a lot of like what we call mini desserts, which is just taking any kind of idea, maybe shrinking it down to a bite size portion, like a lemon meringue pie. Like we could buy little tiny tart shells, like when I said, you take an idea and blow it up, you know, and try to feed hundreds of people with it.  

    Tina Spaltro 

    Like there’s also  all the food purveyors now, and specialty companies provide like either small dishes, what we were going to start small tart shells, or some kind of vessel that you can add, a filling to and you know, top it and you’ve got like 150 in no time, which is great. Also, like making all these mini desserts, we figured out how to take pastry cream and make hundreds of banana puddings. Same thing with like a small vessel, just make it really pretty, that would be the creative aspect of it. The rest of today will include us using our prep sheets will try to get as much done as we possibly can obviously set up the launcher tonight for dinner service, in both restaurants. We also have some to go orders to take care of today and get some stuff ready for the weekend.  

    Tina Spaltro 

    So, it’s not I mean, it sounds really chaotic. And as you know, I also have a really great assistant Tricia Green, she’s come to me. You know it’s been a blessing. And she is great. So, with me and her working together we knock it out really quickly.  

    Sara Sabota 

    Does your job feel chaotic, or does it feel scheduled and orderly? Or both? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    A little of both. Yeah, some days are really chaotic. But you know, we managed to get through them. You know, it’s really all about how you organize yourself. It’s just like everything else. 

    Sara Sabota 

    Yeah. Wow. Can you think of a defining moment in your creative journey, either a job that you landed, or maybe something that you made? Was there a point where you realized, this is what I want to do, or look at what I’ve done or something like that? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    You know, I think it was like opening the hotel at the Marina Inn, like I was here for five years, so really opening the hotel, like freed up like a lot of creativity for me. I got to do write menus, write banquet packages, and do more of like, administrative stuff with that. And that’s where I was able to sit down and really be like, oh, research things and look at ideas, which is also extremely helpful.  I think opening that gave me more like a lot more confidence. So, when I came back here, I was definitely more confident than when I left.  

    Sara Sabota 

    That’s awesome. Can you recommend any specific skills that an aspiring applicant should have to increase their chances of landing a role in your field? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    I think be the skill that you that you should definitely have been obviously creativity, but being flexible with your ideas is really helpful. Sometimes, flexibility in this field is pretty much everything, you know, some people are very, like, particular about what they want. And, you know, obviously, you have to go by those guidelines, 0 even the menus that we have here, we have members that really want key lime pie, or like a brownie skillet. So, you know, doing that, being flexible with that, you know, not realizing that it’s not all you, what you want too is a lot of it and just trying to put out, you know, the best possible food that you can. Also being able to, like, look at stuff, I go through ideas, like from Pinterest, and, like, look at something and just like the way it looks, and being able to, like make it yourself without like following an exact.  

    Tina Spaltro 

    After you bake for a really long time, you have ways that you do things you know, there’s a different like, a lot of different ways to make like pastry cream or something like that. But so, you get all these recipes that you keep like your mother’s sauces and like the way you do things. And then you take from there. I think being able to be creative with that is a big thing because it helps out timewise you know you are if you already know how to do something, you know, and you can change it or alter it to make it work for that situation. It makes it so much easier.  

    Sara Sabota 

    Are there any local organizations, programs or events that you recommend for aspiring creatives? In any field? Are you a part of any or? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    Well, culinary school is great. Okay, school is awesome as far as learning, learning your skills, your skill sets and being exposed to things. There’s also the American Culinary Federation, which is here, which is a group of chefs that get together once a month. I can’t say that I go to all those meetings, but it is a really great way to network with people to find a job or, you know, learn, just sometimes they do a little bit of teaching and stuff there also. There are also some really good events. You know, I think this year, we just did taste the town this year. For a private club. I don’t think it’s a great thing for us. But as you know, ours, like a restaurant or privately on restaurant, might be great. 

    Tina Spaltro 

     There’s also this CAM organization that is for autism, that we did some stuff for this year, that was great. I think really getting involved in the community is like, you meet a lot of people at the school, that you can also link up with that. They do events. So, I would say mostly, getting involved in the school would be a great start. And then from there, there’s always something they always have going on dinners and good ways to network with people.  

    Sara Sabota 

    Then before I go to the last question, this will be my last question. But also, I want to back up. I don’t actually know how big Dune’s club is. How many members? Are we talking about that you work for? Or with or whatever? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    I think we’re like, somewhere between eight and 900. Somewhere in there.  

    Sara Sabota 

    And then what percentage of your work is for outside clients? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    Not as much I do get, you know, out. I often do like birthday cake and stuff or friends and family and stuff. But occasionally I’ll do something like an outside wedding cake, which is great money, and also a big help, but a lot of it is just for members. And you know, our clients that come here and they have events there.  

     Sara Sabota 

    So, do you have any advice for current college students or pre professional young adults who are pursuing a career in the creative world? What would your advice be? 

    Tina Spaltro 

    My advice would be when you watch all those TV shows about how like Gordon Ramsay, and all that, it’s, not really like that. Even with culinary students, you know, we get a lot of these students in here, and, you know, it’s great to go to school and stuff, but you really have to have a hard work ethic to be in the restaurant business. It will be long hours. And it’s not as glamorous, there’s a lot of likes, you know, washing dishes, making things that you’ve made a million times. But in the long run, there is a lot of gratification when you present somebody with something and they say, oh my god, that was the best thing of every eaten.  

    Tina Spaltro 

    That makes you feel like, you know, wow, I’ve really accomplished things. It’s just, you got to get through the daily mundane stuff. And then you get those highlights that that make it all worth it, you know?  Yeah, our, our members are very kind and they always, you know, are very grateful, you know, especially on big holidays and functions where, you know, you’ve worked like 14 hours a day before and got in at six o’clock in the morning and worked until four o’clock in the afternoon. And then you have got to go home and do family stuff. That’s rough. But you know, it’s all makes it worth it. Like when somebody says something kind and you’re like, Wow.  I just got a card the other day from a member, and it was just really nice. It made me feel good and all the hard work seemed worth it.  

    Sara Sabota 

    Well, that’s everything I wanted to ask.  

    Tina Spaltro 

    Awesome. Sara, thank you so much. Thanks for including me. I appreciate it. 

    Sara Sabota 

    Thanks for spending time with me, it’s been great. 

  • Jenny Powers

    Jenny Powers

    “The money will come and go, but the impact you make on people’s lives that’s the real success.” 

    Jenny Powers is a Myrtle Beach-based music marketing strategist and founder of Blue Avenue Music Group, empowering independent musicians to thrive on their own terms. 

    About

    Jenny Powers is the founder of Blue Avenue Music Group, a Myrtle Beach-based music marketing and artist management firm supporting both emerging talents and Grammy-nominated acts. With 15 years of experience managing the reggae-rock band Treehouse and seven years leading her company, Jenny brings an unshakable commitment to artist autonomy and ethical music business practices. Her work spans content planning, tour logistics, block chain distribution, and rights management advancing the next generation of independent musicians. 

    Born and raised in South Carolina, Jenny comes from a deeply creative family. Her sister co-founded the country’s longest-running girls’ rock camp, and her brother has been touring for nearly two decades. “We’ve always had the philosophy of bloom where you’re planted,” she says. This grounding has helped her shape a unique career path outside major music hubs like LA or New York. 

    Jenny’s day-to-day involves everything from preparing music releases to helping artists understand their contracts and protect their publishing rights. She has taken a leading role in changing how music is marketed pioneering new technologies like direct-to-fan block chain distribution and serving as VP of Community at Artist Hub. 

    What sets her apart is her fierce protection of independent artist rights. “With every step, someone wants a cut,” she explains. “By understanding your rights, you gain autonomy over your career.” Jenny’s mission is clear; to ensure musicians know the business behind their art before someone else takes control of it. 

    Media

  • Marsh Deane

    Marsh Deane

    “Just do it. Otherwise, the dream will just stay in your head.”

    Marsh Deane is a filmmaker, photographer, and outdoor educator based in Pawleys Island, SC. Through his business ML & L Media, he captures South Carolina’s hidden stories and landscapes with heart and purpose.

    About

    Marsh Deane is a South Carolina native whose creative journey is deeply rooted in the natural and historical richness of his home state. As the founder of ML & L Media, he has crafted a career around documenting heritage sites, directing short films, and educating youth through the outdoors. Though he has been passionate about photography since middle school, Marsh formally launched his creative career in 2019 after graduating from Coastal Carolina University.

    His work blends storytelling and education whether through nonprofit marketing, student media clubs, or immersive environmental video projects. One pivotal experience was an internship with the Village Group, where he transformed from a marketer into an outdoor educator and mentor. That experience sparked a lifelong mission: to merge nature, creativity, and community impact.

    A typical day for Marsh is fluid filled with editing sessions, outdoor shoots, gear prep, and passion projects like YouTube adventures. He emphasizes the need to balance paid work with soul-enriching personal content to avoid burnout. His advice to aspiring creatives is simple but profound: take action. “You have to just do it,” he says. In a world dominated by distraction, he believes consistent movement and meaningful creation are the keys to both artistic satisfaction and success.

  • Caleb Wygal

    Caleb Wygal

    “If the car accident hadn’t happened, I couldn’t have asked for a better career for me.” 

    Mystery author Caleb Wygal turns personal tragedy into literary triumph through the Myrtle Beach Mysteries series. 

    About

    Caleb Wygal is a full-time author living in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, and he’s mainly known for his Myrtle Beach Mysteries series. His journey to becoming a successful writer was anything but straightforward. It all kicked off during some quiet moments at a slow office job and took a serious turn after a bad car accident that almost derailed everything. 

    Caleb talks about how a traumatic brain injury made him relearn the basics, walking, talking, and even writing his name. Doctors said he’d never hold a full-time job, but he proved them wrong. Some folks say his stories helped them learn English or get through tough times in the hospital. 

    What started as short stories born out of boredom has turned into a popular book series, thanks in part to the strong author community around South Carolina’s Grand Strand. From writing on the beach to getting featured on local TV, Caleb’s journey is packed with creative twists, small-town inspiration, and some pretty memorable moments, like when he spilled the beans on a local talk show that one of his murder victims was based on the host. For Caleb, success is simple: paying the bills and bringing joy to his readers. With each new mystery, he continues to prove that storytelling is not just an escape. 

    Interview

    Transcript

    SPEAKERS 

    Nora Smith, Caleb Wygal 

    Keywords 

    Myrtle Beach mysteries, creative writing, South Carolina, author community, professional success, personal success, reader feedback, car accident, brain injury, series writing, book promotion, local events, author talks, creative journey, writing inspiration. 

    Overview: Caleb Wygal, an author from Surfside Beach, South Carolina, has been writing mystery novels for nearly 20 years, with the Myrtle Beach mysteries series becoming his full-time career three years ago. He finds inspiration from the beach and the local community, which has been instrumental in his success. Caleb’s work has influenced readers, including those learning English, and has led to notable moments like appearing on local TV and speaking to schoolchildren. Despite challenges, such as a costly ineffective billboard ad, his series has thrived, with a new book set at the Legends Theater. Caleb recommended Kelly Capriotti Burton for further interviews. 

    Nora Smith 00:00 

    Okay, so to start, what do you do for work, and where are you currently working from?  

    Caleb Wygal 00:06 

    So, I’m an author. I write mystery novels, Myrtle Beach mysteries, and I am working from my office, coffee shops, or breweries, but typically from my home office. 

    Nora Smith 00:16 

    And where is that in South Carolina? (Surfside Beach) Cool, cool, great area. Um, how long have you been working there? And your official job title is… 

    Caleb Wygal 00:28 

    I have been an author for almost 20 years. Full-time for the past three years. And my official job title is just author. 

    Nora Smith 00:38 

    Super cool, awesome, yeah. What’s one thing you love about working as a creative in South Carolina compared to other locations? 

    Caleb Wygal 00:49 

    Compared to other locations I love, alright, so when I started writing, I lived in the upstate of South Carolina, in Greenville. We moved to Concord, North Carolina for 15 years after that, and we’ve been in Surfside Beach, Myrtle Beach area for about five years now. What I love about being at this area compared to other areas, is that whenever I want to get out of my home office to write, I can go to the beach, pop down a chair and sit by and, watch the ocean, and type and make up stuff. Yeah, that’s a big, big, big step up from where I was before, just being stuck inland.  

    Nora Smith 01:35 

    I can see that. And what does South Carolina bring to your work? Has it had any sort of influence on your writing at all?  

    Caleb Wygal 01:45 

    It’s had all the influence on my writing because, I write the Myrtle Beach mysteries, they wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for South Carolina. So, I mean, I’ve written before I started the Myrtle Beach mysteries. I’d written mystery novels, a couple action-adventure novels, and basically, I just did that as a hobby. Well, once I started writing the Myrtle Beach mysteries, and I got to book three, that’s when I was selling enough copies that I was able to make a living off of it. So, if it weren’t for South Carolina and Myrtle Beach, I would probably just be doing social media marketing and website development for small businesses. 

    Nora Smith 02:27 

    How did you come up with an idea, like what brought you to write about the Myrtle Beach mysteries? 

    Caleb Wygal 02:33 

    I’ve always been interested in mystery novels, and when we moved down here, my main job then was to take care of our son. I was a stay-at-home dad, and I would do social media marketing, website development, and whenever he was sleeping, I would write whenever I had a spare moment in between all that. And so, we moved down here. He was three. And so, he needed his afternoon naps, and I needed his afternoon naps to maintain my sanity, so I put him in the back of the car every day we drive up and down Ocean Boulevard about every day, so I could see the ocean, coast to classical music. And he would sleep for an hour or so, and I just drove back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And it was during one of these trips, I had the idea for this mystery series, set there, set here in Myrtle Beach, and we went home, I did some research, came up with the character, pitched it to Paul Bucha, and they told me to stop working on what I was doing and do this instead. 

    Nora Smith 03:33 

    Wow, so cool. Yeah, that’s super interesting. Wow. What a great start. So how would you describe your local professional community down in Surfside? 

    Caleb Wygal 03:48 

    Well, I mean, really, there’s authors. I’ve found authors. Other authors are scattered all over the Grand Strand from Garden City to Murrells Inlet to Calabash and on into North Carolina. There’s a much stronger author network here than there was where we lived outside of Charlotte, and I’ve found that, you know, I regularly have coffee, I had lunch with another author earlier today, because it’s a much more supportive community among each other, and we try to help each other out, and I help others where I can. 

    Nora Smith 04:28 

    It’s great. Yeah, that’s a great community to work with. How would you define professional or personal success in your creative endeavors, 

    Caleb Wygal 04:41 

    Professional success. I define it, for me in my station in life is being able to pay the mortgage payment and the car payments, if I can sell enough books that I can do that, then that to me, that’s everything. Yeah, we’re not worried about that. But personally, I enjoy being able to just tell stories to give readers an escape from their lives. And I love hearing readers tell me how much they enjoy the characters and stories and how surprised they were when something crazy happens and just their reactions to, I love hearing readers say that they never read books before, but they wanted to start reading this series. So, they started reading this series. I’ve had people tell me they’ve used the books to learn English as a second language. I’ve had people tell me that they have been in the hospital for long stays, and they’ve read the book series as a way to make it through their long hospital stays and recovery periods. And it’s just so gratifying to me to be able to have had that privilege to be able to entertain people like that. 

    Nora Smith 06:04 

    Yeah, that sounds awesome. That’s so cool using your books to learn a second language. I would be so taken back if someone said that to me. 

    Caleb Wygal 06:14 

    I had a woman, I think last year, I think it was her. She reached out to me; said she was from Peru. And she married a guy who lives somewhere in the upstate of South Carolina, and when she came, when she moved here, she started trying to learn English. Her husband gave her one of my books, and she read them all, and she said, your books helped me learn English. I’ve had a Russian friend who did some work around our house, and I know he takes English lessons, and he asked me, one day, can I use your books to learn English? My English teacher told me to read American books. So, I gave him some books. 

    Nora Smith 07:01 

    That’s so cool. Yeah, great. What was your biggest fear when you decided to pursue a career in the arts? 

    Caleb Wygal 07:13 

    That my biggest fear was that nobody would like it, nobody would buy it, and therefore I wouldn’t be able to do what I do, but that’s always the risk you take when you put yourself out there like that. 

    Nora Smith 07:30 

    Could you define a sort of defining moment in your creative journey, something that happened and you were like, wow, this is it? Like “I really did this” kind of taken aback about it, about what you could create. 

    Caleb Wygal 07:47 

    Oh wow. There’s, several that pop into mind.  

    Nora Smith 07:52 

    Give them all. Give as many as you’d like.  

    Caleb Wygal 07:59 

    So, I’ve been on TV probably a couple dozen times by now. And do you know who Greg Rolls is? So, he headlined at the Alabama theater for 20 years, and he has his own theater now in North Myrtle Beach. He’s in commercials, local commercials. He has a daytime talk show on the local Fox affiliate. And when I started writing the second book, I wanted the victim to be somebody who was well known in Myrtle Beach, was on billboards and TV, and because it was a main character at a large-scale dinner theater show, they were the victims. I based the victim on a younger version of Greg Rolls, so I wrote the book based on the younger version of Greg Rolls. I never met the man before, and so about three months after the book came out, I was invited back. I was invited to a media event at a local restaurant that was getting ready to open. They wanted to have people come in, influences in the community, to maybe talk about the restaurant. I don’t know if you’re familiar with 1229 Shine in the Market Common. 

    Nora Smith 09:31 

    It sounds familiar to me. I feel like I’ve definitely seen or heard of it before, right?  

    Caleb Wygal 09:37 

    If you go, drive past Barnes and Noble down that street, behind it. Okay, yeah, there’s like, the building that has a big scuba diver mural on it. So, they invited my wife and I to go there for a media event, and there’s 10 people there total, and in the middle of the restaurant, there is like this huge bar. So. My wife and I were, like, on one side of the bar in the middle, and two women over in the far corner. And throughout our dinner, I kept seeing those women looking over at us. And whenever we left, my wife said, “I’m going to use the restroom.” So, my wife goes the restroom, the two women follows her into the restroom, and I’m waiting for like 10 minutes for her to come out. When she comes out, the two the two other women are behind her, and they’re dying laughing. And it turned out that the Fox TV station is right behind that restaurant, and the two women work for Greg Rolls, and told him the story about how I’d used him as a victim, as inspiration for a victim in one of the books. And so, they invited me to come on the show. And I said, I will come on, provided you do not tell Greg anything about this story. You can tell him who I am, but don’t tell him the story. And so, a couple weeks later, it’s a live show. They invited me there for like, such and such, on such and such dates. I came in the studio, Greg came up, introduced himself to me, he said, I just learned your name 10 minutes ago. I don’t know anything about you, but we’ll win it. We’ll win it. We’ll figure it out. He said, my producer gave me some notes, whatever. And so, whenever it comes time for an interview, to interview me. He said we’re on live TV, and he says, My producer says, and he look down his notes. He said, if my producer says there’s something about me to do with one of your most recent books, and what was it? And I said, Well, I looked at my wife while I was figuring out who was going to be the victim in this novel. And we were watching television one day, and you came on the screen, I looked at my wife and I said, what if somebody like you? And I pointed right at him, wash up dead with a sword plunge through your chest one day. And people  kind of came out of their offices to watch this, I guess they knew it wasn’t going to happen, and people will, people, oh, and he and he looked at you, looked at the camera, did, killed me like, No, I didn’t kill you. I killed somebody like you, but, but after that, it kind of went viral in the area, and that’s really when the book started to take off was after that interview, because you can find it on YouTube. That was a big moment. I’ve been on there probably six, seven or more times they just like the way that he and I went back and forth together. Another one, and probably one of the most rewarding ones, was last year. I had the privilege; my son was at elementary over next to Prestwick. And one, I met one of the teachers at a book signing, and she invited me to come speak to her class, her fourth-grade class. Well, the fourth-grade class, there’s four different classes in fourth grade, and they said, once you come in, talk to the students. And so, I go in, whenever they want me to come, and they lead me to their small gym. And there’s 150 kids in there just waiting to hear me speak. And it was just so many smiling little precious faces. They were so eager to hear me speak, and I gave my little speech, and we did a little game about using your senses to solve mysteries. There’s a way to sign little pieces of paper so I could get my autograph and that was just the best. Oh, that’s so cute. Those are a few. And I’ve spoken in front of crowds of, you know, 60 to 100 people and it’s always just amazes me that people enjoy the books, they want to hear me talk about the books. And it’s just a rewarding thing that I never thought would happen in my life, because 25 years from this past Sunday, 25 years ago, I was in a car accident where I had a severe brain injury. I was just out of high school. (That’s awful. I’m so sorry.) Yeah, and I hadn’t started college or anything, and I had to relearn how to walk, how to talk, how to write my own name. Again, I never set foot in a college classroom until a couple years ago, whenever I taught a mystery writing class for Alli at Coastal.  

    Nora Smith 14:48 

    Wow, that is so inspirational.  

    Caleb Wygal 14:52 

    They told me I would never be able to work a full-time job or do any hard labor or anything like that. So, um, yeah. If you know me, where I’m coming from, where I’ve been to get to this point where I can go talk to groups of people and entertain people just by just making stuff up. I mean, I couldn’t have asked for more. If the car accident hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have asked for a better career. 

    Nora Smith 15:20 

    Wow. That’s a really cool story. Well going sort of off the last question, in a sense, what was the best and worst advice you’ve ever received in your career? 

    Caleb Wygal 15:40 

    Oh, that’s a good one. Um, trying to think of one best advice was, was to, instead of writing standalone books, write a series and have the books connect, like each book has its own self-contained story or mystery, but I have a storyline that connects them all together. And so I went from writing  individual books before I came up with this series idea where I had the main character trying to figure out, through the course of the series, what happened to his wife, because his wife died two years before the series started, and he always thought it was of natural causes, but he learns through the course of the first book that it wasn’t natural causes. And so, he’s spent the next six, seven books trying to figure out what happened to his wife, and that was really what drew readers in more than just individual mysteries. What happened to his wife, what happened to autumn was it was her name, yeah, and the best advice I’ve gotten is right in a series the worst advice. There’s a lot of bad advice out there, trying to think of a time, there’s a time where I spent a lot of money on something, I’m thinking about doing this again, because I’m just, I’m just a glutton for punishment. I spent $700 on a billboard advertisement that just got crickets and that, I mean, that’s a lot of money for somebody like me, because I’m not John Grisham, I’m not some of these really big-name authors. I don’t have a lot of extra money to spend on advertisements like that, so I’ll put down $700 on a billboard ad for a month that did nothing, and then that came off to the advice of another author said, Hey, I’ve done billboards where I live, and they work. Well, good for you, probably because there’s so many billboards here in Myrtle Beach, nobody just pays attention. They just end up being background noise. That was one of the worst pieces of advice was to get a billboard. 

    Nora Smith 18:05 

    Well, that’s unfortunate you spent that much money on that. 

    Caleb Wygal 18:09 

    Now you learn and I am thinking about doing it again because I have another book coming out in May.  It takes place at the legends theater where you have, like, all these impersonators, like celebrity impersonators like Elvis Presley, Dolly, Parton, Tina Turner, The Blues Brothers, Michael Jackson and so they go to the theater, and somebody collapses on stage and dies. And that’s what they’re trying to figure out. 

    Nora Smith 18:35 

    Exciting. I’m going to have to read these books. I’m from New Hampshire, so I’m not originally from here, so I’ve never heard of them, so I’m very intrigued. 

    Caleb Wygal 18:47 

    You can get them at every bookstore in Myrtle Beach. 

    Nora Smith 18:52 

    Lovely. I will definitely have to read them, especially the new ones coming out. But yeah, that’s basically all I have. Are there any questions that you wish I had asked at all? 

    Caleb Wygal 19:03 

    No. So when I go and give an author talk, I already know a lot about what I’m going to talk about. I’ve done it so much, and a lot of what I just gave you ends up being in my author talks right, ends in some shape or form or order or whatever. I can’t think of much that you didn’t go over. Oh, maybe, like, how I really started writing books. Okay, so basically, like I told you, with the car accident, I wasn’t able to work full time jobs, especially the first couple years after that, but my uncle owned a hearing aid office in Greenville, in the upside of South Carolina, and I worked for him for a while. Basically, I would sit in his office, behind a computer or behind a desk. This is 2003 or 2004. Yeah, and I would answer phone calls, schedule appointments for them, change hearing aid batteries and clean out the wax from hearing aids, and people would bring them in. But it was a really slow job. So, I read a lot of books. And I read so many books, I started to read like in front of clients, and he told me one day that I couldn’t read books anymore because it didn’t look good for him or his business if I read books all the time. And so, he left me and there’s a computer on the desk, like I said, 2003-04 was not hooked up to the internet. There was no such thing as Facebook or social media or anything like that. There were no smartphones, and so all he had on that computer was Microsoft Paint, Microsoft Word and scaling software. So, I started writing short stories, and the short story in a little book, and here we are, 20 years later. That’s super cool. That’s basically how it all started, out of boredom. 

    Nora Smith 20:58 

    Wow, yeah, that’s awesome. Well, I’m glad you had that question, because I did not have that written down, but yeah, that’s basically it. Do you have any professionals in the creative field that you’d like to nominate to be interviewed? And if nothing comes to mind right now, I’m going to send an interview press release form later, and there’ll be a little form you can write someone in. So, no worries. 

    Caleb Wygal 21:25 

    Somebody that might be interesting for you to talk to, her name is Kelly Burton. Kelly Capriotti Burton, another fellow author who originally moved to the area with her husband. It’s been like 10 to 15 years since they’ve moved here. But they came to start a theater where the Hollywood Wax Museum is, they were going to have a theater there. And it was the Pat Boone theater, I don’t know some gospel musician or something like that, there was going to be a theater there. So, she and her husband, upped their family from Chicago, moved to Myrtle Beach, got in to start getting ready to start the theater, and before the theater opened, they shut it down. Why? You must ask her. Yeah, but anyway, so she and her husband are both very, very in tune with the arts. He has a band. Her daughters are both in dance school. Performing arts, stuff like that. And she writes books as well. So, she’s somebody who’s multi-talented, and owns a business too. Um, have you ever heard of Black Dog Running Company? They have one business in downtown Conway and another one on Farrows Parkway. But she owns that with another friend of hers, and she’d be a good person for you to talk to.  

    Nora Smith 23:03 

    Great! I wrote down her name. 

    Caleb Wygal 23:06 

    I can whenever we get off here, I’ll send you her email address. 

    Nora Smith 23:09 

    Okay, great. That’d be awesome. 

    Caleb Wygal 23:13 

    She’s somebody who’s super creative.  

  • Shaquasia Coleman and Labria Strong

    Shaquasia Coleman and Labria Strong

    “Get used to being uncomfortable. You have to feel uncomfortable to get to new levels, because it’s something you haven’t done before. It’s ok to feel uncomfortable. That means you’re doing something right.”
    –Labria Strong

    Sisters Shaquasia Coleman and Labria Strong are co-owners of Juice Crush juice bar in Conway. They are both from Myrtle Beach and attended the University of South Carolina (USC). Shaquasia earned a degree in public relations, and later, two masters of business administration degrees, and Labria earned a degree in public health. Labria is also a real estate agent on the Grand Strand. 

    Interview

    Transcript

    Shaquasia Coleman
    My name is Shaquasia Coleman, and I’m from Myrtle Beach.

    Labria Strong
    My name is Labria Strong, and I’m from Myrtle Beach.

    Sara Sobota
    Okay, what do you do for work? And where are you currently working from?

    Shaquasia Coleman
    We are entrepreneurs, and we are currently working from our storefront location in Conway. Our business is named Juice Crushed

    Sara Sobota
    Okay. How long have you had it?

    Shaquasia Coleman
    We’ve been inside—well, we started the business in May 2020. And we’ve been inside of our storefront since September 2021. Almost 3 years in the storefront. Four years in business total.

    Sara Sobota
    Okay, and your official job title is CO-owners?

    Labria Strong
    Yes.

    Sara Sobota
    Okay. Great. How did you end up in this field? And how did you hear about it?

    Labria Strong
    So, we actually started creating juices, cold-pressed juices, and smoothies for our mother, who was diagnosed with colon cancer stage four. We noticed she never… she didn’t have an appetite after Chemo treatments. We wanted to make sure she was able to get her nutrients somehow.

    Labria Strong
    So, I have a public health background from the University of South Carolina. So, I looked into juicing and making smoothies, adding protein a little bit more, because she would drink but not eat. And so after she unfortunately transitioned in 2018. Shaquasia and I decided that we needed to continue to juice and make smoothies just because of all of the health benefits that we read up on. And during COVID, all of our family and friends decided that they wanted to juice and have our smoothies and we kind of went from there.

    Sara Sobota
    So, where are you blending? And you’ve told me the story before, and I have written about it before. You had public health and Shaquasia; you had business, was that the blend? Tell me about your, yeah, college degrees. Did you both go to, you both went to USC.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    Yes. But our career paths totally took a different turn. In college, I went to school to get my degree in Public Relations. And then, I received a job opportunity to work in student housing. So, I worked my way up through undergrad from maintenance girl outside to at least a manager, to Assistant Property Manager to working in a corporate level. While in college at the University of South Carolina. Labria, it was a bit of nepotism, she used to work for me as one of my community assistants at a student housing property in Columbia, which started her career in real estate. She’s a realtor here in Myrtle Beach.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    So, we started in property management, which helped us a lot with business because we’re managing million-dollar assets for someone, you know, and making sure that everything’s running smooth and orderly, on a property side. So, it’s helped us tremendously with business. I also have an MBA as well; two MBAs. So, it helped a lot. You know, our backgrounds helped us a lot with becoming entrepreneurs, it was not easy, but it’s been a smooth run so far.

    Sara Sobota
    That’s great. And that was the next question: What background did you have that helped you land that role? You kind of talk through the stages that you went in. This is going to be maybe a little tricky, but can you walk us through a typical work-day?

    Shaquasia Coleman
    Yeah, that is gonna be tricky. And then to go back to how we blend it, the recipes, I don’t know if you’re going to access that before. But we came up with we were looking at the elements in the community, that people we know that their high blood pressure or diabetes, you know, we were looking for the fruits and vegetables to help out with these certain elements.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    And then, we got with one of our sorority sisters, who was a doctor in Internal Medicine. And she went through all of our recipes and told us to add this or add that to, you know, make sure they get more benefits out of that one particular juice. So, that’s how we came up. We had juices, ABC, D, and G. And then, we went through, got with her and then we started making names for everything. So, it all flowed together while we were getting Juice Crushed together.

    Sara Sobota
    So you created it for your mother, but then it sort of evolved with input from experts.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    Because of our mom, it was simple. You know, we just wanted her to get basic nutrients, we didn’t know what we were doing. So, it’ll be some carrots here and this and that there. Make her a smoothie. But as time went on, and we saw that there are people who are actually needing this and that and this, then that’s when we were getting more creative.

    Sara Sobota
    Yeah, right.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

    Sara Sobota
    So, your audience for your business or your demographic is nearby but also broader.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    Right?

    Sara Sobota
    Okay.

    Labria Strong
    Because we all know someone who is in some type of health issue, you know. If you go into a room like and you say, hey, who knows someone who is battling high blood pressure, everyone kind of raised their hand or someone who’s battling or, you know, has fought cancer and overcame, you know. So, someone knows someone that is going through some type of health issue. So we can relate to everyone in that aspect, right? Um, so it kind of just made it seem like, “Hey, I know what my maternal mother and grandmother and you know, were facing and what they went through.” And then I talked to a neighbor, and they have similar issues. So, we were all kind of, you know, fighting this together and trying to make sure everyone is healthy.

    Sara Sobota
    Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. The next question is, can you describe a defining moment in your creative journey? A project that made a significant impact of you— on you, or something you produced that really showcased your creativity? Yeah, it’s probably hard to pin down one thing.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    I mean, so our creative journey lately. I’ll give you an example. And then I’ll go back to that last question. Because I don’t want to keep jumping over for your questions, we are. This is something that we just had done while, for the storefront, well, we had it done for our Myrtle Beach location, but we’re no longer going there.

    Sara Sobota
    Okay.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    So, we had to come together to put this whole together with our artists who did all the painting. We made sure we had certain elements or elements from Juice Crushed, like the orange or the actual, just the names we have on T-shirts, like Juicy. Juicy Baby is something we have on the shirt, of course, juice crush, and then crushing it down at the bottom. But it’s a social media wall, and people are attracted to colors. So, we got what are and of course, we got the cancer statement that everyone says, “Detoxin’,” but we got what our artists who did our first wall, and she did a couple of other items for us to create this wall, just so we can get people in for our marketing, our marketing aspect. Because again, like I said, people are attracted to colors, and they’re attracted to social media, and they’re attracted to pictures.

    Sara Sobota
    Yeah.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    So, it’s been a huge hit. That’s the latest thing we’ve done a lot of, you know, I’m just trying to pinpoint some other things that we’ve done. But that’s the most latest thing that we have. But as far as creativity, our day-to-day, it’s kind of hard, the two of us, I feel like I don’t get enough sleep. So, we tried to touch one thing we always do is touch base with each other in the morning. Because listen, you need to make sure we’re both alive and well ready. So that’s number one. But we always make sure to give each other grace until at least eight o’clock, you know, because maybe I’m at the gym early, or she’s out doing something, or she’s working on real estate work in the morning. But we typically get here around 9:30, we set up, and we have orders that meet us at the door online, or they are here at 10.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    But throughout the day, all day, if we don’t get our work done any outside things that we need to get done before we step into the store. It just won’t happen. So typically, we are on our feet for almost 12 hours just juicing and making orders and meeting with customers, and there are people who come in who want us to do, you know, coping and opportunities or want to partner and things. So, we’re busy and on our feet for the entire time the store is open, and then afterward.

    Sara Sobota
    So, what are the hours of your store? 10 am to…

    Shaquasia Coleman
    6 p.m.

    Sara Sobota
    Six, so yeah, yeah, wow. Okay.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    We tried to open earlier because you want to meet that crowd, but it just wasn’t a hit for us. We know we know that we started at eight o’clock when we first opened up, and we probably could have gave it some more time, but it just wasn’t working for us and our schedules.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    So it’s like, you know, you have to do what works for you as an entrepreneur, and we’re passionate about something, you’re gonna make it work. But 10 o’clock was like when we started noticing that our customers were coming in and the lunch crowd.And a lot of people love the Grab and Go method here. So, you know, we love that as well. They put their orders in, they got this ready, come and get it. And that’s that.

    Sara Sobota
    Yeah, that’s great. Okay.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    And then we go home, go to the gym and start all over again, and do it again. I’m normally, personally, I’m in bed by midnight. I don’t know about her.

    Labria Strong
    Depends on the day.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    Yeah, our days. Just cuz that’s all we know. You know, when people come in with us ask them what they have gone out for the weekend. And we tell them we’re living through them because, you know, we understand the first five years you’re gonna be in tune and focused on the business, and then after that you can feel comfortable hiring people but I love that we’ve made our names known ourselves and we didn’t have anybody in here, you know, either tearing down a reputation or it’s solely on our back. So we appreciate that.

    Sara Sobota
    Yeah, that’s a lot. Okay, so let’s say that someone is watching this video and they want to be you. Can you recommend any specific skills that an aspiring applicant should have to increase their chances of landing a role like yours?

    Labria Strong
    How can I serve it? You know, I feel like the generation now is solely like always on the phone and you know, they’re not having that person-to-person interaction as much as you know, we had to where you had to like five minutes before you can get like an unlimited plan, but people by people, and you know, Shaquasia was always telling me this one when I was working for her, you know, people will come back to you if you make them feel good. Or if you make them feel like I’m being attentive to your needs, right?

    Labria Strong
    And it also ties with me being dual career in real estate when you are paying attention to what your clients or customers are asking for. And you can say, “Hey, how about this,” or “Let’s try this.” We’re making sure we speak to everyone who comes in here we are, you know, we make sure that they feel if they spend their money here, that is actually worth it. And they didn’t feel because you know, a buyer’s remorse, as you can say. So, customer service is definitely huge. Number one, number one, for sure.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    And Time-Management. Time Management is super important. Because, you know, we have a background with dealing with people on a daily basis, being in property management and real estate. So we are, we know that time is valuable for not only them, but for us as well. And we hate to have anyone waiting longer than like 20 to 30 minutes because it’s, I mean, it is juice, so they understand it’s gonna be a little wait, especially if they didn’t put their order in. But if it’s longer than that, then I feel totally bad. You know, we’re always apologetic. Wee make sure we make up for it in other ways.

    Shaquasia Coleman
    But time management is key, I don’t want anyone to be waiting on me longer than they need to. So making sure you’re getting things done in an orderly fashion and on time. And that’s that. So those are two important, important things. And then being very detail oriented, that’s awesome as well, like social media is so important when we’re putting up posts and content that we’re being specific. And letting them know those two are those couple of key words because people their attention, their attention span is. So we’ve been, I like to say like me personally, how much longer am I going to read that whole caption? No, I’m not. I see the words on the video or I see the words on the picture, then I understand what to do.

    Sara Sobota
    That makes sense. Yeah. Okay. Are there any local organizations, programs, or events that you were that you recommend for aspiring creatives around the state? Are there any things that you belong to or go to, that someone could get involved in if they were interested in following your path?

    Shaquasia Coleman
    So the two of us are also members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. So, you know, if you’re into being in a sorority and fraternity or fraternity, we have local chapters here, in Horry County, and throughout the Grand Strand, so that’d be one. And that’s a lifetime thing that we are involved in. And then I just completed the leadership branch and program to the chamber. I would recommend that to anybody who has a chamber in your city to get involved, because it taught me a lot about how to become a better leader, I was always a leader, but to know ways in which I can become a better leader, and then get involved in the community at the same time, because we had a community service, along with having enriching relationships with people I probably never would have had relationships with. So, if that’s in your city, I definitely say to make sure you get involved with your chamber, we’re in the chamber. And both we’re trying to get in Conway, we’re already in Myrtle Beach. So.

    Labria Strong
    And then also, we just joined Horry County Community Collaborative, so they call it HC Three. And there’s different nonprofits and businesses that pretty much come together for a common cause just to make sure that the community has their resources. Everyone is kind of brain picking about different resources that the community actually needs. And so you are working with different agencies and organizations for the same calls. And you know, you just never know who you will meet there that can help you with your business or say, Hey, here’s an idea that I’ve seen, or some type of grant or anything that might be out there. So, it helps you definitely network for the same.

    Sara Sobota
    Yeah. Okay, great. And then, last question: do you have any advice for current college students or pre-professional young adults who are pursuing a career in the creative world?

    Shaquasia Coleman
    Being a creative, you can’t worry about anyone judging you; you have to push the envelope and continue to do it until it sticks, you know. Because if you’re going here blindly, and you’re thinking they’re going to accept every single thing that you put out, it’s not going to work, and it’s going to lower your confidence as well. So make sure you’re focused on what you’re trying to create and put it out there, and also to extend yourself grace, like a lot of grace. Yeah, no timelines, either. Yeah. Someone who’s getting out of college like we put so much pressure on ourselves to think at 25 I need to be married with a kid or by 30. I should have three kids. It’s just so many pressures, societal pressures that are placed on us, especially through social media, where we’re having this; what’s it called that imposter, imposter syndrome? Yeah, and Imposture syndrome is tearing us up. So give yourself grace. Sometimes we don’t know, and I’m talking to myself saying this, but you know, get used to being uncomfortable because you know, you have to feel uncomfortable to reach those different levels because it’s something that you haven’t done before. So it’s okay to feel uncomfortable. That means you’re doing something right.

  • Tina Spaltro

     “Sometimes, flexibility in this field is everything. Some people are very particular with what they want, and you have to use your creativity within the guidelines they give you. You have to realize it’s not all about you, but you can still use your creativity to put out something amazing.” 

    Tina Spaltro, originally from Philadelphia, is a pastry chef at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club. Spaltro earned a degree in interior design at Radford University in Virginia and moved to Myrtle Beach 35 years ago. After working different jobs, she entered the International Culinary Institute of Myrtle Beach at Horry Georgetown Technical College (HGTC), graduating in 1997, and began her career as a pastry chef.

    About

    Tina’s career evolved through a few different key roles. Her first full-time job was with Sea Island Inn in Myrtle Beach, where she discovered that learning on the job is just as important as attending classes. “I learned a lot there,” said Spaltro. “That’s where I started baking, even though I didn’t have much baking background, because Horry Georgetown Technical College didn’t have the baking program yet. The chef, Mike, was really into having fresh desserts, fresh baked bread, so I learned a lot there by working the line, ordering, doing prep work things like that.”  

    Another position that allowed Spaltro to grow was opening pastry chef at Marina Inn in Myrtle Beach. “Opening the hotel freed up a lot of creativity for me,” said Spaltro. “I got to write banquet packages and do more administrative stuff that allowed me to sit down, research things, and look at ideas. That opening gave me a lot more confidence.”  

    At the Dunes Club, Spaltro said she does a lot of menu planning and seeing projects through from beginning to end.  “We come up with an idea, figure out how to do it, and then figure out how to do it for 300 people,” said Spaltro.  

    Spaltro said Horry Georgetown Technical College is an excellent school for training and exposure to the industry, and the area offers many opportunities for networking. “The American Culinary Federation is here,” said Spaltro. “A bunch of chefs get together every month, and it’s a really great way to network with people, find a job, and learn.” 

    Spaltro said her culinary career allows her to be creative, but it still hard work. “When you watch all those TV shows about kitchens, like with Gordon Ramsey, it’s not really like that. You have to have a hard work ethic to be in the restaurant business. It’s long hours, and it’s not glamorous. There’s a lot of washing dishes and making things you’ve made a million times. But in the long run, there is a lot of gratification when you present someone with something and they say, ‘Wow, that’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten.’ That makes you feel good.” 

  • Shaquasia Coleman and Labria Strong 

    Shaquasia Coleman and Labria Strong 

    “Get used to being uncomfortable. You have to feel uncomfortable to get to new levels, because it’s something you haven’t done before. It’s ok to feel uncomfortable. That means you’re doing something right.”
    –Labria Strong

    Sisters Shaquasia Coleman and Labria Strong are co-owners of Juice Crush juice bar in Conway. They are both from Myrtle Beach and attended the University of South Carolina (USC). Shaquasia earned a degree in public relations, and later, two masters of business administration degrees, and Labria earned a degree in public health. Labria is also a real estate agent on the Grand Strand. 

    About

    Shaquasia Coleman and Labria Strong originally began mixing juices and smoothies for their mother when she was diagnosed with colon cancer. As a result of chemo treatments, their mother had little appetite. “She would drink, but not eat. And we wanted to make sure she was getting her nutrients somehow,” Strong said. After their mother transitioned in 2018, the sisters continued juicing because of all they benefits they had learned about in researching for their mother’s needs.  

    When the COVID pandemic began in 2020, “all our family and friends decided they also wanted our juices and smoothies, so we went from there,” said Strong. The sisters consulted with a sorority sister who is a doctor of internal medicine about how to adapt the recipes so each juice offers specific benefits. Coleman and Strong opened Juice Crush in May 2020 and moved into their Conway storefront September 2021. 

    The sisters’ background in property management, which began when they were attending University of South Carolina, was a foundation for their careers as entrepreneurs. “I worked my way up throughout undergrad from a maintenance girl outside, to a leasing manager, to assistant property manager, to working at the corporate level,” said Coleman.  

    Strong worked for her sister at the property management company as well, which was the origin of her real estate career. “We were managing million-dollar assets and making sure everything was running smoothly on the property side, so that’s helped us tremendously in business,” said Coleman. 

    Coleman and Strong said customer service and time management are key to success as an entrepreneur.  “People buy people,” said Strong. “People will come back to you if you make them feel good, like you are being attentive to their needs. We make sure we speak to everyone who comes in. We make sure that if they decide to spend their money here, they feel it’s worth it.” Coleman said time management is also essential. “We know that time is valuable not only for the customer but for us as well. Make sure you’re getting things done in an orderly fashion.” 

    Their advice? “Being a creative, you can’t worry about anyone judging you,” said Coleman. “You have to push the envelope and continue to do it until it sticks. And extend yourself grace. Lots of grace.”

  • Tonya Gore

    Tonya Gore

    “My family is from Nichols, South Carolina, one of the areas that went through the 1,000-year flood in 2016, and my family lost everything. Two years later, it happened again. It was most devastating. So I thought, ‘What can I do?’ I still wanted to be creative, but I wanted to work in the community. Clemson had just started a Resilient Urban Design degree. I quit all my jobs – almost 20 years in the graphic design industry — and went back to college.” 

    Born and raised in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Tonya Gore is Director of Enhancement and Design with the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance. Gore earned a B.A. in visual arts from Coastal Carolina University in 2000, and after nearly 20 years in the graphic design business and teaching digital arts at Horry Georgetown Technical College, she returned to school to earn a Master of Resilient Urban Design (MRUD) from Clemson University.  

    About

    After refocusing her career toward resilient design, Gore started a job as an urban designer for an engineering firm in Charleston. “I did a lot of rendering for streets they wanted to revitalize,” said Gore. “It was street design, so they’re adding bike lanes, a different type of parking, some medians, a roundabout. You would take a picture of what it looked like before and then after. Sometimes even now when I look back, I think, ‘Wow. Whoa. Who did this?’ I amaze myself because I took something that didn’t look like anything and produced a rendering of something people could associate with how they wanted the community to look. I’ve tried to take that skill and pass it on to what I’m doing now.” 

    Through networking events with the Urban Land Institute (ULI), Gore met the person who would lead her toward her current position at the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance (MBDA), a place management organization tasked with planning and implementing the redevelopment of downtown Myrtle Beach. 

    “I used to attend monthly events with the ULI, and Amy Barrett was president of the organization,” said Gore. “Amy took a job with the Myrtle Beach Downtown Alliance. Amy knew I was local, that I had my creative career, and she also knew I had my urban design background. So, she offered me a job to combine them all.”  

    Gore considers her work with MBDA in artistic terms. “We have an empty canvas to play with,” said Gore. “I have such a love of historical buildings. I don’t like tearing down; I like building on what you have already.” In this role, Gore works to activate spaces in the downtown area, designing streets to make it a walkable community, and hosting events to bring people downtown. 

    As a person who returned to school after two decades of working, Gore advises students to always stay current with technology. “Take classes, seminars, and workshops, or listen to podcasts to stay up to date and enhance your skill level.”