Texas Black Expo Awards $5K to Design Firm in Pitch Competition
The Texas Black Expo awarded $5,000 in cash and additional prizes to Danielle Montgomery of Hillaries Road Interiors, as the winner of its annual CEO Roundtable and Pitch Competition, which took place Tuesday, January 11, 2022, at the Hilton Americas Hotel. The event was sponsored by Wells Fargo.
Participating small business owners had one minute to pitch their companies to a panel of judges for a chance to advance to a second round. In round two, finalists had 30 seconds to convince judges to get behind their business ideas. The purpose of this annual event is to pair small business owners with seasoned business leaders for insight and relationship building, and to give startups an opportunity to win cash and prizes toward their business ventures.
Montgomery’s winning pitch extolled the benefits of an aesthetically pleasing physical environment, which she says can be achieved through interior design services.
During roundtable breakout sessions, attendees learned how to better use mobile platforms to market their business, effectively monetize products and services, increase sales using social media platforms and e-commerce, and more. Session facilitators included Kim Roxie, founder of LAMIK Beauty, Onaje Barnes, senior account executive at Nike, and Bobby Bryant, CEO and cofounder of DOSS. Marcus Bowers, co-founder of She’s Happy Hair, was also a facilitator and the event host.
Each session facilitator shared tips and answered questions in the categories of finance, branding and marketing, legal, business and politics.
As part of the pitch competition, business owners will be selected to pitch their concepts before three judges for a chance to win thousands of dollars in cash and prizes. Judges include attorney and entrepreneur, Phillip Yates, entrepreneur and influencer Tausha Saunders and radio personality and executive Madd Hatta.
Jerome Love, founder of the Texas Black Expo, says small business owners need support now more than ever, and the CEO Roundtable is a great resource for entrepreneurs.
“At at time when the latest Covid-19 variant is escalating in our community, small businesses need additional support to stay afloat,” Love said. “Healthy, thriving businesses are the lifeline of our community, and with so many of them shutting down during the pandemic, we want to support existing and new businesses as much as possible through education, inspiration and funding.”
For more information about Texas Black Expo, visit www.TexasBlackExpo.com.
