With any construction project, it takes time, focus, and a solid foundation to ensure a successful venture. But for Jacksonville, a town which aimed to transform its image from just another sleepy southern city to a hotspot for startups, what it needed was a spark. That flicker came in 2013 when a couple of local entrepreneurs launched the One Spark crowdfunding festival in downtown Jacksonville. The goal? Enliven the city’s startup scene and pair entrepreneurs with potential investors who could financially back their projects.
The event would become a smash hit, and ultimately go on to host hundreds of thousands of attendees each year. Even drawing the attention of CNN Business, which wrote about the city’s efforts in repositioning itself as a haven for visionaries. By all accounts, the plan to encourage local entrepreneurs to build their businesses in northeast Florida—and to help others to move to the area to do the same—has been a resounding success.
Jacksonville may be some 2,700 miles from Silicon Valley, but the “Bold New City of the South” has some impressive innovators of its own. In no particular order, here are five local entrepreneurs you should know about.
Casey Kelley
When Casey Kelley’s 9-year-old son Carter asked her for a backpack with his face on it, something clicked for the Jacksonville resident. Kelley immediately started thinking about the last time (if ever) she saw a backpack with a character who had dark skin. Already taking a break from her career in consumer insights and analytics to focus on selling the tote bags and t-shirts she was making on the side, Kelley produced two backpacks with animated versions of Carter and a friend’s daughter. The bags went viral and took Kelley’s Blended Designs brand in an entirely new direction. Decorated with “I Can Do Anything” across their products, Blended Designs hopes to empower people of color through its bags, lunch boxes, and accessories.
Jason Kelloway
From homeless veteran to coffee magnate and dedicated philanthropist in just a few years, Jason Kelloway has lived a life few outside of Hollywood could even script. While living out of his car and battling addiction, the U.S. Marine Corps vet had a vivid epiphany. Leaning on his faith, Kelloway envisioned a way to use coffee to spread love and help others. He has since launched the Cup of Love Ministry and the Social Grounds Coffee Shop in Jacksonville’s Springfield neighborhood. Both enterprises are involved in supporting homeless and struggling veterans, but these are more than just passion projects. Kelloway’s coffee is the real deal. Social Grounds has brewed beans from farms as far as away as Rwanda and Burundi, in addition to offering pastries and smoothies, and is a go-to spot for locals jonesing for java.
Quang Pham
Jacksonville has long been thought of as one of the state’s preeminent health care hubs, which makes it the ideal headquarters for Espero Pharmaceuticals. Founded by former Marine and local businessman, Quang Pham, Espero focuses on developing drugs in the cardiovascular space. The Jacksonville Business Journal recognized Espero as the fastest-growing company in Jacksonville, and Pham (who serves as Espero’s Chairman and CEO) regularly speaks about entrepreneurship. Since launching Espero, Pham has racked up several awards, including an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year award for Florida in 2018 and BioFlorida’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Ladreeka Atwater
Folks around Jacksonville’s Northside know Ladreeka Atwater as “The Cupcake Lady,” but the local entrepreneur is much more than just a baker. Despite having no formal training in either business or culinary arts, Atwater started the Cupcake Connection Bakery and Desserts out of her home in 1993. In 2002, Atwater opened her first storefront in North Jacksonville and saw that many of her customers were having problems affording an adequate amount of desserts for their functions. In order to stretch their budget to include an event space, Atwater’s customers were only ordering enough sweets to cover about half their guests. So, the Cupcake Lady opened her own venue, Majestic Event Complex, in the same strip as her dessert shop. Atwater is committed to offering fair prices for her space, so more Northsiders have an elegant venue to host events and can still feed their guests properly. She also plans to have meet-and-greets for entrepreneurs at the site and entertains younger locals for board game nights.
Bill Cissel
Thanks to Bill Cissel (and the microwave), Jacksonvillians can get “Southern in seconds.” That’s the slogan for Cissel’s Gracious Grits brand, which makes microwavable grits in three different flavors—creamy, cheese and bacon. The veteran restauranteur and Atlantic Beach native says he’s been perfecting this treasured dish from his childhood for more than 25 years. To Cissel, grits are symbolic of the family dinners he grew up with. And with Gracious Grits available in major grocery stores like Publix, they can also be a staple of yours.
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