The Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce held its 114th Annual Meeting, Thursday evening at Augusta Marriott Convention Center.
The yearly banquet celebrating businesses in Augusta drew its usual full crowd of local entrepreneurs and industry leaders, including Augusta Commissioners Bobby Williams and Sean Frantom, Brinsley Thigpen and Maria Cook from the staff of Rep. Rick Allen and Sen. Raphael Warnock, respectively.
WJBF anchor Brad Means emceed the event, which saw Mayor Garnett Johnson, who acted as chairman of the Chamber throughout 2022, pass the gavel to 2023 chairman Dennis Trotter of Jordan Trotter Realty.
The theme for the ceremony was “Trailblazers: Locally Grown Stories of Success.” Inviting keynote speakers to give inspiring presentation is custom at the Annual Meeting, but this year the Chamber invited local entrepreneurs to discuss their journeys and personal philosophies in developing successful businesses.
Among the panelists were Vera Stewart, whose Southern cooking and lifestyle television program “The VeryVera Show” first aired in Augusta more than a decade ago.
Stewart used a three-layer cake as an analogy to describe her path toward her present success: the first layer being setting the foundation for a new enterprise by learning from business-minded friends; followed by launching her catering business, and eventually her TV show.
“You recognize that there’s not a party or a wedding every weekend,” said Stewart, noting how necessity bred creativity when she started shipping her famous cakes. This, in turn, led to her featuring in “Southern Living” magazine in the mid-1990s.
Two years before “VeryVera” premiered, Stewart appeared on Food Network’s “Throwdown With Bobby Flay,” with her famous marshmallow-icing carrot cake.
“That opportunity to be on [Bobby Flay’s show] really launched my career,” she said.
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Another panelist was Larry Jones, who founded Universal Plumbing in 1985. Last year, Universal Plumbing was the subject of an episode of YouTube documentary series “American Plumber Stories.”
Jones started plumbing to supplement his income as a debt collector at a hospital. He compared starting and running a successful business to raising a child, saying, “As a parent, you want to get down and you want to help your child to reach a little higher than you did.”
Also on the panel was Ray Carnes, who co-founded Evans-based grill company Recteq with Ron Cundy in 2009. Carnes recalled his days a vacuum cleaner salesman, up to the earliest days of Recteq when customers were issued his personal cell number, and even answering a call on Christmas Eve one year.
“Don’t fix yourself in a box, collecting bills or selling vacuum cleaners forever,” said Carnes, elaborating on similar points Stewart and Jones had made about following one’s dreams. “Think bigger.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
