WOMEN OF DISTINCTION O
g to n i k r o W ur help o ss busine nity commu nd. rebou
n Friday, March 5th, the day before the Durham
Chamber’s Annual Take No Bull Women’s Conference
that celebrates women’s history month, while the
Chamber staff was in the midst of laying out nametags and
stuffing speaker swag bags, news of the novel COVID-19
began as a slow drip. Not much was known about it at that time and no cases in the surrounding states had been reported. By Monday, everything changed, as more and
more cases were confirmed and inched closer. Within a week, Durham began to feel the impact of what is now known as one of the most devastating, fast-moving, and far-reaching health crises in the world.
Communities across the nation would be forced to grind to a
feel the weight in ways they never conceived. Communities and small businesses especially, were, and still are, grappling with the “what
now” question. And at the time of this writing, there are many unanswered questions and a myriad uncertainty. True to form, our Durham
community continues to grind, though six feet
and more apart.
For the small business community across Durham, two
women, La-Tasha Best-Gaddy and LaShon A. Harley, would
become known as the go-to experts to help those businesses navigate this unprecedented time. La-Tasha Best-Gaddy has been with the Small Business and Technology Development
Center at North Carolina Central University since 2015. In
this role, she is responsible for assisting small to mid-size business owners to grow and expand. LaShon A. Harley is the
Director of the Small Business Center at Durham Technical Community College where she assists aspiring and existing
entrepreneurs, business owners, and founders with the development and growth of their business idea. Combined,
these women have more than 40 years of experience training,
advising, instructing, and counseling in the areas of business
start-up, funding, job creation and retention, profitability,
infrastructure, and sustainable growth while adhering to the guidelines.
halt or slow down significantly because of social distancing
“We are so impressed with the level of expertise La-Tasha
officials. Businesses—large and small—would begin to
Malory, Director of Member Relations at Durham Chamber of
and then the issuance of stay-at-home orders by government
and LaShon are able to provide our businesses,” said Tiffany