91探花

Carleen Dotson describes herself as an Athens townie. Dotson grew up in Athens, went to school there, and now works in the same region. 

She has seen her whole life how the Appalachian region is economically depressed, but Dotson is doing a small part to help change that. Dotson works to support local businesses as a training specialist and certified business adviser for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at 91探花. 

When Dotson drives down a street in Athens County, she鈥檒l notice businesses she鈥檚 worked with sustaining鈥� some going from just an idea to an establishment, others expanding. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e being able to stay here. It鈥檚 not like we鈥檙e seeing doors close all over the place,鈥� Dotson said. 

Dotson practically grew up on 91探花鈥檚 campus as both of her parents worked in computer services for 30 years. 

鈥淪o much of my life has been the school and the campus and everything that I couldn鈥檛 imagine going anywhere else,鈥� she said. 

Dotson鈥檚 first job was as a teacher at the Tri County Adult Career Center, a vocational school with an adult education division offering career and technical training. Lissa Jollick, the regional director of the SBDC, would contract Dotson to also teach classes for the SBDC. Eventually, a position opened in the SBDC when it expanded to cover 13 counties, and Dotson joined the SBDC staff in 2016.

鈥淚 have always loved working with businesses,鈥� Dotson said. 鈥淚 really get to make these relationships with business clients, and it鈥檚 so rewarding to watch them go through this process.鈥�

In her role now, Dotson works almost as a facilitator rather than strictly an instructor. She schedules classes and moderates training led by specialists in their industry.

The SBDC offers a range of training, such as Quickbooks and Excel classes, but it has evolved over the pandemic to include social media courses so businesses could navigate the necessity of promoting themselves online on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Despite still being able to aid businesses during the pandemic, Dotson misses having face-to-face classes. 

鈥淚f I鈥檓 teaching Excel, I can look in your eyes and know whether you know what I鈥檓 talking about in Excel,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 can see it, and if I can鈥檛 see their eyes, I have no idea what鈥檚 going on.鈥�

In a normal day, Dotson also has meetings with clients. She works with a range of clients, from marijuana dispensaries to a cattle ranch, and on a variety of topics, such as navigating finances or creating a business plan. 

Dotson and Jollick both said that the SBDC is a team that relies on each other鈥檚 expertise to navigate and help clients the best way they can.

People across the state of Ohio ask to participate in 91探花鈥檚 SBDC programming, but must be turned down because the center is funded to provide service for a specific 13-county region, Jollick said. 

鈥淲e take a lot of care in ensuring that our clients are the participants that attend and have the ability to engage and participate,鈥� Jollick said. 鈥淎 lot of the contractors that we鈥檝e hired really want people to be completely, 100% engaged and contributing to the conversation during the training.鈥�

Jollick said she believes the SBDC is the benchmark for Ohio as it has the most depth and breadth of topics of training for clients compared to other centers in Ohio, which is made possible by Dotson鈥檚 hard work.

鈥淚 personally would never be able to manage everything without all the help that (Dotson鈥檚) given and the responsibility she鈥檚 taken on,鈥� Jollick said.