Montclair State University‘s Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation will host the second annual New Jersey Small Business Summit on Oct. 22, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the College of Communication and Media.
Tickets are on sale now for the expo-style event that includes expert-led workshops, panel discussions, networking opportunities and special activations throughout the day. Entrepreneurs will learn how to “future-proof” their businesses, embrace artificial intelligence tools to create efficiencies and utilize marketing techniques to sell more and grow their operations.
The summit will be headlined by Lloyd Pearson, celebrity fitness trainer and founder of Live with Lloyd (LWL). In his keynote, Pearson will talk about how he launched his own fitness brand, secured partnerships with dream collaborators and built relationships that created momentum.
Following the keynote there will be a panel discussion, “Resilience Through Change,” focused on building roadmaps for the next five years, covering funding strategies, supply chain management, team building and finding ways to diversify and grow.
The distinguished lineup of workshop facilitators and panelists includes:
- Tog Samphel, founder of the “Shark Tank”-featured kitchen gadget Anytongs, and an entrepreneur who combines UX and product design expertise with AI-driven strategies to bring ideas from concept to market.
- Jimmy Newson, a business and growth strategy consultant, and international speaker known as the “Impact Influencer,” whose mission is to save businesses from failure by helping them leverage innovation, technology and business strategy.
- Annalyce D’Agostino-Gavin, an entrepreneur, designer and strategist who helps small businesses bring their brand vision to life without breaking the bank.
- Stephanie LeBlanc-Godfrey, founder of Mother AI, a platform bridging the gap between rapid AI advancement and real family needs. A former Google leader, she now helps parents leverage AI for their own benefit.
- Julie Castro Abrams, founder and general partner of How Women Invest, the nation’s only venture fund exclusively investing in the top 1% of companies founded by women.
The workshop sessions include:
- AI Workshops (10:10 a.m.–10:55 a.m.). Attendees can choose between “Convert and Retain Customers with AI” using AI tools to understand customers and guide them through awareness, consideration and decision stages, or “Build Your AI Toolkit for Content Creation” — a deeper dive into AI tools for streamlined content creation, including image generation, video creation and editing and automated content scheduling.
- Marketing Workshops (11:05 a.m.–11:50 a.m.). Options include “Build Your Brand on a Budget” — learning how to create a professional brand identity without breaking the bank, or “Discover Why Your Content Isn’t Connecting” — uncovering the emotional considerations behind effective sales and marketing content.
The summit includes breakfast, lunch and networking opportunities throughout the day to create meaningful connections within New Jersey’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. An Experts Corner will provide attendees with complimentary 1:1 mini-consultation sessions with attorneys, accountants, tax experts, business strategists and more.
For complete event details and to secure your spot, go here.
