Letter from the publisher: The holidays are upon us

The theme of this month for Tampa Bay Business & Wealth, and the rest of our country, is gratitude.  We are thankful!  Thankful for you, for this great community we get to live and work in and blessed to have amazing friends and family rallying with us on a daily basis.

 The cards, letters, calls, texts and emails raving about TBBW have been so inspiring and heartwarming!  Know that we savor each one and appreciate them more than you will ever understand.  Keep ‘em coming Tampa Bay!  We’re reading and digesting your every praise and suggestion.

 Welcome to the third installment of TBBW.  Magazines are a very different world.  In order to deliver this beautiful product, it takes time!  So much time that as I’m writing this, it’s only October 1 – the day our second issue is supposed to hit the streets!  We wait to hear and read your thoughts, with anticipation and pride.  

 I hope by now you are not only becoming familiar with the type of content you can count on from us, but also finding tremendous value in it and realizing we are on a quest to provide great stories and advice-driven articles that enhance your professional AND personal lives.  Again, we welcome your feedback and participation.

 This month, we spent time with people all over our coverage map!

 I couldn’t be happier to have the very first woman to grace the cover.  And what a success story she is, for women everywhere!

We were honored to sit down with Michael Saunders, and to hear her amazing story.  She’s quite the lady, and a local hero of the real estate world south of the Skyway Bridge. Her family’s history makes for a tremendous read on the family legacy on Longboat Key – and on being a woman in business, in what was a man’s world.

A little further north, we smiled our way through a memorable story of friends in college turned real estate moguls who never lost sight of the importance of family and relationships.  I know you’ll enjoy reading about Dewey Mitchell and Allen Crumbley, boy are they fun!  Their story of football and friendship is rousing.

 There’s also a variety of retail reads from Publix in Lakeland partnering with Kahwa in St. Petersburg, to Green Bench Brewery expanding their craft beer options in downtown St. Petersburg and everything in between.

One of our contributors sat down with Roger Dow of the U.S. Travel Association and Old Northeast St. Petersburg, and talked about his commute to D.C., why he and his family chose to live here, and his favorite place to visit — the answer may surprise you.  What won’t surprise you is his love of our airport!

On that note. With the holiday season approaching, take a breath and think about the last time you traveled.   We are all running on a hamster wheel and that’s a major part why you’ve succeeded. But time off is vital to maintaining that momentum.

 Work hard, play hard. That’s our motto, and it should be yours too!

 And finally, we waited for our third issue to be in your hands before beginning to assemble our Editorial Advisory Board.  We want your input to make certain we are delivering above your expectations month after month.  We understand the value of your time and want to be certain that reading the pages of TBBW are a good use of it.  If you’re interested in being part of that exclusive board that will meet quarterly, please reach out to me directly.  [email protected]

Happy Holidays!  Keep reading …

Bridgette Bello

CEO and Publisher, TBBW

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