Local Buzz

Dr. Shama Rathi and Dr. Sipra Laddha will be honored with the Indo-US Chamber Businesswomen of the Year award at this year’s Banyan Ball, on April 29, being held at the Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel. Rathi and Laddha are co-founders of LunaJoy, a holistic women’s behavioral health care company that provides mental health therapy,

Bay Stage Live, a live-event production and audio/visual company, has acquired AVSS (Audio Visual Support Services), both based in Tampa. The acquisition comes as new owners Danielle Justo Sherwin and Nicole Justo Idziak purchased the family-owned business from their parents, Brian and Yvonne Justo, in 2022, making them the third-generation owners since the company’s inception

Hooters is bringing the rock band Chicago to Clearwater, in October, for a good cause. Hooters, in conjunction with the City of Clearwater, plans to hold a benefit concert for Breast Cancer Research. The Grammy award-winning group will be playing at The Sound at Coachman Park, on October 7. Proceeds from the Breast Cancer Research

Starting Right Now, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending homelessness among high school students, has received the Leadership Award from Dale Carnegie Tampa Bay, in recognition of their partnership with the youth population for the past 15 years. “Dale Carnegie has been our most valuable partner in developing the success of our high school students

The South Tampa Chamber is hosting the 17th Annual Taste of South Tampa, on March 19, presented by Older, Lundy, Koch & Martino. For the sixth year, the Tampa Garden Club, on Bayshore Boulevard, in Tampa, will be transformed into an outdoor festival offering live entertainment, food samples from local restaurants, a beer garden and

Health care entrepreneur Vick Tipnes is launching his first-ever Rise Conference, an event he created for business leaders, and entrepreneurs, who want to grow and scale their businesses. The event will take place from June 16 to June 18, at the JW Marriott Hotel, in Tampa. The three-day conference will be the first of its

iShared Transportation, a Patriot Capital portfolio company, has named Kyle Ingraham as its chief sales officer. Ingraham joins iShared with nearly a decade of leadership experience across sales and operations in the freight transportation industry. In this role, he will have direct leadership over all sales, and marketing, functions within the organization. He was previously

BayCare Health System has opened its newest hospital, in Wesley Chapel, at 4501 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. The 86-bed, 318,000-square-foot hospital will provide comprehensive medical services and health care resources including an emergency department, an intensive care unit with virtual-monitoring beds, diagnostic services such as imaging and lab and surgical services. “We’re thrilled to open

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor joined developer Darryl Shaw, the founder and chief executive officer of KETTLER, Bob Kettler, and other community leaders and elected officials to mark the official groundbreaking of Gas Worx, a 50-acre development, in Ybor City. A joint venture between Shaw and KETTLER, Gas Worx is located between the Ybor Historic District

The Sarasota Performing Arts Center Foundation, formerly known as the Van Wezel Foundation, and the City of Sarasota announced that the Architect Selection Task Force selected six semi-finalists, out of the 18 shortlisted candidates who were invited to submit proposals, to be architect for the new Performing Arts Center. The Architect Selection Task Force, composed

Wes Freeman, a former professional baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and his business partners recently opened JDog Junk Removal & Hauling, in Lakeland JDog Brands, as a company, provides an outlet for veteran entrepreneurs. Freeman, who retired from baseball after an injury, has a brother who has served in the United States military and

DOW Technologies, an independently owned technology distributor, based in Tampa, was awarded Distributor of the Year at the Mobile Electronics Association Industry Awards. The Mobile Electronics association presents the awards, annually, to recognize, and honor, those in the mobile electronics industry. The Industry Awards are voted on by the retailers and vendors working in the