Tampa Bay Business News, Companies, Real Estate & Economic Development
For Kristina Lavallee, life keeps getting sweeter. Founder and namesake of local dessert company, The Cake Girl, Lavallee’s rise to success is already a sweet tale. She first dreamed of owning her own cake company as a little girl, growing up in Puerto Rico and baking with her mother, a chef and caterer, specializing in … Read more
When Jessica Barnes joined Vote Run Lead in 2021, she thought it was for only a few months. Two years later, she says she can’t imagine being anywhere else. And she won’t be anytime soon. She was recently appointed as project manager for the St. Petersburg group. “Vote Run Lead is an organization that trains … Read more
Ernest Carrera is well suited behind his desk, as a wealth advisor at Carrera Financial, but he’s also comfortable steering planes high in the sky. Both of those businesses are more complementary than one might think, he says. Carrera is a fourth-generation Tampa native. His parents met in Ybor City, both were born in Ybor … Read more
Giuseppe Greco immigrated from Santo Stefano, Quisquina, Sicily, to the United States in the late 1800s. Giuseppe’s son, Domenico, along with his wife, eventually established the King-Greco Hardware store in Ybor City. Domenico’s son, Dick Greco, would eventually spend his young years there, helping with the family business, before growing up to become mayor of … Read more
The day Roy Hellwege, formerly the central Florida president for Lake Michigan Credit Union, agreed to meet with us, he was completely at ease, lighthearted and seemingly content to chat as long as we wanted to. He had nowhere to be that day. Undoubtedly, it was a change of pace from when he was the … Read more
The previous CEO talks about the organization’s wins, the growth of the Tampa Bay region and pride for his successor.
Kristina Lavallee, also known as “The Cake Girl,” went viral on social media for designing Tom Brady’s 45th birthday cake, in the shape of a goat. Her business, which started off as a side hustle, in 2008, with Kristina and her husband, Kirby, selling cakes at markets and festivals has turned into a permanent storefront … Read more