[Applause and cheering] DR.

VONNYA PETTIGREW: Welcome, everyone, to another episode of Root Branch Marketplace Small Business Saturday.

This year we're doing Maryland Edition.

Listen, you all, we've curated an incredible show for you all today.

♪♪ DR.

PETTIGREW: Welcome back to Root Branch Marketplace.

Now you all know for this episode we are shopping Maryland and we could not be more honored to have with us all the way from Annapolis, Maryland.

Our very own state comptroller.

Comptroller, Brooke Lierman.

Comptroller, welcome to Marketplace.

COMPTROLLER BROOKE LIERMAN: It's great to be here.

Thanks so much for doing this.

And thanks for having me today.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Oh my goodness.

So we're just going to jump right in.

You know we produce Root Branch Marketplace as an opportunity to shine light on the incredible small businesses across our state.

In your opinion, why is it so important to invest in Maryland small businesses, locally owned businesses?

COMPTROLLER BROOKE LIERMAN: I serve sort of as the elected CFO of the state.

Right, and so I can see the impact that shopping small and shopping local, um has on our state economy and on our local economies, you know, we know that if you shop small, you shop in your neighborhood.

That means you're putting money uh to work in your community, keeping your neighbors employed, continuing to build a strong community and making sure that those dollars stay local, which then means we have the revenue to fund the programs that we care about.

So really, shopping small does- is great for those businesses, but it's also great for you as the shopper.

You get more of that money back when you're shopping local.

So, you know, one of the things about my role that's interesting is that I don't set tax policy.

I administer it.

Right.

So the Governor and the General Assembly pass laws that determine our state tax policy and our of course, our local governments are in charge of local tax policy.

But what I do want to make sure is that when new taxes are passed or change or, you know, old taxes changed, that our small business owners know what to expect.

Uh, so the last session, there were a number of changes to our state tax code.

Immediately upon the end of session, we launched a webpage right on the front of our website that said, this is the place where you'll find the information you need.

Transparency, you know, proactivity, really key to making sure businesses know what's coming.

Because certainty matters.

You know, they want to know.

And so we want to help them make sure that they understand and can account for the changes.

DR.

PETTIGREW: What's the best way for them to reach you?

COMPTROLLER LIERMAN: Absolutely.

So first go to our website.

Brand new website, MarylandComptroller.gov.

You can find sort of a bevy of different tools there.

Um, everything from signing up for our newsletter, um to reading about tax laws and also, I visit so many small businesses, right.

We'd love to stop by.

Um, I like to highlight the great work that our small business owners are doing.

Whether you're an IT company, or a barber shop or a retailer keep in touch.

Um we want- we are here to serve uh the people of Maryland and the small businesses in Maryland.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Well, thank you.

You have been doing an incredible job.

And Comptroller Lierman is truly a woman of her word.

Because from all the way from Annapolis, she is here in studio A here at the RBMG Building doing just that, showing her direct support and commitment to the small businesses of Maryland.

And we thank you.

Do not go anywhere.

There is more Marketplace to come.

♪♪ DR.

PETTIGREW: Welcome back to Root Branch Marketplace.

Again, we are talking all things Maryland in this episode, as we head into the shopping season for the holidays.

And we're here in the studio with another representative representing another county in our great state, the County Executive of Howard County, Calvin Ball.

County Exec., welcome to the show.

HOWARD COUNTY EXECUTIVE CALVIN BALL: Well thanks for having me.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Thank you, so so much for, uh making your way up the Beltway or whatever road it takes to get to this part of Baltimore.

We're extremely honored to have you in studio with us.

HOWARD COUNTY EXEC.

BALL: Well as a lifelong Marylander.

I have been blessed to see businesses grow and thrive and move not only throughout Maryland, but beyond Maryland.

And I know that when you invest in a local small business, you're investing in community because the dollars that go into our local small businesses come back to our community at a higher percentage than when you invest in some of these national chains or other places.

And so it is not only investing in our neighborhoods, but also investing in our people.

DR.

PETTIGREW: What initiatives or resources does Howard County offer to help small businesses thrive beyond the holiday season?

HOWARD COUNTY EXEC.

BALL: So in Howard County, we have our Howard County Economic Development Authority.

And if people go to HowardCountyeda.org, they'll see so many businesses.

Our CEO Jennifer Jones, works directly with our county government on not only helping with the finance, but also just helping people navigate the structure.

Too many of our entrepreneurs are so busy working in the business, they don't work on the business.

DR.

PETTIGREW: That's right.

HOWARD COUNTY EXEC.

BALL: And we can help them do that.

DR.

PETTIGREW: That's awesome.

Thank you.

So where can folks traveling to Howard County for the holidays and residents find small businesses?

Are there any markets or online directories viewers should look into?

HOWARD COUNTY EXEC.

BALL: Well, we have small businesses all throughout Howard County.

We have about 11,500 businesses.

DR.

PETTIGREW: What?!

HOWARD COUNTY EXEC.

BALL: Yeah, we try to do our thing, [Laughs] but we try to support them all.

Uh, oftentimes we understand that when you invest in a business, you invest in a community, you invest in a family, you invest in hopes and dreams, and you invest in the future.

DR.

PETTIGREW: How can they connect with your office or gain insight into the resources that you offer?

HOWARD COUNTY EXEC.

BALL: Well, you can email me directly at CBall@HowardCountyMD.gov.

Or again visit our HowardCountyeda.org website for resources and services.

Know that I want them to be successful because a business's success is Howard County's success, which is Maryland's success.

DR.

PETTIGREW: So we are grateful to have you.

We thank you.

You all do not go anywhere.

There is more show to come.

♪♪ DR.

PETTIGREW: Welcome back, everyone, to Root Branch Marketplace Maryland edition for Small Business Saturday.

Now, you all know that our headquarters are in Baltimore City, but we have representation from all across the state chiming in and championing for our local small businesses.

So I am here with my great friend all the way from Annapolis, N. Scott Phillips, welcome to the show.

MD STATE DELEGATE N. SCOTT PHILLIPS: Well, thank you, Vonnya, and it's great to be here, particularly as we're talking about Small Business Saturday.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Tell us a little bit about your role and your role in the legislative caucus.

But then I want to dive deep because I know that you particularly have been a long standing advocate for, um businesses and particularly minority businesses in the state.

So tell us first a little bit about your background in in this work.

DEL.

SCOTT PHILLIPS: Sure.

So I represent the 10th legislative district, which is northwest Baltimore County.

So Reisterstown, Randallstown, and all the things in between there and Catonsville and um, I'm a member of the House Judiciary Committee, but I'm also the co-chair of the Black Wealth uh, Committee for the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus.

So I'm very much focused on advocacy around small businesses in particular, and minority businesses as well.

The Maryland Legislative Black Caucus is known as the entity that really promotes small minority, women, veteran owned businesses.

And so this year, we have a number of initiatives that we're focused on increasing, uh, spending with veteran owned businesses, increasing spending with small businesses, um, helping small businesses get paid faster by the state of Maryland.

So all of those are things that we're doing to encourage and to grow small businesses.

We believe that small business really is the engine that will grow our economy here in Maryland.

And so we're focused on that.

Buy small, shop small, in your communities.

So you support those businesses that are going to support you, from those businesses that support our little leagues, to those businesses who support our seniors, to those businesses who hire our children and hire our seniors and hire folks in our community.

There is nothing like supporting those in your community, DR.

PETTIGREW: Thank you again so much.

N. Scott Phillips all the way from Annapolis representing Baltimore County chiming in for the Root Branch Marketplace.

Don't go anywhere there's more Root Branch Marketplace to come.

♪♪ DR.

PETTIGREW: Welcome back everyone.

So, in this segment I have a very special guest in studio with me today.

I have the president and CEO of Innovation Works, Jay Nwachu.

Jay, welcome to the show.

A. JAY NWACHU: Thank you for having me.

Happy holidays.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Happy holidays.

So we are in the holiday season and as you and I were talking backstage Root Branch Marketplace is all about, you know, shining light on the small businesses.

And in this episode, we're kind of going beyond the beltway of Baltimore, but really shining light on those small businesses in Maryland.

But I want you to tell the audience a bit more about Innovation Works and the work that you all do here and the impact you have here in Baltimore, particularly in support of small businesses.

NWACHU: Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks for having me, by the way.

Um, so Innovation Works, we're a nonprofit based here in Baltimore City, uh and our mission is to close the racial wealth gap.

And the way we think about that is to help um, local social entrepreneurs and small businesses that are providing goods and services that benefit Baltimore City as a whole.

That are creating jobs that are meaningful and pay well, um and also running sustainable enterprises that can ultimately take care of founders, their employees, so we can grow more wealth in the city.

Really it's a resource available to the Innovation Works network of entrepreneurs that we support.

It's not open, like you can't just go online and apply.

I should be clear about that.

Um, but we designed it with those entrepreneurs in mind.

We remove traditional barriers like we don't rely like on credit scores or personal guarantees or collateral.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Wow.

NWACHU: Because most small businesses- DR.

PETTIGREW: Those are all the barriers [laughs].

NWACHU: Just don't have collateral to put up.

Right?

Um, that's why it's restricted to the Innovation Works network.

What we do in lieu of that is build really good strong relationships with founders.

We know their why.

We are in crazy times.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Yeah.

NWACHU: The economy is shifting around us.

All the safety mechanisms we have in business side is shifting around us.

People are in more precarious situations now than we were a year ago.

And a year ago wasn't pretty.

Just got worse.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Right.

So thank you so, so much, Jay, for sitting down with me for shedding some light on the great work that you guys are doing over there at Innovation Works.

We're really honored to be able to lift it up here in this platform.

You all do not go anywhere.

There is more Marketplace to come.

♪♪ JODI MARSCHHAUSER: I'm Jodi Marschhauser.

I am the tourism manager for Harford County with Hello Harford.

We are just a very friendly place.

It is a small town feel with just some amazing entrepreneur, small businesses um, community members that have been there for a long time.

Small businesses are really our backbone and we support them all throughout the year.

We do different things in economic development, which is where tourism falls.

Um, doing things with small business loans, with different training programs that are free to the businesses.

So we have three different Main Street districts, um all lined with different small business shops, with dining, lots of opportunity for Small Business Saturday, um and even throughout the holiday season.

We're really excited because we have built things around it.

We have built holiday, even small markets, um, music's piping through the main streets.

Lights are, um strung and lined throughout.

We have train gardens.

We really want to make it a place that people spend the day, spend the weekend, come up and just celebrate and support the neighbors and support the community and really, you know, enjoy all the things we have to offer.

So we have our um website HelloHarford.

So we really just want to be a resource.

We want to make it easy.

We want to support all these great businesses that are out there every day working hard.

And I just, it's important to support them now and to support them throughout the year.

These are passionate entrepreneurs and we're just excited to be able to support them.

♪♪ BALTIMORE COUNTY COUNCILMAN JULIAN JONES: I am Julian Jones.

I'm a councilman in Baltimore County.

It is extremely important to shop small and shop local during this holiday season because to be quite frank, our local and small businesses need your money.

The big box stores, they have enough.

Your money is turned over more in our community when you shop small.

Has a bigger impact right here in our community.

I love Baltimore and Maryland, mainly Baltimore because this is my home.

I think Maryland is a beautiful place.

It has everything from western Maryland, where you're way in the burbs, to the center of the state, which is Baltimore, to the, to the shore, Ocean City.

So Maryland is beautiful.

♪♪ DR.

PETTIGREW: Welcome back to the Root Branch Market Place.

I'm Dr.

Vonnya Pettigrew, and we are talking all things small business this holiday season.

And we're shopping the state of Maryland.

And we have been getting um, support and feedback from all across our great state, not only from our different counties, but also some of our flagship sports teams.

So I am so so honored to have with us today a representative from The Baltimore Orioles.

We have Jennifer Grondahl with us.

Jen, thank you so much for joining us on the show.

JENNIFER GRONDAHL: Thank you so much for having me.

Happy to be here and especially happy to see you on your, on your festive set.

One of the most important things that we can all do is support small business, because that is the engine that helps Maryland and Baltimore run.

And we're very fortunate because at the Orioles, we drive a lot of economic impact to the state of Maryland in the city of Baltimore by bringing fans in for games.

And we do that 162 times a year.

Think about that.

The number of games, well, actually 81, at Camden Yards.

But fans everywhere are watching games, the rest of our 81 games throughout the city of Baltimore.

And we know how much those small businesses around Camden Yards, downtown, in the outskirts of Baltimore rely on the Orioles.

Um and we take that very seriously.

And we we certainly encourage our fans to be supportive of of, you know, any- any small business store on the corner.

DR.

PETTIGREW: What is the message you will have to all the fans in the state of Maryland for shopping local this holiday season?

JENNIFER GRONDAHL: We hope that all of our fans will support small business and Root Branch Marketplace by shopping small and and remembering it is part of Maryland Pride.

We should share our Maryland pride and much, much beyond our borders and remind everybody what makes Maryland and really our city, so special and so unique.

There's so many great businesses around to support, and the Orioles are very happy to have their support as well.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Thank you so, so very much.

Don't go anywhere guys.

There's more Root Branch Marketplace to come.

And we have some more amazing guests popping in to show their statewide pride.

♪♪ DR.

PETTIGREW: Welcome back everyone!

I am so excited for this next segment.

I'm sitting down with a great friend of mine.

He is the head of the Greater Baltimore Committee or as we call it here in Baltimore, the GBC.

This is Mark Anthony Thomas.

Mark, welcome to the show.

MARK ANTHONY THOMAS: It's good to see you.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Good to see you always.

I can't believe the holidays are here, and are upon us.

And so as we've been talking this episode of Root Branch Marketplace, we're talking all things holiday shopping.

But shopping local, shopping small and shopping Maryland.

So can you tell us a bit about the GBC, what you all do, your your impact and your role here in Baltimore?

THOMAS: Yeah, sure.

So the GBC was founded seven years ago.

We were created to actually grow the economy, strengthen the Baltimore region and support Maryland being, a dynamic state that it is.

And so we prioritized economic development issues, but we have our hands on issues from public safety to transportation and supporting small business.

So we're largely composed of the major employers and anchor institutions, but they're all deeply invested in seeing a thriving startup and small business ecosystem.

And so we've recently acquired a program called Be Local that will then be repositioned to make sure that we're all supporting small business.

We just merged with UpSurge, which is helping founders and innovation companies get the resources they need.

But even just in building great neighborhoods- and being a resident of the city, you know, the region, it's just you love places where small businesses are thriving.

DR.

PETTIGREW: I love that, and I love that you brought up, um Be Local and Upsurge.

UpSurge, particularly um, uh centers around those startups that are in the tech space.

THOMAS: That's correct.

DR.

PETTIGREW: And so with Baltimore having that, I guess um, what is it, the identifier as a tech hub.

This is why I love this show, because it's about bringing this type of information to the forefront.

And that even in that, in the tech, in the bio-med space, small business and startup and innovation is a part of that.

That is super exciting.

So again, we're heading into the holidays.

So um, you have plans for the holidays?

Are you shopping local?

THOMAS: So I actually love, just the celebration of small business that happens around the holiday season.

Uh I love small businesses, whether it's restaurants, bookstores, local crafts, farmers markets, wherever you see an opportunity to really support an entrepreneur that's trying to thrive is creating something unique, then that's something that really just makes me excited.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Thank you.

I agree with that.

Well, you've heard it here from our head of the GBC.

There are some great things happening here in Baltimore, particularly in our tech space and our innovation space.

Stay locked in with us.

Shop local, shop small.

Thank you again, Mark Anthony Thomas, for being on the show with us.

You all do not go anywhere.

There is more Marketplace to come.

♪♪ DR.

PETTIGREW: And we're back.

Root Branch Marketplace, Small Business Saturday, Maryland edition.

Again, our representatives have been showing up from all across the state.

I'm super honored to be here with Delegate Mike Rogers all the way from Anne Arundel County.

Delegate, thank you so much for joining the show.

MARYLAND STATE DELEGATE MIKE ROGERS: Hey, Dr.

Pettigrew.

It's great to be here with you.

Um, it's an honor for me to actually have this conversation with someone who's doing all the great things that you're doing.

And, you know, one day I want to buy my own block, too.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Let's do it.

I love it.

I love to hear it.

[Laughs] So as we talked about in this episode of Root Branch Marketplace, it's the holiday season.

You know, we really want to turn inward and support our local businesses, and particularly right here in our great state of Maryland.

Can you talk to me a bit about what's happening over there in your county, in the small business space?

DEL.

ROGERS: Small businesses is truly the backbone of our economy.

And so, you know, I'm excited to be here with Root Branch Marketplace.

Uh, just to kind of tell people to, to shop local.

Local businesses, as I said, you know, are our backbone.

So as we approach this holiday season, shop local, shop small business.

We've got some great restaurants here in Anne Arundel county.

Just a brand new restaurant just opened up, Jamaican themed Catherine's, inspired by the, the owner and chef's mother.

We've got small pastry shops, you know, we've got Cakes Plus.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Yeah.

DEL.

ROGERS: We've got you know, a brand new uh, foodery that opened in Odenton.

So many small businesses that are here in Anne Arundel County, but really across the state.

And I believe that our small businesses are truly our backbone.

And so we need to patronize them as often as we can, particularly during this holiday season.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Well, thank you so much, Delegate Rogers, for joining us all the way from Arundel County to share your remarks and to stand with us in unity for this holiday season as we shop local and shop small.

Do not go anywhere.

There is more Root Branch Marketplace to come.

♪♪ DR.

PETTIGREW: Welcome back to another segment of Root Branch Marketplace.

Now you all know again, for this episode, we are talking shopping Maryland.

However, Root Branch Studios are located and headquartered right here in Baltimore City, so we would be remiss if we did not have representation from the leadership of our very own city.

So I am extremely honored to be sitting here today with our City Council President, Zeke Cohen.

Zeke welcome to The Marketplace.

BALT.

CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT ZEKE COHEN: Thank you for having me.

And I got to say, I'm honored too, to be with my friend and someone who is a pioneer and an entrepreneur and appreciate you having me on.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Thank you.

So we're going to jump into it.

Again, we're talking shopping local, shopping small.

But from a leadership perspective, I would love to hear from you.

How is City Council supporting Baltimore small business and minority owned businesses to help them grow and stay sustainable in today's economy?

BALT.

CITY COUNCIL PRES.

COHEN: I am the biggest foodie in town, and so I feel like I single handedly- DR.

PETTIGREW: [Laughs] You do.

BALT.

CITY COUNCIL PRES.

COHEN: support our small restaurant local business scene.

Institutionally, uh we support the Boost program, which was a partnership between Downtown Partnership, the Mayor's Office, and a bunch of folks to try to seed some money, and I think you were a part of that as well, uh into small, often minority owned businesses.

We in Baltimore believe fundamentally that from an economic development standpoint, it makes a ton of sense for us to invest in small businesses and particularly black owned, women owned businesses.

The Trump administration and the national politics is pushing in a different direction, but when we look locally, we know that we have so many amazing entrepreneurs in this town that want to add their talent and their treasure, and bring products to market, and Baltimore is a great place to do it.

We still believe that diversity and equity are strengths in this city.

And so come build in Baltimore.

I'm going to go after this to Café Dear Leon, right in Canton Square.

Uh you know, to see those guys going from one spot to now having a restaurant and then moving up to North Baltimore as well.

And look, I get it.

Amazon is convenient.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Right.

BALT.

CITY COUNCIL PRES.

COHEN: Folks understand that you know, that they've, done a lot to make their products very accessible.

But what I urge Baltimoreans to do is to spend a big part of your dollars locally.

That's how we feed our own economy.

That's how we grow small businesses.

That's how we create more jobs in our city.

Even if it's a little bit more expensive, know that those dollars go much further rather than putting them in Jeff Bezos' pocket.

DR.

PETTIGREW: Well, you have heard it here from our City Council President.

Thank you so much.

♪♪ DR.

PETTIGREW: Well everyone we have done it again.

Another incredible Small Business Saturday in the books.

I thank you all for watching and I thank you even more for shopping Maryland this holiday season.

To all of our guests, to all of our businesses, and to all of our counties represented on this broadcast today, we couldn't have done it without each of you.

And it's really each of you who are tuned in and who will carry the ball by shopping local and shopping small this holiday season.

We thank you from my family to yours.

Happy holidays.