Contents

06  Welcome

08  Leadership

10  502 Hemp Wellness Center

14  Home Cuisine

18  Perfect Pitch

22  Inspire Speakers Unveiled

23  Awards Dinner

24  Ribbon Cuttings

3940 Grandview Ave.,
3rd Floor Louisville, KY 40207

(502) 899-2523
Chamber@stmatthewschamber.com

www.stmatthewschamber.com

Josh Suiter, Chief Executive Officer

Virginia Hart, Chief Operating Officer

Amanda Harper, Events and Programs Coordinator

This publication was created and produced by Town Square Publications for the
St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce

Copyright © 2024 Town Square Publications

P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006

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www.TownSquarePublications.com

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of
the information in this publication. The Chamber and Town Square assume no responsibility for misinformation. Please contact the Chamber with any additions or corrections. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of the Chamber and Town Square is prohibited.

Chairman, CEO and Publisher | Douglas K. Ray

President and Chief Operating Officer | Scott Stone

Vice President / Director | Scott Ray

Managing Director | David Small

Director of Production | Ryan Moore

Director of Operations | Joseph Nugara

Sales | Chris Smith

Editor | Bob Oswald

Project Manager | Katharene DeLorenzo

Contributing Writer | Glenn Stephens

Welcome to the first issue of The Chamber of St. Matthews’ Chamber Connection magazine!

We are so excited to roll out this new publication to showcase our members, our events and programs and other exciting things happening in our community.

Each quarter we will release a new magazine filled with photos, stories and information about the community.

In this issue, we are excited to highlight three chamber members: Home Cuisine, 502 Hemp and Perfect Pitch DJ Service. Learn more about Home Cuisine and their 20th anniversary in business. You can also read up about Perfect Pitch DJ Service and how this thriving business survived COVID and how they have grown in the last few years. Then dive into the story about 502 Hemp and their owner Dee Dee Taylor who has grown this CBD business into not only her livelihood, but her passion.

The Chamber has also included information about our upcoming Inspire series and announced the winners of awards, which were presented at our Annual Dinner on Feb. 22. Plus, you can see some recent ribbon cuttings.

Is there something we didn’t cover this issue that you want us to consider? Please email me at JoshS@stmatthewschamber.com. This being our first issue, we are still learning. But we are open to suggestions and ideas.

Thanks again for reading! We hope you enjoy The Chamber Connection!

Josh Suiter
CEO
The Chamber of St. Matthews

Shelly Gardner
President
Keller Williams Louisville East

Amber Clark
Vice President
Amber Clark, LLC

Michelle Channell
Sargent at Arms
Commonwealth Credit Union

Sara Aschbacher
Secretary
Lincoln Insurance Agency

Marisa Neal
Treasurer
MMN Consulting LLC

Rensha Allen
Thomas Allen AllState

Jonathan Braden
Higginbotham

Misty Enright
Misty Enright Photography

Megan Jones
Rivers Edge Events & Rentals

Jeremy Koonce
Custom Select Realty

Maria Mears
Stroll NoCo

Christy Smallwood
Eagle Eye Strategies LLC

Dee Dee Taylor
502 Hemp

Jackson Thompson
Independence Bank

Chris Wolfe
Wolfe & Bosch

Josh Suiter
Chief Executive Officer

Virginia Hart
Chief Operating Officer

Amanda Harper
Events and Programs Coordinator

Dee Dee Taylor was desperate for a way to stop the grand mal seizures that were plaguing her husband John when she discovered the benefits of cannabidiol (CBD) for that and a long list of other problems.

That was in 2010. Today, Dee Dee Taylor is the owner of 502 Hemp Wellness Center in Louisville and 812 Hemp in Clarksville, Indiana, where she serves customers who come in with conditions ranging from seizures to difficulty sleeping to PTSD.

She knew little about CBD when she began searching for ways to alleviate her husband’s debilitating seizures.

“We were kind of at our wits end with pharmaceuticals,” Taylor recalls. “The doctors had him up to 28 pills a day, and he was still having seizures.”

She urged him to go out west in hopes of finding a path toward controlling the seizures. It was there he learned about the benefits of CBD.

“We started making it at home, and he started using it,” she said. “He got off the medications and went seizure-free for five years. It made a huge difference; it was life-changing, truly.”

Taylor also turned to CBD in 2016 to curb her own problems with anxiety, depression and sleeplessness. “It made a huge difference for me and I had to know why,” she said.

She began offering products in 2016 at local fairs and festivals and opened her retail location in 2018 as a way for customers to learn more and get quality products a little easier. She also has an online store for those who can’t come in, www.502hemp.com.

“I never really understood how CBD worked for me and my husband until I started doing my homework,” Taylor said. “The more I learned, the more I realized that our bodies actually need cannabinoids. We have a whole endocannabinoid system and our bodies use the cannabinoids in the cannabis plant to sort of regulate itself. I will never tell anyone that CBD is a cure, but it sure does seem to help so many people with all sorts of different ailments.”

John Taylor’s company processes hemp

After his success with CBD to control his seizures, John Taylor and his business partner set up a company that supplies CBD products to his wife’s two stores and others. The company, one of the first licensed processors in Kentucky, buys hemp from area farmers and extracts the CBD to make a variety of products, ranging from gummies and other edibles to CBD oil and capsules.

John is now on his own, formulating products out of the Clarksville location and continuing the tradition of quality. His company still sends products out for third-party testing to ensure there are no contaminants, and to ensure they are safe and clean. They also test the milligram strength to make sure it matches the label. Quality truly matters to the Taylors and they care about the products that they provide to others.

There are no licensing requirements in Kentucky or Indiana for companies that sell CBD products. They may be sold in unlimited quantities to anyone who is 21 or older.

Dee Dee describes her two stores as wellness centers. Besides the CBD products, they offer functional mushrooms, and Delta 8 and Delta 9 THC products as well. At the Louisville location, there is a massage therapist offering her services of care.

Referrals from doctors, friends

She said most of her customers turn to CBD products because they have not gotten the kind of relief they need from pharmaceutical medications. Referrals come from friends and from doctors who suggest patients try CBD when other products have failed.

“I have had numerous doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors and mental health providers who have referred to us,” she said. “I even had a cardiologist send a person who was overly anxious. Anxiety can do a lot of damage to your heart, and we were able to help them.”

Other customers come without doctor referrals.

“They come in and say ‘I’m here because I can’t sleep.’ Or ‘I’m here because I’ve got pain and I need something to take the edge off it.’ We have people who have cancer and are going through chemo, and it helps with the nausea, helps give them a more normal life while going through all of that. We have people who suffer from PTSD, including many veterans.”

She said customers typically have questions about how and when to use the products and how much to take.

“There is no one dose for all,” she added. “It’s all different. We all use these products differently; we metabolize them differently. So we work with our customers to find the best product for their needs.”

After 20 years as a paralegal, Taylor educated herself about CBD products, how to use them, and proper dosing. Each of her two stores employ certified cannabis consultants, in addition to Taylor.

Variety in advertising

While she describes referrals as her most successful form of advertising, Taylor said she places ads through television, social media platforms, bus-stop shelters, radio and several forms of digital outlets.

The advertisements make no medical claims for the products, she said.

Honors for Taylor and her companies

Taylor and her company have won acclaim in several categories since it began operation more than five years ago.

Gov. Andy Beshear named Taylor to his Medical Cannabis Advisory Committee in 2022, and she serves as an honorary board member for Kentucky Moms for Medical Cannabis. She was commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel in 2022 and was awarded the Jeffersontown Chamber’s 2023 Entrepreneur Boom Award.

In addition, 502 Hemp was recognized in 2023 as a finalist for the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for Ethics. The company won the Prospect Chamber’s 2022 Business of the Year and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion awards. 502 Hemp has also won many Leo Reader’s Choice Awards as having the best CBD oil and the Best CBD Store from the Courier Journal for three years in a row. 812 Hemp won the best new store from the Leo Reader’s Choice Award in 2023 as well.

Taylor said she intends 502 Hemp and 812 Hemp to be more of a way of helping people in the Kentuckian area than a profit-making enterprise.

Gourmet food is a family tradition for the owners of Home Cuisine, who trace their service to Louisville back nearly half a century.

The prepared-dinner service was founded in 2004 by Sandy Pike, who now helps operate it along with her daughter Mae Pike, and son-in-law Allen McKamie.

After starting with the goal of supplying healthy meals for diabetics, Home Cuisine has grown into a family-owned company that prepares dinners according to the culinary choices of families across the Louisville area. Customers have the option of picking up their meals or having them delivered to their homes twice each week.

“We get all the ingredients we can locally, and we use all the organic ingredients that make sense,” Mae Pike said. “Between our chef, Chip McPherson, and my mom and me, we build the offerings of meals each week based on what’s available.”

Sandy Pike grew up in Louisville and moved to the San Francisco Bay area in her 20s, teaching cooking classes and catering meals. She returned to Louisville in the early 1980s, implementing some of her West Coast influences as she opened Jack Fry’s in the Highlands. After selling Jack Fry’s a few years later, she opened the upscale Café Society and later Queen of Tarts to supply the desserts that were so popular at the café. After opening more locations in the city, she sold Queen of Tarts in 2004.

“She was kind of semi-retired and was feeling herself out for something new to do when we had a family member who was sick and was advised by her doctor to eat healthier food,” Mae Pike said. “My Mom would make meals for her and drop them off at her house. From that, Mom thought other people needed this kind of food. And she was right.”

Home Cuisine grew from a supplier of meals for diabetics into a service that catered to the desires of families who weren’t in need of serious medical care but were seeking a healthier diet.

Customers choose from among three meal plans: Classic, including all the food groups; paleo, popular among those with food allergies or the need to avoid certain ingredients; and keto, which is low in carbohydrates and high in fat. There’s a vegetarian option that includes a protein source such as beans or tofu with each meal.

“The offerings change each week, according to what is best available,” said Pike, who was born in Berkeley, Calif., learned the food business from her mother. “You don’t really order from a set menu. It’s a surprise when you open the bag. Between our chef, my Mom and me we build it each week.”

The make-up of dinners is also influenced by the seasons, with the types of produce changing with the weather. Most customers love summer vegetables, Pike said, but winter items such as sweet potatoes also are popular.

The company, which has seven employees, operates its own delivery service. Customers go online and order three, five or seven dinners each week for delivery or pick-up on Tuesdays and Fridays.

“It’s all fresh, never frozen,” Pike said.

While Pike is vice president of Home Cuisine and handles public relations, her husband, McKamie, has headed the business as chief executive officer for the past year and a half.

“He has a strong analytical mind, and my Mom and I are more of the artistic types,” Pike said. “I’m more marketing. Mom is more of the operations, the creative force behind it.”

Pike also credits McPherson, the company’s chef, for the continued success of the business. The two have a long history together, going back to the time when they worked for a family restaurant in Louisville during the 1990s.

“I’ve learned so much from him,” she said. “He oversees everything, and he has four people working with him. It’s amazing how much high-quality, nice food they can produce in a short amount of time. Time is the element here because we don’t want things to sit around. They have it down to a science.”

Home Cuisine at one time offered three meals a day, but that ended during the COVID shutdown.

“COVID forced a tricky transition,” Pike said. “Our big challenge was not sales, like it was for restaurants that didn’t have people coming in. We weren’t prepared for the way our supply chain broke down, and it was hard to staff our business.”

Before COVID, she said, about 15% of the customers used home delivery and the rest picked up their meals. “Everybody started using delivery during COVID, and now 75% of our sales are delivery.”

Besides the twice-weekly meal service, Pike has ideas for adding new programs.

One is the Three-Day Reboot, devised by Pike’s sister, Elizabeth Kristofek, a holistic nutritionist who moved from Chicago to Louisville two years ago.

The program offers “a wonderfully healthy cleanse,” according to the company’s website. Each day’s offerings include fresh juice, a chef-created salad, a high-protein soup, anti-inflammatory tea, a healthy snack and infused water.

“I’m really proud of this product,” Pike said. “It’s super clean and perfectly balanced. The results people are having are phenomenal, and the feedback we’re getting has been wonderful.”

Also under consideration is a catering service that may be launched early in 2024, in time for Derby parties and other occasions. As Pike envisions it, customers would go online and order a dinner for perhaps a half dozen people.

“It wouldn’t be traditional catering,” she said. “This would be prepared meals that are fresh and delicious. It would be on a smaller scale, but we would be able to do larger parties as well.

“You just warm it up, and you don’t have to bother with cooking.”

The company is working on a new website that will offer options beyond the traditional dinner meals. It likely will include items such as muffins and soups to supplement the prepared meals.

Steady Growth

Home Cuisine has expanded the area it serves in recent years and now covers much of the Louisville area.

“As we expand, we add more ZIP codes,” Pike said. “Eventually, we would like to cover all of Louisville and southern Indiana.”

Regardless of its size, Home Cuisine remains a family business that Pike, her husband and her mother operate with a hands-on approach.

“It’s a really neat business,” Pike said. “I’m really proud of what we do, and I’m really proud of how far we’ve come. It’s really been a wonderful thing.

“With small business owners, you kind of wear every hat there is. It’s a family affair, for sure.”

Jason Koerner has turned a hobby, which began when he served as a disc jockey at a wedding, into a business that will soon stage its 500th event for a wide range of both individual and corporate clients.

Since Koerner launched Perfect Pitch DJ Service LLC in February 2016, the Louisville-based company has planned and carried out hundreds of corporate functions, weddings, photo booths, holiday parties, community galas and many other types of events.

Koerner gives much of the credit for the steady growth of Perfect Pitch to the Chamber of St. Matthews and its members for the guidance and opportunities they have provided over the past six years. He also cites the role of the company’s staff of five event specialists.

A former human resources professional with a master’s degree in psychology, Koerner traces his interest in music and performing to the days when he banged on pots and pans as a 4 year old. He learned to play and read music on an organ at his grandmother’s house and later went on to play saxophone in the marching and pep bands at Seneca High School and bass guitar in various local bands.

After performing a few events as an amateur DJ, Koerner said, he was approached by a family member who asked him to take part in their wedding.

“I’d never done a wedding before,” he recalled. “I think that was the turning point. I did the wedding using the equipment I had at my disposal as a musician. After that, I was approached by other couples about working at their weddings.

“I didn’t have actual DJ equipment, but I made it work, and it gave me the idea that this is something that I love and something I can do.”

The business remained a part-time, one-man operation until he quit his day job as a counselor in 2020 to devote full time to the company. That was in February, a month before COVID hit the nation.

“The COVID shut-down was a hard pill to swallow but, with the support of my wife Angie, we made it out on the other side and came out stronger than before,” he said. He steadily added more events through 2021 and 2022 and hired five part-time employees last year.

Later this year, he expects to participate in the company’s 500th event, including more than 100 photo booths and 200 weddings.

A significant step in the development of Perfect Pitch came when the company joined the Chamber of St. Matthews in 2017, after Koerner had a lunch meeting with Josh Suiter.

“It was the best move ever,” said Koerner, 43. “It’s made my business grow in ways that I would never have been able to do on my own. It’s been fantastic.”

The Chamber has provided opportunities to participate in networking groups, roundtables of small-business owners, and diversity and inclusion groups. In addition, membership has given Perfect Pitch opportunities to stage community events and other activities for the Chamber.

Koerner attributes the recent success of Perfect Pitch to his staff of five event specialists – Kevin Butler, Ryan Coleman, Keith Koerner, Dave Miller and Alex Stratton. He is hopeful to hire full-time employees soon to operate the photo booth and other tasks at events, while also becoming more involved with certain administrative aspects of the business such as social media and marketing, planning and logistics, and inventory management.

“I want us to be a mini-production company, not a multi-op DJ company,” he said.

Part of Koerner’s vision for Perfect Pitch is an expansion from a mostly seasonal business into a year-round service. It is busiest during warmer months, especially in the spring and fall, but there’s less work available through the winter. He is working toward scheduling more corporate events on weekdays during the cold months.

That will involve the execution of grand openings, rebranding events, ribbon cuttings and team meetings as well as corporate and private parties.

The keys to this continued growth include the relationships Koerner forms in the community and his philosophy of focusing on the needs of clients and delivering a custom-tailored event experience.

“We get hired because we develop a certain kind of relationship,” he said. “It’s that relationship and building of trust. We want to be very hands-on with our clients, to meet and exceed all their expectations for each event. We serve as a trusted adviser that helps guide them on how to make their event successful.”

He spends the vast majority of his time doing behind-the-scenes work. That includes making playlists, procuring equipment, meeting with clients, dealing with logistics and doing a walk-through on-site.

“Once you get to the event, 80 percent of the work is done,” he said. “Now it’s time to execute the plan.”

Beyond its local growth, Koerner looks forward to the day when Perfect Pitch can expand its footprint from the Louisville area into other parts of Kentucky and perhaps adjacent states.

His vision includes the staging of events in Lexington, where he’s worked on occasion, as well as Frankfort and other cities within the region.

Regardless of the size of the event, Koerner says, the goal is to carry out the vision of the client, whether it’s a couple planning a wedding or a company staging a large production.

“We call ourselves the perfect partner for the event. We listen to what the client wants and deliver that – not what I think they ought to have instead.”

That philosophy has allowed Koerner to advance from performing as a hobbyist-level DJ at a cousin’s wedding in 2015 to becoming the operator of a company that stages dozens of events each year and is positioning itself for even further growth.

“I feel like the luckiest person on planet Earth,” Koerner says. “I’ve had a number of people tell me that you can’t make a real living as a DJ. In 2016 I thought there was zero chance that I’d be where I am today, yet I’ve found a way to make my living at something that I’m really passionate about, and now I have people with me who are as passionate about it as I am.”

The Chamber is gearing up for the 2024 Inspire Series. In its 6th year, Inspire features stories of hope, struggles and opportunities.

The program began in 2018 and has featured more than 20 stories being shared. The first Inspire of 2024, features Nachand Trabue to tell her story! Nachand is a serial entrepreneur, an author, a non-profit executive and a brand strategist. She is also a certified life coach.

Inspire is a quarterly breakfast series that invites noteworthy businesswomen in our community to tell the personal stories behind each of their professional journeys in a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Now in its 6th year, we invite you to come alongside for some powerful moments, engaging conversations, and stories that lift you, make you laugh or maybe bring a tear to your eye – it’s Inspired!

Here is the full series, all are held at 8:30 a.m. at The Arterburn:

• March 5, 2024: Nachand Trabue, a serial entrepreneur, an author, a non-profit executive.

• June 4, 2024: Dawn Urrutia, Co-owner and President of Georgia’s Sweet Potato Pie Company.

• Aug. 27, 2024: Jill Wright, Assistant to the President at Mercy Academy and a national presenter for Down Syndrome of Louisville.

• Dec. 10, 2024: Whitney Austin, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Whitney Strong.

The cost is $30 per program or all four for $100. To register for all four presentations or the March event, go to https://business.stmatthewschamber.com/events/details/inspire-featuring-nachand-trabue-7207.

In addition, new this year – we will have a bonus program on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 16 at The Arterburn. This program will feature a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion panel made up of four women in our community. They are:

• Hope Leet Dittmeier, Executive Director of Mattingly Edge

• Erica Fields, President of CIVITAS Regional LGBTQIA+ Chamber

• Attica Scott, Director of Special Projects at Forward Justice Action Network

• Alison Tyler, Head of School at Walden School

The cost is $30. Register at https://business.stmatthewschamber.com/events/details/inspire-diversity-panel-8380

The Chamber of St. Matthews recently held their Annual Meeting on Feb. 22 at The Olmsted. During the event they presented awards to the following winners:

Volunteer of the Year, recognizes an individual who has been supportive to the Chamber by giving of their time and talents: Jonathan Braden, Higginbotham.

Recruiter of the Year, which honors the member who recruited the most new members in 2023: Jacob Moeller, Total Office Products and Service.

New Member of the Year, which honors the most active and engaged new member in 2023: Lily McDonogh, PayFWDS and Chris Dailey, Rooftech.

Community Champion, an award that is designed to spotlight a business or group that has wound itself into the community it serves: Walden School.

Community Service, an award created to recognize our public servants for their service in our community: Officer Nick Wilt, Louisville Metro Police.

Excellence in Teaching, an award focused on the overall dedication to service and excellence in the education profession. The winner of this award could be a teacher, administrator, counselor, or staff member that has made an outstanding impact on the students they work with: Bernie Schum, Trinity High School

Community Pride, our oldest award, was established to recognize the incredible amount of passion and dedication the recipients have for their communities: Eddie Bobbitt, Camp Quality Kentuckiana.

Outstanding Leader and Chamber Champion Award, an award to honor this recipient for all they do for local Chambers throughout Kentucky: Amy Cloud, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Executives.

Diversity Champion, recognizes a business or organization for their work in contributing to diversity and inclusion within their organization: Walden School.

Non-Profit of the Year, an award honoring an exceptional organization making a meaningful impact in our community: IDEASxLab

Solopreneur of the Year, designed to honor solopreneurs in our community and they work they do as a one person show: The Write Solutions

Small Business of the Year, established to honor businesses with fewer than 25 employees, these businesses make up over 80% of our organization’s members: 502 Hemp.

Medium Business of the Year, designed to recognize businesses with one 26-99 employees: AIC Roofing & Construction.

Large Business of the Year, designed to recognize businesses with one hundred or more employees: Topgolf.

Billy Fowler Young Professional of the Year, named in honor of a past president and chamber supporter, created to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of highly motivated, emerging leaders within the Chamber: John King Jr., German American Bank.

Albert Sanders Award, created to honor a man who had gone above and beyond for the City of St. Matthews and the Chamber. Albert Sanders was one of the biggest supporters, hardest workers and most interested people to ever be a part of the Chamber. The award is given to a Chamber member who best exemplifies the spirit and hard work that Mr. Sanders put into our organization: Independence Bank and Ashley Bratcher of St. Matthews Police Department for Wilt Week to raise funds for Officer Nick Wilt.