Coffee & Conversation

Join us for our monthly Coffee and Conversation event in the SLO HotHouse. Coffee will be provided, and the event is always free. Brett Landry is the founder and executive creative director of DRKHRSE, a creative communications company based in Morro Bay California. Before moving to Morro Bay with his wife and son, Brett worked as a creative director for agencies and clients around the globe, creating everything from Super Bowl commercials to documentary films starring Kelly Slater. An avid surfer, he has recently moved to the central coast to pursue the arts of filmmaking, social media, virtual reality, editing, sound design and again, surfing. Brett holds a master's degree from the Virginia Commonwealth University in communications as well as a B.S. in marketing. DRKHRSE has recently opened a 2000 square foot studio where they are prepping to be the first company to fly a drone over One World Trade Center, as part of a non-profit initiative with The Durst Organization. They are also developing a program to help high school students explore and produce virtual reality media for use in their school's social media communications programs.

Join us for coffee and hear from a great guest speaker! Katerina Axelsson CEO and Founder of Tastry, will share her entrepreneurial experiences and journey to creating a company in San Luis Obispo. Katerina, is a graduate of Cal Poly with a B.S. in Chemistry. While in school, she worked at a custom-crush facility and noticed that one of their batches imprinted with two different labels received drastically different industry scores: it was then that she knew there had to be a more science-based way to score wine. Thus, Tastry was born. Tastry is a sensory sciences company that uses advanced chemistry, machine learning and artificial intelligence to match consumers to products they will love

Steve Ehret, co-owner of Sandbox Marketing, will join us this month to share his experience in dealing with a sudden shut down of his business amid a pandemic, identifying a new opportunity, and pivoting his business to meet a new market demand. Generating tens of millions in revenue over a few short months, Steve has a wealth of knowledge, creativity, and a small business entrepreneurial spirit to share with you. This conversation will be moderated by Simon Arkell. Simon sits on the Cal Poly business school Dean’s Advisory Council and the President’s Committee. He is currently the co-founder and president of Deep Lens, a healthcare AI company focused on matching cancer patients to clinical trials. REGISTER HERE: https://ucmsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events/13318