Adriana is the IRC-SBDC director. Since becoming an SBDC in January 2019, the IRC has served over 800 entrepreneurs. Through in-language technical assistance, training, and access to micro-loans, the IRC-SBDC helps local small businesses prosper by delivering no-cost business assistance with a focus on helping refugees, immigrants, and communities with limited access to mainstream financing. Prior to joining the IRC, Adriana worked for the United Nations Humanitarian Funds in Geneva, Switzerland, where she managed a portfolio of over 40 grantees across the globe. She has over 10 years' experience in nonprofit management and program development as well as specializes in working with economic development programs serving underserved communities. At the SBDC, Adriana focuses on developing and overseeing programs geared toward alleviating barriers to entrepreneurship. Her passion for working in economic development and assisting entrepreneurs can be traced back to her years growing up in Lima, Peru, where she used to help at her family’s store. As with many of the clients who come to the IRC-SBDC, when Adriana and her family first moved to the United States, a lack of credit history, limited access to capital, and limited knowledge of the requirements for starting a small business in the States, placed significant barriers. Adriana’s goal is to provide entrepreneurs with the tools they need to overcome those barriers. Through the programs available at the IRC-SBDC, she and her team hope to have a long-lasting economic impact on the communities they serve.

Briana Weisinger is a Changemaker who leads with mindful integrity and dedication to the 50/50 commitment – equal representation of women and men – in leadership, entrepreneurship, and social impact. She has experienced the ups and downs of launching and closing her own business in the education industry and uses this experience in her mission to empower entrepreneurs with a blend of entrepreneurial thinking and changemaking spirit that helps them explore creating positive social impact while pursuing financial success. Briana has worked with hundreds of startups and small businesses in every industry to launch and scale their businesses. She has also designed entrepreneurial education programs that have served thousands of individuals.

Lucas Coleman is director of the Export SBDC at the World Trade Center (WTC) San Diego. In his role, he oversees all export support activities offered to clients within the network, in areas ranging from supply chain management to global e-commerce, to international business law. This work is carried out through a team of experienced technical advisors. Coleman also manages WTC's flagship export assistance program, MetroConnect, which assists export-ready subject matter experts in expanding their customer base to markets abroad.

Rachel has experience working with micro, social, and now innovation-based businesses.

Wesley Quach is a San Diego native. He's also the director of the Alliance SBDC and has a strong passion for small businesses and the community. Wes thoroughly enjoys helping his clients, whether it's helping them create a business plan, expanding their business, or appling for government loans and grants. He previously served as the manager of the Convoy Business District and co-founded the San Diego Night Market in 2013. He also co-founded a small boutique tea and boba stand in 2018. Wes graduated from California State University San Marcos with a bachelor of science in business administration and has certificates in project management and geographic information systems. He is proud to lead the Alliance SBDC in helping all small businesses, especially minority-owned, achieve success.

Adriana is the IRC-SBDC director. Since becoming an SBDC in January 2019, the IRC has served over 800 entrepreneurs. Through in-language technical assistance, training, and access to micro-loans, the IRC-SBDC helps local small businesses prosper by delivering no-cost business assistance with a focus on helping refugees, immigrants, and communities with limited access to mainstream financing. Prior to joining the IRC, Adriana worked for the United Nations Humanitarian Funds in Geneva, Switzerland, where she managed a portfolio of over 40 grantees across the globe. She has over 10 years' experience in nonprofit management and program development as well as specializes in working with economic development programs serving underserved communities. At the SBDC, Adriana focuses on developing and overseeing programs geared toward alleviating barriers to entrepreneurship. Her passion for working in economic development and assisting entrepreneurs can be traced back to her years growing up in Lima, Peru, where she used to help at her family’s store. As with many of the clients who come to the IRC-SBDC, when Adriana and her family first moved to the United States, a lack of credit history, limited access to capital, and limited knowledge of the requirements for starting a small business in the States, placed significant barriers. Adriana’s goal is to provide entrepreneurs with the tools they need to overcome those barriers. Through the programs available at the IRC-SBDC, she and her team hope to have a long-lasting economic impact on the communities they serve.

Afal is a childcare business counselor at the IRC-SBDC in San Diego, and she speaks Arabic. She shares who their team helps clients get in-home childcare licenses by providing counseling, training, bookkeeping, technical support, materials, and more. Afal adds they also provide marketing, license renewal assistance, and change of address application help. This skilled advisor also coordinates client intake.

Amy joined the North San Diego Small Business Development Center as a volunteer in 2014. Driven by her desire to help small businesses succeed, she moved into a part-time administrative support role in 2015 and accepted a full-time office administrator position the following year. She has been gratefully serving in that role with the SBDC ever since. During that time, Amy has developed an in-depth knowledge of services available throughout the San Diego & Imperial Valley SBDC Network. She's typically the first person new clients interact with when they begin working with the North San Diego SBDC and as such, she does everything possible to connect them with the assistance they require to thrive and succeed. Amy is a native to San Diego County and happens to be a second-generation SBDC team member, giving her the unique perspective of having “grown up” at the SBDC. She has known the program for more than 20 years and can certainly attest to the integrity and hard work put forth by the dedicated team with whom she serves. When she’s not busy at the SBDC, you can find Amy spending time with her beloved family and friends in her hometown of Oceanside.

Angela is a communications manager with over a decade of experience working in nonprofit organizations. She's an excellent, thorough communicator with attention-to-detail. She has experience connecting with different community organizations, businesses, and clients from all walks of life. She's also passionate about serving her community, with the ultimate goal to foster relationships by supporting individuals and businesses on their journeys to success.

Cat has worked at the East County Economic Development Council for three years and with SBDC for nearly two years. Her primary roles include website development, research projects, back-end support for SBDC staff and advisors, grant proposals, and small business support programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cat gained a degree in economics from San Diego State University in 2019 and loves learning new skills to further support SBDC programs and services.

Since 2007, Cheryl has been an advisor with the North San Diego SBDC as an expert in government procurement. She's counseled over 3,000 small businesses resulting in over $700,000,000 awarded contracts. As a small business owner herself, she brings a practical approach to counseling, moving small businesses forward through every step to achieve their goals. Her personal mission is to help small business owners create a better life for their families and the families they employ. Cheryl has a bachelor's in entrepreneurship as well as an MBA. She was awarded the Forbes School of Business and Technology Entrepreneurship Scholarship. She's also a certified Small Business Consultant from the Association of Accredited Small Business Consultants among other certifications and academic achievements. She was awarded the 2018 SBA District Director’s Award for Mission Support, 2012 ASBDC State Star for the San Diego & Imperial SBDC Network, the 2010 SBA Women in Business Champion, and has earned certificates of recognition from senators, members of congress, assemblymembers, and San Diego County supervisors.

Danielle is a San Diego native, born and raised in the East County region. She studied education at Grossmont/Cuyamaca College and graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University with a bachelor’s degree in organizational management. She considers herself to be a lifelong learner with a passion for education and a servant's heart. Her past experience includes customer service across multiple industries including the health and human services sector, as well aas managerial work in a residential care setting. She's been with the East County Economic Development Council and Small Business Development Center since November 2019, loving the work they do to support our communities and empower small business owners.

Highly accomplished and results-oriented entrepreneur and business owner with extensive experience in developing and executing creative strategies to drive business growth, increase and sustain profitability, expand the customer base, and enhance the company’s branding. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to create a high-performance motivated team.

Eddie has been working with small businesses for close to 20 years in Southern California. Throughout his career, he has owned and operated six different businesses in various industries including business consulting, restaurants/bars, real estate and the Mexican candy industries, among others. He served as the president/CEO for the San Diego County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and built a career in the business banking/finance industry with important institutions such as Citibank, Union Bank, and CDC Small Business Finance – where he currently works as a part-time senior business advisor. His current consulting company specializes in business appraisals, business plans, access to capital, financial literacy consulting, entrepreneurship training, and more. Eduardo is a certified valuation analyst as well as has a bachelor's in marketing from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Learning and an MBA in accounting from National University. Aside from working full-time as an assistant professor for San Diego Mesa College, he's also an adjunct professor at Southwestern Community College in the accounting department.

Getting clients and customers to notice you and want to do business with you can be a daunting task. However, Hayato says it's not entirely you're fault and here's why... He writes: Imagine a jar of crunchy organic peanut butter. If you asked the peanut butter in the jar to write its own label, it might write, “peanut butter.” You and I who have seen different kinds of peanut butter jars might say, “CRUNCHY ORGANIC peanut butter" is better. This way more people can notice it and buy it. Business owners are often like this peanut butter. They need someone with the experience and perspective to help market the business. That's what I do. My full-time occupation is to run my digital marketing business. I study how businesses are getting noticed by their clients and consumers online. This helps me stay up-to-date on "what's working today" to deliver our SBDC clients strategies that work. Cheering you on, Hayato Nakamura

Irene is a microenterprise advisor with the IRC-SBDC. She has over eight years' experience working in the refugee and immigrant communities, from language interpretation to community health promotion. Irene has worked on designing, developing, and implementing a Business Women in Action (BWIA) program that works with women from refugee and immigrant communities to learn how to navigate barriers in establishing viable businesses in San Diego. Her areas of expertise include business start-up through licensing and strengthening, a lean canvas business plan model, access to capital, business strategy, and financial coaching. During her tenure as an advisor, Irene has worked with clients such as Ali Awow featured in The New York Times neediest Case and Lili Kouture featured in The San Diego Union-Tribune. She has also collaborated with Aluliden Company out of New York to help a client with website design and branding. Irene holds a bachelor's in health care administration, emphasizing health care management. She's currently a graduate student at Arizona State University, Thunderbird School of Global Management, where she's studying applied leadership in cooperate business management. Irene's other training includes coaching, difficult interactions, feedback essentials, and team management from Harvard Business publishing.

Irma holds dual MBAs from the University of Buckinghamshire New University in London. She specializes in finance and international business management. She went to UC San Diego and transferred to UCSC where she acquired a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology. She also speaks Spanish and French. Irma is an SBDC advisor who teaches and provides an array of business services including entrepreneurship, business planning, lean canvas, and strategic management. She has previously owned and still manages a number of small businesses nationally and internationally. She also continues to consult and advise for her family-owned businesses and others. She previously consulted with the San Diego Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as well as worked as a business manager for Wells Fargo Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in the United Kingdom. Irma lived in London for a few years where she acquired a broad knowledge of the world of business. Her primary focus and mission has been to make companies successful in this competitive global market.