Chloe Valentine, the new Southwest Wyoming Regional Director with the Wyoming Business Council, called into the Weekday Wake-Up on Wednesday, November 26 to discuss her new role and the resources available to local businesses.

(0:00) Joining me live over the phone is Chloe Valentine. (0:04) Chloe is the new Regional Director for Southwest Wyoming with the Wyoming Business Council. (0:10) Chloe, good morning.

(0:10) How are you today? (0:12) Good morning. (0:12) I’m great. (0:13) Thanks for having me.

(0:14) Absolutely. (0:14) Appreciate your time. (0:15) Congratulations on the new title as Regional Director.

(0:19) Give us some background on yourself and maybe what led up to becoming into this position. (0:26) Yeah. (0:27) I’m actually from Grebel, Wyoming, and then I went to the University of Wyoming for school.

(0:32) I ended up getting a bachelor’s in public relations and then my master’s in business (0:38) administration. (0:40) I thought I was going to be in sales throughout my career and took a turn when COVID happened (0:48) and I got into education. (0:50) I was teaching at our local high school, which I really enjoyed.

(0:54) Then I saw this opportunity with the business council pop up and I thought it would just (1:00) be a great way to help my community grow and help our entire region as a whole in Southwest (1:07) Wyoming. (1:08) Very cool. (1:08) Here I am.

(1:09) All right. (1:11) Southwest region, what does that all entail? (1:13) Where do you work? (1:15) Yep. (1:16) I am in Sweetwater, Lincoln, and Uinta counties.

(1:20) Perfect. (1:20) When you work with the Wyoming Business Council, I guess, what is your role as the Regional (1:25) Director? (1:27) Yeah. (1:27) I basically work as a liaison between the communities and setting them up with resources (1:34) available to them as well as connecting them with people.

(1:38) That’s a huge part of what we’re trying to do is connect people with each other around (1:43) the state to grow and strengthen each community. (1:46) Speaking with Chloe Valentine this morning, she’s the new Southwest Wyoming Regional (1:49) Director for the Wyoming Business Council. (1:52) Chloe, let’s maybe talk some of the specific projects that you’re working on right now (1:57) in Southwest Wyoming.

(1:58) Are there any specific businesses looking to come in or infrastructure needs? (2:03) Maybe some of those. (2:06) Yeah, of course. (2:07) I was actually just in Uinta County last week.

(2:12) Had some great discussions and was given a tour around the city and was able to see a (2:19) few upcoming projects. (2:20) They have a lot going on with gaming institutions. (2:24) That’s really exciting for that community and trying to leverage some I-80 traffic and (2:30) folks that come up from Utah into Evanston for gaming opportunities and lotteries.

(2:36) That’s an example of something that I’ve been a part of recently or had an inside look (2:42) at that’s really exciting in our region. (2:44) Sure. (2:44) Absolutely.

(2:45) Speaking of some of the resources available for the business community in Southwest Wyoming, (2:53) maybe give us some more information on what the Wyoming Business Council offers for maybe (2:58) businesses already established and businesses that are already up and running in the area. (3:03) Yeah, absolutely. (3:04) We definitely want to focus on businesses that are already here and community leaders (3:09) already in place.

(3:11) So we can help with any expansion. (3:15) If you need financing for loans for an expansion, we can help with that. (3:20) We can also just help with some best practices, some leadership training and coaching.

(3:27) And we can also help you have a voice in your local community. (3:31) So connect you with local leaders and state legislators and really make sure that the (3:36) constraints that your business is facing and some problems in your industry are in (3:42) the focus of community leaders and elected officials when they’re making decisions. (3:48) And what’s the best way for people to get in touch with you and get the help that you (3:53) just mentioned? (3:55) Yeah.

(3:55) So if you go to our website, the Wyoming Business Council, you can click on your region and (4:01) it’ll connect you with the regional director in your area. (4:05) And I’m happy to chat and hear about any issues that your business is facing or opportunities (4:12) that you’re seeing in your area. (4:15) And we spend a lot of time out in the public and in those areas.

(4:19) So I’m happy to stop and have coffee with folks while I’m in their region. (4:24) Excellent. (4:25) That’s Chloe Valentine, the new Southwest Wyoming regional director for the Wyoming (4:28) Business Council.

(4:30) Chloe, anything we missed about what you do or what the business council offers in Lincoln (4:34) County in Southwest Wyoming? (4:37) You know, we just want to make self-sustaining communities that are engaged and resilient. (4:43) I would just encourage folks to, you know, get involved, just share your opinion on (4:49) what’s happening in your community with your elected officials. (4:52) And we’re really trying to, we call it the team of thousands, but build a team of thousands (4:57) and give a voice to every neighbor in our state that, you know, you live here, you have (5:02) a business here, and we want to hear what your thoughts are in creating our future.

(5:08) Chloe, thank you so much for your time. (5:09) And we appreciate it, wish you the best of luck, and hopefully we’ll talk again soon. (5:13) Thank you for having me.

(5:15) Have a great Thanksgiving. (5:16) You as well. (5:16) That’s Chloe Valentine, Wyoming Business Council, Southwest Wyoming regional director.

(5:21) It’s the Weekday Wake Up on the SVI Radio Network.