Latest news with #OurTownMatters
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Remarkable Women: Meet your 2025 winner!
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — During Women's History Month in March, WesternSlopeNow introduced you to four remarkable women living on the Western Slope who make our community a wonderful place to live. We asked you to nominate outstanding women on the Western Slope for an award — one of those submissions stood out the most. Tonya Maddox is this year's Remarkable Woman. Tonya Maddox is the founder and CEO of Our Town Matters, a marketing, PR and events firm that works with small and mid-sized businesses. 'This is America and entrepreneurship is something to be valued and put on a pedestal,' Maddox said. Our Town Matters has worked with about 45 total companies over the last seven years, most of them on the Western Slope. 'It has been the most rewarding experience ever.' She is also the founder and publisher of the Montrose Business Times. 'Publishing and journalism is in my blood. And it is something I haven't been able to get away from. So my history is when newspapers are in trouble, they call me.' Maddox says Our Town Matters has allowed her to help businesses in ways she never thought possible, especially during COVID. 'There were five of us that got together and said, we're going to create this program that would put revenue back into restaurants and allow people to still go out and enjoy meals, whether it's out there in the restaurant with limited capacity or to take home. And this little group of ours, we raised, I think, a quarter of a million dollars, and all of that went back to restaurants… It's more than marketing, PR and events, it's just it's… it's a culture.' Maddox tells WesternSlopeNow her favorite part of Our Town Matters is its impact on the businesses it serves. 'When we find that business that said you made a difference, I wouldn't be here three years later, five years later, or whatever… that just means a lot to me.' Maddox says being named Remarkable Woman has inspired her. 'All I want to continue to do is to recognize other people, to help businesses, to make a difference in my community. And this has given me like, I don't know, this energizer pill to keep doing that for another nine years, and then another nine years, and another nine years.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
WesternSlopeNow celebrates Black History Month
MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KREX) – Black Citizens and Friends President David Combs states, 'Without Black History, we would not have complete history.' While February is known for Valentines Day, it is one of the many months to celebrate history and that is Black History Month. Our Town Matters CEO Tonya Maddox states, 'But I believe just the opposite is important. So when we set aside time to remember these historical facts, then we allow ourselves to let people know that, yes, we understand where we came from, and we know we never want to go back there.' Western Slope Now spoke with Maddox from Montrose and black citizens and friends president David Combs to talk about the significance of black history and why it is important to recognize the trailblazers. Maddox states, 'There are so many individuals in our history that if we did not have them in these people of color, the word culture wouldn't even exist, because we wouldn't have a culture.' 'One of the events that we had for Black History Month was the sip and paint and this year's theme for National Black History Month, the theme was African American labor,' Combs said. Combs told WesternSlopeNow the annual MLK march that is held in Grand Junction, used to start at the historic Handy Chapel. 'It's important to know that there were people that sacrificed to put the bricks and mortar here,' Combs said. And as the community started to participate more, the march passed the chapel to pay their respects. Combs states, 'We had our ceremonies outside just so we could say we were making use of the Handy Chapel. And now what we do is, during our symbolic march, we actually march by the church. We stop. We lay flowers on the steps.' When the city of Montrose held its march, it was still significant to the community to see everyone come together for the same reason. Maddox states, 'I believe that where we are now, and we live in an interracial culture, we touched on some things of people of color, black, white, tan, all getting together and for the common good.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
