The NOVA Entrepreneur Center Newsletter for Southern Middle TN
Keeping it REAL for 2026 & Beyond - Issue #3

The Hype:
The Power of Partnerships with the NOVA Entrepreneur Center
In rural and economically challenged regions, entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting businesses; it’s about creating opportunity where it hasn’t always existed. That’s where the NOVA Entrepreneur Center stands apart.

The Focus:
RFE (Rural Frontier Entrepreneurship) in the Classroom

As part of the NOVA program, we partner with high schools, TCATs, and Universities to create and launch businesses.

The Radar:
Internship Networking Event

The Speer Entrepreneurship Initiative, the UT Southern Department of Career Development,
and the NOVA Entrepreneur Center invite you to join us in building stronger connections
between education and industry. Together, we aim to explore experiential learning, internships,

The Numbers:
Progress towards goals for FY 26 (Cumulative Results)

The Alliance:

Who we talked to since the last newsletter

• Feb 11 - NOVA attending the Williamson County EIC pitch event.
• Feb 10 - Mentoring meeting with Kevin Auwarter, who is creating a School of Rock for highschoolers called The Chord Collective in the Tullahoma area.
• Feb 9  - NOVA and Ayers Foundation meeting at Makeshift
• Feb 5 - NOVA leadership attended a 2-day grant-writing training session.
• Feb 5 - UT Southern Business 101 Class mentoring
• Feb 4 - LaunchTN Regional EC Bimonthly Call
• Feb 3 - Mentoring Session with Michael Bell at PeaceandParadise
• Feb 2 - Lunch with Jeff Bain from the Exchange Club
• Jan 29 - Meeting with Proof Incubator and the Giles County Chamber to discuss the potential of building a Commercial Shared Kitchen in Pulaski, TN
• Jan 29 - Meeting with the UT Space Institute Huntsville Office
• Jan 22 - Introduction with Dr. Teresita Heiser and the VALIANT (Vanderbilt Lab for Immersive AI Translation) Program. A visit and tour will follow next month
• Jan 15 - Meeting with Wendy Hopper, VP of Academics at TCAT Pulaski, to schedule the launch of NOVA EC & TCAT programming, to include onsite mentoring,  Entrepreneurship Boot Camp, and NOVA EC class presentations
• Jan 15 - Presentation to introduce NOVA EC to the future Giles County Leadership Program
• Jan 14 - Discussions with UT Ventures Robyn Geron
  
• Jan 9 - Meeting with Ben and Claire Gaxiola of ModMax; next generation modular housing solutions.

• Jan 9 - Presentation of 2026 TN Legislative Focus Topics for Southern Middle Tennessee w/ Clay Dogget, Joey Hensley, Scott Cepicky, and Kip Capley in Columbia, TN.

• Jan 9 - Meeting with Couture Fashion Designer Juan Guerroro in his Fayetteville Design Studio

• Jan 9 - UT One Community / Economic Development Work Session in Fayetteville TN with TN Economic Development, Fayetteville Main Street, Fayetteville Economic Development, UT Economic Development, UT Center for Industrial Services and the UT Space Institute (Victoria HIrschberg, Aimee Byrd, Greg Lowe, John Hatfield, Brian Fox, Emmy Lou Porter, Elaine Middleton, Paul Jennings, Tin Tin Czach. Sessions to build stronger community partnerships
• Jan 8 - Discussion with Dan Lemcke at CE Tools.
• Jan 8 - Mentoring session with Radio Station WKSR.  
• Jan 7 - Mentoring session with Lynda Botsch and her new business
• Dec 15 - NOVA visits UT Space Institute legislative discussion
• Dec 11 - AI for Manufacturing training hosted by UT CIS and NOVA
• Dec 9 - Mentoring meeting with Goodworks
• Dec 5 - Lunch with CE Tools
• Dec 4 - Speer/Nova Innovators in Action Series at UT Southern with Zap!
• Dec 3 - Discussion with AvMedical
• Dec 2 - Lawrenceburg meet and greet luncheon
• Dec 2 - Meeting with Kevin Ratliff at Columbia State

The Ask:
Where We Need Your Support

Are You Interested in Hiring Student Interns?

Join the Speer Entrepreneurship Initiative, UT Southern Department of Career Development, and the NOVA Entrepreneur Center for a Student-Business Internship Networking Event.  If you are interested in hiring an intern and participating in the event, please contact us at info@news.novaec.org. 

Subscribe to the NOVA newsletter!  See link here.

The Next:
Upcoming Events Sponsored by NOVA

Community Shared Kitchen – Interest Meeting
 

Feb 12 @ 5:00pm

Join the conversation on creating a community-shared kitchen to support local food entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Business Networking Event

Feb 26 @ 5:00pm

Join us for a Business Networking Event sponsored by the Exchange Club and NOVA EC.

Internship Networking Event

Mar 24 @ 11:30am

Join The Speer Entrepreneurship Initiative, the UT Southern Department of Career Development,
and NOVA

In the Press:
The Word On the Street

Facebook Updates
NOVA is working with Partners including ModMax and UT