Page 11 - Florida Sentinel 12-8-15 Edition

Local
Speaker Seeks To Help Students Identify Skills And Talents
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Each year, professionals from all walks of life converge on local schools to share their story. Some have made great accomplishments in the busi- ness field, sports, and the arts.
However, many others don’t fall into a category. Those individuals are entre- preneurs who don’t want to be defined as being in a single category.
Charles Davis, III is one such individual. He is the cre- ator and distributor of his per-
sonal clothing line known as “WeGrind.” He is also a sales consultant for Amway Distrib- utors, a professional published model and a full time sale con- sultant for Courtesy Toyota, in Brandon.
Davis was invited to ad- dress the students at Young Middle Magnet School during the Great American Teach-In last month.
His goal is to help the stu- dents identify their own spe- cial skills and talents, help them focus on their education and to show them how to begin building their own brand n becoming an entre-
CHARLES DAVIS, III Entrepreneur
preneur.
A Tampa native, Davis
was raised in West Tampa with his sister by a single mother. As a teenager, the young man realized he was tal- ented in football. But, he also knew that more was required than being talented.
Davis focused on his edu- cation and graduated from Tampa Bay Technical High School. He continued his edu- cation and his football career. The young man amassed awards as All Region, Black College All American, and CIAA during his senior year.
“Speaking to the youth has
been something I have often enjoyed. Growing up, we rarely received the opportu- nity to hear from people who have a story and developed that into a message that can be used to inspire others,” Davis said.
The young man was hon- ored to be asked to speak to the youngsters. “Since God has blessed me to do just that, I will be more than happy to play my role and give back as well as inspire others with my message. If I can reach just one and inspire him or her to do more and to be more, then I am satisfied.”
Publix Planned For Channel District
After years of work and a disappointment or two, Publix is coming to downtown Tampa, Mayor Bob Buck- horn announced last week.
The 37,600-square-foot store will go up at the corner of E. Twiggs Street and N. Merid- ian Avenue in the Channel Dis- trict, according to a building permit application filed by Mercury Advisors of Tampa and posted to the city's web site.
Plans call for the store to be paired with a planned 21-story tower with 323 apartments and its own parking garage at 1105 E. Twiggs St. The permit appli- cation indicates that the build- ing will be a shell to be finished by a future tenant.
"It is the last missing piece of a downtown that is about ready to explode," Mayor Buckhorn said. "This is what we've been striving for. This is what we knew was lacking. We knew the numbers were there. We knew the demographics were there. We knew the tim- ing was right. We're excited."
On the east side of the planned Channel Club tower, city officials plan to build a park on slightly more than a third of an acre that Stoltenberg's company do- nated, plus another half-acre that the city bought from a sep- arate ownership group for $1.56 million in 2013.
City officials welcome the store, having been disap- pointed before.
In 2013, Publix decided against putting a store in En- core Tampa, a 28-acre redevel- opment being created a few blocks northwest of the Chan- nel Club site.
Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik said recently he wants a grocery store in the $1 billion development he is planning with he and his devel- opment partners in Cascade Investment, a fund created by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, for 40 acres around the Amalie Arena.
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