Rise & Grow

Erica Bradley

Erica is the Executive Director of Rise & Grow and specializes in client relations, team management and quality control. Erica is the Vice President of Proximo Marketing Strategies and is a Treatment Coordinator at Norge Dental Center. She serves as the Committee Chair for the March of Dimes Signature Chefs Auction, is a Board member of the Kiwanis Club of Toano and a member of the Peninsula Women’s Network. Erica is currently furthering her education as a full time student at Liberty University. Born and raised in Williamsburg VA, Erica owns a home in the Toano area with her sweet furbaby kitty, Tessa Jane. She attributes her success to God and her strong faith in Christ, and is dedicated to fulfilling His will for her life.

Courtney Riley

Courtney is the Chairwoman of Rise & Grow and the owner of Proximo Marketing Strategies, an international digital marketing firm based out of Yorktown, Virginia. Courtney also works as adjunct faculty at Thomas Nelson Community College, educating students on best practices for marketing in the 21st century.

In early 2017, Courtney helped to launch her second company, Cowork Gloucester VA, a business incubator created for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses to work together in an environment that fosters community, productivity and creativity. Cowork members benefit from mentorship, education and exclusive resources, geared toward business growth.
In late 2017, Courtney took a position with a thriving dental practice, as the Acquisitions Executive. Alongside the doctor and board of advisors, Courtney works to research, purchase and develop dental practices throughout the Tidewater area, with plans to venture out of state in the future. Courtney uses her dental background and marketing experience, to duplicate successful systems and strategies at these new practices, ensuring they swiftly reach optimum performance.

In 2018, she partnered with two colleagues, to also launch the first childcare coworking space in Virginia, Balance Space Coworking LLC.

Recently named one of Hampton Roads’ “Top 40 Under 40” & “Hampton Roads’ 2016 Woman of Excellence,” Courtney is determined to change our world!

She has recently co-authored a book titled, Brass Ovaries: Own Yours, which features a collection of interview- style stories from highly respected women of diverse generations, industries, and backgrounds, from across the U.S. The book is inspired, like many of Courtney’s endeavors, by a passion to empower other professional women to “Own Their Brass,” and rise above the fears that hold them back from fulfilling their purposes.

Courtney serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations including but not limited to; Kiwanis, Peninsula Women’s Network and March of Dimes, and speaks Internationally on topics such as Social Media Marketing, and other platforms that serve these organizations as a catalyst for growth. She is the proud parent of a gifted baseball player and a 3-month-old baby girl, and married to the love of her life. Courtney is passionate about empowering individuals to find balance between family and the entrepreneurial life, and attributes her own personal and professional success to her faith in Christ!

Katy Blevins Calabrese

Katy is the COO of Proximo Marketing Strategies. Motivated by a personal connection to female entrepreneurs and working moms, her heart passion lies with equipping small business owners with the resources and direction to enter into the entrepreneurial fray with confidence, purpose and balance – creating a life that is both professionally adventurous and fully present at home.

Katy has 20 years of experience in high stakes sales, business development and marketing, and was recognized as a 2016 Inside Business Women in Business honoree. An avid writer, Katy was the original writer behind the mommy blog, Chaos & Kiddos, and has contributed to a variety of respected media outlets, including Scott’s Local Business Corner: The Drive, The Huffington Post, The International Bloggers Association, She Knows: Experts Among Us, FamilyShare.com, The Female Entrepreneur Association, Inside Business, Curatti, UK Linkology, This Woman Can and more. She speaks regularly to small business groups, entrepreneurial circles, workshops for professional women and working moms, high school classes, faith-based women’s gatherings, virtual seminars, and public event

Mildred “Nany” Gonzalez

Nany is the Treasurer for Rise & Grow as well as, the owner of MOR Consulting Services. After working in the Nonprofit world for a few years, she decided to launch on her own and share with others what she has learned along the way in the areas of business development, management, accounting, taxation, human resources and inventory systems.

Gonzalez holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Accounting, in addition to various professional certifications and accreditations.

Deanna Kimrey

Deanna is a Board Member at Large of Rise & Grow and the Relationship Manager for BayPort Credit Union, DeAnna also serves as: Committee Chair for the March of Dimes Signature Chef’s Auction, helping to raise almost $200k over the last eight years, the President-Elect for the Kiwanis Club of Toano, Treasurer for Peninsula Women’s Network and she is one of the founders of BLING (Business Ladies of Industry Networking Group). She always says that her passions are Business and Babies!

Todd Meigs

Todd is originally from Trussville, Alabama and after tours in the Air Force and as a government civilian, he settled in the Hampton Roads area in 2002. Currently, aside from Rise, he manages a program within an Air Force Wing with over 1,000 personnel in 17 different units spread across the globe and ensures the units assigned to it follow doctrine, manages their resources properly and advocates for them when they aren’t resourced properly.
When not working for Rise or the Air Force, he owns two businesses of his own in transportation and photography. He lives in Yorktown and has been to 42 different countries and has been to every state at least once.