FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ernest Jackson, MNS Media Group

[email protected]

TANESHIA NASH LAIRD SPEAKS AS TOP TRI-STATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST

Mrs. Laird is scheduled to speak at Berkeley College, Trenton Business Week, Black Women Trailblazers in Media and the Sports Industry Black & Latino Athlete gala in October 2015

NEWARK, NJ--Taneshia Nash Laird, a veteran community organizer and economic development specialist, is set to appear at several seminars and forums on women in business around New Jersey during October 2015, sharing her wealth of knowledge and expertise with ambitious, entrepreneurial women who are embarking on the road to success. Ms. Laird brings her decades of experience as a dynamic leader in public and private-sector community revitalization and strategic communications to the fore, enlightening and educating businesswomen from a wide range of professions and industries. As the CEO of Legacy Business Advisors, a strategic think tank that guides government agencies and social entrepreneurs alike, in communications strategies, business development, and economic development, Ms. Laird and her associates take an active role in the financial health of the community. She also works hard to promote Newark's physical health, taking a major role in building the Dunbar Center for Kidney Dialysis, a $20 million facility which will address the critical need for a 24/7 nephrology and hemodialysis clinic, and create 175 new Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics (STEM) jobs for the city.

Ms. Lairdis a co-owner of My Image Studios (MIST) Harlem in New York City, a multimillion-dollar entertainment complex, and co-wrote the critically-acclaimed anthropological volume,Still I Rise: A Graphic History Of African-Americans. In 2014, she was tapped to serve as Regional Director for the US Women's Chamber Of Commerce, and is active on the boards of numerous cultural groups, including Art Pride of New Jersey Foundation, Advocates for New Jersey History, and the New Jersey Urban Enterprise Zone Authority. Rounding out Ms. Laird's portfolio are her works as a Business Advisory Council member to Felician College, and as a Senior fellow with the Eastern Regional Network of the Environmental Leadership Program.

Ms. Laird is pleased to appear as a featured guest at a variety of professional events in the coming weeks, beginning with Newark's Berkeley College at 536 Broad street on the third floor, from 8:30-10:30 AM on October 20, where she will participate in a panel talk onWomen Entrepreneurs: Driving innovation through Diversity, as part of Women's Entrepreneurship Week. Then, it's off to New Jersey's capital city for Trenton Business Week, where she will moderate a panel about Women Business Owners Impacting The Economic Landscape, that same afternoon from 2 to 4 PM, in Salon C of the Wyndham Garden Trenton Hotel, located at 1 West Lafayette Street in Trenton.

On October 21, Ms. Laird visits the Big Apple for an evening conference addressing the challenges faced by Black and Latino athletes in mainstream American sports culture. The discussion will enter around fostering better business relationships for and with Black and Latino professional athletes. It begins at 7 PM, in Lower Manhattan's Katra Restaurant, located at 217 Bowery, in partnership with the Metropolitan Black Bar Association, NY Association of Black Journalists, the National Society of Black Engineers, Dominican Bar Association, and the Puerto Rican Bar Association. Ms. Laird then returns to Newark on October 23, as OMG! Photography presents the second annual Black Women Trailblazers In Media fundraising gala, from 6 to 10 PM at 50 Brandford Place. This fabulous event will include a networking cocktail hour, celebrity panel, award ceremony, and a special Q & A session.

Opportunities abound to avail yourself of Ms. Laird's experience, wisdom and business acumen at any or all of these gatherings. For media inquiries or booking requests, please contact Ernest Jackson of MNS Media Group at [email protected].