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Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is doubling down on its efforts to help one of the fastest-growing groups of entrepreneurs: women.

This week, the bank announced it had teamed up with Seneca Women to launch an online marketplace exclusively featuring women-owned businesses from around the world, allowing consumers to access new markets and opportunities to shop and support.

Earlier this year, the two groups partnered to expand a database designed to help female entrepreneurs learn about available sources of funding, including equity, debt and grant capital. The Bank of America Access to Capital Directory now includes standalone sections specifically designed for women entrepreneurs, as well as Hispanic-Latino and Black entrepreneurs.

Its latest venture, Bank of America Marketplace by Seneca Women, features a wide range of women-owned businesses, searchable by category and geography. It currently spotlights about 100 women from around the world, including the U.S., Germany, India and Mexico, with various sectors represented, such as apparel, food items, home goods, fitness and beauty products.

“The Marketplace allows us to leverage our resources, partnerships and scale to create greater opportunities for women business owners to reach new markets for their products and services,” said Cynthia Bowman, chief diversity, inclusion and corporate social responsibility officer at Bank of America. “At Bank of America, we know that when women thrive, whole families, whole communities and whole economies thrive.”

Nearly half the nation’s new business owners – 49% — in 2021 were women, up from 28% in 2019, according to an analysis by payroll and benefits provider Gusto Inc. That surge comes at a time when there have been more business startups than ever before. More than 5 million new businesses were formed in 2022, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a number surpassed only by 5.4 million new businesses in 2021.

“Women business owners have shown remarkable resilience and ingenuity during these challenging times, starting businesses at historic rates,” said Sharon Bowen, partner at Seneca Women and chair of the New York Stock Exchange. “The Bank  of America Marketplace by Seneca Women will enable us to support them by shopping from incredible women-owned businesses.”

BofA has leveraged key partners, including the Tory Burch Foundation, Cherie Blair Foundation, the BofA Institute for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Cornell, and Vital Voices to help identify women who are taking part in the Marketplace.

“Access to markets is critically important to any business, whether mission-based or for-profit,” said Ariela Suster, CEO of Sequence Collection, an El-Salvador-based social enterprise whose products are available on Marketplace. “At Sequence, increasing our visibility and market opportunities will help us fulfill our mission of disrupting the cycle of violence that limits at-risk youth, and provide employment and training opportunities for young men and women who live in gang and violence-ridden communities.”

Consumers can access the Marketplace here.

https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2023/03/bank-of-america-online-marketplace.html?page=all

Sonoma County’s tourism hotspots and some of its artists will be featured in April on NBC’s “Today” show.

“The third hour of the ‘Today’ program will be filmed from St. Francis Winery,” Sonoma County Tourism CEO Claudia Vecchio said. “There will be a special ‘VIP’ event at the Flamingo (Resort) celebrating Sonoma County’s makers. And the wellness retreat will be at Bricoleur Vineyards” in Windsor. St. Francis Winery and the Flamingo Resort are both located in Santa Rosa.

“Today” show lifestyle contributor Jill Martin will host a conversation with local small businesses, artisans and creators to showcase their work, and fitness contributor Stephanie Mansour will host a “walking challenge,” according to the release.

There is no cost to attend the show’s taping on April 20, but registration is required, according to the “Today” show website. Tickets to attend the taping and participate in the activities on April 21 are selling for $150, and a $250 ticket also includes the VIP event on April 21. NBC notes that transportation is not included and anyone attending outdoor events will be required to go through a security screening.

NBC co-hosts Al Roker, Craig Melvin, Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dreyer will travel to Sonoma County for the program, which will be taped April 20 and broadcast on the “Today” show on April 21, and later be available for streaming, NBC confirmed.

“The two-day experience will feature special wellness activities, healthy cooking and impactful conversations that will leave attendees feeling recharged, refreshed and inspired,” the release stated.

Sonoma County Tourism first announced it was in discussions with NBC to partner in a sponsorship deal to bring the “Today” show to Sonoma County during its annual meeting in September.

The “Today” show, which debuted in January 1952, has been broadcasting for more than 70 years. “Today” reaches more than 5 million people every day through its broadcast, and millions more through Today.com, the Today app, and social media platforms, according to NBC.

The upcoming event, however, won’t be the first national platform to feature Sonoma County, as Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau Executive Director Tim Zahner told the Business Journal in September.

“Sonoma County has always had a track record of being in the national eye and the ‘Today’ show will definitely be another component,” said Zahner, who previously served at Sonoma County Tourism for nearly 12 years.

Over the years, Sonoma County has received national coverage from multiple outlets, including ABC’s “The Bachelorette” and “Good Morning America,” among other shows.

Sonoma County Tourism, along with Sonoma County Vintners and Sonoma County Winegrowers, joined together in 2015 as a featured destination in Super Bowl 50.

https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/article/nbcs-today-show-broadcast-from-sonoma-county-coming-in-april/?trk_msg=M8SV49RUEJEK9DMC0K0VIARPV8&trk_contact=QU0HFLSLRS4B321O7DHC8BRSRS&trk_module=new&trk_sid=HBS9L20A4HDF9MFJ4MNP1UPIIK&trk_link=FQB3GASBFJLK51OE40UIUP6QJS&utm_email=F4C3C49D05C565A25532D4913D&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.northbaybusinessjournal.com%2farticle%2farticle%2fnbcs-today-show-broadcast-from-sonoma-county-coming-in-april%2f&utm_campaign=nbbj_daily

Marking its 75th year of business, Marin Sanitary Service has acquired two new pieces of equipment to prevent tons of food waste and paper recyclables from ending up in landfills.

From establishing the first countywide curbside recycling program in the country in the 1980s to acquiring the new technology, the company continues to lead the way toward a goal of zero waste, said Patty Garbarino, president and chief executive of the familyoperated business.

“We’re just very proud to be living in a community that has helped us foster the kind of work that we do and really has put Marin County on the map for waste reduction, diversion and renewable energy,” Garbarino said.

One machine will prevent thousands of tons of expired packaged food from grocery stores and food distributors from entering the landfill each year, said Justin Wilcock, the company’s general operations director.

Installed late last year at the company’s San Rafael center, the new Tiger food depackager separates large loads of prepackaged foods from their containers, using the green waste to produce energy and allowing the service to recycle the packaging.

The machine is a giant centrifuge, spinning rapidly while metallic teeth tear through the cans and packaging to release the food. The food is then filtered through a screen while the cardboard, plastic or metallic packaging comes out of the top.

The green waste is then ground up and shipped to the nearby Central Marin Sanitation Agency to be placed into anaerobic digesters that produce biogas energy.

About 20 tons of packaged foods can be processed every hour, Wilcock said. The company receives about 10 tons from grocery stores and distributors per day. Wilcock said the machine will not treat packaged food tossed in residential garbage and green waste bins. “It doesn’t mean you can throw whatever you want in your green bin and it’ll get cleaned up,” Wilcock said.

The other machine will improve the recycling of paper products. Installed in January, the TOMRA optical sorter uses light to determine whether paper products are white or brown and then separates them. Previously, this work was done by hand, Wilcock said. The machine will not replace jobs, Wilcock said. “It’s not replacing the whole process, it’s just an addition,” Wilcock said. “The whole purpose of all of this is so that the material is good and clean and continues to have markets to recycle.”

Joe Garbarino Jr., chair of the Marin Sanitary Service board and the well-known face of the company, said the new technology is the latest effort by the company over nearly eight decades to divert waste.

“There are still going to be items that will be recycled and try to turn things one way or another to another form of energy,” Garbarino Jr. said. “In the meantime, we’re doing as much recycling as we possibly can do and sell that rather than burying it. Roughly speaking, 60% of what we collect we recycle, and the other 40% goes in a landfill.”

Marin Sanitary Service has 30,000 residential accounts in central Marin and serves about one-third of the county’s population. The business has more 260 employees and about 100 trucks and collects hundreds of tons of garbage, recyclables and organic waste each day.

The company’s roots stretch back a century to a horse-drawn wagon in the streets of San Francisco. In the 1920s, Garbarino Jr.’s father and his uncle started the Scavengers ProtectiveAssociation. The Italian immigrants used burlap sacks and a wagon to collect and haul away garbage.

Marin Sanitary Service was formed in 1948 by Joe Segale and Guido Zanotti. In 1952, Joe Garbarino Sr. — a cousin of Garbarino Jr. — Ruben Valtierra, Ernie Zappettini and Lorry Marcone joined the company, followed by Garbarino Jr. and Joe Cattaneo in 1955. “Minimum day was 12 hours,” Garbarino Jr. said. “We weren’t union. We were all co-owners. Nobody went home until the last guy was in.”

In the late 1970s, Garbarino Jr. applied for a $500,000 state grant to launch the nation’s first countywide curbside recycling program, but was initially denied.

Supervisor Gary Giacomini, Garbarino Jr. said he traveled by bus to Sacramento with 12 environmentalists to convince state officials to change their minds. “After two and a half hours they threw their hands up and gave me the $500,000,” Garbarino Jr. said with a laugh.

The waste management industry faces new challenges and mandates to prevent waste from going into landfills. Only about 6% of plastic materials are able to be recycled at Marin Sanitary Service.

“It’s not because people aren’t trying, there just isn’t a market for most of the plastic,” Wilcock said.

In 2017, the Chinese government launched its “Operation National Sword” initiative, which restricted the volume of contaminated recyclables it would be willing to accept. The country now only accepts bales of plastic recyclables that contain 0.5% contamination compared to the 5% contamination that was accepted prior to the policy.

Before the policy was adopted, about a third of recyclables in California were being exported to foreign markets, the majority to China. With the state of the market, Wilcock said, the company has no plans to move away from dual-stream recycling in which residents have to sort paper from plastic, aluminum and glass. Single-stream recycling, where all recyclables are placed in a single collection bin, increases the chances of material becoming contaminated, Wilcock said. “That decreases the likelihood of things that should be recycled that should,” he said.

https://enewspaper.marinij.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=Marin%20Independent%20Journal&pubid=20ed6707-f7e3-4f89-82d4-9c7cc1493c3b&pnum=1

Fans at Sonoma Raceway’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 in June will momentarily shift their focus from track to sky for a dramatic air show as part of the pre-race festivities. As part of an action-packed weekend schedule, the Patriots Jet Team will thrill race fans with 25-minutes of choreographed aerobatics during the fanfare prior to the green flag.

The California-based Patriots Jet Team is the largest civilian-owned aerobatic jet team in the Western Hemisphere, and has been entertaining audiences since 2003. In the cockpits are some former U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and U.S. Navy Blue Angels pilots and Reno Air Race competitors.

The pre-race demonstration will feature six-L-39 albatross jets strutting their fast-paced formation flying, choreographed aerobatic maneuvers and their signature “Tail Slide,” where the aircraft actually slides backwards toward the ground. This will be the 16th year the team has performed at a Sonoma Raceway major event.

The air show is one of the many great facets of the NASCAR weekend schedule. Fans will be treated to 3 full days of racing action culminating with the NASCAR Cup Series stars in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350. Saturday’s schedule is jam packed with the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ first visit to Sonoma for the DoorDash 250, preceded by two full hours of Cup Series practice and qualifying. Friday will feature the ARCA Menards Series West General Tire 200 and the Historic Trans Am series will run throughout the weekend.

With so much fun for the whole family, remember kids 12 and under are admitted FREE on Friday and Saturday, and NASCAR race-day tickets for children 12 and under are just $10 with the purchase of an adult ticket. Tickets, camping spots and add-ons can be purchased by visiting sonomaraceway.com or calling (800) 870-RACE [7223]. Weekend racing schedule can be found here: sonomaraceway.com/events

Santa Rosa-based Exchange Bank (OTC: EXSR) has announced plans to open a trust and investment office in Marin County this summer.

Its latest such office will be located at 3950 Civic Center Drive, near the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael.

“We are excited to replicate our style of community banking in Marin County and look forward to forging strong connections,” said Troy Sanderson, president and CEO. “We are very committed to serving the needs of local clients and local communities.”

The office, which will be in addition to three trust offices it currently operates, will initially be led by Emily Menjou, vice president, personal trust fiduciary manager. Exchange Bank reports over $1 billion in assets under administration through the trust units.

“Exchange Bank plans to expand the team with experienced local professionals in Marin County,” the Tuesday announcement stated.

The bank, with with assets of $3.33 billion, operates 16 retail branches in Sonoma County, a commercial branch in Roseville, and trust and investment management offices in Santa Rosa, Roseville and Silicon Valley.

https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/article/sonoma-countys-exchange-bank-plans-marin-county-trust-office/