We are pleased to announce Vernell Stewart has joined the ACE team as the Women’s Business Center Director for the Savannah Region.

Stewart is a thought leader on entrepreneurship and creating resilient businesses. She is a career entrepreneur and has successfully run The Sweet Tea Factory, Inc., a global distributor of tea-based products for nearly a decade. She set out to meet the mission of benefiting and improving the lives and health of others after falling in love with tea while attending a World Tea Expo in Atlanta, Georgia.

As a career entrepreneur, Stewart understands the resources consumer good product and food-based businesses need to succeed in most any environment.  She relocated to Savannah from Atlanta, to leverage being close to one of the largest ports in the country and giving other entrepreneurs the benefit of lessons learned while running a business over the years, including how to handle hardships, pivots, and financial strategies necessary to get through rough times.

Stewart knows firsthand the challenges that women in business face and is passionate about ensuring access to capital and resources for women. In her own journey expanding from the local consumer service good industry to wholesale distribution of tea products now available globally required access to capital where there were limited networks. In her Regional leadership role, she is most excited about connecting smart investment with female entrepreneurs looking to expand their companies and teams. She’s now incredibly blessed to create financial pathways for other women. 

Stewart is passionate about ensuring access to capital for women, mainly because she knows first-hand how difficult maintaining profit goals can be when cash flow is tight. Her goal is to be a connector to women entrepreneurs, help them grow and expand their businesses.

She received a degree in Marketing from the University of Pittsburgh.

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