The Joshua Tree Association of Business and Culture (JTABC) is a newly formed group that aims to support the business community of the 92252 zip code. Z107.7 sat down with longtime Joshua Tree Business owners Amanda B’Hymer and Seth Zaharias, and talked about the goals of the group, why Joshua Tree needs a business league and what makes the small but rapidly growing area unique to the Morongo Basin.
Amanda B’Hymer is the President of the JTABC and a holistic behavioral health practitioner and Ayurveda yoga therapist, as well as the proprietor of Grateful Desert Apothecary. She also has a visual and audio production company with her husband and has lived in Joshua Tree for 19 years.
Amanda: “A (501c6) business league is a designation that allows businesses to come together to solve problems or address issues or promote each other. I think one of the first things is maybe not a problem, but I think one of the first things that’s been a desire for community members is to get to know each other, to learn more about each other, where they come from, what our own personal goals and perspectives of life are. That’s the first part, I think. But this is really what we’re hoping for community feedback, to hear what each person’s needs are because there are a lot of different kinds of businesses in Joshua Tree.”
Seth Zaharias is Vice President of the JTABC and is the co-founder of Cliffhanger Guides – a rock climbing and hiking guide service based out of Joshua Tree National Park. He’s lived and worked in the Joshua Tree area for the last 15 years.
Seth: “The growth in Joshua Tree has been just a massive tidal wave over the last 10 or 12 years. And by and large, I think it’s great.
Ten, twelve years ago, we were all pretty broke. Now most of my friends are running relatively successful businesses, and that makes me really happy. The disconnection of the community does bother me. I’d like to know who my neighbors are, who my fellow business owners are. To me, I really want to celebrate the culture of this unique community that’s so much different than either Twentynine Palms or Yucca Valley or Morongo Valley, for that matter. Joshua Tree is the heart of the Mojave. This is kind of where it all started, and there is a lot of really interesting folks here that do a lot of really interesting things, and we want to celebrate the culture of Joshua Tree.”
Amanda: “Organizations of this sort of nature have attempted to come together over the years and for whatever reasons have either sort of petered out or dissolved or something like that. So in some ways, yeah, it is something that’s missing, but also not necessarily totally absent in the past. There isn’t an organization like this right now happening right here.”
“Right here” means businesses and non-profits that are in the 92252 area code, and Seth says the JTABC board reflects that.
Seth: “Our treasurer is Thomas Fjallstam, who’s heavily involved in the Airbnb community. Our secretary is Melissa Grisi, who is the proprietor of Blue Sky Therapy. Susan Burnett, the proprietor of Mojave Sands Motel. Terry Taylor-Castillo, who is the executive director for the Joshua Tree Retreat Center, and then Sarah Taylor, who is the co-proprietor of Country Kitchen. This is a really, really diverse and skilled board.”
The JTABC will be holding their first mixer this Thursday, May 8th from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center. There will be bingo with Lady Chilane, a raffle and live auction hosted by Z107.7’s own Gary Daigneault.
Seth: “We are hosting this friend-raiser so that we can meet with our community, figure out what the needs of the community are, and then hopefully down the road be in a leadership role for the business community of the 92252 zip code.”
