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Our Team of Experts

 

Meet the Expert Consultants Behind ASBC

Tap into the Deep Pool of Experience and Expertise from our Los Angeles Business Management and Sales Company. Our Diverse Team of Consultants Specializes in Areas Such as Management, Sales, Marketing, Accounting, IT, and More.

Philip A. Hyssong

Management • Ideation •
Business formation to exit

T.J. DiGrazia

Sales • Operations

Tiffany Olson

Effective Communication • 
Interpersonal relationships

Zoë Hyssong

Marketing • Branding •
Social Media

Cole Briddle

Operations

Julie Carter

Accounting • Finance •
QuickBooks

Cody Farenga

E-learning • Training

Bill Graham

Disability Inclusion • Business creation • Business exit

Karen Graham

Psycho/social issues • Interpersonal communication • Woman Business Enterprise

Eric Kale

IT • Website creation • Programming creation

Johnny La

Photography •
Website Development •
Digital Marketing • SEO

Quincy Martin III

DEI – Diversity Equity Inclusion  • Senior Leadership Management

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At ASBC, small business success is our ultimate aim – and we achieve it by providing transparent, affordable, and tailored solutions that work for you.

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Philip A. Hyssong​

Management • Ideation • Business formation to exit

Philip A. Hyssong is founder and CEO of Alternative Small Business Consultants(ASCB), a consultancy designed to support small business.

Prior to this Phil served as Chief Customer Officer for Ai-Media, a captioning software and technology company listed and based in Sydney, Australia. Ai-Media purchased the family of companies Phil co-founded in 2007, anchored by Alternative Communication Services(ACS), the largest educational text provider in North America.

Phil holds an undergraduate degree in Education from Concordia University Chicago, and a master’s degree in Instructional Design from Northern Illinois University, and he became a Certified Manager of Reporting Services through the National Court Reporters Association. He successfully completed TypeWell’s Text Interpreting training program and became a proficient transcriber. His company was the first to offer Text Interpreting on a national level and pioneered the use of remote Communication Access Realtime Translation(CART) Captioning, bringing it into the mainstream.

Phil spent several years as a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) subcommittee on disability. In Illinois, he was a founding mentor of the local business incubator program at one of the nation’s best high schools. He has participated in various boards and committees, spoken at numerous conventions on the topic of accessibility and small business, and serves as Chairperson for the Love Like Lija Foundation.

T.J. DiGrazia

Sales • Operations

TJ DiGrazia has over two decades of experience building and managing small businesses. Throughout his career, he has excelled at process improvements, standardization, team management, change management, and creative business solutions. TJ is deeply committed to driving immediate and effective results. He has an extensive background in driving new sales, meeting sales goals, managing relationships with clients, and measuring success through key performance indicators (KPIs).

TJ’s professional achievements are complemented by his academic qualifications. He holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from National-Louis University in Chicago, which has equipped him with a deep understanding of business management principles and best practices. Beyond his professional pursuits, TJ is an avid fitness enthusiast whose day wouldn’t be complete without a high-spirited workout. Additionally, he is a passionate baseball coach who relishes the opportunity to inspire and mentor young players.

Most importantly, Mr. DiGrazia is a devoted family man. His unwavering commitment to his loved ones reflects his character and underscores his ability to create meaningful connections with those around him.

Tiffany Olson

Effective Communication • Interpersonal relationships

Tiffany Olson is a communications training specialist who helps corporate clients hone their communication skills through workshops and one-on-one coaching. She loves the work and the impact it can make: building stronger teams, equipping managers to navigate difficult conversations, and helping individuals gain confidence. 

With both her extensive knowledge and experience, Tiffany is adept at tailoring her training for each client to address their current needs. She frequently receives feedback that her training is not only fun and enjoyable, but also provides practical tools that attendees can immediately put into practice.

The art of communication has always been an integral part of Tiffany’s life. Even at an early age, Tiffany’s mom was told during parent/teacher conferences that her daughter “talked too much.” Luckily, her fifth-grade teacher recognized this as a raw talent instead of a disciplinary issue and asked Tiffany to join the speech team. A few years of good coaching and lots of practice followed. 

Throughout her education, Tiffany excelled on speech teams, winning awards at state level competitions in high school, and being named Top Speaker in the nation at the Phi Rho Pi National Tournament while attending Illinois Central University. As a speech coach,  she guided the Illinois State University Redbirds to a national title. She has also taught communication courses over the last 25 years at various colleges and universities in Illinois, Tennessee, and California. Her current work with corporate clients has provided her an exciting avenue to help others learn, grow, and connect.

Her mother once humorously summed up Tiffany’s lifetime of communication, saying, “Well, I suppose talking too much paid off.”

Zoë Hyssong

Marketing • Branding • Social Media

Zoë V Hyssong is a founding member of ASBC and brings youthful enthusiasm and fresh perspective to all that she does. Starting life in the Midwest, she knew early on that the West Coast was the place to put down her Asian-American roots. In college, Zoe focused her work on the music industry, namely brand creation and marketing. She continues her growth through unique experiences, including internships and study abroad. Her studies at Korea University provided hands-on opportunities in the K-pop arena.  

 

Highlights in Zoe’s young professional career include a nearly two-year internship with Transparent Arts, LA’s top Asian record label and management group. Experiences in marketing, analytics, touring, and merchandising all have contributed to Zoe’s career fabric.  Most recently Zoe has worked with Miller PR, LA’s leading marketing agency in the arts, providing support to various artists represented by Miller PR.

Zoe is well on her way to a personal goal of being listed on the Forbes “30 Under 30” list.

Cole Briddle​

Operations

Cole comes with 20 years of business experience within the beauty (salons, entertainment, and app) industry. His experience includes 3 salon ownership restructures, build outs, and maintaining a strong customer facing business throughout the transition. He played a key role in salon management, brand direction, customer retention and engagement throughout the ownership transition. 

He worked at the corporate level for a notable beauty app “Priv,” now owned by NBC Universal, in their beginning stages of branching out into Los Angeles (and then Miami, Dallas, Austin, and Chicago). He successfully helped vet and train independent professionals providing “on-demand/on-location” beauty service, providing key insight to the board of directors. 

He has a passion for assisting small business, having grown up around his family’s business’, He excels at operational understanding regardless of the industry, having most recently worked in the medical field. His ability to build a cohesive, effective team is unmatched. 

Julie Carter

Accounting • Finance • QuickBooks

Julie Carter is a finance professional who has held many roles during her career, including Controller, CFO, and Finance Business Partner.  Her areas of expertise include all aspects of accounting and bookkeeping; payroll, sales and use, nexus, and business tax reporting and compliance; internal and external auditing process (KPMG and Deloitte); managing business partner relationships (banking, insurance, vendor and customer onboarding); and complex data analysis for profitable insights.  She is well versed in a number of software systems (Quickbooks, SAP, Excel, MS Suite, Google Suite, Adaptive Insights FP&A) and is skilled at turning a macro view of a business into practical, process-led recommendations.  

After acquiring a business degree, Julie put it to immediate use, growing a California truck equipment distributorship in a Controller capacity.  She opened an indoor play center in Richmond, VA, which grew into four locations.  Life events led to a pivot where Julie became a transcriber, strengthening her identity as a diversity and inclusion ally.  Circumstances then found her back in the financial analysis realm, working with Phil Hyssong at ACS.

Julie further uses her skillset as a volunteer; she is VP of Engagement for the Richmond Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants, as well as Treasurer of the North Settlers Landing Association.  

Cody Farenga

E-learning • Training

As an accomplished Learning and Development professional with a BA in Organizational Communication from Florida International University, I bring a wealth of experience in creating and implementing tailored training programs for diverse global teams. My expertise in instructional design, eLearning, facilitation, and LMS administration has enabled me to design and deliver effective learning solutions that cater to varying learning styles and drive organizational success.

With a proven track record of managing substantial training budgets and leading high-performing teams, I currently lead a global team of Instructional Designers, Trainers, and various other L&D roles. Skilled in utilizing popular ID methodologies like ADDIE, I am adept at identifying performance gaps and supporting organizations in designing course content using effective adult learning strategies.

As a passionate advocate for continuous learning and professional development, I am excited to leverage my skills and experience to help organizations unlock their full potential through innovative learning solutions.

Bill Graham

Disability Inclusion • Business creation • Business exit

Bill Graham founded and served as CEO of CaptionAccess, a captioning company he built from scratch to revenues of over $1.3 million. He also founded the Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA) , a major constituency in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. He has served on many local and national boards for people with disabilities, including the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees, Lighthouse International, and the Chicago Hearing Society. In addition, Graham spent more than 30 years in the publishing industry as Managing Editor of Microsoft Encarta Reference Library and the World Book Encyclopedia. His present obsession is hiking the Ice Age Trail, a 1,200-mile national scenic trail that spans Wisconsin. The soles of his hiking shoes attest to his admirable progress.

Karen Graham

Psycho/social issues • Interpersonal communication • 
Woman Business Enterprise

Karen Graham co-founded SignOn, a woman and employee-focused for-profit sign language interpreter business as an alternative to the more corporate independent contractor model. She subsequently worked with her husband to set up CaptionAccess, another for-profit service company providing captioning for deaf people. Meanwhile she has maintained a clinical private psychotherapy practice. In addition, Karen developed and directed one of the first psychiatric rehabilitation programs for deaf people in the country while working at Thresholds, Inc., in Chicago. She has won widespread recognition for her work, including the University of Chicago’s Elizabeth Butler Award for excellence in Social Work. Karen loves dogs, cerebral discussions, yoga, and baking, most notably the world’s best chocolate chip cookies.

Eric Kale

IT • Website creation • Programming creation

Eric Kale is a skilled computer programmer known for his technical expertise and passion for innovation. With years of experience in the field, Eric has demonstrated an outstanding ability to develop cutting-edge software solutions that meet the needs of a diverse range of clients. He possesses extensive knowledge of programming languages, including Python, Java, and C++, which enables him to deftly create complex software systems.

In addition to being an accomplished programmer, Eric is also known for his strong work ethic, attention to detail, and dedication to teamwork. He enjoys collaborating with others and is always willing to lend his expertise to help others succeed.

Outside of work, Eric enjoys hiking, playing sports, and spending time with his family. His commitment to excellence both professionally and personally makes him a valued member of any team or community he is part of.

Johnny La

Photography • Website Development • Digital Marketing

Johnny La, has been in the digital marketing industry for over 2 decades. His passion for digital marketing began in the late 90s when he designed his first website for his computer science teacher coding HTML on Notepad. Since then, he has worked with numerous clients in various industries, helping them grow their businesses through effective digital marketing strategies.

​Johnny has been on television, interviewed in the press, spoken on multiple podcasts, and is an active influencer in the city of Los Angeles.

Quincy Martin III

DEI – Diversity Equity Inclusion • Senior Leadership Management

During a career spanning nearly 25 years, Quincy Martin has held various administrative leadership roles at both the community college and university levels, managing multiple programs, functions, and institutional initiatives. Currently, Quincy serves as a senior consultant with Spelman Johnson, a premiere executive search firm committed to identifying and recruiting outstanding leaders in education, advocacy associations, and social impact organizations. In addition, Quincy serves as an assistant professor and coordinator in the interdisciplinary leadership doctorate program at Governors State University located in University Park, Illinois. 

Quincy has been an active contributor, national award winner, presenter, and leader with the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education(NASPA). With NASPA he has served as a member of the Board of Directors, Faculty Council, reviewer and guest editor for the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, and faculty member and chair of the Mid-Level Administrators Conference. Quincy is a certified career coach and has earned his bachelor’s degree in music and MEd in counseling and development from Lamar University, and his EdD in adult and higher education from Northern Illinois University.

Jason Horecky​

E-commerce • Sales

Jason Horecky has I graduated from the University of Florida in 2018 with a degree in business and a minor in innovation. After graduating I was hired by my parents to help them grow their statue importing business.
After noticing that they were stuck doing the same processes they were doing for the last 25 years, I came in and brought in new income producing activities to streamline their processes and increase their profitability. I started to send out consistent email marketing/sales calls to continue generating new business and nurturing existing business that allowed their company to grow to $1 million in sales per year.

On top of that, I began my deep dive into learning how to sell products on Amazon to bring in yet another extra income stream to my parents. I took professional pictures, wrote out beautiful bullet points, captions and titles and listed their products on my Amazon store. Once I saw thousands of dollars come in organically through this vehicle, it instantly intrigued me to learn all the different ways to grow as an Amazon seller. I began reaching out to hundreds of companies a day to get their approval for me to resell their products for them on Amazon. I would help them to improve their keywords, messaging and marketing to better connect with their target audience as well which would improve my sales too. This allowed me to sell over 50+ products and to become a six figure seller in my second year of business. This brought the attention of large amazon selling companies in the United States that wanted to hire me for my services. From 2020 through 2021 I was hired by Recommerce to help manage and monitor their $15 million per month Amazon store.

I began sharing my successes online on multiple social media platforms which generated over 5,000 followers in just a few months of consistent posting and outreach. By doing this I really learned how to grow an audience, conduct market research and give them exactly what they wanted. I realized I had a skill in teaching others what I was doing and created 2 successful coaching businesses for Amazon selling and investing. I’ve developed a keen eye for marketing, branding, social media, sales and building an online presence.

Excited to help your business continue to grow!