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The Grit Studios was formerly known as The Grit Live.

Who We Are

The Grit Studios is The Enterprise Center's media arm. Our mission is to:

  • Create on-demand business content
  • Act as media distribution hub and syndicator
  • Provide affordable media production

The Enterprise Center was created in 1989 by UPenn's Wharton Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to provide much needed resources to female and minority owned businesses in West Philadelphia.

The Grit Studios was created to further TEC's mission and brings the building's utility full-circle. The Enterprise Center is located at 4548 Market Street, the famous site of Dick Clark's American Bandstand, until production moved to California in 1964. The building became WHYY's headquarters until 1979, where it sat unused until TEC took it over in 1994. (Click here for TEC's full history)

The Grit Studios produces Zig Zag, a weekly podcast about women in business. Feed the Beast, our food podcast is on a brief hiatus while we workshop the program and search for a new host. We are transitioning to a mini-series or seasonal podcast model, including Experience Counts, a 5 episode peek into the vast world of experiential retail, coming in February 2019.

Every week, host Tiffany Spraggins-Payne, speaks with female entrepreneurs in Science, Technology, Transportation, Engineering, Mathematics (STTEM) and related industries. Each conversation details the personal and professional life of the guest, telling their journey into entrepreneurship and their competitive edge in the marketplace.

In addition to hosting Zig Zag, Tiffany is the Director of the Mid-Atlantic Small Business Transportation Resource Center (SBRT). This is where her expertise in STTEM shines through, allowing her to ask focused questions.

Zig Zag boasts an eclectic guest list of amazing women. Past guests include Iola Harper, Deputy Commerce Director for the Office of Economic Opportunity; Melissa Alam, founder of FearlessCon, AB Media Group, The Hive (and much more); and Syreeta Scott + Shanti Mayers, the business partners behind Duafe hair salon and The Sable Collective.

For a snapshot of Zig Zag, listen to this compilation episode of past guests giving their definition of success.

Hosts, Chef Chris Paul and Nutritionist Leigh-Ann Charles-Paul invite an industry insider to speak about their journey, discuss food news in Philadelphia and beyond, as well as highlight a local food-entrepreneur. Chris and Leigh-Ann are partners in life and in business, co-founding Everything We Eat, a meal-prep service, food truck and caterer.

During their time with The Grit Studios, Chris and Leigh-Ann have discussed important issues like food-borne illness, workplace mistreatment, the benefits of a plant base-diet, and how to legally protect yourself in business -- you can listen to a sample of that episode in the audiogram below:

Feed the Beast's guest list spans industries -- from hospitality and culinary to agriculture and farming to technologists and developers, with more to come! Notable past guests include: Kurt Evans, Sous-Chef at South and creator of the EMI (End Mass Incarceration) Dinner series; Val Cadet, Director of Operations for The Enterprise Center's Center for Culinary Enterprises; and Tyler Wiest, co-founder of Ontray, a disruptive online food ordering software.

Press

The Grit Studios has been featured in several Philadelphia publications including The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Philadelphia Tribune.

Tiffany Spraggins-Payne, the host of Zig Zag, was recently featured on Comcast Newsmakers discussing her programs with the US DoT. She also spoke at length about Zig Zag and its impetus.

Numbers

Since our launch in February 2018, The Grit Studios has seen steady, solid growth. Listenership is now rapidly ticking upwards, reflecting the dedication and the grit (pun intended) put into the project. We reached 1,000 listens in May and are already past 9,500.

Highlights:

  • Over 11,000 total listens and downloads
  • 3,500+ hours spent listening
  • 24, 5-star reviews on Apple Podcasts
  • Over 85 episodes published!

The Grit Studios is expanding its offering to better serve The Enterprise Center's mission. In the coming months, we'll begin producing at least one new business program, expand our studio rentals, and create supplemental learning materials for The Enterprise Center's in-person entrepreneurial classes.

Please send all inquiries to grit@theenterprisecenter.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

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