MOGA is a unique twist on traditional Yoga with mobility and performance in mind. It is the creation of 2 twenty something young entrepreneurs in Charlotte, NC. Emily Breeze Ross and Beth Lange met not so oddly enough during a crossfit challenge where they became partners and took 2nd place overall in the women’s division.

At Taste of the Nation Charlotte, attendees will enjoy tastings from the area’s top chefs restaurants, culinary schools and sample fine wines, local beers, and premium spirits, including an entertaining Mixologist Bar. Guests will also enjoy live music and a silent & live auction, including unique dining and other experiences.

World of Beer Southend officially opening Monday March 26 2012 and closing out Craft Beer Week here in Charlotte will be the destination for suds of all kinds. With a selection of 600 beers World of Beer promises to have something for every palate. “WOB”, as the staff calls it, is located on South Blvd. at the Circle Residence Apartments and just a block from the light rail station in Southend.

One2Tri Multisport Coaching believes that success in endurance sports is achieved through the careful personalization of every training session. It is their goal to allow for the blend of your personal life, work and training to obtain maximum performance in your race season. This perfect harmony will cultivate a new outlook on life as you learn to thrive on perseverance – work hard, train smart, and race fast. Will you be “one 2 tri”?

To prepare Charlotte’s current and potential independent media community with the tools and knowledge needed to be active participants in the 2012 DNC, the PPL will host a series of community training sessions leading up to the convention, and collaborate on a course at UNC Charlotte in the Spring and Fall of 2012. For more information check out their website PPL.

The Boulevard at South End moved from its original location in NODA not that long ago, but the difference as owner Jennifer Branham explains is all about the community feeling. The Boulevard is a community based retail shop with designs and wears from many local artists and entrepreneurs. They have also started on a project catering to the male community and are calling it “Man Town”.

Our interview with Todd Joffe of the Reddoor erotic boutique in Charlotte, NC comes just before their 10 year anniversary. We discussed the profitability of the adult industry, the hottest products on the market, and the biggest challenges in the past decade.

Interview with former Checker’s Hockey player Brandon Cullen about his new gym, Fight Gone Mad and the new style of workouts that have made athletes excited about working out again. Fight Gone Mad is located in The South End district of Charlotte, NC on South Blvd. See what Brandon had to say about the most feared workout.

Interview with Pit Master Dan at The Queen City Q talking about tradition, secret sauces, and we even asked him if HE smokes it?  The Queen City Q is located at the 7th Street Station in Uptown Charlotte, NC.

Eval.me, Rawporter and TagSeats, all new North Carolina based startups have been selected to attend Launch Festival, March 7th-8^th, 2012 in San Francisco to demo their digital tools. The launches of all three of these companies is a sign of the fast growing startup community coming out of North Carolina. Now the more famously known West Coast and New York tech industry is starting to take notice.

LAUNCH Media  which puts together Launch Festival every year covers and celebrates new startups, products, services and technology on the LAUNCH blog, an email newsletter and an in-person conference. Serial entrepreneur, angel investor and journalist Jason Calacanis founded LAUNCH in December 2010. Demo Pit http://conference.launch.co/demo-pit/ provides startup founders a stage to meet with leading tech industry masters, VCS and more to show the value of the digital tools they’ve created. In the process, the grand jury will be selecting at least two companies from the DEMO Pit each day to bring up on stage and demo to the whole festival.

NC Companies Attending;
Eval.me – based out of Charlotte, NC and started 08/2011. Eval.me, http://eval.me, Eval.me is an online survey tool that allows you to create a survey, email it to your customers, collect the responses, and make the charity contribution.

“We add a humanitarian face to the online survey industry,” said Flaviu Simihaian, Founder of Eval.me.

Rawporter – based out of Charlotte, NC and started 11/2011.  Rawporter, http://Rawporter.com, turns everyday people into an army of cameras on-location and on-demand, dramatically lowering the cost for media partners, large and small, to source video and photo content. In exchange for their videos and photos, the “Rawporters” get the cash and credit they deserve for simply putting their smartphones to work.
“We’re really excited to create the first legitimate marketplace for user generated content. Now everyday people will get the recognition they deserve for their videos and photos while buyers get access to affordable custom content on-demand,” said Kevin Davis, Co-founder of Rawporter.

TagSeats began development last fall here in Charlotte. TagSeats, http://tagseats.com, is launching a web and mobile app where fans can discover concerts and sporting events that their friends are attending and see where they’ll be sitting on interactive seating maps. Fans can view available seats near their friends or tag their own seats and share their events info across their social networks. TagSeats originated in Charlotte and has recently added a San Francisco presence.
“The TagSeats team is excited to provide a social community centered on live events for sports and music fans this spring! Fans can request an invite right now at tagseats.com and be the first to know at launch,” said Jack Dietrich, Founder of TagSeats.

After Launch Festival, Rawporter and Eval.me, will also be headed to the national event series, SXSW  in Austin, TX, to further promote North Carolina’s value in the startup community. From March 9th-18, 2012 over 50,000 attendees will be in downtown Austin to see what the next big hit from the tech, film and music industry might be. SXSWi (interactive spotlight) is where many tech apps such as Foursqaure, Twitter and more have launched in the past.