Striding through the hallways at Chattanooga’s business development hub on Cherokee Boulevard, Marcherie Savage pops her head into offices to check on tenants.
In one room, Jonathan Holman, the CEO of LayerWorks Solutions, manufactures spools of colorful filaments that act as the raw material for 3D printers. Business has been crazy lately, he says, first with Halloween and now with the holiday season coming up.
His company has been at the INCubator, a facility supported by the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, for about three years. The program is designed to boost early-stage startups.
“We were here every single day for at least nine hours a day,” Holman says. “We’ve been working on holiday orders — that’s what we’ve been so busy with — and we just got slammed.”
Across the hall, CJ Valdivieso, the chief operating officer and co-founder of Shappi, stands in the middle of a small hive of workers. Her company, Shappi, essentially acts as a DoorDash for consumers in Latin America who are seeking U.S. products from reputable venders. Shappi accomplishes this by paying travelers to free up luggage space for items that they then deliver overseas.
“It’s not very known, but there are two Apple stores in the whole continent of South America,” Valdivieso says.
E-commerce giants like Amazon either have very limited delivery options, or there are high customs fees.
“We’re solving that with our travelers,” she says.
Savage, a Chattanooga native who oversees the INCubator, is at the center of this ecosystem of entrepreneurs, easily rattling off the names of businesses that have benefited from the program. There’s Flappy-Nappies, which produces a reusable diaper that can save parents money, 10 AC Whiskey, a brand that produces spirits from locally sourced ingredients, and Dr. K’s Tenn Cans, which sells packages of canned flavoring that can turn any grill into a smoker.
The INCubator, a facility that provides office and manfuacturing spaces for fledgling companies, is one part of a broader entreprenuerial ecosystem in Chattanooga that helps aspiring business owners get their footing. The program provides access to networking opportunities, monthly programming and mentorship.
“I think about business owners as a new parent,” Savage says. “Your baby is very small, and your trying to grow this baby. You’re trying to make sure this baby does not die.”
When someone knocks on the door at the INCubator, Savage and her staff try to find the best fit for them.
Savage became the Chamber’s director of entrepreneurial development in June 2024, and her passions have been shaped by the influences of her mom and other mentors.
Marching band had an early role in Savage’s professional development, teaching her the importance of discipline, respecting leadership and how to wear a uniform, she says. Savage played the drums at both Brainerd High School, where she was the percussion captain, and Tennessee Tech University.
Family also inspired her interest in business. Savage’s mom was an entrepreneur for about 15 years, she says, working as a loan originator before ultimately investing in real estate.
“She was up at 6 a.m. every morning,” Savage remembers. “While she didn’t necessarily punch a clock, I still saw that you had to be very regimented and disciplined to be able to have a successful business. So growing up in that environment, it encouraged me.”
Inspired by her mom, Savage also got her real estate license and worked for a while in Chattanooga at Berkshire Hathaway in the years after the the 2008 financial crisis.
“At that time, a lot of the multi-million dollar listings weren’t getting as many viewings,” she says.
Still, Savage had a knack for attracting the masses to open houses, leveraging her photography skills while also thinking outside the box. At one event, she paid a pianist to perform.
As a student at Tennessee State University, Savage was required to participate in job shadowing, she says, which helped her get a position at Cumulus Media in Nashville. There, she filmed recap videos for events and big concerts.
Savage’s mother died of a heart attack in 2019, prompting her to return to Chattanooga to take over guardianship of her brother Solomon, who was about 13 years old at the time. He calls her his “sister-mom.”
“Being a sister-mom has its challenges,” she says. “But I believe in God so I’m very thankful for the supernatural strength that allows me to have grace and patience, allows my brother to listen, lean in and for us to continue to grow and develop this relationship.
“It wasn’t anything we could have predicted.”
Savage relaunched her marketing company in Chattanooga — Marcherie Jamene Marketing — and won a contract for anti-fraud campaign from the city, which in turn introduced her to other community members. She has also helped multiple small businesses in Chattanooga with their marketing.
“I do love working with the businesses here, and they do listen,” Savage says. “That was another thing. Sometimes people think Chattanooga is a little closed off sometimes. But I think once you gain that trust, people do listen to your insight. Once you have the work to prove it, people will do business with you.”
Savage ultimately applied for a job at the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce with their economic development team before the position opened up at the INCubator program.
“My mom always taught me to be a sponge or a student,” Savage says. “You should always be learning. There should never be a point where you stop reading, stop learning, stop networking.”
As the director of entrepreneurial development, Savage’s day-to-day responsibilities involve remaining in regular contact with the facility’s clients and organizing educational programming, which are designed to teach skills that will help boost the success of their ventures.
“What I realized after coming here was that a lot of businesses fail in silence,” Savage says, “and I don’t know if that’s pride … or just that they’re so heads down and things are flying by and they’re not catching it.
“My goal here was to make sure they’re armed and ready for success.”
Participants at the INCubator program must attend one event every quarter. Last month, that included a class on artificial intelligence. In the past, the facility has also brought in an attorney so business owners can ask them legal questions — entrepreneurs are often concerned about other stealing their ideas, she notes — and has taught tenants how to leverage good debt, boost their cybersecurity and build a continuity plan for disasters.
Savage is also building out a room specifically designed for companies that have not yet developed a cash flow, which came after she noticed the INCubator was receiving multiple applications for businesses that were still in the ideation stage. That typically means the founders don’t yet have a product, and they’re not yet able to afford rent or internet costs at the facility.
This new space will enable fledgling entrepreneurs to build out prototypes and figure out their business plans, Savage says. One client, for example, is putting together kits for restoring broken car headlights. Another is working on a wearable watch that will monitor the voice volume of neurodivergent children, which will vibrate to inform them when they’re speaking too loud.
Walking down corridors in the INCubator’s decades old building, Savage points out art hanging on the walls — all made by Chattanooga-based creators — and occasionally stops to talk with tenants. One of them, David Suker, is the owner of Plotline Creative and builds custom software for clients, including applications for construction management. He previously did marketing work for another company that was based in the facility.
“The space is great, the staff is great, the location is good too,” Suker says. “It’s much better than being home with a one year old.”
Marcherie Savage
* Career: Director of Entrepreneurial Development at the INCubator and owner of Marcherie Jamene Marketing.
* Education: Graduate of Tennessee State University
* Civic Involvement: Cadence Bank Community Advisory Board, TSBDC Advisory Board, member of the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA) and Media Leader at Pneuma Church
* Interests: Storytelling, photography, film, entrepreneurship, mentoring young leaders, and fitness/health