Little Maiah Bastardo bursts through the kitchen door in a puffy pink jacket, the toddler pulling her smiling mother, Eridania, in tow. Her husband, Yordanys Bastardo, who goes by “Jay”, wasn’t far behind. He emerged from the kitchen, straightening his shirt before being bombarded with smiling customers wanting to shake his hand. Having become a small-town success story after using Pitt...

By practically any measure, 2016 will be remembered as a banner year for the Pitt Community College Small Business Center. The facility began drawing praise in September, after an N.C. Small Business Center Network (NCSBCN) report showed it to be the state’s best in terms of small business startups. In fact, the center ranked fifth overall among the 58-member network and placed in the top 10 of...

Amidst whimsical walls filled with more than 300 types of paintable pottery, you’ll most definitely hear Painted Peacock owner Susan Bucci’s bubbly laughter before you see her. Formerly named the “Accidental Artist,” Bucci bought the business and transformed it into the popular paint-your-own pottery studio in Greenville’s Arlington Village…a business venture made all the more...