Mattson goes big for small businesses as Chattanooga’s entrepreneurship czar

Sarah Mattson was working in Chattanooga’s Tennessee Small Business Development Center (TSBDC) when Tim Kelly, the city’s mayor, announced in early 2023 that he would appoint a director of entrepreneurship for the city.

“When he first announced that, I thought it was awesome,” says Mattson, then the senior small business consultant in the TSBDC office. “I thought someone from the city needed to be in that arena.”

Turns out, she was that someone. The Mobile, Alabama, native “couldn’t apply fast enough,” won the newly created position and started in May 2023.

“Tim wanted someone in his administration thinking of small business all day, every day,” Mattson says. “That’s my job.

“Entreprenuership is a huge economic tool, a tremendous tool to help folks overcome poverty,” she adds. “After six years (at TSBDC), I’d built such a strong network and could see how to move entrepreneurship forward.”

Mattson says her early efforts were “very organic, grass-roots.” One of the things she’s done is to formalize and now lead the group known as the Chattanooga Business Resource Collective.

“What we’re doing is discussing policy issues, what gaps need to be filled in and what resources are out there for entrepreneurs,” she says. “We thought, ‘Let’s develop a program where we get everybody in a room and (founders) tell their story one time.'”

Mattson grew up in coastal Alabama, and says that when the time came to go to college, her family “really wanted me to go to a big state school.”

“I visited some, but it felt overwhelming,” she recalls. “I felt lost on campus.”

She says she had some friends going to Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, so she visited.

“I really fell in love with the campus, the size of the school and Tennessee,” she says. “It was welcoming and comfortable.”

Mattson says that after earning her undergraduate degree, she went back home and settled near Mobile, in Daphne.

“I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do next,” she says, “but I knew I wasn’t quite ready for corporate America.

“It wasn’t my plan to stay,” she adds. “I started really thinking about where to live, and I’d really loved Tennessee and Chattanooga. The city was constantly trying to improve itself. It was beautiful, charming and had all the outdoor amenities I wanted.”

She moved back to Chattanooga in 2008 and soon landed a position with Life Care Centers where, within seven years, she rose from payroll clerk to business office manager.

Her plan also included a master’s degree, so she enrolled at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she not only earned her advanced degree, but developed clarity on her career as well.

The daughter of entrepreneurs, Mattson says she knew early on that she wanted to have her own business, as well. There was just one problem.

“I was never able to hone in on a particular business,” she says. But a friend and colleague in her UTC cohort, Jenny DeCook, worked at the TSBDC in Cleveland, Tennessee.

“I thought, ‘That’s exactly what I want to do,'” Mattson recalls. “If I could help businesses with their operations, I can stay in that entreprenuerial community and not have to commit to a specific industry.”

Mattson soon after had her MBA in hand, and then saw a job opening at Chattanooga’s TSBDC office.

“I walked in and said, ‘I’m meant to have this job. Please hire me,'” she recalls. “I’d never been so excited about a job in my life.

“I’d meet with three or four business owners every day, and I’d really get in the weeds in terms of helping them build business plans. I really learned the value of a business having a resource like that.”

Mattson’s now brought that experience to city government, which she says has a part to play in promoting entrepreneurship.

“I love that question — whether this is appropriate for a city government,” she says. “I don’t feel government should be overly involved in the private marketplace, but I see gaps — opportunities where government can make a difference.

“Black Chattanoogans have twice the poverty rate of white Chattanoogans,” she says. “That’s a huge task. If we want a better economy, we’ve got to solve that problem.

“The mayor is an entrepreneur himself. He sees the value of entrepreneurial programs. We’re trying to make things easier for business — getting rid of outdated policies and ordinances, just doing what we can to make things easier for small business.”

Mattson says her principal challenge might well be that of pacing herself.

“I tend to be hard on myself,” she says. “I feel we’ve gotten a lot done, but I see a lot more I want to get done. Sometimes I’m just limited by time.”

SARAH MATTSON

* Age: 43

* Job: Director of Entrepreneurship, City of Chattanooga

* Education: BS Lee University, 2oo2, magna cum laude; MBA University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 2016

* Career: CPSI in Mobile, Alabama, 2004-06; Life Care Centers, 2008-16; Riverside Plumbing, 2011-18, co-owner/business manager; Tennessee Small Business Development Centers, 2017-23, business consultant/senior small business consultant

* Civic Involvement: Protege Chattanooga mentor, TSBDC Chattanooga board, Leadership Chattanooga Class of 2025, Leadership Hamilton County Schools Class of 2025

* Family: Two children – Ian, 12 and Elise, 8