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Expanding intellectual property understanding through education

South Carolina Business Review
SC Public Radio

As a minority in the legal profession, our next guest found it easy to understand the challenges faced by minorities, especially in her particular area of expertise, intellectual property law, where she encountered many creators who had no idea what the topic even meant. Shontavia Johnson is now using her skills to actively change the entrepreneurial landscape of our state and the world in her position as the associate vice president of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Clemson University.

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After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.