8min read

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Empires ask: Whose side are you on?

Institutions ask: Whose rules do you follow?

Communities ask: What can we create together?

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This concept, community over competition, has echoed through my life for years.

A Lesson in Sustainable Community: A Thousand-Year Flood

Almost a year and a half ago, at the end of September 2025, Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina, the place my family has called home for three generations. Friends swam for their lives, clutching what little they could carry. Businesses I’d worked with lost millions in inventory, priceless handmade art, and the hope of future revenue. Basic needs such as cell service, clean water, groceries, and gas disappeared overnight.

There was fear. There was anger. But amid the chaos, something extraordinary happened: community. Neighbors who had never spoken shared meals and cleared roads together. Friends across the country sent small donations, while large organizations mobilized to provide food, water, and shelter. For a moment, sides and rules didn’t matter, only solutions. Together, we began to rebuild, piece by piece, something strong enough to hold both our grief and our hope.

The French Broad River flooding buildings, roads, and bridges in the Biz Hero team’s neighborhood in September 2024.

Seeing Heroes and Highlighting Impact

While every story of compassion, kindness, shared resources, and resilience could not possibly be told, it has been inspiring to see so many efforts highlighting the community heroes leading the recovery. PBS, for example, received a grant from Dogwood HealthTrust to showcase these efforts. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to help local organizations secure over seven figures in grant funding from Dogwood for programs making real impact, and they continue to support my clients at pivotal moments.

A Conversation on Resilience

I was also fortunate to join a conversation with 35 Asheville professionals for a book-in-progress and podcast series, Something Worth Saving: Asheville, Stories of Resilience. The series explores the long-rooted history of creative and mission-driven organizations in our region and the recovery process since Hurricane Helene. Many of the guests on the first episode were people I’ve collaborated with over my 16-year professional career in Asheville.

Among them, I’ve served alongside Alexandria Ravenal of The Noir Collective (part of the oldest Black cultural center still operating in the United States, the YMI) on the City of Asheville’s Public Art and Culture Commission. Jen Murphy of Street Creature Puppets, who also shares her thoughts on this podcast, is a colleague I had the privilege of writing about for Mountain Xpress in a series called The Cost of Creativity, which explored the financial, mental, and emotional components of creative business endeavors.

Despite our different approaches to this topic, we all shared the same sentiment: we are individually part of a larger whole, one that relies on both our own indomitable spirit and the culture fostered by our community.

And all of this… The resilience, creativity, and collaboration I’ve seen in our community, really hits close to the lessons I’ve learned in my own life.

So, let me tell you a little bit about my story: how I got here, and why it matters for the work we’re building now.

(And don’t worry, Kent, our amazingly talented and creative Co-Founder, will be sharing his story and wisdom in the future too. But for now, we are all so lucky he’s got the administrative side of things covered. Without him keeping all the moving parts in line, none of this would run nearly as smoothly, or be as fun without him!)

My Story: From Quiet Child to Creative Catalyst

I’m Johanna Patrice Hagarty, or JPH. I was a very introverted, reserved child who found the arts (singing, dancing, visual art, even quirky things like photo developing and calligraphy in elementary school) to be a beautiful way to manage my anxiety and connect with people. It was my chance to do something “hard” in a way that felt like me, because creativity, especially at such a young age, is about play and exploration. This led me to attend music and creative events in late high school, where my first big dream of producing a festival was born. That experience formed one of my core beliefs: creativity can heal, connect, and galvanize, a lens I bring into everything I do.

Fast forward to my college years, where I studied psychology, human development, and sociology; foundations I carried into my early career as a Mental Health Professional working with youth and families.

Even with a “full-time job” trying to save the world as a Mental Health Professional, which, spoiler alert, isn’t possible and doesn’t leave a ton of spare time, I somehow kept my creative side alive. What started in my youth as performing slowly morphed into producing: I worked at music venues, helped musical artists as a publicist, and wore all sorts of hats at festivals and events. Those experiences eventually sparked the launch of my first nonprofit arts and economic development organization, mostly an event production company, but one that taught me a ton about business on the fly.

Up until that point, my formal business experience had been limited to a single business planning class. Everything else came from boots on the ground experience in my early professional roles, which afforded me a lot of learning by doing, but was far from comprehensive.

Boots-on-the-Ground Business Experience

From 2017 to 2019, I produced three major outdoor festivals through my nonprofit arts organization. Over that time, I generated more than $300,000 for the local arts community, brought 5,000+ people together, and centered thoughtful conversations around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These events became an economic landing pad for local discussions that sparked new community organizations, businesses, and deep connections.

Along the way, I learned some invaluable lessons on project management, cash flow, marketing, and development. And I discovered the need to stay agile as the world constantly shifts.

Personal Challenges, Professional Growth, and a Core Belief

2019 was the last year I produced the free street festival. Then 2020 arrived with major health challenges for me, a global pandemic that changed how we interact in person forever, and the need to focus on caring for my disabled mom until her unexpected passing in 2022, which shook me to my core.

Through all those personal and professional challenges, one core belief became crystal clear: I challenge the idea that organizations can’t achieve both financial stability and meaningful impact. I know this is especially tough for many nonprofit organizations to fully embrace, but it’s absolutely possible.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked with nonprofits that never even considered the fee-for-service expertise they already have. This is exactly the kind of work they could and should be leveraging to build sustainable, mission-aligned brands.

Zooming out, most organizations I work with care deeply about impact. Movements like BCorp are making this even more visible. I have worked with clients who might look like nonprofits but chose a for-profit structure. This was a practical choice that encourages sustainable systems thinking. Honestly, I do not care much about the tax structure. Both nonprofits and for-profits benefit from the same strategic approach: systems that are mission-focused, aligned, and built to last.

Experience is the Best Teacher

As Jordan Peterson says, “Experience is the best teacher, and the worst experiences teach the best lessons.” I’ve lived this firsthand. Over the years, I’ve learned lessons through personal challenges and the unpredictable twists of business and nonprofit work.

Since 2020, I’ve worked as a business development consultant, coach, and fractional team member for founders, businesses, nonprofits, government organizations, financial institutions, and other mission-driven organizations. I bring both the lessons I’ve learned firsthand and the insights I’ve gained through ongoing professional education.

I’ve had the chance to do some incredible things: helping the SBA run their first digital women’s business conference with 200+ attendees, coaching clients past limiting beliefs, building project management systems that actually work, and growing seven-figure businesses into eight figures.

Along the way, I’ve generated over $40 million for nonprofits and businesses, trained more than 2,500 people, and produced events reaching over 150,000 participants.

The Biz Hero Mission Critical Method™

Along the way, I created the Biz Hero Mission Critical Method™. It is a proven framework to diagnose what is working, uncover what is missing, and deliver strategies and systems that grow organizations with clarity and confidence. It moves beyond cookie-cutter advice while making sure no critical area is overlooked.

Ultimately, we challenge the assumption that “doing good” cannot be done effectively, efficiently, and well. Time and again, when organizations move away from burnout, misaligned growth, or extractive practices, and work with a coach who truly understands their challenges, transformative realignment happens.

Why Biz Hero Now?

We are at a tipping point. Economic stress is high. Attention is scarce. Everyone is being pulled in a million directions while trying to do good for themselves and the world.

At Biz Hero, we are tired of seeing mission-driven founders, nonprofits, and businesses weighed down by confusion, misalignment, and cookie-cutter advice that doesn’t fit their vision. You know what you want to achieve, but the path isn’t always clear.

That’s why we created the Mission Critical Method™. It includes actionable frameworks to:

Anchor your operations
Build reliable systems
Connect your communications
Uncover growth opportunities

If you are curious how mission-driven organizations can turn challenges into measurable wins, check out our Mission Critical Method™ blog. It breaks down our approach.

At the start, we shared three questions asked by Empires, Institutions, and Communities: Whose side are you on? Whose rules do you follow? What can we create together? Most leaders get stuck negotiating the first two. At Biz Hero, we help them focus on the third — what can we create together? That’s where purpose-driven organizations thrive, strengthen communities, and build long-term sustainability.

When the focus is on creation together, rules can be shaped, sides don’t matter, and the work becomes meaningful and lasting. That’s the vision we carry at Biz Hero. Systems, strategies, and guidance that let mission-driven organizations thrive without compromise.

- Johanna Patrice Hagarty, Co-Founder and CEO of Biz Hero

P.S. If anything here sparked a thought, question, or just made you nod along, I’d love to hear from you. Drop us a note via the contact form here—I really enjoy talking about this stuff.

Why Biz Hero, Why Now?

Art Hero, LLC