Optimum hosts ribbon cutting; honors local business owners who won $5,000 grants

Melinda Martinez, Alexandria Town Talk
·3 min read

At a ribbon cutting held Tuesday for Optimum’s new Alexandria office located at 1418 North MacArthur Drive, two local business owners were recognized for receiving grants of $5,000 each through a partnership between Optimum and parent company Altice USA and the Coalition to Back Black Businesses, a multi-year initiative to support Black-owned businesses.

Catrice Johnson, owner of Johnson & Johnson Realty LLC, and Renee White Goolsby, owner of De'Laune De'Lors Jewelz & Boutique, both of Alexandria, were two of the four recipients chosen from the state and among 52 across Optimum's footprint to receive the grants, said Optimum marketing manager George King. Both now have the opportunity of winning an enhanced grant of $25,000.

Renee White Goolsby (left), owner of De'Laune De'Lors Jewelz & Boutique and Catrice Johnson, owner of Johnson & Johnson Realty LLC, received grants of $5,000 each through a partnership between Optimum and parent company Altice USA and the Coalition to Back Black Businesses, a multi-year initiative to support Black-owned businesses. They were recognized at Optimum's ribbon cutting Tuesday.

Johnson said she is the first Black woman in the parish to own her own reality firm. She started out in nursing and was selling real estate on the side before doing it full-time.

Goolsby started De'Laune De'Lors Jewelz & Boutique for women of color who work in corporate America who may have found it hard to dress for their roles because outfits were too expensive. They may have had to decide whether to buy clothes for their children or if they were going to dress themselves for success.

"A lot of times they have the educational background but maybe we're overlooked because of what they wore in the workplace,” said Goolsby.

That’s how she came up with the idea for DeLaune DeLors Jewelz & Boutique that “offers fun fashionable, affordable clothing for the businesswoman on the go or on a budget.”

" God did it. He gets all the glory. I fasted and prayed and asked God about me opening the brokerage firm so I could assist basically low to moderate-income people to help them purchase homes,” she said. “Because I want everybody in our community to know that everybody can be a homeowner.”

She also teaches first-time homebuyer classes for free.

“I want them to understand that buying a home, you’re leaving generational wealth to your children. This is something tangible. This is something that they have that they can be proud of,” she said.

Johnson looks at her work as another way of helping people and finds it very rewarding.

“I saw the change and I became the change that I wanted to be,” she said.

Optimum, the local provider of internet, mobile, TV and phone services, has moved their office from the Donohue Ferry location in Pineville to Alexandria. Optimum’s new Alexandria office is located in the shopping center behind Captial One on Jackson Street next to Cici’s Pizza.

Customers can pay bills, register for service, shop for mobile devices and accessories and receive assistance from a retail associate at this new location, states a press release. The stores will also offer "a modern and interactive in-store experience where customers can explore the complete line of Optimum connectivity offerings, including internet, Smart WiFi 6, mobile, TV and home phone services."

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Optimum honors $5,000 grant recipients at ribbon cutting