The life of Cobi
A renaissance man who strives to be the millennial Mr. Rogers! I am a dedicated community advocate from Loris, South Carolina (the Chicken Bog capital), and a proud graduate of Coastal Carolina University (Go Chants!). I have built and continue to build a robust life in sports, advocacy and community development.
I was born with a birth defect that left me with little usage of me cerebellum and caused shunts to be installed in his head. As a result of this birth defect and having shunts, I have had over 20 brain surgeries over the course of my life. A blessing and a curse! The blessing is that the shunts keep me alive, and also introduced me and my family to the March of Dimes; an organization that supports research efforts into babies born with birth defects. My mom and I got involved with the March of Dimes for the first several years of my life. This included the start of my advocacy career with lobbying the United States Congress at 2 years old (probably the youngest lobbyist ever, may need to check into that fact). I continue to be passionate about the organization's efforts in research relating to babies born with birth defects and supporting those affected families.
As I grew into my teenage years, I started a non-profit called "Cobi's Coats for Kids." The purpose of the organization is to collect new or gently used coats. At the start of each fall season, I hosted a coat drive for families to grab a coat for free so that they can stay warm during the winter months. I created this organization based on what I saw at my school, where there were a lot of kids who didn't have coats during the cold months, and could not afford one. I saw a problem and my best to be a part of the solution. In the 10 years of Cobi's Coats for Kids, the organization helped on average 250 kids per year with locating a coat to own.
When I got to high school, I scored the best first job ever with working for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans minor league baseball club. I was a swimmer throughout my childhood, but baseball had my heart. I specifically loved the statistics part of the game. My dream was to be the General Manager. of a Major League Baseball team, so this job with the local MiLB team was step in the right direction! Several great memories were made throughout my time with the team!
I went to college at Coastal Carolina University to continue working towards the goal of becoming a MLB GM, and I had two years of colleges already completed because of a dual enrollment program I attended in high school! Fall of the first semester at coastal, I met my local congressman. He invited me to intern in his district and Washington DC offices. I had some experience in politics in my childhood with attending presidential debates, and being chosen to take a trip to DC to learn about rural telecommunications; but never thought about working in politics. The congressman served on the Small Business Committee and the Transportation committee; both were committees that were interesting to me. So I took him up on that offer and went from sports to politics and continuing to grow my life in advocacy! Those next few years were really interesting. I learned a lot about the legislative process and (most importantly) had the opportunity to talk with folks from all over my home congressional district about issues most pressing to them. It was also interesting to be in DC when my boss got a seat on the Ways and Means committee, one of the oldest and most powerful committees in congress. I enjoy meeting people, and certainly met a lot of different characters. Some of who that have turned out to be lifelong friends. I also really developed my passion for advocating for my community during this time at this political level. It shaped my activities during my time at CCU. A highlight I like to include is participating in the South Carolina Student Legislature, this is a mock legislature consisting of students from schools across South Carolina. Every fall, we would go to Columbia and debate bills that we wrote that would pass, fail, or be amended for the next time we met. And the other highlight that resulted from this interest in politics is campaigning for a seat on my hometown’s city council during my final semester at coastal. My love and passion for Loris grew to the point where I wanted to represent the city one of their councilmen. Unfortunately, I lost that election, but my passion for public service only grew from that experience.
After college and my election was over, I worked for my local solicitor in Conway, South Carolina. I grew up around law via my mom, who was and continues to be a superstar attorney; but I never really had an interest in the legal world until my politics experience, which inspired me to intern for the solicitor. I enjoyed working in the pre-trial intervention (PTI) department with the office. I really appreciated that there was an effort to not just lock up those who broke the law, but instead provide those with certain offenses the opportunity to enter a “employment-based rehab.” Instead of just going to jail, the offender can enter this program, get a job to make money for themselves and their family, and get the help they need so that they don’t commit the same offense in the future. Very productive program.
The political bug still had me a few months after graduation from college, and I went back to Washington DC. Over the next year and a half I helped the great people of South Carolina in a few different capacities and offices. I had the opportunity to continue to meet a lot of very interesting people and make friends who are equally devoted to the Palmetto State.
My favorite professor as an undergraduate at Coastal Carolina University, Rob Salvino, had an opening to be his graduate assistant, so I enrolled at CCU in their MBA program and became his GA. Two things happened that summer; the first being the start of my career at and devotion to Coastal Carolina University, and the other being the start of my intentional involvement the Grand Strand community by acceptance to participate in Leadership Grand Strand.
My time as Dr. Salvino’s GA gave me the opportunity to lead and participate in research relating to issues most pressing to the Grand Strand/ Waccamaw Region. Population growth and issues surrounding property rights were the theme of my time as the graduate assistant.
Leadership Grand Strand is a program that further teaches leaders of the Grand Strand community about the community, and introduces them to opportunities to get further involved. I really enjoyed this experience as it taught me a lot about the region that I didn’t already know, and provided me with knowledge about people and organizations who can help further my endeavors as a community advocate.
Everything kind of culminated right when COVID was taking a hold on the world, very odd period of time. When the world started opening back up and people could be around one another, my opportunity to combine my passion for the Grand Strand and for Coastal Carolina University was presented via being the business liaison for Coastal Carolina University’s economic development and real estate center; where I had the opportunity to continue working with Dr. Salvino, the center’s director. In this position I led CCU’s annual Economic Growth & Real Estate Summit (record breaking attendance, great programming and record breaking profit every year I was in charge of it), fostered relationships with the business community, business to business connection, hosted smaller speaker series about issues most pressing to the region, helped students connect with employers for internships and jobs, co-hosted a podcast called "Teal Talk" where two fellow CCU graduates and myself interviewed various interesting Chanticleer alumni, hosted my own podcast called "Palmetto Happenings with Cobi" that was an extension of my desire to highlight various areas of the Waccamaw Region/Palmetto State, and fundraised to finance the Center’s initiatives. Very proud that my efforts were recognized via the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration 30th anniversary "Outstanding Alumni. One of 30 graduates selected for this honor.
Through my involvement with the Center, I was chosen to be a member of the Waccamaw American Leadership Forum. This is a program where leaders in the Waccamaw Region (Horry, Georgetown, and Williamsburg County) are chosen to participate and work together in bridging the communication gap between the counties, and drive the region forward. The Waccamaw Region has a lot of history and is one of the more papular regions in the United States where people are moving to, which brings a lot of needs and services. WALF finds it important to bring together the difference makers in the region to help ensure that these needs and services are being met. This is another program that continues to mean a lot to me.
I have also been involved with the Loris Chamber of Commerce; serving for a term as a board of director. I also pride myself on being chief of staff for Cluck Norris, the mascot for the annual Loris Bog-Off Festival. Through that chamber involvement, I have had the opportunity to help lead Youth Leadership Loris. This is a program for select Loris High School students to teach them about everything in Loris, and help prepare them for after high school. Investing in the future!
Over the past couple of years, I have had the opportunity to get back in the sports world with being involved in the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic PGA event. In a community that provides family friendly entertainment, this tournament highlights the best of the best of what we have to offer. I have had the pleasure of serving as a volunteer coordinator, chairman of the tournament’s ambassador committee, and the tournament’s admissions committee. I’m excited to stay involved and watch the tournament grow and continue to make an impact.
I try to incorporate the mindset “honor the past, while looking to the future” in my everyday life. I have a deep appreciation and interest in history, and excitement for a better tomorrow. I have carried that mindset in everything I do and especially so when I was president of the Loris Civitan Club. This organization is the oldest in the Grand Strand, loads of history with the club and tremendous impact on the Loris community throughout the years. Really enjoy my time with the club, and as the region grows, I hope that we don’t lose perspective of the efforts made early on to what the Grand Strand is today.
An exemplification of my desire to be diverse in my community involvement, I have been a member of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s Advocacy Council, South Carolina Human Trafficking Taskforce, board member of the Carolina Bays Acceleration Academy, member of the Horry County Citizens Planning Academy, and Horry County Citizens Police Academy.
I always like to say “Life is Good” and it truly is good. I work hard to be a better person that I was yesterday, always work to invest in my community, and believe in a bright future!