Roanoker Cameron Johnson is featured in this Washington Post story on the day of the final episode of Oprah’s Big Give. The story chronicles his accomplishments at an early age growing up in Roanoke to his current accolades as a 23-year-old.

The reason this blog is covering his story is because Cameron is the young professional from our area who is dedicated to our region, and is sincerely interested in helping the region, regardless of his numerous other professional opportunities. He has given back and will continue to do so. We must communicate Roanoke, Virginia is a place that enables this type of entrepreneurship and success for a young professional.  Let’s celebrate all of his accomplishments.   

The Corvin family in Roanoke, Virginia was recently featured on Oprah’s Big Give via the contestant Cameron Johnson. Today, the Roanoke Times provided a follow up story to Sunday night’s show.

Roanoke, Virginia native Cameron Johnson is down to the final three in Oprah’s Big Give with the final episode this Sunday evening, April 20 at 8 pm on ABC.

A CNNMoney article recently examined how entrepreneurs, like Cameron, have an advantage on these TV reality shows.

More than having the advantage on reality shows, having more residents with an entrepreneurial spirit differentiates your regional economy and allows it to compete in the global economy. We must have more entrepreneurs working for themselves rather than working for someone else. Cameron is our poster child for the young professional/ young adult movement in Roanoke and entrepreneurial spirit needed in the 21st century.  

Roanoke native Cameron Johnson is in the final three of Oprah’s Big Give and Sunday’s episode will be partially filmed in Roanoke. There is a viewing party on Sunday night at the Roanoke Civic Center Exhibit Hall starting at 7 pm and the show will air at 8 pm. It is free and open to the public. We are also planning a Big Give of our own. More details to come.

I was asked recently by a civic group to give an update on Roanoke’s young adult movement. I came up with 7 examples of progress and I plan to address each over the next week. Here is the first.

Progress #1 - “The movement is bigger than Roanoke”

Across the nation, groups are forming at a rapid pace. I subscribe to a Google alert that shares all blog posts and traditional media stories showcasing all of the great work YPs are doing. It is refreshing to know so many young people are getting active and involved in the movement. Therfore, I believe we benefit from this shared synergy in other communities.

I also believe we have been able to communicate and partner with some of the national and international gurus on this topic. Richard Florida of the Creative Class and his staff has been very helpful on a number of fronts.  Jason Dorsey, the Gen Y guy, has also carried the torch for us on a number of fronts. Serial entrepreneur and 22-year-old Cameron Johnson has given a lot of his time to enhance entrepreneurship among young professionals and the business community as a whole. The list goes on and on. These advocates and champions have made our efforts more known and respected.

As a result, of this mass movement and partnerships, there have been a number of unique stories and that is where we will pick up with our next post tomorrow.