Calonda Henry, owner of Broad Horizons Speech Therapy, is the JAX Chamber 2025 overall Small Business Leader of the Year.
The award was presented Feb. 11 at the Florida Blue Conference Center.
Henry was among 11 Small Business Leaders of the Year selected by Chamber chapters from across the city.
Broad Horizons Speech Therapy specializes in developing children’s language skills through assessment, treatment and reinforcement by encouraging family members to do daily drills with their child when at home. The company, started in 2019, also offers occupational speech therapy.
Its offices are at 9191 RG Skinner Parkway, Suite 103, in South Jacksonville.
She joined the Chamber in 2020 and saw it as an opportunity to meet and learn from other business owners.
“The connections, you know, the rooms that I get to enter, that I would never have imagined myself entering, is definitely due to the Chamber,” she said.
“The Chamber really pours their efforts into small businesses and making sure that we stay ahead of the curve.”
Henry is a Jacksonville native and 2008 Ed White High School graduate. She is a graduate of the University of Central Florida and received her master’s at Nova Southeastern University. She began her career as a speech-language pathologist in 2012.
Before opening her business, she worked for Duval County Public Schools for four years.
Henry was one of 500 businesses nationwide to receive the 2024 Comcast RISE Grant.
“This journey has been anything but ordinary. As a young, minority woman in my 30s, I am proud to represent the 3% of African Americans in the field of speech-language pathology and the even smaller percentage of women business owners,” Henry said in a Chamber news release.
“I am determined to reach and surpass that milestone, not just for myself but as a testament to others that breaking barriers is possible.”
As this year’s Small Business Leader, she will serve as an honorary member of the JAX Chamber board. She will also speak at Chamber councils meetings.
Davis, Jones chat
Before Henry receiving the award, JAX Chamber President Daniel Davis spoke with Paul Jones, CEO of W.W. Gay Mechanical. He is the grandson of founder William Wiley Gay.
Jones said he began his career in construction while still a teen.
“My grandfather would ask me what the last day of school was every year. I would show up to work the next day,” he said.
He may have been a the boss’s grandson but he wasn’t carrying a clipboard on the job site. He recalled a job where he and another worker were hand digging a deep hole.
“We were working on a water main in the middle of summer, and the gentleman I’m working with looked at me and said, ‘Does it feel like you’re six inches from the pit of hell?’I said, matter of fact, it does. And he said, good, maybe you’ll do better in college when you go back.”
Jones said he reflects on those words regularly.
It taught him to respect the work his crews do every day.
“I’m very grateful for what our men and women do every day, because they work in extremely difficult conditions. They know what it takes to get a job done,” Jones said.
His advice to small business owners was to remember your oldest customer as if it was their most recent. Instead of trying to be everything to everybody, he advised finding their company’s niche and pursue excellence.
“Perfection is not attainable, but if you chase perfection, you can catch excellence.”
The other advice was to have integrity.
“We built our success on doing what we say we’re going to do. It sounds so simple, but if it’s I’ll be there on Tuesday and you don’t show up until Thursday, then you just screwed up a lot of people’s plans.”
Other winners
In addition to Calonda Henry, the 2025 Small Business Leaders of the Year are:
• Sonya Marchisillo, Pinnacle Communications Group – Arlington Council
• Sarah White, Sarah Ennis White Events – Beaches Division
• DJ Remark, BloodScribe Creations – Downtown Council
• Randi Beesing, Any Lab Test Now - Jacksonville – Health Council
• Andrea Reyes, Reyes Legal, PLLC – NextUp JAX
• Sam Harding, Intent Sales & Marketing – Jacksonville IT Council
• Tracy Riley, Tracy Riley Counseling – Professional Women’s Council
• Regent Ducas, Easy Edit Video – South Council
• Marc Fraga, Smash My Trash of Jacksonville – Transportation & Logistics Council
• Danielle Cleary, Heartspace Art – Three Rivers Council