Charlottesville Women Who Mean Business
March is Women's History Month, and the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce wants to take a moment to recognize some of the women in our own backyard who are building, leading, and showing up for this community every day. From food tours to construction sites to courtrooms, these five businesses represent the range and depth of what women-led enterprise looks like in our region. We encourage you to support them, hire them, partner with them, and spread the word.
C-ville Bites | MJ Padilla
MJ Padilla started C-ville Bites with a clear mission: bring people together through food. The company offers walking food tours along Charlottesville's historic Downtown Mall, cooking classes, and private event planning.
What makes C-ville Bites stand out is how deliberately MJ has built it. Inclusivity is not a tagline for this business; it shapes the way tours are paced, priced, and designed. Guests have called MJ a natural host and someone who makes strangers feel like they belong in the same room. She has earned SWaM certification as a woman-owned small business.
If you have not done a food tour in your own city, this is a good reason to start!
Lee Construction Group | Arlene Lee
Arlene Lee is the CEO and Principal of Lee Construction Group, a family of construction companies that traces its roots in this region back to 1939.
Their fingerprints are on some of the most recognizable structures in Charlottesville and beyond, including historic restorations at Monticello and the Rotunda, the brickwork of the Downtown Mall, UVA's Data Science Center, and Liberty University's dining hall.
Arlene describes leadership in terms of listening, of knowing where you are going, and of finding your own voice before someone else speaks for you. She has served on the Chamber Board of Directors and brought those same values to everything she does beyond the job site.
Three Cheers Marketing | Erica Gregory and Hannah Pierce
Erica Gregory and Hannah Pierce founded Three Cheers Marketing as a boutique agency built around one idea: your business deserves more than a template. The Charlottesville-based firm brings over 20 years of combined marketing experience to branding, content creation, digital advertising, social media management, and strategic consulting.
What clients say about them is telling. Words like "attentive," "strategic," and "willing to go above and beyond" come up again and again.
Erica and Hannah built the agency they would have wanted to hire and treats wins as something to celebrate together.
Florosa | Christina "Chris" Martin
Chris Martin runs Florosa, a bakery and flower farm in Charlottesville that is unlike anything else in the region. Rooted in Latin and Hispanic pastry traditions and shaped by what grows on her quarter-acre certified urban farm, Florosa produces garden-inspired cakes, pan dulce, catering spreads, and edible flowers. Ingredients are grown steps from the kitchen. What ends up on the plate reflects both the season and the culture Chris brings to her work.
The result is a business that feels specific in the best possible way. Florosa is not trying to be everything to everyone. It is the expression of one person's craft, heritage, and deep commitment to sourcing well and baking honestly. Florosa is also NGLCC-certified and has been active in the community through popups and charitable collaborations.
Williams Mullen | Valerie Wagner Long
A note on this one: Williams Mullen is a regional law firm, not a woman-owned business. However, we would be leaving something out if we did not recognize the woman who has become one of its most respected leaders in Charlottesville.
Valerie Wagner Long is a Partner at Williams Mullen, where she focuses on land use, zoning, and real estate law. The Best Lawyers in America has recognized her for Land Use and Real Estate Law every year since 2009, and she has been named Charlottesville Real Estate Law Lawyer of the Year three times.
Beyond her legal work, Valerie has been a fixture in civic life here. She served as Chair of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, has sat on the boards of the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development and the Albemarle County Fire and Rescue Foundation, and was named to Virginia Lawyers Weekly's inaugural class of Influential Women of Law in 2019.