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Sonya Sharp for Mayor

Former entrepreneur helping small businesses navigate Calgary regulations

[Excerpt] By Brodie Thomas

Sonya Sharp has been helping small businesses get past their paperwork for almost a year and a half now.

The City of Calgary created the position of customer coordinator for small business because they wanted someone who could act as a middleman between businesses that were starting up and the city’s planning department.

As someone who was born into an entrepreneurial family, and who ended up marrying a business owner, Sharp said that experience helps her think like a business customer.

“In my personal life I’ve owned six businesses, up to the point where I got this position,” she said. “So I’ve had a lot of hands-on experience with small business.”

After more than a decade as a planning technician with Calgary, Sharp has jumped headfirst into a job that lets her help other small business owners navigate the steps needed to get their business up and running.