A DRG Community Initiative
Turn your contacts into connections

Cultivating
Connections.

Business growth runs on relationships. With the right peers, the right partners, and the right clients. Cultivating Connections is a series of events and experiences designed to help small business leaders build all three.

In-person & virtual Local communities Co-hosted with partners Washington DC · DMV area

Vision

A business environment where small businesses grow because they are genuinely trusted: by their clients, their communities, and the partners they work alongside.

Mission

To create spaces where small business owners gain the awareness, knowledge, and skills to build lasting relationships: with each other and with the clients they serve.

What It Is

Built around two kinds
of connection that drive growth.

Most networking events put people in a room and hope for the best. Cultivating Connections is different. Each event is shaped around a specific community, a specific purpose, and a specific outcome for the people in it.

01

Connect with other business leaders and partners

Structured spaces to meet peers, collaborators, and potential partners who understand what it means to run a small business. Not a card-swap. A real exchange with people who could change your trajectory.

02

Build skills to cultivate relationships with your own clients

Trust is the skill behind every client relationship that holds. Events bring in experts who help you understand what your clients are actually looking for, and how to show up in a way that makes them stay.

Happy Hours
Relaxed, low-barrier gatherings. Great first event for people new to the community.
Expert Roundtables
Small-group conversations with a practitioner. Focused on a specific challenge or question.
Skill Sessions
Hands-on workshops that leave you with something actionable. Tied to the DRG curriculum where relevant.
Partner Events
Co-hosted with business organizations, expo partners, and community groups.
Past Events

Where we've been.
What we've built.

Cultivating Connections Happy Hour, April 8 2026
Guests at Cultivating Connections, Hotel Hive Rooftop
Networking at Cultivating Connections
Hosts Toni Dumas and Felicity Tchoufa
April 8, 2026 · Washington DC
Cultivating Connections Happy Hour
Hotel Hive Rooftop · 2224 F St NW · Alongside the Small Business Expo

The inaugural Cultivating Connections event brought together small business leaders from across the DMV area for an evening of real conversation, introductions, and connection. Co-hosted alongside the DC Small Business Expo with a full room of community sponsors and partners.

Co-hosts & community partners
The Sheroe Mindshift · Felicity Tchoufa DMV Women-Owned Businesses MAGENT · Sharman Enterprises · DynLeadCo F&L Design Builders · 202 Print · How We Heal Chevy Chase City Lifestyle
How It Works

Built with partners,
not just for them.

Every Cultivating Connections event is designed with a co-host or partner whose community and expertise shapes the room. We bring the framework. Partners bring their people and their perspective.

Co-hosts

Business owners and community leaders

People who already have a trusted audience and want to bring something genuinely useful to them. Share the stage, shape the event.

Expert contributors

Specialists and practitioners

Lawyers, strategists, marketers, technologists. People with a specific lens who want to meet small business owners where they are.

Community sponsors

Business groups and organizations

Chambers of commerce, trade associations, local business networks, and expo partners looking to bring their members something tangible.

Explore a partnership →
The DRG Connection

Community is where
trust work starts.

Cultivating Connections events are where small business owners first encounter the trust-as-growth framework. The conversations that happen in the room often reveal exactly the kind of gaps that DRG's workshops and programs are built to address.

Events are community. Workshops are curriculum. They complement each other, but they're not the same thing, and you don't need one to access the other.

Free · 60 min "Something Feels Off" Workshop The DRG trust-leak walkthrough. Open to anyone. No CC event required. Free · 5 min · No signup Take the Trust Check Find out where your trust gaps are across leads, conversion, and delivery. Programs The Three-Phase Pathway Courses and the flagship 6-week program for businesses ready to go deeper.
Upcoming Events

What's next.

May 19
Better Business Decisions & AI Use
Cultivating Connections · Title to be confirmed · Registration opening soon
Register free on: Eventbrite · Luma

Can't make it but want to stay in the loop? Drop us a note and we'll add you to the list.

Get Involved

Come to the next event.
Or help us build it.

Whether you want to attend, co-host, contribute as an expert, or bring Cultivating Connections to your community or organization: we want to hear from you.

Get in touch → Join a CTC Event →