This November, Malia Price will venture to open her first business, The Sarasota Style, on St. Armands Circle. Price, who has always hoped to open her own business, is excited to bring in a new brand she designed specifically for Sarasota.

Price grew up in Alabama and graduated with a degree in business administration from Auburn University in 2023 with the hope of opening her own business. After working at a retail store close to home for a while, Price embarked on a road trip to research the perfect location for her own store. “Sarasota was one of the areas that I ended up stopping by. It was the first time I had ever been here, and I drove on to St. Armands Circle. I walked around, went into all the stores and talked to the employees and people on the street. And I really just fell in love with the area. I thought it was super unique and just a beautiful environment in general,” says Price.

She immediately decided to move to Sarasota and began designing a lifestyle brand for the area, which she named The Sarasota Style. “It's a locally inspired lifestyle brand, so I designed a logo, trademarked it, started rolling out my business plan, designing my merchandise collection and looking for a storefront location,” says Price. “I was dead set on St. Armands Circle. It’s the perfect place for a store.”

Price’s plans were slowed by last year’s hurricanes, but now, she has finally found a storefront location on St. Armands and is preparing for the opening of her very own business. The store, which Price has spent the past several months preparing and decorating, will feature a collection of men’s, women’s and children’s apparel, hats and drinkware. Each item features Price’s own design, which says “Sarasota” and features a sketch of the sun in place of the “O.”

“I just hope that the locals accept the brand and really grow to love it, and it just creates a sense of community among the people living in Sarasota and the people that are visiting Sarasota,” says Price. “I know from the tons of people I've talked to that families come to Sarasota and come to St. Armands Circle year after year. It's really a tradition, and I hope I can add a little something to Sarasota for people who have lived here for a lot longer than I have, are visiting, and also people who love this place as much as I've come to love this place.”

The Sarasota Style, 410 St Armands Cir, Sarasota, FL, sarasotastyle.com 

Pictured: Immediately after her first visit to Sarasota, Malia Price designed The Sarasota Style logo and began planning her brand. Photo provided by Malia Price.

Neal Land & Neighborhoods was recognized with four awards from Suncoast Builders Association (ScBA) during the October 2025 Celebration of Excellence Awards. The awards recognize outstanding achievements in sales and marketing in the local building industry. Neal Land & Neighborhoods is a local land planning and community developer at the helm of North River Ranch  and Vistera of Venice master-planned communities. Neal Land & Neighborhoods received the Best Realtor Promo and Best Online Digital Ad Campaign awards for North River Ranch. For Vistera of Venice, the land developer received Best Website and Best Video awards. For more information on Neal Land & Neighborhoods, including the company’s latest development news, visit https://nealland.com/. 

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The Tampa Bay Organization of Women in International Trade (TBOWIT) has named distinguished immigration attorney Maria del Carmen Ramos as its 2025 International Person of the Year. Selected by the TBOWIT Board of Directors, Maria was chosen in recognition of her remarkable leadership, deep experience, and lasting impact on international business in Tampa Bay, across Florida, and worldwide. A Partner and Immigration National Service Line Leader at Shumaker, Maria has built a career dedicated to helping companies navigate the complexities of global talent mobility. She is a trusted advisor to businesses across multiple industries, and she guides clients through the intricate statutes, regulations, and policies that shape U.S. immigration law. Six times named as Tampa’s Top Immigration Lawyer by Tampa Magazine, Maria views immigration law as a critical tool for employers to strategically move human capital—including knowledge, skills, experience, and training—across borders. TBOWIT is a nonprofit professional organization committed to promoting international trade and supporting the advancement of women in the field. 

Global travel insights will get a local audience as Visit Sarasota County’s Indicators & Insights Summit welcomes Nicole Porter, VP of Political Affairs at the U.S. Travel Association, as its keynote speaker. Porter’s talk, scheduled for November 18 at 8 a.m. at the Carlisle Inn, will cover national and international tourism trends – from tariffs and TSA to America’s global travel brand – and their economic impact regionally in Florida. As Vice President of Political Affairs, Porter leads and develops all grassroots and political programs to bolster U.S. Travel’s advocacy efforts. Under Nicole’s leadership, U.S. Travel has raised more than $2 million for TravelPAC and the Advocacy Fund during the 2022 and 2024 election cycles. These critical tools help ensure the travel industry maintains a strong voice in Washington and secure a lasting seat at the table on and off Capitol Hill. Following Porter’s keynote, Visit Sarasota’s research firm – Downs & St. Germain Research – will share the state of local tourism and peek into their crystal ball to forecast market trends heading into season and 2026. Tickets are on sale now starting at $60 and include breakfast as well as all-day admission to the Summit. Group discounts are also available. For tickets and more information, visit https://visitsarasotacounty.ticketspice.com/visit-sarasota-county-indicators-insights-summit-2025 

HCA Florida Blake Hospital, HCA Florida Braden River Emergency and HCA Florida Venice Doctors Hospital are hosting their annual “Crush the Crisis” prescription drug take back day to raise awareness about the dangers of prescription drug misuse and the importance of safe and proper disposal of unused or expired medications, on Saturday, October 18, 2025. HCA Florida Wellen Park Emergency will host the event on Saturday, October 25, 2025. The events offer the community an opportunity to safely and anonymously dispose of medications that may be left over from previous procedures or other medical visits. 

Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is advancing plans for a new, $82.5 million Rehabilitation Pavilion at its Venice campus, bringing its nationally recognized inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services into south Sarasota County. Locating the pavilion on the Venice hospital campus will ensure a seamless, more convenient transition from the hospital to the new inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation facility. The Sarasota County Public Hospital Board approved funding for the projects in September, and this month SMH selected architects Gresham Smith, who designed the rehabilitation pavilion on SMH’s Sarasota campus, and general contractor Deangelis Diamond to design and build the 83,000-square-foot facility. Construction is expected to take roughly two years, with the pavilion opening for patient care in early-2028. 

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Manatee Memorial Hospital (MMH) proudly recognizes Dr. Daniel Friedman, Medical Director of the hospital’s WATCHMAN™ Program, for achieving a remarkable milestone, 1,000 successful WATCHMAN™ implants performed since the program’s inception in 2015. This milestone places Dr. Daniel Friedman among the top 20 physicians in the United States for WATCHMAN™ implants—a distinction that reflects his exceptional expertise, leadership and unwavering dedication to advancing care for patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib). In honor of this outstanding achievement, Boston Scientific Corporation presented Dr. Friedman with a commemorative “1,000 WATCHMAN” shadow box, recognizing his significant contributions to the field of structural heart medicine and his continued commitment to high-quality care at Manatee Memorial Hospital. 

The Naples-based Ronto Group has announced a significant sales milestone has been reached in the past three weeks. The development firm, specializing in luxury real estate projects in Florida,  received over $30 million in contracts from buyers of their new luxurious Rosewood Residences Lido Key project in Sarasota.  In addition, Ronto's ultra-luxurious Rosewood Residences Naples recorded $34 million in sales. For over fifty years, The Ronto Group has been building a solid reputation for imaginative vision, steadfast integrity and reliable performance. Ronto's expertise in land development and luxury high-rise construction has been recognized internationally for communities that are lasting examples of thoughtful planning, dedicated craftsmanship and exemplary lifestyle.  www.ronto.com 

It should not take catastrophic storms like Hurricane Milton, Helene, and Debby for people to prioritize and take action against the rising effects of climate change.  Climate scientists have been warning that events like hurricanes, tropical storms and even heavy rains are being made worse by climate change.  These climate-induced events have taken a devastating toll, claiming many lives and causing billions of dollars in property damage.  Everybody is talking about the cost to rebuild homes, businesses and infrastructure, but there is more to it than money. Sarasota’s Climate Adaptation Center (CAC) focused on Climate and Human Health in a historic conference last fall. This year, the CAC Climate Conference will zero in on the impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity.  On November 13, 2025, the CAC will hold its 5th Annual Florida Climate Conference.  Leading scientists and biodiversity experts will explore how climate warming is reshaping Florida’s ecosystems. They will share insights into how biodiversity loss affects everything from agriculture to tourism and what we can do to adapt. For more information about the 5th Annual Florida Climate Conference and tickets visit  theclimateadaptationcenter.org.