Minding Your Business

This week’s Minding Your Business is a letter of gratitude to our incredible advertisers. Season's greetings to all of our readers, supporters and advertisers. We wish you a safe, healthy and happy holiday and a cheerful New Year’s celebration. 

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What a wonderful year it has been! As we close out 2025, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the entire Chronicle community and to all of our advertisers. Joining the Merchants Association this year has been an invaluable experience, highlighting the strength of our community and making me proud to be involved.

  This publication exists because of you! Readers, neighbors, partners and friends. It remains a true reflection of our community’s spirit. The Chronicle and the community go hand in hand, and I couldn’t be prouder to be part of it.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season and the happiest New Year ahead! Here’s to more stories, more connection, and more shared moments in 2026.

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I’m now in my 15th season with The Cape Cod Chronicle, currently serving as advertising manager, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the incredible people I’ve met along the way. What truly makes this job special are my clients. You’ve become partners, and in many cases, friends. I genuinely value the relationships we’ve built over the years.

Thanks to your continued support, we’ve been able to deliver the most comprehensive, hyper-local, community-focused news on Cape Cod for more than 60 years.

I also take great pride in the volunteer work I do through The Chronicle, as president of the Creative Arts Center in Chatham and chair of the Orleans Chamber of Commerce. At the CAC, I love helping bring art to the entire Lower Cape community. It’s incredibly fulfilling to support, through the chamber, our local businesses as they navigate challenges, from big-box competition and online retail to regulations and road construction, while helping turn obstacles into opportunities for growth.

At the end of the day, none of this would be possible without our advertisers. I never fully understood the saying “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life," until I found it to be absolutely true here at The Chronicle.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to our Cape Cod business community! I really look forward to working with you in 2026!

– Justin Alex

Being a part of the Lower Cape business community has been one of the most exciting experiences for me since joining the team at The Cape Cod Chronicle. It has been a busy and fun-filled year working with the Brewster and Harwich Chambers of Commerce, as well as countless businesses and shops which together make this area such a special place. It’s incredible to work on relationships and ads with companies large and small and everything in between, including banks, theaters, restaurants, galleries, non-profits and so much more. 

One of the best perks of my job is getting to work so closely with Cyndi Williams at the Harwich Chamber of Commerce and Kyle Hinckle at the Brewster Chamber of Commerce. These two phenomenal women are champions for their towns, elevating the resident and visitor experience to incredible levels. Thank you to Kyle and Cyndi for all you do!

This year I have also taken over the weekly Parting Shots photo page as well as the Minding Your Business column, which is incredibly rewarding. With Minding Your Business, each week I get to visit and interview our wonderful advertisers from all over the area and learn about their operations, staff and what makes them unique. I have met so many talented business owners and am truly looking forward to chatting with so many more in 2026!

Our local businesses are the heartbeat of the community, and never before has it felt so important to shop local and support our friends and neighbors. Wishing you a merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year, and looking forward to all of the fun and excitement 2026 has in store for us!

– Melissa De La Vega