Are You Ready to Export? Featuring WA State Department of Agriculture

Wednesday Webinar with SBA Seattle District is an ongoing series of free, virtual, webinars covering a variety of topics to benefit small business owners. On the fourth Wednesday of each month is Are You Ready to Export? featuring conversations with different members of the Washington Export Outreach Team (WEOT). For 2025, the focus will be Partners in Exporting: how WEOT agencies collaboratively work together along with other organizations to support Washington businesses to sell their goods and services internationally

If you are a food or ag business join this webinar to learn about the collaboration and partnership of WSDA and SBDC.

In this “Are You Ready to Export Partnership” webinar, trade specialists from WSDA and international business advisor’s from SBDC with discuss the work that they do for Washington State food and ag businesses.

• WSDA’s continual partnership with SBDC
• Trade Missions to support Washington beverage suppliers

These FREE programs and services are available to food and agricultural businesses in Washington State, and you will learn how we are all working together for your business to help you expand internationally.

Julie Johnson | Export Development and Outreach Trade Specialist, WSDA

Julie Johnson is an export development and outreach trade specialist for the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s International Marketing Program. In this capacity Julie covers the state in working with new-to-export and new-to-market Ag companies to become export-ready. She helps to identify and provide resources to Washington companies and does the program’s company recruitment and outreach, resource referral, and market identification. Julie has been in the program since 2012 and studied at Western Washington University.

Zachary Garza | International Trade Specialist, WSDA

Zachary Garza is an international trade specialist for the Washington State Department of Agriculture's International Marketing Program. In this capacity, he serves as a key resource for Washington-based companies, supporting their expansion into global markets. His expertise spans a diverse range of regions, including Latin America, Japan, and Europe, and encompasses a variety of commodities, such as tree fruit, potatoes, and onions. Zachary joined the program in 2017 and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Marketing from the School of Business and Management at Vanguard University.

Elisa Daun | International Trade Specialist, WSDA

Elisa is an international trade specialist for the Washington State Department of Agriculture's International Marketing Program. Elisa joined WSDA in 2017 and is based in Seattle. Her regional responsibility is western Washington and internationally she covers China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Canada. She is the industry liaison for dairy products, seafood, distilled spirits, and nursery products.

Allan Peterson | International Trade Advisor, SBDC

Allan Peterson was a vital part of the International Trade advisor development for Washington SBDC and the ability to travel to international markets and introduce Washington companies to buyers. He was the founder of the Artisan Craft Distilling Institute and has 26 years of management experience in chain drugstore operations.

Christy Mastin | International Trade Advisor, SBDC

Christy Mastin joined the Washington SBDC in 2022, bringing nearly a decade of experience as an international sales representative for a family-owned company. With expertise across multiple areas of international trade and a strong background in lending—particularly focused on agribusiness loans.

Washington Export Outreach Team (WEOT)
Washington Export Outreach Team (WEOT) is a collaborative team of local, state, regional, and federal export assistance agencies who provide you with the tools and resources needed to sell goods and services internationally. WEOT was formed in 2013 in response to a national mandate for Federal Government Agencies to work with local resources to provide a higher level of support for companies conducting business international trade.

About the Host
John Brislin is SBA's International Trade & Finance Specialist (Export Finance Manager) for Washington State, Northern Idaho and Alaska. He has over 23 years of private-sector international banking and trade finance experience working at Bank of Boston (Bank of America) and Bank of California (U.S. Bank). John has over 12 years of public-sector export trade finance and risk mitigation experience working at Export Finance Assistance Center of Washington (EFACW), Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM Bank) and SBA Office of International Trade (SBA OIT). He looks forward to working with Small Businesses so they can turn their export opportunities into actual sales and to achieve the ultimate goal of getting paid—especially on time—for those sales.

Event Venue

Online