Brian Ziegelheafer

Brian ZiegelheaferBrian ZiegelheaferWhen you think about a businessman, you think about a fancy suit, high-priced cars, a high-priced house, and a snobby personality. Yet, Brian Ziegelheafer, also known as Zig, is quite the opposite. In fact, he served as a youth pastor, lives in a small community, and loves thrift stores!

Zig works for a BEGN, a business incubator that offers training for businesses. Zig also offers mentoring for new businesses. “I want to give back to the community and mentor businesses because I never had that when I was starting,” he said. At one point, Zig owned his own business, Zig Boyz. He said, “It was hard when I started mentally and financially. I wish that I had the chance to have a mentor and take the class that we offer when I started out.”  Zig owned his own business in the recession years of 2007-2011. During this time, Zig was strained for money. He sold his business between the years of 2012-2013.

The next couple of months Zig attended Corinth Baptist Church. He became the church’s youth pastor. He fell in love with the children that were there and the kids he brought in from outside the church family. He had around 70-100 children at church on Wednesday nights. The children claimed they did not feel welcome at another church, but Zig made Corinth feel like home. He called the youth group, “The Island of Misfit Toys,” but he also said that, he would never leave them unless he is forced.

Zig left Corinth in 2016. He gave his last lesson to the youth and left to pursue other endeavors.

In 2017 Zig started working at the BGEN. There, he works to help people have a successful business. He helps start-up businesses by promoting them and by mentoring and training business owners in the classes he teaches.

Zig is also a professional photographer. He takes pictures for businesses as a part of his job for the BEGN. He also takes pictures for families, weddings, dances, and his son who an amateur model.

Zig has impacted many people’s lives. One of his students, Kimberly Clark, said that, “Brian is one of the most wonderful and positive people I know. Whenever he was youth pastor at Corinth he did an amazing job at making every single kid there feel loved. He did most of this through Jesus Christ. I remember when I was a little sixth-grader who was so nervous about going to ‘the big kid group’. He made me feel welcome, and I felt like I had known him for my entire life.” This is just one of the times that Zig has made an impact on someone’s life. Zig has been mentioned in various speeches, including Gaffney High School’s 2017 salutatorian Andrew Miller’s speech. Zig was one of the people he thanked because Zig helped him overcome a challenging time in his life.  If you say Brian Zig in a room, you can count on at least two people that know him and how good of a person he is.