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2016 | Doing Business in Connecticut 33 By Brandon Butler E ach year Hartford's WVIT-NBC news station runs a health and wellness event that provides free medical screenings. As anchor of the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news, Keisha Grant reminds folks for weeks leading up to the date to come on down for their free screenings. About eight years ago an older gentleman was one of many to participate. Doctors that day found something troubling: prostate cancer. ankfully, they had caught it early and the man made a full recovery. Each and every year since then, that same man has come to the wellness event and thanked Grant for encouraging him to get his screening. "I can't take credit for it personally," Grant says. But it's one of the reasons Grant, who has been working at the NBC af- filiate for 13 years, loves working and living in the state. "One thing I've always liked about Connecticut is that it's a beautiful place to be," Grant said. "New England has its own personality and charm, but the people are really what makes it special to live here. Covering the news here is really a joy for me personally." Grant's broadcasting career started in California, then she made a stop in Columbus, Ohio, before hearing about a job in Hartford. She had never even been to the state before accepting the gig, but today she couldn't be happier that she took the opportunity. Living in Connecticut allows her to explore her interests, such as the great outdoors. And while this California native is still adjusting to cold win- ters, she undoubtedly is happy to call Connecticut home. "I've been here for — I can't believe it — 13 years," Grant said. "When you find a place in this industry where you want to put down roots, that's really special. It has to be a place that fits both personally and professionally, and Connecticut has been that for me." Grant has slowly and steadily worked her way up at the Hartford station. She arrived in Connecticut as a weekend anchor then moved to a mid-day host role. She did mornings and then the 5 p.m. newscast. Now residents across the state welcome her into their home each evening for the prime-time newscasts with co- anchor Gerry Brooks. Grant has covered some of the biggest stories in the country in recent years. She traveled to Washington, D.C., to interview Vice President Joe Biden in 2015 and covered Pope Francis' historic visit to the United States. Closer to home she's been on the front lines covering news that made national headlines, the most tragic being the Sandy Hook school shooting. Connecticut has been a place where Grant has grown not only professionally, but personally. Her husband is a videographer at WVIT — she likes to say that news runs in the family. "Sometimes I stop and think 'What in the world did I do to get so lucky?'" Grant said. "ere are a million other places where you could be, but when you find a place where you're truly happy and doing what you love — some- thing that you've wanted to do since you were a child — I don't think it gets any better than that." ❑ Keisha Grant, WVIT NBC Anchor In the first few years Curiel and his colleagues mainly did contract work for other gaming companies, leveraging their knowledge of mobile gaming expertise. When Venan re- ceived a tax credit, the company branched out and produced its own games such as "Space Miner Wars" and "Book of Heroes." "It's really allowed us to do things that we would not have been able to do other- wise," Curiel said of the tax credit. VRsim Inc. (meaning Virtual Reality simulation) is another example. e East Hartford company makes three-dimensional imaging soware that it combines with virtual reality headsets that customers buy to train workers. e most popular training products are for welding and painting. e soware teaches workers, through hands- on virtual reality, how to paint parts as they travel down an assembly line, or how to coat airplane or car parts as they're built in a factory. e company's welding training soware has been customized for more than 160 countries. "We have roots here, there's a solid workforce here," CEO and founder Matthew Wallace said about doing business in Con- necticut. "We've been doing this for 12 years now, and it's just home." ❑ ANCHORED IN CT NBC's Keisha Grant says the state fits her 'personally and professionally' PHOTO/WVIT NBC PROFILE ' We want to be there to help facilitate production of that content, and we're poised to partner with media companies to help them succeed. ' — GeorGe Norfleet, director, ct office of film, televisioN aNd diGital media