Maurice Cherry is the founder and principal at Lunch, a multidisciplinary studio in Atlanta, GA that helps creative brands craft messages and tell stories for their targeted audiences, including fostering relationships with underrepresented communities. Past clients and collaborators include Vox Media, NIKE, Mediabistro, Site5, SitePoint, and The City of Atlanta. In this episode, we discussed a lot and I asked Maurice several questions, including: What are you hoping to create through your brand...
Aug 08, 2016•50 min•Ep. 28
Tameka Montgomery was appointed by President Obama to lead the Office of Entrepreneurial Development at the U.S. Small Business Administration. In her capacity as Associate Administrator, she was charged with driving programs and policies that support national entrepreneurial training and education programs such as Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, Regional Innovation Clusters, ScaleUp America, online education and the national SCORE mentoring program. In this episode...
Aug 01, 2016•38 min•Ep. 27
Dr. Christi Hay, MD MPH is a board certified general pediatrician. She attended Stanford University for undergrad and University of Virginia for medical school. She's worked in academia as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics for The George Washington University, and also worked in private practice for several years. A few years ago she left a busy practice to begin Palisades Pediatrics, and she now focuses her time on providing personalized pediatric care to her patients right in their very own...
Jul 25, 2016•41 min•Ep. 26
Melissa Carter is the founder of IGNITE WITH MELISSA, LLC. She holds an MBA and is a former music industry corporate executive turned Life Empowerment and Strategy Coach. After years of morbid obesity preventing her from tying her own shoes, depression, failed relationships, and a core belief system of not being "good enough," Melissa embarked on a 150-pound weight loss journey that inspired a career and life transformation. In this episode, I asked Melissa several questions, including: What are...
Jul 18, 2016•53 min•Ep. 25
Koki Adasi is a motivated and dedicated real estate agent. In 2008, Koki was recognized by REALTOR Magazine as one of the thirty most talented, up-and-coming realtors in the U.S. In 2009 he provided real estate expertise on CNN's The Situation Room and NPR, and in 2010 he appeared on an episode of HGTV's television show House Hunters. Since that time Koki has lent his expertise to several different media outlets including: Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, The Gazette and Real Estate Radi...
Jul 11, 2016•37 min•Ep. 24
Dr. Marquita M. Qualls has over 25 years of leadership experience in consulting, coaching, and motivating people who want to produce order out of their chaos. Though a scientist by training, she commands a masterful understanding of the human aspects needed to thrive in today’s fast-paced and competitive business environment. She founded Entropia Consulting, a small management consulting firm that focuses on helping individuals become more productive and effective leaders. In this episode, I ask...
Jul 04, 2016•41 min•Ep. 23
Lorine Pendleton is a seasoned business development executive with extensive experience in the legal, internet/new media and entertainment industries. She is the US Director of Business Development for the largest global law firm in the world. She is also an active angel investor who invests and advises women and minority-led companies. In this episode, I asked Lorine these questions: What was your dream as a child? Did you always have dreams of being a lawyer? What are the biggest things you le...
Jun 27, 2016•53 min•Ep. 22
Indigo Ocean Dutton is the founder of Aspiratech, Awaken Business Consulting, and Phone Buddies Peer Counseling Community. She is the author of Being Bliss and Micro Habits for Major Happiness. Indigo and I discussed: Any significance or meaning to the name Indigo Ocean? Her life's story leading up to her time spent in Bali What provided the winning mindset to achieve so much after leaving Bali How she went from being a 1099 business consulting contractor making $23/hr, moved up to $75/hr and th...
Jun 20, 2016•50 min•Ep. 21
Kelly Leonard is a speaker, trainer, award-winning CEO, and former Fortune 500 Vice President. A certified public accountant (CPA-inactive) and corporate trainer with over twenty-five years serving government, non-profit, private and public industries [including Fortune 100], Kelly has an innate ability to connect with diverse audiences across disciplines. Some of the questions I asked Kelly: Was being an entrepreneur and business woman your dream as a kid? What were some of the big lessons you ...
Jun 13, 2016•39 min•Ep. 20
Keion Jackson is an Author and Senior Writer for Hallmark Cards. He's also a playwright, having written and produced his first play, Gumbo House, that debuted in theaters in Kansas City, MO in March 2016. In this episode, we discussed: His dream as a kid growing up in Port Allen, Louisiana What Keion does in his day to day as a Senior Writer at Hallmark Cards What inspired him to write his first play, Gumbo House What he learned about himself in his first independent project with the play What h...
Jun 06, 2016•31 min•Ep. 19
Tiffany Hardin developed Gild Creative Group, a consultation firm providing cultural engagement activation strategies for brands & advertisers. In this episode, we discussed: What provided her a winning mindset on such a big stage What inspired her to start her own consulting firm Gild Creative Group and what she does as the Cultural Engagement Strategist Mentors that are helping guide her forward How family affected her entrepreneurial journey Some of the biggest lessons she learned while b...
May 30, 2016•49 min•Ep. 18
Dr. Jason Carthen is a former NFL football player for the New England Patriots and a highly sought-after international speaker in the areas of leadership, motivation and identifying your purpose in life. He has delivered his own unique brand of inspiration, passion and practical ideas to people in over 1000 audiences worldwide. In this episode, we discussed: Dr. Jason's dream as a kid Lessons learned playing under New England Patriots Coach Bill Parcells Difficulty letting go of football and piv...
May 23, 2016•43 min•Ep. 17
Shawn Dove serves as the CEO of the Corporation for Black Male Achievement (CBMA), a national membership organization dedicated to ensuring the growth, sustainability and impact of leaders and organizations focused on improving the life outcomes of America’s Black men and boys. In this episode, we discussed: Shawn's dream as a young black child Who Shawn describes as his most valuable mentor growing up in New York CBMA's back story and what he does in his day to day role The biggest lessons he l...
May 16, 2016•53 min•Ep. 16
Stephen A. Hart shares a unique and timeless story and discusses the 5 core themes evident in the first fourteen interviews of the Trailblazers.FM podcast. It was on my heart today to share a story with you all to set the stage for what I wanted you to take away most from today's episode. This story was originally told by a man by the name of Dr. Russell Herman Conwell, and he told this story more than 6,000 times all around the world. Dr. Conwell went on to become the founder of Temple Universi...
May 09, 2016•16 min•Ep. 15
Clarence Wooten is a serial internet entrepreneur who has been creating and building Internet startups since 1998. Back then he co-founded and was CEO of ImageCafe.com, an online superstore of pre-fabricated websites for small businesses. ImageCafe was acquired for $23 million by Network Solutions/Verisign in November 1999, 7-months after launch and just before the dot com bubble popped. After being an entrepreneur based in Maryland his entire career, Clarence moved to Palo Alto, CA in early 201...
May 02, 2016•38 min•Ep. 14
Everette Taylor, Founder and CEO of MilliSense, also leads Growth and Marketing at Microsoft. Previously, Everette was the Chief Marketing Officer for Sticker Mule, and also started the business website GrowthHackers. In this episode, we discussed: Everette's inspiration to begin his own marketing firm Who mentored him in his formative years in business Some of the lessons he's learning right now while building MilliSense He talked about a past challenge with GrowthHackers and what he did to ove...
Apr 25, 2016•24 min•Ep. 13
Candace Mitchell, CEO and Co-Founder of Techturized, Inc., is a 2016 Forbes 30 under 30 recipient, and a business woman that's pushing hard to make her signature brand, Myavana, a household name among women of all ethnicities. Candace Mitchell is Co-founder and CEO of Techturized Inc., a high-tech hair company based in Atlanta, GA. Their first product, Myavana, is a personalized hair care service that recommends products and services based on scientific analysis of consumer’s hair type and tex...
Apr 18, 2016•47 min•Ep. 12
Meet The Award Winning CEO behind One of the Nation’s Largest Black Owned Construction Firms. C. David Moody, Jr, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of C.D. Moody Construction Company, Inc., a Black Enterprise BE 100s listed company for several consecutive years. Mr. Moody is a graduate of both Morehouse College and Howard University. Today, he runs one of Atlanta's top private companies, responsible for helping build several iconic landmarks. In In this episode, we also discussed: Mr....
Apr 11, 2016•45 min•Ep. 11
Dr. Monica Cox is a Professor and the Inaugural Chair in the Department of Engineering Education at The Ohio State University. Her research is focused on the use of mixed methodologies to explore significant research questions in undergraduate, graduate, and professional engineering education; to explore issues of intersectionality among women, particularly Women of Color in engineering; and to develop, disseminate, and commercialize reliable and valid assessment tools for use across the enginee...
Apr 04, 2016•36 min•Ep. 10
Clarence is the Founder & CEO of Upsie, which is a free mobile app that now gives us the power of making warranty decisions directly to the consumer. Clarence has worked with several startups and Fortune 500 companies & previously helped launch other ventures. He had this frustrating laptop warranty experience, and realized there was a significant opportunity to reinvent the warranty industry. And so using his wealth of business knowledge and new found passion for improving the warranty ...
Mar 28, 2016•33 min•Ep. 9
Tyvi Small is the Director of Diversity & Community Relations at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. His advice will help you with building diverse connections, overcoming fears, developing relationships and he also shares the importance of blooming where you are planted and mentoring & sponsoring others in our community. Tyvi graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications and a Master's Degree in Education He's currently a Ph.D. candidate at...
Mar 21, 2016•53 min•Ep. 8
Craig Whitely, known to the world as Craig The Barber® is the founder of Burke Avenue. Craig the Barber® is Hollywood’s top source for men’s grooming needs. He's worked with several prestigious salons and barbershops in the Los Angeles area where his clientele grew to include many of Hollywood’s most famous faces and names He's lent his services to events such as Diddy’s annual 4th of July “White Party” and Michael Jordan’s Celebrity Golf Tournament. He's a frequent contributor to Men’s Health m...
Mar 14, 2016•49 min•Ep. 7
Dalen Spratt is the Co-Founder and Owner of Loren Spratt, a company that specializes in both film and fashion. He's most notable for his role on Destination America's hit show, GhostBrothers. In this episode, we discussed: What was Dalen's passion and dream as a kid? What inspired fashion and film? Dalen talks us through the Loren Spratt process Some of the people that inspired Dalen to get into fashion What inspired his involvement in film Big lessons he learned earlier on his journey when he w...
Mar 07, 2016•35 min•Ep. 6
Lakesha Cole is a business woman, mother of 3 and Marine Corps spouse and was selected as the 2014 Military Spouse of the Year® for her entrepreneurial prowess, volunteer efforts, and her support of the military community. She really does represent the millions of past and present military spouses who continue to thrive in a wartime environment, and dedicate their lives and families to service and giving back. I really enjoyed my talk with Lakesha, given her very unique story ... she is the CEO ...
Feb 29, 2016•23 min•Ep. 5
So I won a raffle at Traffic & Conversion Summit, and my prize: 15 minutes in an open booth conversation with Pat Flynn of The Smart Passive Income. Freak out moment for sure! I was only podcasting for 3 weeks at this point and totally went fan boy. Hear my voice crackle and my nerves come through in this excited moment to have a conversation with someone I truly admire and respect as a dad, husband, business man and podcast godfather. -- All Black stories on this podcast are made available ...
Feb 22, 2016•22 min•Ep. 4
On today’s episode, my friend Dr. Nekeshia Hammond gives us some great insights into how she built her practice over the past seven years, while also multi-tasking her role and responsibilities as a wife, mother and an entrepreneur. Dr. Hammond is a licensed psychologist, speaker, and author, as well as the owner of Hammond Psychology & Associates, P.A., a private practice dedicated to helping children, teens, families, and adults. She has owned her business for the past seven years, and she...
Feb 15, 2016•26 min•Ep. 3
“Are you going to keep living that nine to five or are you going to step out and trust God and pursue what you know is your purpose and your passion.” In this episode we talk with Lifestyle and Wedding Photographer, Dwayne Watkins . Dwayne is a published and award winning, International Wedding & Lifestyle Photographer. Dwayne captures emotions in a wedding that will have you feeling like you were actually there. The colors, the feeling, and the energy come alive in every photo he captures. ...
Feb 08, 2016•29 min•Ep. 2
Donald C. Kelly is the founder and host of The Sales Evangelist podcast. He has interviewed 200+ sales leaders and serves a worldwide audience of sales professionals. He has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Huffington Post, and Yahoo Finance to name a few. Donald is a successful sales coach and the creator of the TSE Hustler's League that has helped train and equip sales professionals and entrepreneurs with the tools and confidence needed to find more customers, close deals and earn the m...
Feb 01, 2016•28 min•Ep. 1
Trailblazers.FM is a podcast on a mission to accelerate the rise of successful Black trailblazers: Black business owners, founders, corporate leaders and creatives from within our own community. With Trailblazers.FM, you’ve got access to 200+ stories of Black success in your pocket. You’re now empowered to extract the knowledge, resources and tools from these accomplished professionals and gain the know-how, confidence and motivation you need to blaze your very own trail. All our stories on this...
Feb 01, 2016•11 min
