Today in the guest chair we have Linda Spradley Dunn, a woman who is the epitome of knowing the value she brings to the table and who is not afraid to go out and get hers. She spent fourteen years at IBM, where she received numerous awards and moved quickly through the ranks but always knew that she would one day be her own boss. Armed with world-class training from IBM, Linda finally stepped out on her own. Twenty years later, Linda commands the ear and marketing dollars of Fortune 500 companie...
Mar 07, 2018•39 min
Today on the show, I am introducing you to my best kept secret: the woman who has taught me to turn my knowledge into a valuable, premium course. Her name is Danielle Leslie and she founded Culture Add™ Labs to help companies and individuals uncover their Culture Add™ and launch profitable products online. She is also the creator of #CourseFromScratch , an 8-week online intensive that helps people create & launch their profitable & poppin’ online courses. She has been an online marketer ...
Feb 28, 2018•1 hr 4 min
Today in the guest chair we have Ade Hassan. Ade is the founder and director of lingerie brand Nubian Skin . Frustrated by the lack of skin-tone choices to go with her ever-expanding wardrobe, Ade decided it was time for a different kind of nude. She knew that there were lots of women out there like her who needed the same thing. Nubian Skin has redefined what "nude" means, offering essentials in different colors with current pieces include bras, underwear, hosiery, and shoes. When Ade set out t...
Feb 21, 2018•37 min
Today in the guest chair, we have Mandela SH Dixon. She is one of the only black women who has navigated the tech space as a VC-backed tech startup founder, global startup ecosystem builder, and VC portfolio services director. Mandela began her career in Silicon Valley in 2011 as a startup founder backed by Kapor Capital, 500 Startups, and Imagine K12 (acquired by Y Combinator). Thereafter, she led a global entrepreneurial program called Startup Weekend Education (acquired by Techstars) that spa...
Feb 14, 2018•50 min
Today in the guest chair, we have Shellye Archambeau. Not everyone with entrepreneurial instincts comes up with that million dollar idea. Sometimes, people are better on the execution front. You need that person who can take a vision, turn it into an actual viable business, and grow your company year over year. That’s Shellye’s story. Shellye is best known for being the Chief Executive Officer of MetricStream, Inc. up until January 2018. She is somewhat of a legend in Silicon Valley, having grow...
Feb 07, 2018•51 min
Hi Guys, I’m back with a check-in. Hear how my very first month of entrepreneurship went. I’ll share some behind the scenes of launching my first premium product, dealing with anxiety, facing #adulting head on and making some small changes in how I’m thinking about my business. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Soundcloud , Stitcher and Google Play Links mentioned on this episode Podcast Accelerator Work With Me Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss...
Jan 31, 2018•28 min
Today in the guest chair we have Tonya Rapley. Tonya is a nationally recognized millennial money expert and founder of the award-winning site, My Fab Finance. She has graced the cover of Black Enterprise magazine and was deemed the "New Face of Wealth Building". She was also selected as a Modern History Maker by TV One and has been recognized as one of the “Top 10 Most Influential Women in Personal Finance on Twitter”. Her mission is to help millennial women break the cycle of living paycheck to...
Jan 25, 2018•48 min
What happens when you pair a love for writing, travel, design, experience activations and more? You get today’s guest. Her name is Tracey Coleman, and she is a creator, writer, designer and visionary. She’s also a multi passionate entrepreneur with a myriad of hustles.Her main hustle is Show & Tell Creative, a boutique activation agency specializing in social media, event activation and multicultural marketing.Her various side hustles include being Event Director and Partner in Curly Girl Co...
Jan 17, 2018•53 min
Today in the guest chair, we have Nicole Walters. By age 28, Nicole was a highly-paid executive at a Fortune 500 company, managing multibillion dollar accounts. But something just wasn’t right. She felt like her job was paying the bills and feeding her family, but not her soul. So, live on Periscope, Nicole quit her corporate job to focus on opening her own private business and product development consulting firm, The Monetized Life. Through her programs and consulting, she shares her secrets to...
Jan 10, 2018•47 min
2017 was an amazing year for me (I got married, took my business to new heights, spent time with my family, was embraced into a new family and culture). I am so grateful for the lessons learned and blessings received. Something I may have shared less of is that it was also an emotional year and sometimes a downright stressful year. I pushed myself harder than I ever have, took on more responsibility at work, was challenged in unexpected ways, grew a lot and took a major leap and quit my job. Now...
Jan 04, 2018•25 min
A year ago, I made the decision that I need to work for myself. Today on the show, I share how I spent the last year gearing up for my quit day. I got laser-focused on monetizing my content. I explored multiple revenue streams. I got busy learning to be a sales team of one. I studied, I worked, I tried, I failed, I stayed determined. And then, on November 29, 2017 - I QUIT. On today’s episode, I share: Why I’m betting on myself! What went into taking my leap of faith My plan to move forward List...
Dec 27, 2017•35 min
Today’s guest is Jewel Burks. As co-founder and CEO of Partpic, an Atlanta based startup designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision technology, Jewel and her team built groundbreaking technology poised to change the way people everywhere locate products. Partpic raised over $2 million in seed funding to integrate its proprietary technology into mobile apps and websites of parts distributors and retailers. And then, something incredible happened, Par...
Dec 22, 2017•51 min
Today on the show, we have a real boss. Her name is Dawn Dickson and she is a serial entrepreneur with over 16 years of experience in marketing and business development. She has launched four successful cash flow positive companies since 2002. Her most recent ventures are Flat Out of Heels (which provides rollable flats for women) and Solutions Vending International, recently renamed Pop Com, which provides a software solution to make vending machines more intelligent. Dawn has received numerous...
Dec 20, 2017•44 min
Today on the show, is the one and only Claire Sulmers, the founder of FashionBombDaily.com, and the industry’s leading fashion blogger chronicling fashionistas of color. Her pioneering work ushered in a new wave of digital journalism that fed and fueled an underserved community of African-American and Latino style lovers. Claire’s body of work and online following- has allowed her to partner with major corporate brands who want to reach her audience including Toyota, Verizon and others. In 11 ye...
Dec 13, 2017•52 min
I’m answering your questions on all things side hustle. On this episode I get into: What tips and tricks do you have for managing your spare time after the day job is over and hubby is fed? How and when did you decide to convert your personal social media pages into public brand/company profiles? Do you have a finsta for your friends and family? I’d love to know how you deal with family and friends who want your service for free! What tips do you have for those who feel they have plateaued in gr...
Dec 06, 2017•31 min
Today in the guest chair I have online coach and personal trainer Tameika G. Tameika’s story is far from ordinary. Over the course of ten years, she completely flipped her lifestyle and her long term career path as a result. Years ago, she was overweight, living in her home country of Canada and just generally unhappy. But she decided she didn’t want her food addiction and obesity to be what defined her story and her end game. So she made drastic life changes to rewrite her own story. She lost 9...
Nov 30, 2017•41 min
Today in the guest chair is Brooklyn-bred and Baltimore-based entrepreneur, Kalilah Wright. Kalilah is the Owner and Creative Director of t-shirt company, Mess in a Bottle. Through Mess in a Bottle, a cutting-edge brand with timely and to-the-point messaging, she hopes to give voice to the voiceless. Kalilah has always had a business spirit and, in 2016, quit her job and hit the ground running with a fierce work ethic and grind mentality. As an accomplished designer and trained architect, she us...
Nov 22, 2017•36 min
Today’s guest is Nailah Ellis Brown. I first heard about Nailah from my roommates, Nydia and Stefanie at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. They supported her business as part of the MBAs Across America program that the participated in (and you’ll hear more about this in the episode). I’ve been fascinated by Nailah every since. A Black Woman from Detroit with Jamaican roots, Ellis-Brown has made a name for herself as part of the Detroit manufacturing renaissance. Her distinctive...
Nov 16, 2017•48 min
Today in the Side Hustle Pro guest chair is leading celebrity stylist, Felicia Leatherwood. Felicia’s hair styles have been featured on such high profile stars as Issa Rae of HBO's Insecure, Oscar Award nominee Ava Duvernay, Grammy winner Jill Scott, as well as a host of other celebrities, entertainment executives, rising stars and beauty entrepreneurs. With over 26 years of experience, Felicia also conducts hair care workshops for audiences around the globe under the brand "Loving Your Hair wit...
Oct 31, 2017•36 min
Today, I’m happy to welcome into the guest chair, a woman who is changing lives in her community. Her name is Jerri Evans, and she is the Owner of Turning Natural Juice Bars.Growing up in SE Washington, D.C. she watched her mom and others struggle to find healthy options, while carry-outs and corner stores were readily available. Today on the show, we get into how she transformed a tragic life event into an impactful business that’s ensuring better health for underserved communities.She makes it...
Oct 25, 2017•51 min
Today, I’m happy to welcome into the guest chair, a woman who is putting #BlackLove on display for people to see on television screens across the country. Her name is Codie Elaine Oliver, and she is the filmmaker and creator of the #BlackLove documentary series on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network. If you’ve ever wondered how producers, screenwriters and filmmakers of color get their work in front of a mass audience and on major networks or movie studios, this is the episode for you. Codie is a gradua...
Oct 18, 2017•47 min
Nicole Alexis is the owner of the the beauty haven, PRMP Beauty Studio in Washington, D.C. Nicole realized that her passion in beauty was more than a side hustle while working as a financial analyst with the federal government. As her side hustle, providing brow shaping and body waxing, started to grow, she came to a cross road. Staying comfortable with her comfy 6-figure salary and earn extra money on the side or taking her side hustle full -time. She chose to be a true hustler and went for her...
Oct 11, 2017•25 min
Latham Thomas is a celebrity wellness/ lifestyle maven and birth doula- transforming not only how women give birth to their babies, but how they give rise to the best version of themselves. She’s here to teach us all how to own our power in mind, body and spirit as we hustle to launch our businesses. To Latham, self-care is a priority part of life, not just a trendy habit. As the founder of Mama Glow, a lifestyle brand and highly regarded website offering inspiration, education, and holistic ser...
Oct 04, 2017•1 hr
Up until this year, the last quarter of every year always felt like the most stressful for me. This year is the first year that that's not the case for me. This year, I got better at getting things done, even under pressure. In this episode I’m sharing some of the biggest mistakes I made when I first started out side hustling and what I've learned from them. It’s important that you understand where I and most successful side hustlers went wrong and what I did to turn it around. These mistakes co...
Sep 27, 2017•25 min
Today on the show, we have a woman who started a travel movement. Her name is Evita Robinson and she is the Founder of Nomadness Travel Tribe. Evita has always been a creator in visual media. Yet, it was a trip to Paris, six weeks after graduating from undergrad, that changed the scope of her personal and professional life. So in September 2011, she created the Nomadness Travel Tribe , an online social community primarily for travelers of color. Nomadness was the first of its kind targeting dive...
Sep 20, 2017•35 min
This week on the show I have KJ Miller & Amanda Johnson. KJ and Amanda are graduates of Harvard Business School and the co-founders of Mented Cosmetics (short for pigmented). These two women are making their mark on the beauty industry, redefining what a natural, clean beauty look is for women of color. It all started when they both realized they were struggling to find the perfect nude lip. So these ladies took matters into their own hands and created Mented. Mented is an upscale beauty bra...
Sep 13, 2017•42 min
Cassandra Nuamah, better known as Coach Cass , is a certified personal trainer, group, exercise instructor and health and wellness coach. She is master trainer with KUKUWA® African Dance Workout and a source of inspiration for many. After dropping more than 50 pounds, this one time advertising professional pursued her certification as a wellness and fitness coach and began devoting her life to helping others. Originally from Ghana, Coach Cass and her Mother Kukuwa (the founder of founder of kuku...
Sep 06, 2017•32 min
Today’s guest and the platform she created provided me the most assistance and resources with planning my wedding. Her name is Jacqueline Nwobu, and she is the Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of MunaLuchi Bride Magazine , the leading nationally distributed wedding magazine catering to women of color. Women of color are major contributors to the billion dollar wedding industry, yet, our presence within major bridal publications and websites/blogs is rare. Jacqueline had a vision and determination ...
Aug 30, 2017•44 min
Today in the guest chair, we Gwen Jimmere. Gwen is the CEO and founder of Naturalicious. What really stood out to me about Gwen is that she’s already cemented her place in history as the first African American woman to hold a patent for a natural hair care product. Not only is she a respected authority in the hair care industry, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Americans in the U.S. as a 2016 Root 100 Award honoree. She is also the winner of the Black Enterprise Elevator Pit...
Jul 22, 2017•59 min
Today on the show, we have a woman who is a millennial CEO shaping Black digital media. Her name is Morgan DeBaun and she is the Founder of Blavity, one of the fastest growing digital media startups and a top destination for black youth culture. In March 2017, she launched a new lifestyle brand called 21Ninety, a website focused on beauty, health and wellness for women of color. She is one of only 12 Black women to raise over 1 million dollars in venture funding and has been featured on Essence,...
Jul 12, 2017•43 min