On this EnrichHer edition episode of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have Donna Burke who tells us how she became an entrepreneur and how she came up with the idea of creating a Barre Studio. Getting most of her entrepreneurial spirit from her parents, Donna decided to follow in their steps.

Donna shares with us the story of how she got the idea for her very own Barre studio in Atlanta. Her story stems from when she started taking Barre, where she noticed her discomfort in boutique fitness settings, being overweight at the time and she began having confidence issues because of that. After identifying the problem, she decided to create a place where women could walk in no matter their fitness levels or looks or background and be able to make friends, learn about healthy living and nutrition. Donna created a Barre studio with emphasis on fun workouts and great music that everyone wants to come back to.

When asked how she is able to keep her Barre studio open to people of all fitness levels, Donna says she started from the fundamentals, addressing issues we all try to work on and talking about them. Her Barre studio also has an open space where you are immediately in the midst of the workout group when you walk in, according to her, this helps create a laid back atmosphere which helps everyone open up a little bit more.

Donna views success in her business as helping people in her Barre class achieve their desired weight goal or gain more confidence and generally be better than when they first came in. She also says she would like to make her success story impact more people. Donna also has an impact on Atlanta with various sporting events and charity programs with a focus on the younger generation.

Being an entrepreneur comes with its obstacles and Donna shares with us an obstacle she has faced as an entrepreneur and how she was able to overcome it. She also shares information on what all viewers and listeners can do to help make sure that the business is successful.

Roshawnna and Donna Burke discuss:

[01:44] Donna tells us more on how she became an entrepreneur and how she came up with the idea of creating a Barre studio.

[02:59] Donna shows us how she is able to keep her studio open to all kinds of people in all fitness levels.

[04:00] Donna shares what success looks like for her in her business.

[04:30] Donna shows us how she is having an impact on Atlanta.

[06:32] Donna shares information on what all viewers and listeners can do to help make sure that the business is successful.

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On this EnrichHer edition episode of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have Jeannell Darden who shares her experiences on starting her own beauty hair product Moisture Love. Jeannell has always been surrounded by entrepreneurs from her childhood and this influenced her decision to become one, she first created her product by trying to solve a need and now is in the process of building her own brand.

Jeannell Darden is an Atlanta native and a Georgia Tech graduate who began making hair as a chore from when she was little, she grew to love it and decided to have a career in beauty. The idea for her beauty product came when she had a bad experience with the color and chemical treatment for her hair and decided to cut it off and go natural. However, it was really difficult to find good products for an all-natural hair and she decided to make her own hair products. Now things are looking up, Jeannell recently landed her first international distribution deal and is currently working on expanding her lab space.

When asked what success means to her in her business, Jeannell says she feels enriched when she hears success stories from people who have used her products successfully and seeing herself actually create a company but ultimately her goal is to see Moisture Love become a household name when it comes to Moisture. Jeannell also gives us the lowdown on how she came up with the name “Moisture Love”.

Jeannell also talks about the future of her business and gives listeners and viewers information on how they can help expand her brand.

Roshawnna and Jeannell Darden discuss:

[01:50] Jeannell tells us about herself and why she decided to become an entrepreneur.

[02:51] Jeannell shares information on what’s going on with her nosiness that has her excited.

[03:30] Jeannell explains what success in her business means to her.

[04:21] Jeannell tells us how the name “Moisture Love” came about.

[05:03] Jeannell talks about the future of her business.

On this EnrichHer edition episode of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have co-founders of Mini-Cities, Anita and India who share with us how they met each other and why they decided to be entrepreneurs. They both met each other while working at CDC and decided to go into business together.

Anita and India who are Atlanta natives have been working with the homeless for some time before they decided to start their own business. They both explain to us how a person may become homeless, why homeless identification is important and give surprising examples of what may cause a person to be homeless.

They also share information about recent happening with Mini-Cities that is making them excited. Anita and India also share what success with Mini-Cities means to them in terms of the amount of people they are able to help and the global reach of their brand. They explain how their work with Mini-Cities has been impacting Atlanta in terms of creating economic opportunities for people in need.

Anita and India explain what readers and viewers can do to help ensure that their humanitarian business of eradicating homelessness becomes a success and information on joining or sponsoring their group.

Roshawnna Novellus, Anita and India discuss:

[01:50] Anita and India share how they met each other and why they decided to become entrepreneurs.

[02:41] Anita and India tell us why homeless identification is important.

[04:08] Anita and India share with us what is going on at Mini-Cities that has got them excited.

[05:00] Anita and India tell us what success in Mini-Cities looks like to them.

[05:50] Anita and India explain how Mini-Cities has been impacting Atlanta.

[06:51] Anita and India explain what viewers and listeners can do to help ensure their humanitarian business is a success.

Today on our Enrich Her edition of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have the founder of Patientory. During our enlightening interview she talks about what inspired her to become and entrepreneur and how she came up with the idea for Patientory.

Born in Jamaica her parents immigrated to Atlanta when she was 3 years old where her parents started a restaurant business. According to her, “I knew I always wanted to help people and I excelled in the sciences and mathematics so I knew I always wanted to be a doctor.” She recounts an experience she had after filling in and babysitting for David Rockefeller in New York City which opened up to her the immense potential of entrepreneurship. She decided to learn more on what entrepreneurship was and how to utilize her passion for helping people, which led her to start Patientory.

With firm purpose she attended business school and ended up consulting for medical technology companies where she gained the experience needed to start her own business to help patients be more involved in their own healthcare on a platform with far reaching ramifications. She went on to tell us about exciting happenings at Patientory which include new partnerships and growth potential.

Being an entrepreneur comes with several challenges and she tells us about an obstacle she was faced with and how she was able to overcome and learn from it. According to her choosing the right people for her team for the best value when building the platform was a great challenge and eventually a learning experience. She also explains what our listeners and readers can do right now to make sure Patientory is a success.

Finally on the golden question of what success in Patientory looks like for her on a global scale she says: “being able to see patients engaged on the platform and use it to improve their quality of life”. With such drive and determination, we know that she is going places.

Roshawnna Novellus and the Chrissa of Patientory discuss:

[01:47]Chrissa tells us more about what brought her to entrepreneurship and how she came up with the idea for Patientory.

[03:30]Chrissa tells us about happenings at Patientory that has her excited.

[04:09] Being an entrepreneur means facing obstacles and she gives us examples of obstacles she has been able to overcome.

[04:50]vChrissa gives us tips on how we can make Patientory a success.

[05:18] Success is a relative term and she tells us what success means to her.

On this EnrichHer edition episode of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we are continuing our quest to highlight the best women led enterprises in the city of Atlanta. Today we have Linda Chatmon the creator of AppDiva and the founder and CEO of Contracts and Grants.

She shares with us her entrepreneurial journey and how she came up with her awesome ideas, she has always wanted to train women to transition from welfare to work. Within 6 months she was able to leave her previous job and create her own company and has never looked back. She also talks about the AppDiva which is a suite of apps designed specifically for business professionals and entrepreneurs. The purpose of AppDiva is to give startups the opportunity to get referrals from their customers.

Linda has successfully helped small businesses with proposal support, business development and she has been able to assist startups, corporations, and organizations, win over $356M in government contracts and grants since 2011. We get to learn on this interview what Linda is most excited about in her business right now including her e-learning system, the Fast Track series and the Q&A where she works with fellow entrepreneurs, showing them how to get government contracts.

We get to learn about the biggest challenge that Linda Chatmon has had to face and surprisingly educating companies to let them know what they need before they need it tops her list. In a city full of entrepreneurs, Linda has been able to make an impact in Atlanta by changing the entrepreneurial ecosystem and help entrepreneurs get to the next level. She has been able to create and develop a system where contracts can be awarded to small businesses based on previous performance or performance on the Fast Track series.

Knowing that we may be interested in getting on her platform Linda shares how we can become a part of her company's story and create our very own entrepreneurial success stories.

Roshawnna Novellus and Linda Chatmon discuss:

[00:51] Linda talks to us about her whole entrepreneurial journey and how she came up with her awesome ideas.

[01:52] She tells us what the AppDiva and her favorite features.

[02:38] Linda tells us how she is able to help small business get over their self-imposed limitations.

[03:55] We get to learn about the spectrum of services and products that are offered by her companies.

[05:01] Having multiple businesses, Linda tells us what is happening right now that has her excited.

[06:29] Linda shared and insight to her learning experience and experiences teaching companies what they need to know.

[08:41] Linda share the process involved for anyone who wants to be a part of what she is up to.

Quyionah Wingfield is the CEO of Cool Moms Dance Too LLC, the innovative mommy and me dance fitness program for cool moms and their children. She is a mother, creative entrepreneur, intellectual property educator, writer, and a family health and wellness advocate who studies psychology at Georgia State University.

Her love for and background in dance started very early on and grew at the age of 12 when she entered Star Quest National Dance Competition in Albany NY. With no formal training and one night of rehearsal, she placed 3rd in her category. Quyionah began training in dance while attending the Whitney Houston Academy of Creative and Performing Arts after moving back to NJ with her family. During this time, she was invited to perform at special events for the City of Newark and other private organizations.

Quyionah’s professional experience includes working as the Assistant to the Communication Information Officer for DeKalb County Police Department; a promotions administrator contracting work with recording companies such as Interscope, Geffen, A&M, 1720 Entertainment, Universal and more.

She became involved with civic issues using her platform as an on-air radio personality on the DCP Media Network in 2008 where her focus was self-development and business. In 2013, while conducting research for a concert app she created a successful concert meetup named “Atlanta Music Lovers and Concert-Goers” to innovate the concert experience for attendees and fans.

Quyionah co-founded Cool Moms Dance Too (CMDToo) with her two daughters Jaira Jazzelle and Serenity Marie, created after the loss of their father. The loss devastated the family and dancing together became a form of therapy to cope with the difficulty and grief of losing a parent and partner.

Cools Mom’s Dance Too is a mommy and me dance fitness program which encourages health and well-being physically and emotionally. CMDToo’s corporate responsibility promotes family fiscal health through kidprenuership and family business building. Currently, Quyionah is a standing member of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta and the Center for Innovation which enables her to develop creative ideas and produce change for families worldwide. Through her intellectual property courses and workshops Quyionah has created a family-based book publishing and entrepreneurship workshop name Read, Write and Live Your Life created to encourage literacy, entrepreneurship and publishing for the whole family. Although she has accomplished much, when asked she believes there is so much more to be done.

On this EnrichHer edition episode of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus, we are continuing our quest to highlight the most amazing women-led enterprises within the city of Atlanta. Today we have Mia Martin the founder and CEO of Events for Less Marketing who in this insightful interview tells us more about her business and how she became an entrepreneur.

Starting out in corporate sales and marketing about 14 years ago, Mia always knew she had that entrepreneurial spirit. Her opportunity came when she went back to school for digital marketing at General Assembly where she became passionate about digital marketing.

By blending her digital marketing knowledge and corporate sales experience, Mia has been able to create opportunities not only for herself but also for small business owners. No surprise that she’s excited about helping small businesses grow, by developing the strategy they need with a mix of marketing to make their businesses a success.

We get to see how Mia has been able to differentiate her services and grow in her niche. In her words: “I make sure that I do it right.” Her trick she says is by performing premium level services and with a strong work history showcasing her skills. Success for Mia would be to help as many small businesses as she can, and she also tells us how we can make Events for Less marketing a success.

Barbara Jones is the Founder/CEO of Lillii RNB Inc, a Retail IT Consultancy and Freeing Returns Inc, a Merchandise Returns Disrupter Tech Startup. Barbara Jones is a Technical Founder and 20 year Java Coder/Architect in the niche field of Retail IT at the Point of Sale. Barbara holds a Computer Science degree from the University of Texas at Austin and has lived in Atlanta, GA for over 10 years now. Barbara loves Technology and trains Women and Minorities in the niche field of Retail IT. Barbara has been an entrepreneur for close to 20 years.

Compassionate, Zealous, Visionary and Inspiring are just a few of the
words that describe Jasmine Crowe, an HBCU alumna and MBA graduate who is working to make the world a better place one cause at a time. Jasmine’s goal is to foster change and create awareness about the leading socioeconomic issues and challenges of today, like poverty, education, and hunger.

In 2011 she founded BlackCelebrityGiving.com (BCG) . The idea for the site came from the vivid awareness of a lack of media coverage for black celebrities doing positive things to impact our communities. BCG is the frontier in providing content of celebrity philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, and causes that directly correlate with the black community. Today lead by Jasmine, BCG has hosted activations in more than 20 US cities and the UK and Haiti and has collected and donated over 2 million items to causes worldwide and fed over 40,000 people through the Sunday Soul Homeless feeding initiative.

She is the creator and executive producer of ChangeMakers a half-hour docu- series profiling how celebrities use their star power for social change which premiered on Magic Johnson’s network ASPIRE! In October of 2016, she created Goodr, a real-time food rescue app with a goal to reduce food waste and eliminate hunger. Jasmine recently wrote her first children's book titled “Giving is Good” which teaches youth the importance of giving back and she plans to open Atlanta’s first stand alone soup kitchen in the fall!

Felicia has over 20 years experience in the medical field with 10 of those being in Physical Therapy. After the near death of her 2-year-old son in 2002 to a choking incident that rendered her unable to help, Felicia invented a disposable CPR template called The CPR LifeWrap.This non-technical template provides the bystander with an attached one-way mouth barrier, visual hand placements and simple CPR instructions that can be in any language. Felicia is aggressively working with various businesses on getting the LifeWraps in schools, homes, hospitals with eventual licensing with first aid kit companies and AED brands."The CPR LifeWrap Empowers you to save a life no matter how old you are".