Nicki Parr is the Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives at Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV – pronounced Weave), a non-profit Women’s Business Center, based in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, California. Nicki joined WEV in 2018 in the aftermath of the Thomas Fire and Montecito Debris Flow, working as a Business Resilience Specialist to assist small businesses recovering post-disaster. A Chartered Accountant for over 20 years, with a broad experience in finance, operations and fraud risk management, Nicki worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and a global Fortune 500 company, before specializing in small business enterprises. Nicki also holds a Master’s degree in Psychology and enjoys the opportunity to combine the two areas of finance and coaching in her work at WEV.
Bennie Pollard followed in his mother’s and aunt’s footsteps, both of whom were hairdressers. He started cosmetology school in the early 1980s and went on to open his own salon in 1992. By the early 2000s he added “manufacturer" to his resume. Motivated by some of the world’s most influential speakers, Bennie began to make plans to expand his mark on the beauty industry. In 2013 he opened Cool Beauty Consulting, a hair care distribution house with heavy focus on education and training. Bennie now shares his trials, tribulations, and victories in order to help others in the small business arena, which led to the creation of this book, Small Business for the Rest of Us: One Dude’s Journey. As a professional speaker, he inspires, motivates, and teaches throughout the nation.