Diamond Sands a creative entrepreneur and brand medium, Diamond embodies the philosophy that branding at its core is rooted in authenticity and mirrors how we develop, maintain and deepen relationships with one another as human beings. As the owner of an award-winning branding agency, DS Creative Design Studio, that serves DTC brands, her and her team have helped businesses tap into their unique essence and connect deeply with their audiences. Her agency's approach, informed by her degree in...

Arion Long is the self-proclaimed “Chief Estrogen Officer'' at Femly, a hi-tech feminine care company that she started in 2016 after being diagnosed with a cervical tumor linked to additives in popular products. Femly increases access to natural and organic hygiene products through a high tech dispenser found in restrooms at schools, hotels, hospitals and other organizations. Some people go through their entire lives without disrupting the status quo and then you come across a unicorn who...

Whitney L. Barkley, M.S. is an author and co-author of four books, including a children's book, Hey, Black Girl!, and the founder of Luv Yours Stationery, which specializes in inclusive and nontraditional greeting cards and paper products. She also serves as the Director of the award-winning Greater West Dayton Incubator and is the CEO of Speakerazzi, a content marketing firm that caters to authors, coaches, speakers, and small business owners across the country.With over ten years of...

Nikki Merkerson is the founder of Pairgap, an innovative web platform that matches ideal partners to one another with the intent of buying property together. The platform makes homeownership both accessible and affordable. Nikki strongly believes that by leveraging today’s shared economy and matching potential buyers to one another, more people will have the opportunity to build wealth through co-ownership. Prior to pursuing her entrepreneurship ventures full-time, Nikki spent 23 years in...

Chrissy Watts is a proud Philadelphia native, or as she would say, "Proud Philly jawn," mom of two, hood advocate and founder of Philly Experiences LLC. Philly Experiences LLC started in 2018 as a passion project to give Black, Latinx and LGBTQIA+ travelers visiting the city of Philadelphia alternative experiences to the traditional Philadelphia Liberty Bell, Reading Terminal tours. The success of her first tour, Cheesesteak & Trap Music Bar Crawl surprised even Chrissy. Later she added...

BEE NATURAL was founded by two recent Temple University grads Brittney & Tachi who turned their passion for hair, beauty, and empowerment into a business that tells a hair story of who we are and our goal is to help you embrace your natural locs. Meet these two ladies who have taken the guess work and frustration out of figuring out which products to buy through their monthly personalized box full of products for natural hair.

For this Live IMPACT episode for MED WEEK podcast episode, Mixed Messages: real estate collaboration and communication we talk with Maleda Berhane, Principal & CEO at AR Spruce LLC and Traci Powell, Vice President Mosaic Brokerage.

Sherrill Mosee is founder and inventor of MinkeeBlue organizational travel and work bags. With two engineering degrees in hand, she created the patented 3-in-1 stylish and functional bags for busy women on the go. After struggling with three bags while commuting to work on a crowded train into the city, she wanted one bag to organize and separate her shoes or lunch from her laptop and purse essentials. She can’t sew or draw, so she went to Target and bought a bag to cut and created the style...

Sharita M. Humphrey is a nationally-recognized, award-winning finance expert and money mentor. Having previously been broke and homeless herself, Sharita knows first-hand that financial freedom has a blueprint and she’s committed to helping women change the financial trajectories of their lives. Sharita is a certified financial educator, speaker and coach. At her namesake financial consulting company, Sharita helps minority women better understand, manage and grow their money. Sharita also...

Carmen started her company Elevate as a protest to the lack of diversity and inclusion in Birmingham, Alabama. Gifted with a powerful instinct to discern systemic gaps that too often hinder communities, Carmen has vision. She actively seeks out opportunities to expand equity within underinvested legacy neighborhoods and forges ahead with solutions. Carmen has developed blueprints that have been successfully leveraged by community leaders and partners to bridge equitability gaps and promote...

Entrepreneur, producer, strategist…LaToya Stirrup gets things done. With over seventeen years of experience in advertising and marketing, LaToya is able to bring a wealth of knowledge to any business challenge. She’s the co-host of Tech, Beats & Bytes, and co-founder of KAZMALEJE, a company she started with her two sisters to create hair tools and accessories for the textured hair care market.  LaToya shared her founder story during our Founders to Funders kickoff mixer.

Ashley “Peach” Brown creator of Sledge Scarves. Determined to find a way that she could wear a scarf style and have it not slip off her head while sleeping, Peach created Sledge Scarves.  Listen to her story of how she’s worked hard to build her business full-time in less than two years!

LaRaine Henry has been working in the food and beverage industry since she was a teenager. Together with her husband Larry she has worked in every aspect of the food and beverage industry. They've owned restaurants, a catering company and now their latest venture Plates EDU they have created proprietary technology and a platform that offers a convenient, safe and affordable to offer a virtual culinary experience. Listen and share her story. 

By now most have heard or read about Greenbook and how it served as a way for Black people to travel safely. Meet Tracey Hobbs creator of Vanter. Vanter is Greenbook meets Trip Advisor. Vanter is a digital travel assistant to ensure diverse communities can travel safely. Listen to her story and contact vanter.co to learn more. 

Fallon has an incredible story of seeing a need and creating a solution. When her mother suffered a back injury and was prescribed opioid for pain management. Concerned about the side effects including addiction, Fallon went to work searching for an alternative. Listen to her founders journey. 

Judith's founder story is a love story.  Judith and her husband were regular spa goers and found there was not a place for just men. A Man's Cave  is a Pop Up Spa where Grooming and Kings meet. We are intentional about helping men prioritize their quality of life so that their health is not compromised.  We are a one stop total health and wellness space for men.

Monique Curry-Mims has over 15 years of business and leadership experience in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. She is a social impact professional skilled in strategic planning, collective impact, community relations, fundraising, and capacity building. Through her consulting and philanthropic work, she provides innovative strategies that help organizations meet their mission and goals. As Founder and CEO of Empact Data Solutions, her leadership provides a wealth of analysis and...

This month our focus is Resilience!  Our guest for our six month anniversary is Ashlee Ammons founder of Mixtros.  Mixtroz is a SaaS company providing CaaS "Community-as-a-Service" driving attendees from phone to face-to-face in real time while capturing custom data. Users download the app, complete a virtual name tag and survey customized by organizer. Named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s inaugural list of “100 Powerful Women” in 2019; Kerry Schrader and Ashlee Ammons are a dynamic...

This month our focus is Systems! By definition a systems is a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network. Procedures according to which something is done. We had an absolute blast with Charisse McGill, the owner/producer at Lokal Artisan Foods who in a little less than two years her French Toast Bites are the talk of the town in open air markets and is the first Black-owned business in Philly's popular summer hang out Spruce St. Harbor Park.  Our...

This month's episode of IMPACT: A Mom Your Business Podcast is Adaptation: Making Moves that Matter as we discuss what it really means to pivot and make a difference in the midst of obstacles. Our guest is Wil Thoms, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer of REC Philly. This Germantown-born, Philadelphia native has quite the reputation in the region's startup community. In just four short years he has grown his organization to almost 20 employees and raised over $3M dollars to scale from a...

This month's episode of IMPACT: A Mom Your Business Podcast is Disruption: Strategic Depth,” as we discuss opportunities to create depth and diversity in partnerships and supply chain. We have two amazing guest; Jamila Medley, Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance and Aaron Cabello of Black & Mobile.  Both guest share some important details and strategies on building depth and diversity through partnerships and supply chain, in business and mutual aid. 

Impact explores the impact of action in business, communities and education on the Philadelphia Region. This months episode powered by  Venture Cafe Philly features community leaders sharing how their networks are creating opportunities for mutual aid. Mutual aid is when people get together to meet each other’s basic survival needs with a shared understanding that the systems we live under are not going to meet our needs and we can do it together RIGHT NOW!

Shelly Bell is a system disruptor and business strategist. She started Black Girls Ventures in her home and later hosted her first event “Eat, Pitch, Vote” with the simple idea to bring women of color (WOC) together to discuss entrepreneurship, partnership, and support through collective economics. Shelly is on the forefront of the movement to connect Black & Brown female founders to capital. Black Girl Ventures continues to grow and now has five chapters and pitch competitions in twelve...

Interior designer Rasheeda Gray started her career in marketing. She spent fifteen years in corporate America, and when a friend suggested she stage her home to sell it during the real estate down time she discovered a new passion. Rasheeda started Gray Space Design in 2016 and has completed 60 projects, both residential and small boutiques. Her seven step process has led to features on Good Day Philadelphia, Raymour & Flannigan Design Magazine and HGTV's Flea Market Flip.  ---...