Startup Funding | Learn From Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors And Ceos Of Disruptive Companies

On this episode of Startup Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have Azim Barodawala who is the CEO of Atlanta-based Volantio Inc, a technology based focused on helping industries with highly volatile pricing and availability. This technology particularly applies to the travel industry and increases conversion rates while reducing costs. He is also a graduate of Duke University and completed his MBA in the Walton School along with a Masters in International Affairs from the University of Pennsylvania. Azim, who has a strong passion for travel, innovation, technology, and strategy, has been able to utilize his significant international experience to solve the problem of last minute airline ticket sales. He talks about his experiences and why he decided to become an entrepreneur in a startup company. Azim explains better what Volantio Inc, actually does and how they are able to solve a major problem in ticket sales. “Are you really passionate about what you are doing?” According to Azim, passion is a hug

Today on Startup Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have Jessica Norwood who is a fellow of Nathan Cummings Foundation and the founder of The Runway Project which uses entrepreneurship as a way to bridge the wealth gap for black-owned businesses. They do this by providing the early pre-seed capital and business support a.k.a friend and family money. Jessica who is based in Mobile, Alabama and grew up between politics and entrepreneurship, believes that the entrepreneurial spirit has always been a part of her. As a result of a childhood surrounded by politics, she saw several opportunities where black entrepreneurship could be strengthened, more than what was already being done. Having done some work with some major foundations on food investment in Alabama, Jessica saw how she could get more direct investments to support the entire eco-system surrounding black farmers from the production side to the consumption side. The problem Jessica saw was that investors cared more about later stage, growth type

Bootstrap Capital, a non-profit organization, partners with the City of Atlanta to host EnrichHER, on April 27, 2017 at 6:00 PM at Atlanta Tech Village. EnrichHER is a citywide event featuring Atlanta’s most successful women executives; and local women-led companies will be given the opportunity to pitch their businesses for the chance to win a $5,000 grant. EnrichHer is an initiative developed by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus , with the support of Atlanta City Council President Ceasar C. Mitchell’s, “Back to Business” program. According to the 2016 State of Women-Owned Business Report , Georgia was listed as a top ten state for spurring economic growth among female business owners. “My Back to Business program is partnering with EnrichHER so that more women-led businesses may flourish within the City of Atlanta,” says Mitchell. EnrichHER will be an evening of sharing, learning and leading. The program includes networking, panel discussions, keynote presentations, and a business pitch competition. Dr. Novellus w

Today on our EnrichHer edition of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have Shade Smith who tells us more about why she decided to become an entrepreneur and what gave her the idea behind her clothing company She Unites. While trying to feel comfortable with her clothing styles as a lover of active gear, Shade Smith wanted to be able to seamlessly transition between her day to day activities and decided to create a platform which extends from fashion into a means of helping women achieve their goals and balance their lives. Shade Smith shares with us things she has been working on that has her excited including trying to get funding for her business and getting the name and brand to the mainstream so it gets easily recognizable. On the question of what success looks like for She Unites, Shade Smith sees success as a united front of women pushing the idea of feminism in a positive light and getting women to step outside their comfort zone and make a big mark on the society. When creating She Uni

On our EnrichHer edition of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have Martice Sutton the founder of Girls Going Global explains the reason behind her business, how she came up with the idea and what made her venture into entrepreneurship. A former international studies major, Martice always knew she wanted to make an impact in the community. After graduating from Spelman College she worked abroad on social enterprise in India where she worked with several girls organizations and decided that she wanted to do something to expose girls form her home town to the different cultures and experiences all over the world and created the startup company: Girls Going Global. Martice describes her initiative as a no-vacation experience, exposing girls to global cultures, global issues and ensuring they know that there is more to the world than their immediate community. Martice shares with us happenings in her business that has got her excited with over 40 girls coming from all over the country with plans

Today on our EnrichHer edition of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have the crew of Dare Dream Dance who speak to us about how they came up with the idea for a dance academy and why they decided to become entrepreneurs: Cicely Kelly & Rae Coleman. Being Atlanta natives they saw the opportunity to develop a curriculum for dancers of this generation and have a noticeable impact in the community. Dare Dream Dance started in 2013 in a studio in Atlanta and today it has grown to become a wonderful program with so many different success stories and many different studios all over the country. Dare Dream Dance has an ambitious long term goal of being a recognizable name when it comes to quality dance and being the go-to school for anyone who is trying to become a booking working dancer and provide them with the tools they need to be successful for a long time. Creating a dance studio isn’t the easiest thing to do and Cicely of Dare Dream Dance shares with obstacles she has had to overcome and

On our EnrichHer edition of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus today we have a new entrepreneur who has curated an awesome series of stories representing people of color: Lalanya Abner. She shares with us more about herself and what led her to become an entrepreneur. She says: “I think entrepreneurship honestly was in my blood”, being something that has always been in her family from before she was born, she’s is a natural at it. Being raised in a family of entrepreneurs doesn’t deter her as she plans to carve a name for herself. She tells that the inspiration behind her stories has always been children, she noticed that children of color were mostly underrepresented in the choice of available play material for children. Being an artist/creator/writer herself and with the help of friends they decided to solve a need. With an awesome educative series, they aim to teach children of color how to be entrepreneurs themselves. Presently parents can find this book on Amazon and on their website. It has

Carver’s Produce is a Georgia Grown natural food distributor transforming how growers and buyers strengthen food deserts.

On our EnrichHer edition of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus, today we have Jing Kālu who has created an innovative air filtration company. During our interview, Jing talks about why she decided to venture into entrepreneurship. In her own words: “Going green has always been on my mind…..doing something to make people healthier and happier”, creating a system to help people live healthier and happier is the inspiration behind her being an entrepreneur. Jing shares with us happening in her company that has her excited, from creating a more efficient air filtration system to pitching for investors for startup funding as she is actively trying to get capital to expand her company recently. By investing her own money she has been able to get a patent and finished the production process of the air filtration system and now is looking for a new way to expand. Every entrepreneur has had to overcome some form of obstacle or the other and Jing is no different as she has had to invest her retirement fun

On our EnrichHer edition of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have Tracey Pickett the founder of Hairbrella today. She tells us more about why she decided to become an entrepreneur and what led her down the part of Hairbrella. Coming from a family mostly comprised of entrepreneurs, Tracey admits she has always wanted to be an entrepreneur herself, even after attending Law school and practicing for 5 years she still remained true to her dream. Tracey shares with us what is happening with Hairbrella that has her excited from creating a kick starter campaign where she was able to exceed her initial goal, to receiving all the product feedback that they can from their backers and implementing that into their production process and vetting several factories for larger scale production. Tracey sees the Sarah Blakeley’s story as an inspiration and admits that success for Hairbrella would be very similar to her story, being able to build an international brand that women all benefit from. Hairbrella

Today on our EnrichHer edition of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have Nicole, a co-founder of Diversity Photos based in Atlanta. Nicole talks to us about her experiences as an entrepreneur describing how she found a need and was able to solve it by being innovative and thinking outside the box. Nicole starts by telling us why Diversity Photos are important and why she decided to become an entrepreneur. Nicole who is an Atlanta native started out in economic development and thereafter made her way to Atlanta where she decided to step out on her own and create a digital marketing firm. During the course of her business she discovered that there was a significant need for images containing more diversity content which could not be easily gotten from traditional stock photo websites. This gave birth to Diversity Photos and along with three other co-founders they have been able to create a platform to solve the need that she and her clients were experiencing. When asked what has got her excite

Today on our EnrichHer edition of StartUp Funding hosted by Dr. Roshawnna Novellus we have Mary who has an amazing startup company focused on helping people get employment. During our interview Mary tells us more about how her company works and the driving force behind her success as an entrepreneur. When asked what led her to become an entrepreneur Mary replies: “I’ve always been an entrepreneur….I have always had a heart for helping people”. By utilizing the full potential of the internet, Mary’s goal was to create employment when computers became so popular and using a model that worked. Mary is no novice when it comes to running her own business having been in business for 17 years offering the type of services she does today, but this is the first time she has ventured to offer her services to small businesses who need it. Using an efficient model when dealing with small business which involves cold-calling Mary is able to convince small business that she can help them with the skills, knowledge, and peo

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,

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 h

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 an

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 hel

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 o

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 recor

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 diff

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.