Meet Carmen Mays: The Protest Entrepreneur

06/01/21 • 32 min

9 Listeners

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 economic empowerment and transportation access.

She brings this intuitive approach and ardency for action to all of her work, including her first foray into entrepreneurship as the founder of Elevators.

She brings this intuitive approach and ardency for action to all of her work, including her first foray into entrepreneurship as the founder of Elevators.

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Meet LaToya Stirrup of Kazmaleje special guest at our Accelerator Kickoff Mixer

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.

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Breaking the Chains of financial lack with Sharita Humphrey

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 helps Black and Brown entrepreneurs learn how to accelerate their businesses and secure funding through her other company, BH Ventures which offers a comprehensive education program.

Sharita was named the 2020 National Financial Educator of the Year for her work within her local community and across the country. She is the national partner and media spokesperson for Self Financial, Inc., and has been featured in top-tier media including CNBC, iHeartMedia, Forbes, Yahoo Finance and BBC World News.