Side Hustle Pro

Today in the guest chair, we have Nicole Walters. By age 28, Nicole was a highly-paid executive at a Fortune 500 company, managing multibillion dollar accounts. But something just wasn’t right. She felt like her job was paying the bills and feeding her family, but not her soul. So, live on Periscope, Nicole quit her corporate job to focus on opening her own private business and product development...

2017  was an amazing year for me (I got married, took my business to new heights, spent time with my family, was embraced into a new family and culture). I am so grateful for the lessons learned and blessings received. Something I may have shared less of is that it was also an emotional year and sometimes a downright stressful year. I pushed myself harder than I ever have, took on more responsibil...

A year ago, I made the decision that I need to work for myself. Today on the show, I share how I spent the last year gearing up for my quit day. I got laser-focused on monetizing my content. I explored multiple revenue streams. I got busy learning to be a sales team of one. I studied, I worked, I tried, I failed, I stayed determined. And then, on November 29, 2017 - I QUIT. On today’s episode, I s...

Today’s guest is Jewel Burks. As co-founder and CEO of Partpic, an Atlanta based startup designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision technology, Jewel and her team built groundbreaking technology poised to change the way people everywhere locate products. Partpic raised over $2 million in seed funding to integrate its proprietary technology into mobile...

Today on the show, we have a real boss. Her name is Dawn Dickson and she is a serial entrepreneur with over 16 years of experience in marketing and business development. She has launched four successful cash flow positive companies since 2002. Her most recent ventures are Flat Out of Heels (which provides rollable flats for women) and Solutions Vending International, recently renamed Pop Com, whic...

Today on the show, is the one and only Claire Sulmers, the founder of FashionBombDaily.com, and the industry’s leading fashion blogger chronicling fashionistas of color. Her pioneering work ushered in a new wave of digital journalism that fed and fueled an underserved community of African-American and Latino style lovers. Claire’s body of work and online following- has allowed her to partner with...

I’m answering your questions on all things side hustle. On this episode I get into: What tips and tricks do you have for managing your spare time after the day job is over and hubby is fed? How and when did you decide to convert your personal social media pages into public brand/company profiles? Do you have a finsta for your friends and family? I’d love to know how you deal with family and friend...

Today in the guest chair I have online coach and personal trainer Tameika G. Tameika’s story is far from ordinary. Over the course of ten years, she completely flipped her lifestyle and her long term career path as a result. Years ago, she was overweight, living in her home country of Canada and just generally unhappy. But she decided she didn’t want her food addiction and obesity to be what defin...

Today in the guest chair is Brooklyn-bred and Baltimore-based entrepreneur, Kalilah Wright. Kalilah is the Owner and Creative Director of t-shirt company, Mess in a Bottle. Through Mess in a Bottle, a cutting-edge brand with timely and to-the-point messaging, she hopes to give voice to the voiceless. Kalilah has always had a business spirit and, in 2016, quit her job and hit the ground running wit...

Today’s guest is Nailah Ellis Brown. I first heard about Nailah from my roommates, Nydia and Stefanie at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. They supported her business as part of the MBAs Across America program that the participated in (and you’ll hear more about this in the episode). I’ve been fascinated by Nailah every since. A Black Woman from Detroit with Jamaican roots, Ellis...

Today in the Side Hustle Pro guest chair is leading celebrity stylist, Felicia Leatherwood. Felicia’s hair styles have been featured on such high profile stars as Issa Rae of HBO's Insecure, Oscar Award nominee Ava Duvernay, Grammy winner Jill Scott, as well as a host of other celebrities, entertainment executives, rising stars and beauty entrepreneurs. With over 26 years of experience, Felicia al...

Today, I’m happy to welcome into the guest chair, a woman who is changing lives in her community. Her name is Jerri Evans, and she is the Owner of Turning Natural Juice Bars. Growing up in SE Washington, D.C. she watched her mom and others struggle to find healthy options, while carry-outs and corner stores were readily available. Today on the show, we get into how she transformed a tragic life ev...

Today, I’m happy to welcome into the guest chair, a woman who is putting #BlackLove on display for people to see on television screens across the country. Her name is Codie Elaine Oliver, and she is the filmmaker and creator of the #BlackLove documentary series on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network. If you’ve ever wondered how producers, screenwriters and filmmakers of color get their work in front of a...

Nicole Alexis is the owner of the the beauty haven, PRMP Beauty Studio in Washington, D.C.   Nicole realized that her passion in beauty was more than a side hustle while working as a financial analyst with the federal government.  As her side hustle, providing brow shaping and body waxing, started to grow, she came to a cross road.  Staying comfortable with her comfy 6-figure salary and earn extra...

Latham Thomas is a celebrity wellness/ lifestyle maven and birth doula- transforming not only how women give birth to their babies, but how they give rise to the best version of themselves. She’s here to teach us all how to own our power in mind, body and spirit as we hustle to launch our businesses. To Latham, self-care is a priority part of life, not just a trendy habit. As the founder of Mama G...

Up until this year, the last quarter of every year always felt like the most stressful for me. This year is the first year that that's not the case for me. This year, I got better at getting things done, even under pressure. In this episode I’m sharing some of the biggest mistakes I made when I first started out side hustling and what I've learned from them. It’s important that you understand wher...

Today on the show, we have a woman who started a travel movement. Her name is Evita Robinson and she is the Founder of Nomadness Travel Tribe. Evita has always been a creator in visual media. Yet, it was a trip to Paris, six weeks after graduating from undergrad, that changed the scope of her personal and professional life. So in September 2011, she created the Nomadness Travel Tribe , an online s...

This week on the show I have KJ Miller & Amanda Johnson. KJ and Amanda are graduates of Harvard Business School and the co-founders of Mented Cosmetics (short for pigmented). These two women are making their mark on the beauty industry, redefining what a natural, clean beauty look is for women of color. It all started when they both realized they were struggling to find the perfect nude lip. So th...

Cassandra Nuamah, better known as Coach Cass , is a certified personal trainer, group, exercise instructor and health and wellness coach. She is master trainer with KUKUWA® African Dance Workout and a source of inspiration for many. After dropping more than 50 pounds, this one time advertising professional pursued her certification as a wellness and fitness coach and began devoting her life to hel...

Today’s guest and the platform she created provided me the most assistance and resources with planning my wedding. Her name is Jacqueline Nwobu, and she is the Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of MunaLuchi Bride Magazine , the leading nationally distributed wedding magazine catering to women of color. Women of color are major contributors to the billion dollar wedding industry, yet, our presence wit...

Today in the guest chair, we Gwen Jimmere. Gwen is the CEO and founder of Naturalicious. What really stood out to me about Gwen is that she’s already cemented her place in history as the first African American woman to hold a patent for a natural hair care product. Not only is she a respected authority in the hair care industry, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Americans in th...

Today on the show, we have a woman who is a millennial CEO shaping Black digital media. Her name is Morgan DeBaun and she is the Founder of Blavity, one of the fastest growing digital media startups and a top destination for black youth culture. In March 2017, she launched a new lifestyle brand called 21Ninety, a website focused on beauty, health and wellness for women of color. She is one of only...

Today in the guest chair, we have Lisa Price, Founder of multi-million dollar hair and beauty company Carol’s Daughter. I am really honored to have Lisa in the guest chair, as hers is a product that transformed my personal journey to loving my natural hair and natural beauty. When I learned about Carol’s daughter’s back in the day when I was in college, I used to have it shipped to my dorm room. A...

One year ago, June 22, 2016 to be exact, I created Side Hustle Pro podcast with a microphone and a dream. The road to Side Hustle Pro really started when I graduated with my MBA, but no job. I was feeling pretty dejected, especially after I kept going on interview after interview and getting rejection after rejection. Then I started to wrestle with the idea of doing my own thing, but for some reas...

Today in the guest chair, we have a woman who has literally redefined the fashion industry. Her name is Monif Clarke, and she is the Founder of Monif C. Monif C. is a fashion forward, plus-size designer brand specializing in clothing and swimsuits for women sizes 14 - 24.  Monif had no prior design experience, but grew frustrated with the lack of trendy plus size clothing and  n 2005, teamed up wi...