Side Hustle Pro

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...

My final check-in with Entrepreneur-In-Residence, Meiko Drew.   When you first joined me on this journey in June of 2016, I introduced you to Meiko. We checked in with Meiko throughout the year to learn how her journey was going. Meiko is a Corporate America retiree as she has coined herself, who jumped ship from a lucrative career in marketing to venture out on her own.   In the last year, she ha...

Today on the show, we have a woman who’s hustle inspires me. Her name is Denequa Williams and she is the maker and owner of luxury soy candle company, LIT Brooklyn. Every candle is candle is hand poured, packaged, and shipped from Brooklyn. Within a year of it's existence, she has been featured in some of your favorite publications, Essence, Ebony, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, BuzzFeed & more. Now...

Myleik Teele has revolutionized the way women address their curly hair needs. As the founder of curlBOX, an exclusive monthly subscription box full of amazing products, she has garnered partnerships with Procter & Gamble, Carol’s Daughter, Walmart, Target, SheaMoisture and more. On Today's show, Myleik shares: What led her to be an entrepreneur The most surprising part of starting curlBOX How...

Today in the guest chair, we have a woman by the name of Agatha Achindu. Agatha is not only a dedicated mother and entrepreneur but also a chef and as a child growing up in Cameroon she ate only the freshest organic foods from her family's Gardens and local markets. But after her son's birth in 2004 she struggled to find meals for him which were just as delicious and nutritious. So that set her on...

Today’s show, is all about the Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship . A few episodes back, I opened up the show for Q&A and many of you had some burning legal questions that you were dying to get answered. So today I’ve invited attorney Art Steele to the guest chair. Art Steele is a tax lawyer who founded her own law firm in 2014 with practice areas in: small business counseling, international trusts...

Today on the show, we have a woman who dived into an industry she knew absolutely nothing about and with sacrifice and grind, has been able to grow a profitable company. Her name is Kim Lewis and she is the Creator of CurlMix . I first learned about CurlMix when I went to a conference where Kim was a vendor. I saw her table set up and the eye catching CurlMix boxes and I remember thinking, what a...

This episode actually wraps up our theme for the month, which is How to Make a Living Doing What You Love. Today on the show, we have a woman who truly epitomizes the theme of this show, Her name is Christine Llewellyn and she is the Founder of Christine Joy Design. Christine Joy Design, LLC is a Brooklyn-based surface pattern design studio specializing in the home goods, apparel and consumer prod...

I’m answering your questions on all things side hustle. On this episode I get into: What are good resources for researching your target market effectively, to include in your business plan? What are the other measures to use aside from profit to know when it's time to leave your full time job? How do you recharge when you hit a wall in your side hustle, full time job, or life in general? + much mo...

Continuing with ‘How to Make a Living Doing What You Love’ month, today in the guest chair we have Jocelyn Delk Adams of ‘Grandbaby Cakes.’ You may know Jocelyn for her awesome recipes, including the mouthwatering Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. She is better known as a founder, author, national television personality and brand ambassador behind the award winning cookbook Grandbaby Ca...