The first-of-its-kind video centric website is geared towards the African American, Latino and multicultural market. Headquartered in Atlanta, UrbanGeekz offers reviews, interviews, commentary and original video on startups, commerce, geek gadgets, social media, scientific advancements, alongside insight into the workings of Silicon Valley and the global tech industry.

Kunbi is one of the original founders of Aspire, a support network for ethnic minority journalists in the United Kingdom. The organization has partnered with and attracted sponsorship from mainstream media outlets, including the BBC, Channel 4, Trinity-Mirror, The Guardian and the Financial Times. She graduated from Trinity College, University of Cambridge, with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Social & Political Sciences.

When did UrbanGeekz launch and what inspired you to start your business?
The site went live on February 9, 2015, after months of preparation. I spotted a gap in the market. I did not see enough coverage on issues related to technology on minority-owned news platforms. Mainstream tech sites also do not pay enough attention to the growing multicultural market.

Knowing that the big tech firms heavily skew towards male, white, and Asian was also another factor. But for me this is more than a business venture. It’s a labor of love. My mission is to make technology more accessible, while highlighting STEM fields, business and entrepreneurship as exciting career paths, especially for women and underserved communities.

What was your career path prior to starting your first business?
Prior to launching UrbanGeekz, I was a news correspondent for NBC’s African-American online news platform theGrio. I have also worked was a senior broadcast journalist for the BBC in London. I am an international writer whose work has been published on Ebony.com, the Daily Mail, London’s Evening Standard, and The Voice newspaper. For a number of years, I also served on the editorial advisory board for Cambridge Alumni Magazine (CAM), which is distributed to approximately 150,000 readers globally per edition.

What happens during a typical day at UrbanGeekz?
There’s never really a typical day, but I wear many hats, from overseeing the editorial vision of the website to weekly meetings with the marketing team. The company is based in Atlanta Tech Village, the largest technology startup incubator in the Southeast.

What are you currently working on?
I’m working on multiple projects but primarily securing exclusive interviews along with building the credibility and reputation of the brand.

What do you love the most about running your own business?
It is empowering to take a ‘back of a napkin’ concept and then work towards turning an idea into a viable business. Launching an innovative startup has also given me the flexibility to set my own agenda and tap into my creativity. I also love the energy, intimacy, and collaborative process of working with a small-dedicated team that’s committed to the overall vision of the company.

What is the toughest part when it comes to running your own business?
The hardest part of running a startup is having big ideas without all the resources to activate your vision.

What has been your biggest achievement so far at UrbanGeekz?
The website is only nine months old and in a short time we have gained a lot of traction, including successful strategic partnerships with AT&T, Black Enterprise, and 20th Century Fox, among others. This month we partnered with a leading Los Angeles advertising agency for Intel’s latest diversity campaign. I’m also extremely proud of an article we wrote about a STEM-based teen reality TV show that went viral across social media platforms.

How do you stay productive? What strategies do you adopt to make this happen?
It’s not hard for me to be productive because I’m so excited by my brand, but I try to stay focused by planning and setting realistic goals on a weekly basis.

Can you tell us about the biggest obstacle you’ve overcome as an entrepreneur and how you pushed past it?
Being an entrepreneur isn’t for the fainthearted. You need a huge amount of faith, self-belief and dogged determination. My biggest challenge after the initial launch was access to resources and finances. But that just pushed the team to be more creative. I have had a lot of success building my team and forming strategic and mutually beneficial partnerships. I’m a firm believer in collaboration and working on collective strengths.

What are you looking forward to accomplishing?
UrbanGeekz is on track to becoming an established and reputable brand.

What’s next? What goals are you working towards?
We will continue to build a loyal audience and produce quality and engaging content. We also hope to secure interviews with some of the big players and Silicon Valley executives. Further down the line the team will announce details of ‘The UrbanGeekz 100’ – an annual list of emerging and established multicultural leaders who have demonstrated power and influence in technology, science and business. The handpicked list will culminate with an on-site exclusive awards gala honoring these dynamic leaders and influencers of color who have achieved success in their prospective industries.

If you could have dinner with any entrepreneur who would it be and why?
I’d love to have dinner with the one and only Oprah Winfrey. She is a formidable powerhouse who’s managed to achieve spectacular success across multiple platforms.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering launching a start-up?
There’s no point duplicating the big players with limited resources. Do your research to create a product or service that’s unique, innovative and appealing to a broad base of consumers.

urbangeekz.com

You can also follow UrbanGeekz on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Google Plus, LinkedIn and Pinterest

Interview by Octavia Goredema @OctaviaGoredema

Twenty Ten Talent, the new sister site to Twenty Ten Club, celebrates talented young black women, sharing inspiring career profiles and tips with women across the globe.

twentytentalent.com

Here’s a glimpse, and there’s more to come!

For more information visit twentytentalent.com.  You can also follow Twenty Ten Talent on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Jessie Woolley-Wilson is President and CEO of DreamBox Learning, a software provider of K-8 math education that serves approximately 1.5 million students and 75,000 teachers. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, DreamBox Learning currently employs 125 people and recently closed a $10 million Series B funding round.

The innovative DreamBox platform captures every decision a student makes while working in the program, adjusting the student’s learning path appropriately, tailored to each student’s unique needs. The software company pioneered Intelligent Adaptive Learning, heralded as a game changer” in the ed-tech sector by nationally renowned academic and technology experts.

Jessie Woolley-Wilson has nearly two decades of experience in K–12 e-learning and has held several leadership roles in prominent education companies. Prior to joining DreamBox Learning, Jessie was President of Blackboard’s K–12 Group where she led the company’s growth for the virtual and blended online learning market. Prior to Blackboard, Jessie was President of LeapFrog SchoolHouse where she established SchoolHouse as a leader in ed-tech and one of the fastest growing educational software producers in the U.S.

Jessie has also served as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Technology and Education. She was awarded the 2015 Executive Excellence Award in the CEO of the Year category by Seattle Business magazine and was featured on the Forbes “Impact 15” list for being a disruptor of education. Jessie has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in English from the University of Virginia. She is also a 2007 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.

When did DreamBox Learning launch?
DreamBox Learning was founded in 2006 with a vision to reimagine learning so that every child could enjoy learning math. The pioneering innovation was highly personalized, intrinsically motivational and student-centered. DreamBox Learning’s founders sought to delight and surprise the learner.

We read that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings selected you to become the CEO of DreamBox Learning, which is impressive. What inspired you to take on the role?
I have always been fascinated by the power of personalized technology and engaging content to transform learning and, perhaps more importantly, democratize learning opportunity. I first explored this idea at LeapFrog over 10 years ago. Then, the internet brought new possibilities, and with the advent of the SaaS solutions I recognized that the next generation technologies – those that get to know the user through use – had an important contribution to make to learning.

DreamBox is a technology that learns the learner as the learner learns. That’s a mouthful, but it is real. Our intelligent use of student generated data allows for a nuanced and highly adaptive learning experience that individual students actually drive. The idea is that if we can use intelligent technologies to support both learners and learning guardians – parents, teachers, tutors, coaches, etc. – then we can unlock the learning potential of every child, regardless of where they were born, where they live, or what language they speak.

I think this is good for kids, good for their families, good for the communities in which they live and, ultimately, good for the world. We want students to learn how to learn so that, as the world rapidly changes and continues to reshape how information is presented and metabolized, students can quickly and confidently learn new skills. For their entire lives, students can continually remake themselves by adapting and acquiring new skills. This requires curiosity, creativity and commitment.

When I saw DreamBox’s intelligent adaptive technology, I knew that finally there was a learning technology that could deliver on the promise of personalizing learning and, in doing so, inspire a new generation of thinkers, innovators, and doers. Reed was committed to ensuring that this transformational technology would be available to every child, not just those whose parents could afford it. We are partners in reimagining learning, and it’s been a fun ride.

DreamBox Learning provides software for parents, administrators and educators, what milestones have you reached so far regarding usage metrics?
When I arrived at DreamBox, we had about 14 people on staff and offered a consumer-only K-2 math solution. Now, five years later, DreamBox employs about 125 talented professionals and serves approximately 1.5 million students and 75,000 teachers in grades K-8.

For the past four years, the number of students using DreamBox Learning has consistently doubled each year and remarkably, we now deliver approximately one million lessons a day – in the 2014-2015 school year alone, students in all 50 states and throughout Canada conducted over 160 million math lessons.

I get a big smile on my face when I imagine all those elementary and middle school students learning math with DreamBox. And, the best part is that they love learning math. We seek to surprise and delight young learners as they are encouraged to think deeply about mathematics. This growing momentum is a clear indication that students of all backgrounds and ability are taking an active role in their learning journey, mastering math concepts through a personalized experience that adapts dynamically, in real-time, to meet them where they are.

What happens during a typical day at DreamBox Learning?
I’m not sure what a typical day is, but what I will say is that I am honored to be collaborating with some of the brightest and most passionate people I have ever had the pleasure to work with during my 20 years in education technology. What happens every day is innovation, delighting students, discovering customer needs. We imagine. We adapt. We invent.

We are inspired by the belief that we are unlocking learning potential in every child, every day. We believe that if we can imagine it, we can achieve it. Our work is important, so at DreamBox we try to be hard on ideas while being soft on people.

What do you love the most about running DreamBox Learning?
I love delighting and surprising learners every day. I love witnessing talented professionals harness collective wisdom to break through obstacles and innovate. I love partnering with educators to unlock learning potential. I love learning. I love building and contributing to something that is exceptional.

At DreamBox, we seek to do well in order to do good. We knew that pioneering adaptive learning in 2006 was not enough. Until we served every child who wanted and needed DreamBox, our work was not done. We are determined to build a sustainable organization that parents, teachers and students know will be there to support them throughout their learning journey. We’re well on our way to achieving this.

What is the toughest challenge you’ve faced as CEO and how did you overcome it?
The toughest challenge was and continues to be attracting the best minds, and hearts, to DreamBox. This market has a lot of choices for the best talent. You know the big names that dominate the technology industry; many of them are here in Seattle. We are looking for a few good men and women to bring their best talents, best efforts and best intentions to DreamBox so that they can join an amazing team to reshape the future of learning.

What has been your biggest achievement so far at DreamBox Learning?
Building a fantastic team. The people at DreamBox are DreamBox.

There has been a lot of recent discussion about workplace culture at tech companies in particular. What’s your perspective on how companies can maintain a positive, thriving work environment while they are scaling or navigating a transition?
Building culture is hard, especially when you are growing quickly and you are adding many people from different cultures into your own. The truth is that I think I’ll still be learning even more about culture 20 years from now.

What I do know is that we have built a team that is committed to serving children, supporting learning guardians, and adapting to whatever is thrown at us. I also know that we’ve built a culture at DreamBox that values creativity, innovation, customer success, and loyalty. Over the past five years, I’ve discovered that there are ways to honor the past and still intentionally evolve culture to optimize company performance and impact. It requires humility, tenacity, and buy-in from everyone.

You just closed a $10 million Series B funding round, congratulations! What advice would you share with someone about to embark on a fundraising round for the first time?
Successful fundraising is part talent and part luck. My advice is to recognize that there are different kinds of funders so you need to match your opportunity with their investment profile.

Do your homework and practice, practice, practice your pitch. Seek critical feedback from smart and unforgiving people who are courageous enough to tell you the truth. That’s how you’ll learn and improve. Secondly, know that it usually takes longer than you think to close the deal. Just because people take a meeting, smile at you after you are done, and shake your hand hard doesn’t mean that they’ll write you a check.

Remember, investors invest in people as much or more than they invest in ideas. Don’t underestimate the power of passion and collecting a top notch team around you.

If you could spend 24 hours with any entrepreneur who would it be and why?
Elon Musk because he has an ability to see past impediments to possibilities and dares to make the impossible possible. We need that kind of thinking in education.

What are you looking forward to accomplishing next year?
I am looking forward to witnessing the market response to our new Educator Experience. We want to support teachers as much as students and this new experience is a game changer for DreamBox. The partnership between DreamBox and educators is the pathway to transforming learning as we know it.

dreambox.com

You can also follow DreamBox Learning on Twitter and Facebook.

Interview by Octavia Goredema @OctaviaGoredema

Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, Afroelle magazine celebrates and empowers women of African heritage.

Founder and editor-in-chief Patricia Miswa recently celebrated the digital magazine’s fifth anniversary. Afroelle magazine has featured more than 500 stories on women in Africa and the Diaspora, providing an international platform to showcase their work.

Each issue features entrepreneurs, leaders, influencers and tastemakers who are making a difference in society, plus editorials on books, films, music, technology, business, travel, lifestyle, art, culture and more.

Why did you decide to start Afroelle?
I launched Afroelle in May 2009 as a blog called The Ladies Room. As the blog began to grow, I relaunched it as a digital magazine in December of the same year.

I started Afroelle as an outlet and to provide a platform for women to showcase their work, work that sometimes is not recognized by mainstream media. Everything about Afroelle has been organic; starting and working on the magazine was a hobby at first, something I did in between looking for a job as a college graduate. I started looking at it as a business when I realized that it was becoming more fulltime and when I’d get emails from potential advertisers.

What was your career path prior to starting your business?
I studied PR in college but after graduation I felt like it was too stiff for me, I needed something that encouraged my creative side and love for storytelling. My first business, a side hustle, was actually a wedding stationery business that a close friend of mine and I started after college. We did it for about two years before deciding to focus on other things.

What are you currently working on?
We are currently working on building our community and expanding to building partnerships with other likeminded platforms.

What happens during a typical day at Afroelle?
Most days comprise of researching on upcoming issues, pitching to brands, writing and editing articles, communicating and coordinating with our writers, responding to emails, interacting with our community on social media and studying the market.

What do you love the most about running your own business?
I love that I get to wake up every morning to do exactly what I love. The peace and joy is priceless. Working on the magazine, discovering and interacting with inspirational women gives me so much joy. I also love that my business is location independent and I’m able to travel and visit family and friends whenever I want to.

What is the toughest part when it comes to running your own business?
The fact that everything falls on your shoulders. When you are employed you know someone is handling different things like marketing, advertising, accounts etc. But when you are the business, if you slack a bit then the business suffers.

I’m still at a point where I’m growing the business side of the magazine, trying to create new products, exploring different business models and sometimes it’s not easy managing the creative side of producing the magazine and the business side of keeping the business going.

What has been the stand out highlight at Afroelle so far?
We celebrated 5 years this July, reflecting back on all the women we have featured and the issues we’ve highlighted is huge for us.

What has been your biggest lesson as an entrepreneur so far?
That failure is also part of the journey, the thing is to fail quickly, learn the lesson and keep it moving. I used to really fear failing. I used to worry about what people will say. Most people don’t know this but at one point, when I was working fulltime as a marketing officer at a college and night shifting on the magazine, I also started a sandwich business.

I would wake up at 4am and make sandwiches to sell at a shop just outside the college. It failed because I loved making sandwiches too much to realize that I wasn’t making any profits! Last year I also launched a bridal magazine but it didn’t work. I was devastated for a minute, then I had a conversation with my former supervisor from work who reminded me of Thomas Edison and his attitude on failure and it opened my eyes.

Failure has helped me become more innovative, I’m more open to taking risks. Failure no longer bothers me. I’m out here looking for the winning formula and if failure and learning is part of it then I’m willing to go on that journey.

What‘s next? What goals are you working towards?
The past five years we’ve had a great reception in the Diaspora and our goal right now is expand our readership and engagement in Africa and to develop different products for our audience.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering launching a media company?
Make sure you do your homework. Learn from those already in the industry – find out what has worked for them or not, what gap you can fill, what you can do differently and then start and don’t give up.

If you could be mentored by any entrepreneur, who would it be and why?
It would be South African media mogul Khanyi Dhlomo, founder of Ndalo Media, Destiny Magazine and Destiny Man. She is a phenomenal business woman and I’m mostly inspired by her success story. She had an opportunity to work as a fashion and beauty assistant at True Love magazine, she started out as an errand girl but by the age of 22 she was appointed as the editor.

Who are the other up and coming black female entrepreneurs we should have on our radar?
Zim Ugochukwu the founder of Travel Noire a global community of black travelers and Myleik Teele, CEO of CurlBox, her second business. Myleik tells it like it is, she has amazing business insights and I love her authenticity.

Is there any other information you’d like to share?
All of our past issues are free for viewing. Readers can subscribe to read at www.issuu.com/afroellemagazine

Afroellemagazine.com

You can also find Afroelle on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

The qLegal Clinic, located at Queen Mary University of London’s School of Law, provides free legal advice, resources and workshops for technology startups and entrepreneurs, with a commitment to diversity.

QLegal coordinator Clemence Tanzi shares that a lot of the startups and entrepreneurs using qLegal’s services are at a very early stage.

“If a business is at the start of its lifecycle, issues such as company incorporation, general awareness of intellectual property rights and non-disclosure agreements are top of our clients’ minds,” Clemence Tanzi explains.

“However, as the business develops, more complex issues such protection of intellectual property rights such as trademark, logos, copyrights, licencing, privacy, data protection, complex contracts and employment become more frequent. We would advise any client to get in touch with us as soon as possible, even if it is to be educated on common legal issues and principles, as acting sooner rather than later is important.”

For more information visit qlegal.qmul.ac.uk

You can also find qLegal on Twitter and Facebook

Kendra Bracken-Ferguson is the co-founder and COO of Digital Brand Architects. With offices in Los Angeles, New York, Milan and Hong Kong, DBA is a talent management and creative social experiences agency that employs over 40 people globally.

DBA was one of the first agencies to focus solely on representing talent with a digital footprint. The company’s creative social experiences division implements marketing campaigns and social media activations through disruptive content, digital influencers and dynamic storytelling.

Kendra Bracken-Ferguson is a global digital strategist specializing in content marketing, influencer relations, media marketing strategy, viral marketing and event management, with a deep focus in the fashion, beauty, consumer and lifestyle sectors.

She is a member of The Fulbright Program PR Council and spends her free time delivering speaking engagements for keynote events, such as SXSW and Social Media Week, and mentoring young communication professionals eager to break into the industry.

How did Digital Brand Architects get started?
At the time, I was the director of digital media at Ralph Lauren and I was constantly receiving emails from bloggers about working with the brand. I remember meeting Karen Robinovitz, one of my co-founders, and I was instantly intrigued by her. I literally thought about her all night on Friday.

My head still spinning, I reached out to her that next morning to tell her about my idea of managing bloggers to help them grow their brands and monetize in the digital space. Turns out, she had the same idea and had already thought of a company name and logo. That same day we put up a temporary website, got our husbands together for brunch on Sunday to share our idea and filed for a LLC that Monday.

Tell us more about the brands DBA works with, do you have some recent project highlights you can share?
We work with brands across fashion, beauty, lifestyle and automotive. Our clients include Tiffany & Co., L’Oréal, Hasbro and Volvo, just to name a few.

We recently worked with The Frye Company to release a 20-part docuseries on Instagram and YouTube focused on further securing its brand image as an authentic and artisan-based manufacturer. Kevin Lu, a videographer and prominent figure on social media, filmed the series on an iPhone 6 and edited together the 15-second clips of various New York City based artists alongside their own hand-crafted artwork.

The message behind the docuseries, the footage and the artists themselves enforce the persona that The Frye Company has worked so hard to establish. The videos celebrate the artistry of working with your hands and connect with viewers on an emotional level, creating a strong brand trust.

Tell us more about DBA’s talent management services, how did you build your client base?
In the beginning it was about going out to influencers we already had relationships with and whom we also knew could be successful within the social sphere. We shared our vision to manage them and create partnerships with brands. As we have grown to over four offices with a global presence our client base is still driven by instinct. I like to call my partner, Karen a blogger whisperer.

DBA has offices in New York, Beverly Hills, Hong Kong and Milan, do you have plans to expand further?
Yes, we are constantly looking for opportunities to grow and expand our business. Our next location will be determined by the market opportunity and need. Our business is global by the nature of social media. Physical location does not limit our work as we have many clients that aren’t in any of the locations where we have a physical presence.

What happens during a typical day at Digital Brand Architects?
Lucky for me, no day is ever really the same! Every day is uniquely different. Of course, there are the busy days that make you feel tethered to your desk or email, but aside from that working in the ever-evolving digital space brings new opportunities daily—an ability to be innovative, forward-thinking and creative.

This is something that I constantly crave. From meeting with different clients to learning about emerging, new technologies and traveling between the coasts, no day is 100% the same.

What has been your biggest achievement so far at Digital Brand Architects?
The biggest achievement is a summation of everything we have accomplished and the reputation that we have built across the industry. We are the go to source for influencers and social marketing. We continue to grow and expand our global footprint. We have a world class team of innovators, creatives and strategists.

I am working with our technology partner, Gravitater on the launch of a new solution for influencer marketing called Social Influencer Mapping. It will change the way that marketers quantify the reach and impact of influencers against their business objectives. I call it the perfect marriage of art + science between DBA and Gravitater.

SIM is the first research-based approach to identifying, tracking, activating and measuring the reach and impact influencers have in social media marketing. Currently the only system offering quantifiable statistics via its proprietary algorithm technology, SIM analyzes the impact of influencer marketing efforts by scientifically connecting the dots between the content created and the influencer creating it. The result is a tool that helps brands develop informed and statistically sound social media strategies.

What is the toughest part when it comes to running your own business?
People management. We are responsible for the livelihood of our teams and they are the most valuable assets to the company. I care so much and constantly think about them, their wellbeing and happiness.

What has been your biggest lesson as an entrepreneur so far?
I have a few lessons and continue to pick up more every day. First of all, be good to yourself. Build a network of supportive, smart and positive people that will fight with you, uplift you when needed and are genuinely interested and invested in your success and happiness.

Recognize that it will be a process and you may feel a bit off-kilter at times. Breathe and reflect. Don’t react in the moment. Remain grounded, challenge yourself, be inspired everyday and always be open and ready for whatever comes your way.

What‘s next? What goals are you working towards?
Growth and expansion, building a brand that will make a difference in society.

What advice would you give to any startup entrepreneurs reading who want to enhance their personal brand with digital media?
Test and learn. Identify your sweet spot, your voice and how you can add value. Don’t try to tackle it all, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Is there any other information you’d like to share?
My personal motto is carpe diem. I want to continue to grow, learn and expand my horizons. I’m excited about the future and all that I still have to accomplish. I’m also working on a personal initiative called The Braintrust, a curated assembly of iconoclastic minds to generate deep insight and new thinking. The world is truly my oyster.

thedigitalbrandarchitects.com

You can also find Kendra on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook

Rent the Runway and UBS have joined forces to launch Project Entrepreneur, a venture competition and educational program designed to provide women entrepreneurs with the tools to build high-growth, high-impact businesses.

In addition, Project Entrepreneur will host a series of free educational summits for attendees to share their business ideas, starting in New York, Austin and Washington DC.

Project Entrepreneur’s venture competition is open to women entrepreneurs who are beyond the ideation stage and intend to build a high-growth company using an existing prototype or beta technology.

The top 200 finalists in the competition will be invited to attend a two-day Entrepreneurship Workshop weekend in New York City in April 2016 where they will receive targeted support for their companies.

The workshop will culminate in a live pitch where three winning teams will be selected by a panel of highly successful entrepreneurs and investors to receive a cash prize of $10,000 each and a spot in a five-week accelerator program hosted at Rent the Runway.

Apply now at projectentrepreneur.org – online submissions are now open through to January 8, 2016.

Pashon Murray is passionate about reducing the carbon footprint of Detroit, by finding solutions to re-use or recycle everyday waste and reducing landfill use. Her company, Detroit Dirt, is a local composting and biomass collection company that is committed to revitalizing neighborhoods.

As a child, Pashon Murray was inspired by her father, who founded a waste hauling company. In 2011, Pashon founded Detroit Dirt, a business that collects food waste from companies such as General Motors, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Detroit Zoo, and transforms it into rich soil. Using advanced composting techniques, Detroit Dirt helps companies regenerate their waste into resources that will educate the community, create jobs and provide gardeners with rich, life-bearing soil.

Pashon is an award winning entrepreneur and currently serves as a fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, where she studies the science of composting and waste reduction.

Last year Detroit Dirt featured in this Ford commercial that went viral.

Did you always know you’d become an entrepreneur?
I wasn’t sure that I would become an entrepreneur, but having a father in the household that owned his own business inspired me. I knew in undergrad in the late 90s and in early 2000 that I would become an entrepreneur.

What was your career path prior to starting your first business?
I’ve consulted in sustainability, lobbied for climate action and owned a trucking company for a few years that focused on aggregate, recycling and waste hauling. I worked on sustainable projects for Oakland Community College and created a conference with the sustainable coordinator at Wayne State University.

What happens during a typical day at Detroit Dirt?
A typical day at Detroit Dirt involves picking up food containers from General Motors and Blue Cross Blue Shield. The Detroit Zoo drops off 20 yards of herbivore manure every week, we take the organic food waste and process that with the herbivore manure.

Often times we’re filming or supporting media stories, I’m constantly meeting with potential clients and also traveling around the country lecturing and speaking about the movement.

Detroit Dirt picks up containers with food waste, drops them off at a two acre plot of land, then tractors and heavy equipment turn and process the food waste with manure.

What are you currently working on?
Currently we’re working on packaging Detroit Dirt, raising funds for technology that will expedite the composting process and writing a book. We’re also joining forces with other organizations and companies to launch a compost campaign. I’m also doing a voice over for a soil movie.

What has been your biggest achievement so far?
My biggest accomplishment has been the recognition for this movement, when the United Nations and the White House recognized the importance of this mission it brought joy to my heart.

My goal is to reach people around the world and help implement programs in impoverished communities. Waste reduction and waste to energy is imperative for the purpose of saving the planet and the next generation. Waste diversion will encourage people around the world to look closely at our lifestyles, I’ve been on a mission for the last 10 years to promote waste reduction and recycling.

What, or who, inspires and motivates you?
I’m inspired spiritually; my faith is the most important foundation. I believe that my purpose is to help people and communities, I’ve always been driven by bringing people together. All people.

I grew up with a diverse group of children in the 80s and 90s, it was understood that we represented love and unity. I attended one of the coolest private schools, children were adopted, mixed nationalities, biracial children, black, white… Our teachers taught us about black history, art history, and religion.

I’m comfortable as a black woman, I love my family and ancestors. Black people have contributed to civilization since the beginning and that drives me every day. When I’m down I turn to my faith and purpose. Climate change is real, destruction is real and I’m here to help develop solutions.

What has been your biggest lesson as an entrepreneur so far?
My biggest lesson has been the lack of support and my race; it never occurred to me that my skin color would get in the way. I was naïve thinking that support would be there in multitudes, my journey has been tough over the last 10 years.

People like to hear a great story but they don’t always write checks. Financial support is probably difficult for most but I know it’s hard as a black person, especially when white people have discussed these issues openly with me. Minority groups struggle with financial support. I’ve taken the time to push the mission through media and I’ll continue to fight for support with my book and filming.

What‘s next? What goals are you working towards?
We’re working on getting the product on the market. I’d like to sell Detroit Dirt, I’m not giving up on in-vessel technology or anaerobic digestion. We have to create a campaign that pushes new technology for change. I’d like to get our story published as a book in 2016.

My main goal is the Detroit Dirt story, securing technology for operations, creating a campaign and getting and developing products for the market. We need more land to help us scale the business.

What are your words to live by?
My words to live by are “compost is the root of the soul.” We are what we eat but most importantly we need to stop being wasteful. In the United States we bury waste which are resources that can help people and create products. Clean energy is the future, there’s no such thing as waste. The creator of the universe gave us everything we need but we have to be responsible for it.

If you could be mentored by anyone, who would it be and why?
I would be mentored by the experts of waste to energy and the best farmers in the world. It’s important that scientist, farmers and energy experts create a universal and comprehensive plan for clean energy.

I must say that it’s cool that Martha Stewart has offered to lend a helping hand, she’s iconic and I’m grateful to her. I would like to be the urban Martha Stewart but I’m Pashon, so being mentored by a great iconic woman such as her would be an honor. She’s writing the foreword to my book.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I’m grateful for this opportunity to share our story. We’re all connected to the dirt, we have to think about the next generation regarding destruction and climate change. This isn’t about race or class, it’s about designing infrastructure and communities that will be able to survive change and crisis. We shouldn’t wait for a natural disaster to occur when we have the opportunity to start building for the future now.

detroitdirt.org

You can also find Detroit Dirt on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We’re super excited to share the Twenty Ten family is expanding!

Launching this fall, TWENTY TEN TALENT is a new online career resource for talented young black women from every corner of the globe. It will feature interviews with rising stars and valuable tips on how to supercharge your career.

You can follow Twenty Ten Talent on social media as we count down to launch:

Find us on Instagram… @TwentyTenTalent

Twitter… @TwentyTenTalent

Pinterest… pinterest.com/TwentyTenTalent

Facebook… facebook.com/TwentyTenTalent

And you can sign up for our email updates here too.

Here’s a taste of what’s to come…

TWENTY TEN TALENT launching Fall 2015
twentytentalent.com

Joséphine Cosmetics is a luxury organic skincare and mineral makeup company headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.

Launched in 2014, the brand is inspired by the intricacies of haute couture, decadence of art deco, free form jazz and ferocious femmes.

Company founder and chief glam officer Sholayide Otugalu continues to push the envelope in the natural beauty sector with her passion for introducing the sultry side of organic beauty.

Earlier this year, Sholayide became one of the first recipients of the national GIRLBOSS foundation grant presented by fashion retailer Nasty Gal. In addition to running her company Sholayide is poised to launch her new beauty advocacy platform, Boundless Beauty.

Why did you decide to start your business?
My passion for makeup started when I was very young, maybe 13 or so. As I got older I was fortunate enough to work for established brands and learn everything about the industry I’d grown to love.

When I worked for these major brands I always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted a brand of my own. Not just a typical beauty brand – but one that was made without any harsh chemicals, an all natural brand that spoke to women who loved the luxury and glamour. I started dreaming of creating a natural beauty line that appealed to the woman who wanted glamour and luxury. I wanted Joséphine to be the opposite of other natural beauty brands. I wanted it to be the go-to brand for the downtown cool girl.

What was your career path prior to starting your first business?
I graduated with a dual degree in journalism and speech. I worked for various media outlets, including TV, radio and print, before stepping into the world of fashion ecommerce.

Tell us more about building your brand. What steps did you take to create your unique brand identity?
While working beauty counters part-time I began to conceptualize a natural beauty brand that would have some sort of shock factor.  I wanted to go rogue.

After researching ways to create healthy and functional skincare without chemicals, I began to conceptualize and develop a natural beauty line that appealed to those who wanted glamour and luxury, topped with edginess. A brand for women who loved to experiment with their looks.

What do you love the most about running your own business?
The freedom to conceptualize every and anything, then see your vision become something tangible.

What is the toughest part when it comes to running your own business?
I would have to say the toughest part to running your own business is making expensive mistakes. It really is a gift and a curse. As a gift, because you learn from those mistakes and know what to do better or differently for the future. But it’s a curse because when you are growing a company with your own seed money it becomes very stressful to have monetary losses.

Tell us more about the GIRLBOSS grant you were awarded, what impact did it have on your business?
I learned of the GIRLBOSS grant and decided to take a leap. At the time of the grant application I had successfully created two collections for Joséphine Cosmetics, so I knew I had a solid business foundation.

Being awarded the grant has allowed me to tell a larger story in a huge playing field. My audience has grown and more importantly, my audience really wants to know what Joséphine has to say and what we have to offer.

What are you currently working on?
We are currently working on multiple partnerships with indie artists, tastemakers and socialites.
We are also growing our wholesale business to bring our fabulous product into more stores around the globe.

Within the next few months we will be offering our products to customers in Canada and Australia. In addition we are relentlessly working to launch of beauty advocacy platform, Boundless Beauty.

What has been your biggest achievement so far at Joséphine Cosmetics?
I think simply launching the brand on my own, prior to the grant, was my biggest achievement.
Simply getting started. Most people play with ideas of businesses all day but not many take that first step to actually launching.

What steps do you take to avoid burnout as an entrepreneur?
I set a realistic work schedule with hours that allow me to get plenty of rest, as well as a decent amount of time for my leisurely activities. It’s pretty tough to stick to such a tight schedule when starting out because you are wearing so many hats to ensure the business does well, but with commitment to a proper schedule, I’m able to stay afloat.

What or who inspires and motivates you?
Great question! Growing up, I had two inspirations – Josephine Baker and Oprah Winfrey!
Josephine Baker was such a vivacious being with a spirit that captures almost every aspect of my personality. Strong, powerful, passionate, flirtatious, gentle, rare, mysterious, sensual. Every Black History Month, I found myself doing book reports on her life.

Show me someone who isn’t inspired by the great Oprah and I’ll show you a liar! Since elementary school I’ve aspired to bring happiness to others just as she did and continues to do. I hope that what I can achieve through Joséphine Cosmetics can somehow intertwine the legacies both these women created for our generation.

In terms of motivation I have to say that I am my own biggest motivator. I find courage within myself on a daily basis to push further, push harder. I’m constantly seeking new challenges to make myself a stronger woman and that motivates me to pursue bigger dreams, bigger goals. It’s my mantra – dream big, think big, be big.

What‘s next? What goals are you working towards?
I’m working towards making Joséphine grow as more than just a cosmetics brand, but as a lifestyle. I want to take the basic principle of the brand, glamorously healthy and tie that concept into other areas of our supporters’ lives. Whether it be through raising social awareness through our advocacy platform Boundless Beauty or expanding Joséphine as a leader in creating amazing health and wellness products.

My ultimate dream is to make the world embrace and enhance his or her unique beauty and do so in the most natural way possible.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering launching a beauty startup?
There should be some level of understanding that although your interest might lie in the beauty industry each day won’t be filled with photoshoots, makeovers and all that jazz. The business and legal side of running your own line is extensive and you have to be well versed in every aspect of the business if you want to prove successful.

No longer are you just the freelance makeup artist, you are now also head of development, production manager, creative director, operations, marketing, quality control, the list goes on. Prepare yourself!

That’s my favorite piece of advice anyone can offer. It’s about knowing what you want and going after it. Setting goals, fulfilling those goals and setting new ones. Whether you want to accomplish something specific in your career or you decide you want quit your day job to become a ballerina, you really have to push forward with whatever you decide, commit and own it!

Is there any other information you’d like to share?
Enjoy a full shopping experience on JosephineCosmetics.com. We also have an amazing blog, called The Beautiful & Damned that we are going to be generating content for on a weekly basis. Our site is very user friendly and we are soon launching a members only micro site for our Glamourites to participate in contests, model searches and much more.

www.josephinecosmetics.com

You can also follow Joséphine Cosmetics on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest