Townrootz

#066 - Today our guest is Ayodele Kinchen, a gifted and self taught artist, designer, and visionary.  With a keen eye and talent for design, she finds joy creating wearable art that transforms the everyday woman into a Queen, and aims to design pieces that heal, encourage, honor, and beautify the mind, body, and spirit.

Her business started by making things for herself - handmade goods like jewelry, home decor, clothing, and handbags.  People started asking, “Hey, where'd you get that from?”  So she started making stuff for other people.  But, when she started making waist beads, her business exploded.

“I have been wearing them since I was a child.  I knew and understood the traditional practice of wearing them so I felt if I decided to actually make them for others, I can equip people with additional knowledge and context behind why they're worn.  So I felt really good about adding that to my collection of goods, however, once I added that as a collection of items that I would include under my business name, it took off like crazy. And it's basically, it took over my entire business making handbags and jewelry and everything else.”

We thought we were talking to an artist, but found out we were talking to a culture keeper, a change maker, a healer, and a counselor.  Ayodele’s customers love her, evident by the repeat bookings for private parties.  But, the best compliments have come from the women who told her she literally changed their lives, one actually calling her a healer.

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear how Ayodele bet on herself - leaving her full time 9 to 5 while pregnant with her 3rd child and never looking back. 

#065 - Today we talk to Carol F Burton, Founder of The Jeweld Legacy Group, a nonprofit consultancy based here in Oakland.  The company is named after mother - Jewel.  After a career in nonprofit management Carol saw an opportunity to work with nonprofits and public systems to provide support, technical assistance, resources, and show them how to partner in much more efficient ways to create more self-sufficiency.

“so that at the end of the day, our communities would look a little different, that our communities would have what they needed to do for themselves and they were not reliant on governmental agencies.  And so that requires community-based organizations and grassroots organizations and faith-based organizations, advocacy organizations, and it requires the government, which is our cities and counties, to work better together so that our folks are doing better and they have the resources that they need.”

In addition to consulting with nonprofit organizations, The Jeweld Legacy Group does executive coaching, strategic planning, and they host and plan meetings around the intersection of homelessness, public safety, mental illness, substance use, incarceration and any of the other issues that impact African-American communities.

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear Carol talk about how using an executive coach is akin to using a coach in an athletic competition. 

#064 - Today we talk to Toshia Christal who does not sleep - she is an artist, jewelry maker, painter, photographer, and licensed cosmetologist - a true Renaissance Woman.  She is a creative person at heart and cannot be reduced to any one medium.  She has a brick and mortar space at 2911 Fruitvale Ave to display all of her creative works.

Toshia was crafty as a child, but she always thought of them as hobbies.  When she was injured on her job in 2008, she decided she did not want to go back to a job she did not like.  It was time to turn those hobbies into a business.

“I was like, these hobbies are sustainable, right? These hobbies are my business. And so being at that disabled moment, I took the opportunity to realize that I didn't wanna go back to the job that I was at.  It was not fulfilling for me. And let me take the opportunity to officially go to school, get my cosmetology license, and become licensed. And that's kind of how it all started rolling. Yeah, I always knew that I didn't wanna work for the man - a nine to five system that did not really feed my soul.  So it was the perfect segue into entrepreneurship.”

As an Oakland native, Toshia is proud to be an Oakland small business owner.  She credits a number of grassroots organizations like Womens’ Initiative, Akoma, Black Cultural Zone, and Kiva for helping her get her start.

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear Toshia talk about why confidence is so key to being an entrepreneur.

#063 - Today we talk to Destiny Muhammad, AKA The Harpist From The Hood. Destiny has an inspiring story.  She grew up a military kid, but when her parents divorced, her mother moved with three little girls to Compton, CA.  An episode of I Love Lucy inspired young Destiny to play the harp, but that was not seen as a practical choice for a family navigating the welfare system.

After graduating from high school Destiny became a barber, opening up a shop near the projects where she grew up, but then she got re-introduced to the harp.

“And for you barbers out there, you know, barbering is lucrative - LUCRATIVE. So I'm doing well and thinking this is what I'm going to do.  In about 1991, I started dating a man whose best friend is a harp builder in a little town not too far from here called San Juan Batista. And in 1992, I got my first harp at the age of 30 and I started studying and eventually, I knew that I had had this dream and it was being brought back to me.”

She started taking lessons as a 30 yr old adult, playing next to children.  She moved to Oakland from LA in 1997 and began playing farmers markets to gain confidence and that is where she found her name by starting a session with…

“Jack London Farmers Market needs every Sunday rain or shine from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and my name is Destiny Muhammad, and I'm your friendly neighborhood Harpist From The Hood, letting you know it is all good - here at the Jack London Farmers Market. People laughed, I mean, so it stuck.”

Stick around until the end to hear how an “inner message from God” about 6-7 months before the pandemic hit, made her start preparing before the shutdown.

#062 - Today we talk to Charmeng Robinson, a local artist who creates handcrafted original pieces that connect with nature.  Charmeng’s pieces include acrylic paintings on canvas, timekeeper, clocks, handcrafted jewelry, coaster, dominoes, and more.

Though her late father painted, Charmeng did not take it up until 2020.  She taught herself via online tutorials and then lots of practice.

“I started taking some tutorials on Facebook and I met a young lady that was doing the painting. I was just admiring it and was like, ooh, I could do some of that for my family friends. And that was as far as my brain took it at that time. So I started taking notes on what to do, how to learn, how to mix the paint.”

At the beginning, Charmeng was uncomfortable calling herself an artist, but she gained confidence after her cousin displayed her art in his San Francisco barber shop, Gifted Crowns, and she started having success at pop-ups.

That led to several commissions including Sweet Fingers Jamaican restaurant in Oakland, the Oakland Roots, and becoming the sole vendor at the new Lululemon store in downtown Oakland.

Stick around til the end to hear about how Charmeng got hooked up with the Oakland Roots.

#061 - Today we talk to Derreck Johnson, Founder of the nonprofit The Black Owned Project 365, which runs the Lifeline Culinary On The Job Training Program, a fully certified apprenticeship program that trains and mentors recently incarcerated individuals so they can have careers in the restaurant industry.

The idea came to him while standing on the steps of the capital while his cousin, Kamala Harris, was being sworn in as Vice President.  But, this would not be his first rodeo.  He had experience with this population, hiring his first recently released individual back when he had an auto-detailing business, one of his early entrepreneurial ventures.

He found himself short-handed one day when the rain cleared up and a bunch of cars started showing up.

“I don't wanna turn this money away.  And one of the guys there was like, well, I can call the house and have some of my brothers come down.  I said, okay, please get them now. I'm just thinking he's calling his actual house. And his brothers were actually coming to work, but he was living in a halfway house.”

“they came in and they started working and I was like, hey, can you all come back tomorrow?”

Derreck ran his first pilot this fall.  He teaches them that the restaurant business requires hard work and you have to be consistent to be successful.  He believes one of the secret sauces of his program is access to him.  He works alongside them and does not give up on them if they stumble.

“I feel it does because they have a direct connection with someone that they would never have a direct connection with. Usually when they get into employment, you would not meet the boss. You wouldn't meet the person that's running the restaurant.”

Derreck still enjoys running his landmark Home of Chicken & Waffle restaurant in Jack London.  It is “must stop” for politicians and celebrities coming through Oakland.

Stick around til the end to hear about all the famous people who have visited the restaurant.

#060 - Today we talk to Kamilah Mitchell, Founder of Teas with Meaning, which is an Oakland based tea company centered on intention, purpose, and wellness.  After a cancer diagnosis in 2017, Kamilah took herself to Mount Shasta to relax.  While there, she realized she would be guided by nature rather than western medicine.

She learned that the herbs, roots, and fruits may be better for her healing process by not only helping her physically, but on her emotional and spiritual side as well.  She came back to Oakland and sat in community - having intentional conversations through tea time with her community.

“Tea time is a process - you have to let the water boil, you have to let the leaves steep.  So it's a process. And then that process, just being really intentional about what that slowdown and that self-care really looks like for me.”

Teas with Meaning was never intended to be a business, but just started to grow organically in 2018.  George Floyd’s murder brought national attention to the need to support Black businesses.  When Beyonce put Kamilah’s tea on her website, it sold out.

"I started bottling teas and when those teas made it to Beyonce's website, that created this, you know, buy black became a huge trend in 2020 - like it became a huge trend. So that helped with business a lot. Like I said, the right people seeing Teas With Meaning has always organically helped ease with meaning.”

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear Kamilah’s stories on her battles with western medicine and the healthcare system.

#059 - Today we talk to Charlese Banks, the creator and founder of The Town Experience, a platform that highlights the cultural events and as we call 'em, the town experiences that happen around the city.  She is hyper-focused on featuring local businesses, specifically black and brown businesses - letting the public know about grand openings and celebrations.

Charlese took a platform from one event and turned it into a business.  The inspiration of the platform came about when Afrotech, a conference for Black tech workers, came to Oakland.  Charlese was inspired to build around that weekend’s activities so that visitors could connect to locals and figure out how to do things that were outside of the conference and be able to take in the entire Oakland experience.

Charlese knows that Oakland is an experiential city.  People come here on vacation or a visit for some other reason and Oakland touches them.  Next thing you know, within a year they move here.

“everything about the city that makes it great - it is not something tangible. You have to come here to experience the city to get why people don't leave and why we choose to stay here.”

Charlese’s goal was to build a platform for visitors, but was surprised that the data showed most of her followers were locals who were not tapped into what’s going on around the city.  This was the interesting twist - she set out to develop an app for visitors, she ended up developing one for locals.

“A lot of the feedback I get - they're like, I love it because I'm finding all kinds of things that I don't necessarily see promoted in Oakland on your platform.”

“So that was the surprising pivot - I was trying to figure out how to make this a platform appeal to people that weren't from here and then turned out the market I needed to tap in was the localized market first because we weren't actually taking advantage of our backyard.”

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear about how Charlese’s key partnerships with companies like AirBNB and Visit Oakland have grown her business.

#058 - Today we talk to Melanie Graham, Founder & CEO of Social Equity Lab, an Oakland based boutique consulting firm that focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion, also on organizational development for nonprofits, corporate companies, startups, and governmental agencies - though Melanie says large nonprofits are the sweet spot.

Indicators that you need her are low morale, high turnover, and difficulty in recruiting. She loves to focus on the organizational structure to make a lasting impact.  You can do all the training in the world, but you must change the structures that allow the inequities to exist in the first place.

“looking at structures like, performance management systems or just like the hiring and recruiting process, just things that are very structural - I like to impact those because it'll really shift the culture of the organization. And frankly, it's easier to do that than it is to change people.  Behavior change can take a lifetime.  If structures change, people will change along with it.”

Melanie started the business in New York, about 5 years ago.  She moved to Oakland during the pandemic.  A Seattle native, she was drawn to Oakland’s history of activism and mobilization.

Many would assume Melanie finds it easier to work with west coast or Bay Area clients, but that is not necessarily the case.  Interestingly, she finds that people in other areas of the country are more open about where they are and more open about addressing the issues.

“organizations could be in a place where they think they're doing it well and don't think that they need this work or this support because, you know, listen, I'm from California.”

“working on the East coast might be a little bit more transparent with where they're at.”

“I would say the clients that I have in the South - their willingness to address it is a little bit more present."

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear Melanie talk about how DEI issues affect the bottom line.

#057 - Today we talk to Yahshimabet Sellassie, Founder & CEO of Yahshi Bakes, an Oakland bakery founded in 2015 when she was 12 years old.  Yahshi Bakes makes handcrafted, organic pastries from locally sourced ingredients, featuring the warming spices and flavors of her Ethiopian and Jamaican heritage - so lots of vanilla, cardamom, brown butter, coffee, ginger, chocolate, and more.

“I've always loved being in the kitchen. And so I knew from a young age that I wanted to have a cafe, and I naturally just found myself starting Yahshi Bakes because I couldn't keep myself out of the kitchen.”

Yahshimabet followed the lead of her entrepreneurial parents.  They told her - if there's something you love doing, make it into a business.  At age 7, she became seriously interested in learning how to cook and bake, making something new for her family to enjoy most weekends.  By age 12 she was on Food Network - when most kids were at basketball and soccer practice, she was in a cooking competition on national TV.

“Being on Food Network at 12 years old was super exciting for me.  I always dreamed of being on Food Network. It was one of my favorite channels to watch, and I used to make videos in my kitchen acting like I was on the show, so it was super exciting to be on there and cross that off of my bucket list sooner than I expected to. It was just really amazing to feel like I had the platform to share what I love doing with the world and reach an international audience of people.”

The pandemic shutdown unveiled the unpredictability of pop-ups and led Yahshimabet to develop a subscription box - starting with pastries and moving to cookies.  Surprisingly, she has a good amount of sales in New York so the subscription box allows her to reach those customers.

“I did a trial in October through December of 2022, and I was able to learn that the subscription model is actually a really good direction for Yahshi Bakes, and it allows me to have guaranteed sales in a way that popups haven't always allowed, like with the pandemic.”

Be sure to listen until the end to hear how Yahshimabet’s own dietary challenges led her to launch Yahshi Bakes.

#056 - Today Chris Pearson from episode 9 re-joins us to 1) catch us up on Be Well Natural - his holistic health clinic, but 2) to really discuss his community organization, Elevated Legacy.  Elevated Legacy is a comprehensive consciousness cultivation model that teaches self mastery through physical disciplines.  The flagship program was a basketball program with the goal to take a group of kids from age 8 to 18 and steward them through the process of discovery and self-mastery.

They were so successful with the early groups that many kids outgrew the program and went on to more competitive programs that were more tapped into the college basketball pipeline.  Five of the first eight kids went on to play Division 1 college basketball on scholarship.

“So we did a really good job in that department. Over the 14 years, I think we've probably placed 10 kids in Division 1 college programs. We have a very small number. We don't run a full size run like some of the bigger programs and our priorities are really different. It's about social-emotional learning, self-mastery and athletic performance enhancement.”

Expanding beyond basketball, Elevated Legacy started and runs a few key programs:

1) FREE intergenerational workouts every Saturday 930am to 1130am at Joaquin Miller Cascades where community members come out and get paired up with somebody from a different household and different generation and then they work out AND

2) Brothers Building and Moving - Weekly Sunday sunrise hike for Black fathers

BUT in the last year he received two grants (National Parks Foundation and Justice Outside) focused on addressing health disparities and limited access to outdoor activities for BIPOC communities.  These funds allowed him to execute three different events, which were really life changing for a lot of people:

1- “We did a trip to the Muir Woods National Monument. We took about 40 people there. We did our reflect, evaluate, and focus curriculum component - what are you working on? What are you doing well, and what do you appreciate about somebody else in the space?”

2- “Our second was to Yosemite. We took 33 folks, I wanna say like eight different families. We stayed at the Tenaya Lodge. We were able to subsidize folks, stay there, provide 'em with all their meals and whatnot. And we did a couple of hikes and some workshops - understanding the three eyes through which we perceive identity: institutional, interpersonal, and internal. And how does that affect how you participate in a family dynamic?  How does who you are affect what you do and how does what you do affect who you are and that kind of conversation so that people would bring a critical analysis back to their day-to-day.”

3- “And then the final one, which in a lot of ways the icing on the cake - It wasn't the largest in terms of breadth, but we took 19 folks to the big island in Hawaii.  We did several hikes. We went through the Volcano National Park, went down into the Caldera, learned about the First Nations traditions that are there and the deep impact of colonialism and sort of shared resilience and shared understanding of being marginalized by structural violence and stuff.”

Chris is simultaneously teaching life skills to young people and giving elders opportunities to make meaningful impact in the lives of young people, which is a true win-win for everyone.  If you follow Chris on social media, you can see the real impact he’s having on real lives.

Be sure to listen until the end to hear about Chris’ relationship formula vulnerability + consistency = credibility.

#055 - Today we talk to Jennifer Hammock, The Confidence Coach. Jennifer was a stay-at-home mom who was terrified to speak in front of crowds. After overcoming that fear, she discovered her inner confidence, and began coaching other women, just like her, to do the same.

Her annual DreamChasHer Conference brings women to Oakland from all around the country - last year’s hybrid event was even international.  Jennifer’s people / ideal clients are unapologetically Black women in their mid 30s.  DreamChaseHer allows attendees to learn from industry experts, but also network with peers.

Jennifer says that many of her clients come to her because they lack confidence, even if they know it or not.  Though some women can show confidence on the outside, sometimes they question themselves and their ability.  Is this going to make sense? Will anyone support my service?  Her secret sauce is giving women the confidence to push forward and achieve big things.

​​”You could have the prettiest website, you can have the best product or service, but if you don't have the confidence to pitch yourself to tell people about what you're doing, then it's going to be a secret. I always tell my clients, you can't sell a secret. So helping them to find confidence, having the right type of mindset that is gonna allow you to see the value that you have and the impact that it can have on others when you share it.”

“...the business is the Trojan horse, but at the end of the day, I really like to just make sure that women's confidence is on 10 and that they really believe in the impact that their business can have on others.”

Jennifer’s primary program is “Fierce Confidence” where she helps clients confidently show up online and share who they are and the value they bring.  The program helps participants feel good about what they're doing.  One of her exercises is to encourage her clients to raise their prices.  Jennifer is pleasantly surprised when her clients trust the process.

“I've also been just surprised by the leaps and bounds that people can make when they say yes to themselves, saying no to their excuses and just really dedicate themselves to what can be.”

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear how one DreamChasHer attendee with just an idea in one year went on to launch a business and then became a speaker at the following year’s conference.

#054 - Today we talk to Renee Cage.  Renee is a coach, a licensed mental health clinician, and a lifestyle strategist.  She helps ambitious women get ahead in their careers while achieving their ideal work-life balance.  In simple terms, she helps women design the life they want.

In her mental health practice, she works with particularly women leaders in a variety of leadership positions, but they typically come to her with issues around depression, anxiety, and grief & loss.

She received her training in mental health through Alameda County where she’s worked for 22 years.  She started a private mental health practice when she noticed there was a need for more Black female clinicians.

“when I got clients to come to me, they had been to a therapist before or maybe they didn't connect right because they were from a different ethnicity or something.  And it was just like, you gotta get through the layers to start to connect and the understanding. And once they were with the Black clinician or Black woman was just like, okay, we're speaking the same language, I feel comfortable, I feel safe to talk about this,  I don't feel judged.”

The coaching business was a natural extension of her mental health practice.  After her clients got to a baseline, they began to look for the next step.  That is where Coach Renee steps in by helping them get clear about what's important to them and getting clear about how to create a life of balance.  The biggest part is she holds them accountable.  Her coaching clients are…

“women that are really ready to lean into themselves, like really are ready to step out of their comfort zone.”

“for my coaching clients, you have to be ready and willing to be uncomfortable. I don't work with unmotivated people.”

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear Renee’s advice on deep breathing and why it’s so important to put your oxygen mask on first.

#053 - Today we talk to Gisele Bonds, a life-long photographer - she took a box camera on her 4th grade field trip. She started her business in 1989 in Richmond, then moved to Bay Fair Mall, ultimately moving to Oakland, the last 20 years on Grand Avenue.

Gisele started as a portrait photographer - anything with a person in it like graduation portraits, weddings, couples, cotillions, etc…

“I probably have about 12 high school senior clients now who not only did I do their senior portrait, I did their mothers’, so that's a blessing.”

In 2016, Gisele decided to change course, niche down and focus on personal branding photography - “What’s that?  I don't know. Let's find out.  Let's make it up”  She began helping corporate professionals and entrepreneurs curate a set of images that tell their story, which differentiated her from others in the market.

“We are trying to communicate online, it's like talking to toddlers with ADHD. And if you think back to when you were a little kid, did you want the book with all words or did you want the book with illustrations?  So your personal brand photos are what you use to get people to stop scrolling and then pay attention to what you're trying to communicate with them.”

She found that local Bay Area professionals were a little behind the curve so she built up clientele on the East coast, in the DMV (DC Maryland Virginia), and the Southwest.  She could fly out for a few days and then support them via zoom.  Then when Covid hit in 2020 and everything locked down, her flights were canceled and it wasn't safe to be at the studio so she realized it was time to go all in on the digital products she had in her mind, but was making excuses not to do.

“And so with that in the spring of ‘20, I started my brand visibility accelerator membership.  In that membership I teach visibility strategies. They may work around obviously how to leverage brand photos, but also understanding local SEO - identifying the proper social media platforms where your ideal client is.  And then knowing how to leverage that platform, how to network, whether it be virtually or in person.  And live streaming - the tool of live streaming is so powerful when done correctly. Unfortunately, most business owners don't know how to live stream properly.”

Be sure to listen until the end to hear why Gisele says it is so important for small business owners to join their state and national trade association.

#052 - Today we talk to Madelyn Mackie, The Career Activator.  Madelyn is a Certified Career Management Coach and Trainer.  She shares her inside knowledge to help clients set themselves apart and highlight their strengths, abilities and special talents in today’s competitive job environment.

It took Madelyn 40 years and 3 prior careers to finally find her calling.  She started her career as a biochemist and became a published researcher.  She decided she did not want any more of that and transformed her passion for performance into a second career in theater and started working at professional theaters all across the country, including four Tony Award-winning theaters.  After 15 years she wanted her evenings and weekends back so she embarked on a 3rd career when she went from volunteer to staffer at the American Red Cross.

“I'd go out into our community, the Bay Area, and provide food, shelter, clothing, and mental health support for families impacted by disasters. I love the work. I love the mission of the organization. I love the culture, I love the people. And I was like, hey, I wonder if the Red Cross would hire me.”

Working in theater forces you to look for a new job every eight weeks - the show opens and closes, you're done / the show opens and closes, you're done.  Madelyn needed a system to handle this so she tapped into her scientific training.

“So I was like, if I gotta keep looking for a job every eight weeks, I want a system because one of my superpowers is I'm a linear thinker. It's why I was good in chemistry. It's because I see processes, I see procedures. I like to put things in a straight line. So I said I'm gonna come up with a checklist and scripts and, and to-do list and all these things that I need so that when it comes time for me to search for a job, I don't think about it.  I just do what my calendar says and what my to-do list says, and use my scripts and my templates, and it worked.”

Madelyn shared her system with friends and then one day she got a call from someone wanting to hire her as a career coach.  Someone told this person Madelyn helps people find jobs.  Madelyn did a career assessment for them and her business was born.

Be sure to listen until the end to hear how Madelyn changed a woman’s life by helping find a job walking distance from her home and her child’s school.

#051 - Today we talk to Tyiesha Jones, Founder and Owner of Pulse Check 101, a mobile CPR, first aid, and fit testing company.  The mobile part is a BIG differentiator - they come to you and provide Cal OSHA compliance certification courses to a number of industries including healthcare, hospitality, construction, plus community members.   A lot of people are drawn to the convenience of them coming on site to you.

“you're getting like this big nice private package of experienced instructors who come on site into your meeting room or hall and train all of your staff at one time versus sending them all out individually and waiting and hoping they come back with their new certificates.”

She has 2 sets of ideal customers - 1) corporate customers who need large scale training for employees and 2) from a community standpoint it is nonprofits, parents, and teens with summer and babysitting jobs.

Tyiesha has been working in healthcare for over 20 years, but has been reluctant to advance her career.  Her nurse and doctor colleagues saw something in her and urged her to pursue nursing school.

She started her pre-reqs in 2019, and then the pandemic hit in 2020 and that brought everything to a stop.  Not only did her classes stop, but her son, a high school freshman at the time, went to online distance learning.  It was a lot to help him and manage what she was doing.

“So I kind of put my pre-reqs on pause and my mentor, Dr. Nora Lisa Cooper, I love her, she wanted to keep me busy as she is every day in life.  So she directed me on the path of becoming a CPR instructor so that I can keep all of the nurses and the staff in the hospital up to code and compliance. And then she was like, oh yeah, you could probably just start a business behind it.  And I was like, DING!  And I just got that idea. She planted that seed, I watered it, and I've been running with it ever since.”

Tyiesha stresses how important it is for everyone to know CPR.  It could be a loved one or a stranger.  You never know when you’ll need it, but if you’re trained, you can save someone’s life.

Be sure to listen until the end to hear Tyiesha’s advice about being a master in your industry.

#050 - Today we visit with Rita Forte, Founder and Owner of The Olive Street Agency, a boutique B2B Marketing Organization founded in East Oakland in 2012.  Rita decided to take her learnings from marketing her DJ business over 10 years and help other entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.  The agency assists clients in several Marketing services that will help them tell their story and communicate with their clients.

“Our purpose as a marketing agency is to help people and so when I think of helping folks and creating basically opportunity and hope for folks, that's how I look at what marketing does.”

Olive Street offers four main services: 1) printing merch - tee shirts, hats, hoodies; 2) graphic design; 3) video content creation; and 4) social media management.  The company provides polos to flooring businesses, paraphernalia for schools, and marketing materials for politicians - they provided merch for 3 of the candidates in the recent Oakland mayoral race.

Rita believes their differentiator is perspective and art.  You can go to sites like Fiverr to get cheap designs.  Olive Street is more than that - it is a strategic partner.  Rita’s goal is to work with clients at an early stage to create memorable and lasting marketing campaigns.

“And so it's just trying to get to those brands and those people before they say to us we already have our design, we just need you to print it.  No, we want to work with you along the process. We want to get together to design and come up with the concept, the strategy, and all of that.”

Rita has great advice for other entrepreneurs like be ready for a lonely ride - you will spend a lot of time by yourself because you have to get stuff done when no one else is around.  AND “you’re going to need money” - don’t be afraid to do other hustles to fund your venture.  At one point she drove for Uber to make some extra cash.

Be sure to listen until the end to hear Rita talk more about this lonely ride for entrepreneurs.

#049 - Today we visit with Earl Faust, Founder and President of Cirius Engineering, LLC., an electrical and lighting design firm started in Hayward.  Earl fell into this line of work by accident - he got an internship in college at a construction firm as a mechanical engineer but found electrical engineering.  Later, a former employer inspired him to be an entrepreneur.

“What got me to start my own business as well as what I mentioned earlier to actually give me the push, I had an employer who said you should think about starting your own business. And she was putting me in positions where I was networking with other contractors.”

Earl was focused on getting his business started in 2020 and thus did not experience much hardship during the pandemic.  He used 2020 as a networking year, attending as many pre-bid meetings as possible so when 2021 came, he was ready to go.

“At the end of 21 is when I got one project and it was coming into 22. Earlier in 22, that's when we actually started on this one project, which was actually another affordable housing project down in San Jose. That was my actual very first project and then from there I got the Liberation Park project in Oakland.”

Earl learned about the Liberation Park project from the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce.  The Oakland Black Cultural Zone is building a 119 unit residential building at Liberation Park, near Eastmont Mall and next door will be a market hall.

Be sure to listen until the end to Earl’s plan to make Cirius Engineering an international company.

#048 - Today we visit with Maurice Brewster, Founder and CEO of Mosaic Global Transportation, a B2B limousine and ground transportation company that provides services for corporate clients.  Mosaic has 137 employees, 114 vehicles, and provides ground transportation services in over 440 cities worldwide.

Maurice started out in 2002 with one vintage Rolls Royce.  He was the driver, the car cleaner, the janitor, the bookkeeper, the salesperson, and the customer service rep. He quickly grew to 13 vintage Rolls Royces, which was the largest fleet in the country at the time.  Mosaic was the go to Rolls Royce vendor for weddings, but Maurice made his first of four pivots when he realized that he could not scale the business.

“for some crazy reason Anthony brides didn't want to get married on a Tuesday.  Now, personally, I think Tuesday's a beautiful day, but they didn't want to get married on Tuesday.  So what in essence happened was the cars just sat Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.  They were going out crazy on Saturdays and Sundays, but I couldn't scale the business, so we had to switch to a more garden variety ground transportation.”

The FIRST pivot was picking up people at hotels in Palo Alto and transporting them to Stanford and around the Silicon Valley.  The SECOND pivot was becoming a seamless one stop shop national transportation company.  The THIRD pivot was to provide employee shuttle services.  And the FOURTH pivot is to become 100% electric by 2030.

At the height of the pandemic, Maurice connected with FEMA and offered to transport essential workers for FREE.  To make this work, his employees had to agree to volunteer their time to drive these folks around - almost all of them did.  Maurice credits treating his employees as family and giving them opportunities as a differentiator in his business.

“the differentiation with us has everything to do with how we treat our employees. If we have employees that are happy - you know the old saying, if you wake up every morning happy, you'll never work a day in your life.  That's kind of the philosophy that we have, that we're a business and we are here to make money, but we're also here, my wife and I, are also here in building this business to make opportunities for the employees that work for us.”

Be sure to listen until the end to hear Maurice’s advice on establishing banking relationships before you need the money.

#047 - Today we are talking to Aaron Stewart, the owner and Head Chef of MexiQ, an Oakland Mexican BBQ establishment that blends the flavors of his East Oakland Black and Hispanic childhood neighborhood.  Chef Aaron’s career went somewhat in reverse.  He just happened to get a job at a restaurant working for a fine dining chef where he got trained on see and repeat - 1) show you how to do something, 2) tell you what to do, and 3) repeat that process again.

He got his first break working at a fast-paced restaurant, under a highly trained celebrity chef and ultimately became Sous Chef.  Then, Aaron decided to go to culinary school at Laney and that is where everything changed.

“I walked in being a little big headed because I had been cooking in restaurants for a couple years now. You know, I'm fine dining all these things and then to get in there and everything kind of slowed down.  It kind of sucked in the beginning, but it kind of humbled me because I was a see and repeat chef at that time.”

Culinary school gave Aaron the idea to start his own business - he was tired of working for others. He worked on the menu for 2 years.  But his fiance, Leida, gave him the courage.  He may still be working on that menu had she not told him to stop BS’ing and just get out there.

“I don't know what you’re waiting on? You got the menu, what are you waiting on? And she is a business owner herself, so it was like, you know, she's coming from experience.”

He started doing pop-ups in his parents driveway.  He was blown away by the reception - he was extremely proud of the mix of people from East Oakland to Walnut Creek sitting in his driveway enjoying his food and talking.  He especially loves how those relationships have blossomed.

“this is somebody who just walked into my driveway to buy some food and now I'm at their kids' birthday parties and stuff.  Just things you wouldn't imagine, the people you meet, that's probably what I'm most proud of.”

Be sure to listen until the end to hear how one guy came to the popup and told him his rice was better than his grandma's, then came back the following week with his grandma.