STEMedia Podcast

Episode 11 - How to Find Your Next Business Idea F.A.S.T.

This NSBEpreneur podcast episode is one on the topic of finding the right business idea. Our host, Nehemiah Mabry discusses the acronym F.A.S.T. and uses it as a rubric to provide some insight on how to determine where your effort should be focused when looking to start a new venture. Hopefully you'll find this content practical and useful for where you are on your journey!

Episode 10 – A Great Recession Layoff Lead to Leveraging Her Experience in the Launch of an Entrepreneurship Journey in Professional Development (Interview w/ Vivian Blade)

Vivian H. Blade works with ambitious professionals who want to win in their careers and in their everyday work lives. She works with organizations and individuals to Build Leaders and Develop Excellence so that they can achieve their vision of success.  In 2009, Vivian founded Experts in Growth Leadership Consulting, LLC.  She has worked with many global organizations, such as Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, Brown-Forman and GE. Vivian delivers an energetic, power-packed program that empowers and inspires.

Take a moment and listen to her story!

Episode 9 – A Background in Business aided in the Launch of an Independent Music Career (Interview w/ KJ Scriven)

KJ Scriven is an entrepreneur, singer, and prolific songwriter hailing out of North Carolina. K.J. brings an anticipated freshness and excitement to the gospel music industry. One of his most noteworthy achievements was that of penning the song "What Can I Do" which was featured on Tye Tribbett's grammy award-winning album entitled Greater Than. K.J.'s blend of soul, contemporary worship, hip hop, and alternative rock has listeners buzzing at the originality and authenticity of his sound. On this episode of the NSBEpreneur Podcast KJ shares how his academic background in business prepared him for an career as an independent musician. He also gives priceless advice based on lessons he learned along the way.

Take a listen!

Episode 8 - Happy Holidays!: 7 Gifts from the First 7 Interviews (+ 7 "Must Play" Christmas Songs ;)

 Our Final Podcast Episode of 2015 will feature a collection of the best "gifts" (i.e. Advice) provided in our first seven interviews. Each guest shared lessons that they would give themselves, back before starting their business and reaching their current level of success. Listen to the great quotes from each episode and find nuggets of wisdom are good for us all.

PLUS, we have among these gifts another Top 7 list that you might also enjoy...
Let us know which one of our Top 7 "Must-Play" Christmas songs is your favorite and what others you would add. Please leave your thoughts below in the comments section.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Episode 7 – Double Duty: Entrepreneurship as a franchisee and publishing company owner (Interview w/ Keith Sylvester)

Keith Sylvester’s entrepreneurial pursuits began shortly after he graduated from college.  He owns a franchise with LegalShield, a company that provides high quality legal and identity theft services. The legal plan gives members access to over 6900 attorneys for situations ranging from the trivial to the traumatic, and the identity theft plan provides industry leading monitoring, consultation, and restoration. Keith is the CEO and founder of eBook Solutions which is a book publishing company that provides digital and physical book publishing services, provides online and offline book promotion services, and help authors develop/expand their author platform. Keith’s main goal is to provide the best customer service to his clients by listening to their needs and providing the best solutions to their problems. He is also an active member of the NSBE Professionals national board.

Episode 6 – It’s Not Complicated: INC Tutoring is making a direct impact in the lives of students. (Interview w/ Jay Veal)

Jay Veal is the Founder and CEO of INC Tutoring, a private, prescriptive tutoring company specializing in individual one-on-one tutoring that achieves RESULTS. Serving clients at all academic levels in math, science and standardized test preparation, their tutors are passionate about providing a collaborative learning environment specifically tailored to the student’s learning style. The curriculum is not a “one size fits all” cookie cutter template but a holistic one that includes input from parents teachers and the student to develop lessons that foster accelerated learning/ which equals lower customer cost. INC Tutoring is one of the most sought after tutoring organizations and the only minority owned, private, prescriptive tutoring company in the Dallas area. 

Episode 5 – Blendoor: A new app to combat discrimination and bias during the job application process. (Interview w/ Stephanie Lampkin)

Stephanie Lampkin is the founder and CEO of Blendoor - a mobile job matching app that facilitates diversity recruiting in tech companies by circumventing unconscious bias. Despite very humble beginnings, Stephanie first learned to code at 14 through BDPA, by 15 she was a full stack web developer and by 16 a network admin. Fast forward 17 years, Stephanie has worked in tech for companies like Northrop Grumman, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, Deloitte and TripAdvisor, but is now focused full time on changing how people, organizations and companies connect in a way that fosters diversity. Stephanie graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Management Science & Engineering and MIT Sloan with a MBA.

Episode 3 - Michael Garvin (Interview): A Military Veteran and former Science Major Join Forces to start a Sneaker Boutique

Michael Garvin is co-founder of REDtro Habitat, a sneaker restoration and consignment apparel store. The business provides restoration of old or new sneakers, redesigning custom or exclusive sneakers, and consignment apparel. The initial restoring and repairing sneakers to a factory look is the primary focus and the base of their work; however retail is the majority of what is done.  REDtro Habitat is located in the downtown area of Fayetteville, North Carolina. The organization is committed to providing the highest quality workmanship and customer service, while supporting the sneaker community with another location to purchase goods and services. To be successful, they implement and maintain the latest, exclusive trends in sneakers and apparel, while training likeminded employees/team members.

  

Episode 2 – Dr. Maeling Murphy (Interview): How a personal passion turned into a lucrative business.

Dr. Maeling Murphy is the creator of NaturalChica.com, a leading natural hair and lifestyle site, which was started in 2009. She is a wife, mom and an avid learner with interests in healthy living, web development, photography and video production. She earned her Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2015.  

On this episode, Maeling shares how, what started out as a personal project while working on her engineering PhD, turned into a lucrative online business.

Episode 1 - Jewel Burks (Interview): How noticing a market "hole" at work led to the launching of Partpic

Jewel Burks is co-founder and CEO of Partpic, an Atlanta based startup designed to streamline the purchase of maintenance and repair parts using computer vision technology. On this episode of the NSBEpreneur podcast we find out how she got her idea for the company and what she did to get the ball rolling. Now,having raised $1.5 million in seed funding, Jewel and her team are moving full speed ahead towards integrating their proprietary technology into mobile apps and websites of parts distributors and retailers.