I am happy to announce that over the next six months I will be working with over 40 business entrepreneurs in Portland and Seattle as a Small Business Administration (SBA) T.H.R.I.V.E Business Coach. The reimagined Emerging Leaders Program has been updated to include one-on-one time for business and leadership coaching. I'll be one of 44 coaches representing 52 locations across the country and U.S. territories. Recognizing that having a coach is a great enhancement to any size business and brings both personalization and laser focus to this year’s 59 cohorts as they build their leadership and individual growth plan. It is a perfect representation of what T.H.R.I.V.E stands for and what I am passionate about: Train, Hope, Rise, Innovate, Venture, Elevate. I am excited to bring the T.H.R.I.V.E trajectory to every client, as well as these two cohorts.
As a Creativity & Growth Executive coach, one of the ways I help leaders build their growth plan for their business and their own leadership is by connecting to their own authentic story. Working with the SBA comes full circle for me. My college tuition was paid by a business I started. My local SBA office helped me with the basics, including taxes, insurance, and structure. Fast forward decades later, and it was SBA’s pandemic PPP loans and other support systems managed by the SBA that helped keep thousands of businesses afloat. As a CEO during the pandemic, I know how valuable and necessary those programs were. Now, the SBA is once again investing in small business leaders, the backbone of our economy.
Special thanks to Mark Madrid (SBA Associate Administrator) for his enthusiasm for this program and his passion for leveraging innovation clusters, Towan Isom (CEO of Isom Global Strategies) for putting together the amazing platform of subject matter experts and for being a fabulous representative as a woman-owned business partner for the SBA T.H.R.I.V.E program, and my local SBA representatives, Desiree Albrecht and Ashley (LC) Lambeth Christian for selecting and administering two incredibly inspiring cohorts. More to come as together we reimagine what small business looks like in our "next normal" with creativity and with purpose.
Break the Tape Leadership helps leaders unleash creativity and potential in themselves and the organizations they lead to generate meaningful momentum.