Meet The Three Entrepreneurs Receiving Grants From #BBATX In 2019
Beyond our events, in 2019 #bossbabesATX introduced its first-ever micro-grants program, providing funding opportunities to businesses that uplift our core tenets of arts empowerment, diversity and equality, creative entrepreneurship, professional and personal curiosity and collaboration.
From April 23 to July 12, 175 women and nonbinary leaders across Texas applied for three $500 to $1,000 micro-grants, each funded by businesses in our community who wanted to offer others the opportunity to come up.
Today, we are proud to share the badass recipients of those grants with you. (Major shouts to our grant funders/advisors, Mélissa Peng of The Curly Executive and Richelle Ouellette, as well as our committee members, for making this possible!)
MEET OUR 2019 GRANT RECIPIENTS.
MYRRIAH GOSSETT RECEIVED THE GET IT, GIRL GRANT.
Myrriah is a freelance producer specializing in audio production for radio and podcasts. She offers consulting, tape syncs, producing and editing services. You can hear her on mic as a co-host of the Star Trek Discovery Pod, and her name in the credits for the Founding Media Podcast Network, the new relaunch of the Bedpost Confessions Podcast, Creative Queso Podcast, Seen with Miranda Podcast, FOGO: Fear of Going Outside Podcast, and more. You can learn more about Myrriah and her production business at myrriahgossett.com.
MEET THE GRANT’S FUNDER, RICHELLE OUELLETTE.
With a background in corporate events, Richelle dove into freelance work after simultaneously breaking up with her boyfriend, quitting her job, voiding her lease, and selling the majority of her belongings in one particularly rash summer. With literally nothing to lose and a heart full of hustle, Richelle grew Alchemy Events into a six-figure business that less than three years later produces national events and employs dozens of contractors. She has an obvious passion for entrepreneurship and once started 30 businesses in 30 days just for the fun of it. Learn more at richelle.loan.
DANIELLE LOCKLEAR RECEIVED THE #BBATX X CURLY EXECUTIVE GRANT FOR WOMEN OF COLOR ENTREPRENEURS.
A native Austinite, Danielle founded her own practice specializing in culturally responsive counseling services. Utilizing mindfulness, somatic work and self-compassion into her collaborative approach to therapy, Danielle has carved a nichè serving some of Austin's most underrepresented populations creating a safe space for clients to explore how issues of “otherness" impact their ability to show up authentically in their many relationships. Her practice offers individual, family, couples and group therapy, treating a variety of issues, but with a particular interest in the trauma of systemic oppression, cultural identity and intergenerational trauma. Learn more at daniellelocklearcounseling.com.
MEET THE GRANT’S FUNDER: CURLY EXECUTIVE.
The Curly Executive Grants are supported by Mélissa Peng aka Curly Executive a Texas-based Serial Entrepreneur, Business Coach, and YouTuber. Mélissa earned her MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and held roles with marketing behemoths including Procter & Gamble, Macy’s, and NBC Universal. After 10 years of successfully climbing the corporate ladder and earning the title of Director of Marketing at the age of 30, she left corporate and her six-figure salary to build a lifestyle focused on pursuing her many passions and her newfound purpose of helping others do the same. Mélissa is a woman of color and the daughter of a lifelong entrepreneur, this grant’s purpose is to support fellow women of color entrepreneurs in pursuing their passions and taking strategic risks in business.
CATIE LEWIS RECEIVED THE CURLY EXECUTIVE GRANT FOR CRAFTHER ENTREPRENEURS.
Catie Lewis is a self-taught artist living in Austin, Texas. Inspired by her travels, life experiences and the various people she has met along the way, Catie explores an array of styles and mediums as she expands her portfolio. She believes creativity has no limits. Learn more at catielewis.com.
MEET THE GRANT’S FUNDER: CURLY EXECUTIVE.
The Curly Executive Grants are supported by Mélissa Peng aka Curly Executive a Texas-based Serial Entrepreneur, Business Coach, and YouTuber. Mélissa earned her MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and held roles with marketing behemoths including Proctor & Gamble, Macy’s, and NBC Universal. After 10 years of successfully climbing the corporate and earning the title of Director of Marketing at the age of 30, she left corporate and her six-figure salary to build a lifestyle focused on pursuing her many passions and her newfound purpose of helping others do the same.
In addition to founding Curly Executive Mélissa is the artist behind Camellias and Curls, a handmade flower hair accessories brand, and the creator of Pon Di Beat, a Dance Hall and Afrobeat dance masterclass series in Austin and Houston, Texas. This grant’s purpose is to support fellow makers, artists, and performing artists in pursuing their passions and taking strategic risks in business.
LEARN MORE ABOUT #BBATX’S GRANTS.
Applications for #BBATX grants will re-open in 2020. Click here to learn more.
Click here to get email updates on #BBATX’s grants.
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