Sankofa in the City Starting and Sustaining Your Own Business

Alpha Omega Foundation, Inc. and

Olivet Housing & Community Development Corporation present

IN THE CITY STARTING AND SUSTAINING YOUR OWN BUSINESS June 22, 2022 Sankofa in the City is a workshop series collaboration between the Alpha Omega Foundation, Inc. and the Olivet Housing & Community Development Corporation

PURPOSE: To provide key information and resources to women and girls interested in starting and growing their own businesses IN THE CITY

ABOUT US

Alpha Omega Foundation, Incorporated was established in 1984 as a provider of scholarship opportunities, health education, educational empowerment and training, community care and concern for the Northeast Ohio Area.

Olivet Housing and Community Development Corporation (OHCDC) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of disadvantaged individuals and groups by providing programming and investment into enhancing their social and economic condition. OHCDC, through its Health and Education Institute and NeCCESS (Neighborhood Collaboration for Competitive Employment Status) Initiative, focuses on addressing health and socioeconomic disparities through strong partnerships with community-based organizations. Our approach is wholistic in concentrating on improving health, economic self-sufficiency and family outcomes.

ITINERARY IN THE CITY

Welcome

Mrs. Sandra Brinson - President, Alpha Omega Foundation, Inc. Dr. Daisy Alford-Smith - Executive Director, Olivet Housing & Community Development Corporation

Montrie Rucker Adams President & Chief Visibility Officer Visibility Marketing Inc.

Break/Raffle Meltrice Sharp

Managing Partner Creating Leading Enterprises (CLE) Consulting Firm

Tanya Manning-Grant

Founder & CEO DRESSCODE Boutique Ashton's Corner Kids Clothing Boutique TMG Professional Services Consulting Firm

Panel Discussion Giveaways/Raffle Baskets Closing

Presenter Bios IN THE CITY After exposure to business ownership through her family, Montrie Rucker Adams finally fulfilled her dream of entrepreneurship in April, 2000. In 2010, Visibility Marketing Inc. proudly celebrated 10 years of “making people, places and products more visible” with their Don’t Drop the Dream charitable celebration.

Adams began her public relations career when a question to then budding entrepreneur DeBorah Thigpen landed her an accounts representative position at D. Thigpen & Associates Public Relations. Since then, she has written for Kaleidoscope magazine (where she also served as editor-in-chief and managing editor), Black AmericaWeb.com, The Plain Dealer, Career + Life, Code and The Black Professional magazines.

Montrie Rucker Adams President & Chief Visibility Officer Visibility Marketing Inc.

Visibility Marketing Inc. has served many clients including Cuyahoga County, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Case Western Reserve University, The City of Cleveland, the State of Ohio and the National Department of Health, with the ability to create public relations strategies around focusing on strategic consumer engagement and visibility.

Due to its best practices in innovation, growth/success, value to the community and environment, diversity, promotion and customer service excellence, Visibility Marketing Inc. was named one of The Council of Smaller Enterprises’ (COSE) Ten Under 10 in 2010. In 2011, Visibility Marketing Inc. initiated its next generation “green visibility” campaign. The focus of the organization is sustainability. “We want to not only make you more visible,” says Adams, “we also want to help you make the planet sustainable for future generations by communicating sustainable initiatives in transportation, water and energy management.”

Visibility Marketing Inc.’s SmartInclusion initiative began in 2013 when the principals began to see that changes in the environment also included growing cities through immigration.

In addition to her responsibilities at Visibility Marketing Inc., Adams is the editor of The Black Professional Magazine, a new digital publication of The Black Professional Association Charitable Foundation.

Following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s declaration that everyone can serve, Adams served as a mentor with Breakthrough schools, volunteered at her children’s school and served for 12 years as president of the Board of Directors for Continue Life Inc., a homeless shelter and transitional housing program for expecting and parenting young women. She also served as President of the Board of Directors for East End Neighborhood House and on the Community Advisory Board for the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women at Case Western Reserve University. She now serves on the African American Philanthropy Committee, Crain’s Cleveland Business’ diversity committee, and the Boards of The Better Business Bureau, St. Luke’s Foundation, Reach Success and The Presidents’ Council Business Chamber. She is a College Now mentor and graduate of The Cleveland Leadership Center’s Bridge Builders and Leadership Cleveland programs.

Adams is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and a former board member of the Greater Cleveland PRSA Chapter. She is also a lifetime member of the National Black MBA Association and a Distinguished Toastmaster. She authored and published, as a guide for more visibility the booklet, Be More Visible! Create More Interest in You, Your Product or Service.

Among her many honors and accolades, Adams is a proud recipient of the PRSA’s 2021 Lighthouse Award which recognizes the career accomplishments and community service of a Greater Cleveland PRSA senior public relations professional and Crains’ Cleveland Businesses’ 2021 Notable Marketing Executives which recognizes accomplished marketing executives in Northeast Ohio. She has also received the National Council of Negro Women’s Leadership Award and their Women in Communications Award. Add to that Crains’ Cleveland Business and Kaleidoscope magazine’s 40 Under 40, The Phenomenal Woman and the Fannie M. Lewis “A New Day in Hough” Literary Awards. Her profile was in Who’s Who in Black Cleveland for seven years. She was also featured in Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Fortune magazines.

A native Clevelander, Adams enjoys challenging herself to greater potential, travelling, writing and participating in physical fitness competitions. She is working on the Just Do Your Dream movement which consists of profiles of individuals finally living their dream.

The book, Just Do Your Dream, Seven Steps to Help You Do What You Always Wanted* Profiles to Enlighten, Encourage and Inspire has more than 250 “Just Do Your Dream in 2019!” accompanying videos.

She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated and serves on the Public Relations and Connection & Social Action committees.

Adams is married for 25 years to Todd Q. Adams; she relishes in watching her daughter twirl the baton and watching her son’s YouTube videos. They are both students at Howard University.

Presenter Bios IN THE CITY Meltrice D. Sharp, CPA, is a native of Cleveland, Ohio and a managing partner at Creating Leading Enterprises (CLE) Consulting Firm, an accounting and consulting firm offering accounting, tax, payroll and business consulting services to small and middle market companies, nonprofit organizations, religious organizations, and individuals.

With more than twenty years as a CPA, Meltrice has extensive knowledge and experience in accounting, tax, management, finance, and business consulting.

Meltrice Sharp Managing Partner Creating Leading Enterprises (CLE) Consulting Firm

She started her accounting career at Ernst & Young as an auditor. She remained there for four years before joining Forest City Enterprises, where she served in a variety of accounting and finance positions for the next thirteen years. Inspired by a deep desire to use all she had learned over the previous two decades to chart a path of her own, she decided in 2017 to begin her journey as an entrepreneur.

Meltrice received her BBA with a concentration in accounting from Kent State University and her MBA from Baldwin-Wallace University. She is an adjunct instructor at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), where she teaches a variety of accounting courses.

Meltrice is the Founding Member of Women Creating Wealth & Impact, an organization that addresses the education, knowledge, and access gaps with women and finance. She is the president of the Black Professional Association Charitable Foundation (BPACF) and treasurer of the National Association of Minority Contractors, Northern Ohio (NAMC).

Meltrice is a trustee for both the Deaconess Foundation and the Women of Color Foundation. She is also a member of the Business Advisory Committee for Tri-C and the Marketing Advisory Committee for JumpStart. Meltrice is also a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Alpha Omega Chapter of Cleveland, Ohio.

Meltrice devotes a significant amount of her personal time civically, giving back to her community. She attends Faith Fellowship Church and is a loving and devoted wife, mother, and grandmother.

Her favorite pastime is hanging out with her family and telling corny jokes. (Her children remind her that her jokes are not funny while they are laughing.)

Meltrice’s guilty pleasure is vegging out on the coach and watching reality TV shows.

Presenter Bios IN THE CITY Tanya Manning-Grant is the owner of DRESSCODE Boutique, Ashton's Corner Kids Clothing Boutique, and TMG Professional Services Consulting Firm, located in Cleveland, Ohio, as well as a Senior Level Executive Management Consultant in Corporate America, specializing in Supply Chain/Procurement Operations. She is an expert in Supply Chain high performance business processes and practices.

As an Executive Management Consultant, she has worked for some of the top management consulting firms such as Accenture and LogicSource, where she was a Group Lead/Manager and Vice President/Managing Director managing multimillion engagements with companies such as Smuckers, The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company, Hertz, Clorox, Signet Jewelers, Big Lots, and JoAnn Fabrics.

Tanya Manning-Grant Founder & CEO DRESSCODE Boutique Ashton's Corner Kids Clothing Boutique TMG Professional Services Consulting Firm

She is experienced in all aspects of supply chain management and operations, purchasing, project management, budget planning, delivering best practices, providing industry benchmarking, and driving substantial cost savings for her clients. Tanya has assisted many companies in realizing substantial savings during her 34 years. Her focus on operational excellence and disciplined execution has enabled her to bring about significant operating gains. Tanya has always been able to establish the appropriate metrics to control supply chain activities and quickly identify when cost and performance are not what they should be. She has evaluated and corrected process flaws and believes work should add value.

TMG Professional Services Consulting Firm, LLC was established in early 2022 and has collaborated with several Fortune 500 companies acting as a collaborative partner with other management consulting firms to offer a niche level of expertise.

Tanya believes in "when much is given, much is required," which is evident through her leadership and activism within the Cleveland community using her boutiques as a platform to champion issues impacting women and children, active member status in several organizations such as a 36-year member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, The President's Council as a member and preferred provider of services, and Elite Women Around the World business organization.

Tanya has taken her corporate experience and translated it into operating two boutiques and a consulting firm. Tanya has a BA in Fashion Merchandising and MA in Business Operations from Bowling Green State University.

She has one son, Singleton and one grandson, Ashton.

Acknowledg ements IN THE CITY

Thank you to the following for helping make today's event a success:

Alpha Omega Foundation Sankofa Committee Lisa Mack, Chairperson Tonya Abrams Tristan Fritz Deborah Frost Loretta Gray Valissa Howard Semeca Prather-Solomon LaToya Smith Rhonda Williams

Olivet Housing & Community Development Corporation Daisy Alford-Smith, PhD Rev. Edmund Wilson, III Adrianne McDaniel