From 2014 to 2019 I worked for a nonprofit organization called Small Business Majority as National Rural Entrepreneurship Outreach Manager. Over the course of those five years, I developed strong relationships with other small business organizations and resource providers as well as within the small business community. When we lost grant funding for my position, I felt that the loss of the role that I had in the community would be detrimental, so I decided to establish my own small business to continue filling and identifying the gaps that I was currently filling. Through my established resource connections, I was able to start my business and add in essential services, including becoming a contracted micro loan officer with a SBA-approved Community Development Financial Institution that had just lost the staff person that had serviced our area.

 

While working for Small Business Majority, I realized that providing an ecosystem referral resource, micro loan education and financing, and helping small business owners start & grow their businesses was my passion and my calling. I was doing something that no one else did in my area, and if I hadn’t started my business, no one was going to be filling those gaps that were so needed in the community. Because of the uniqueness of my business idea and the fact that I was already a trusted and well known resource, I didn’t feel like there were any other options to support both the resource organizations and small business owners like I had been doing. Plus, I no longer felt that being a traditional employee was an option for me. I had learned that I’m “unemployable”, because I’m a “pain in the ass”….otherwise known as someone with too many ideas and way too many voiced questions and solutions!

 

I currently work as a contracted loan officer for Forge, Inc., a local micro-lender.

 

More importantly, I am a mom of two amazing children with <<animals>>.

 

I work from my sunroom in my jammies most of the time, but you can often find me at coffee shops, networking events, the library local breweries, or in nature!