Category: Borrower Stories
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Meet Cheri Witt-Brown, the ‘Accidental Entrepreneur’ Leading a Habitat for Humanity Affiliate to New Heights
For as long as Cheri Witt-Brown can remember, she’s known her way around a residential construction site. Her father owned a home-building and real estate company, and Cheri landed her first construction job — albeit picking up nails — when she was just three years old. She was paid a penny per nail for her
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How a Business Resiliency Course Helped Michea Rahman, an Entrepreneurial Speech Pathologist, Take Her Business to New Heights with Children’s Language Center
Since Michea Rahman was a child, she always knew that she wanted to one day work with children. She idolized teachers, adored Sesame Street, and, unsurprisingly, grew up to become a middle school arts educator in her hometown of Houston, Texas. One day, a fellow teacher asked Michea if she’d be willing to work with
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Meet Julia Sleeper-Whiting, Whose Undergraduate Volunteerism Became a Nonprofit Dedicated to Youth Empowerment
When Julia Sleeper-Whiting moved to Lewiston, Maine to attend Bates College, she never could have imagined that she’d be a small business owner in the community more than 15 years later — and not as a veterinarian, which she originally planned to become as a first-year undergraduate student. Julia intended to specialize in animal care,
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How Gloria Dickerson is Inspiring the Mississippi Delta Community To Make Their Dreams a Reality
Gloria Dickerson wants to change the way people think. It’s no easy task, particularly when it comes to encouraging low-income communities to dream bigger than the world they know. However, Gloria Dickerson is no stranger to adversity. Gloria was born into an impoverished family of sharecroppers in Drew, Mississippi. She was one of 13 children,
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How Vanessa Silva – Culinary Artistas, is Recreating Her Recipe For Success During a Global Pandemic
Vanessa Silva has always been comfortable in the kitchen. As an introverted child growing up in Brazil, food was how she preferred to communicate. Cooking became Vanessa’s love language, and by the time she was 10 years old, she was quite fluent in that love language, preparing special dishes for her parents’ dinner guests and
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Meet Dr. Nola Veazie, the Entrepreneuring Veteran Who’s Growing Her Business – V-solutions consulting, around Mental Health and Addiction
Nola Veazie grew up in Panama with the belief that she could do anything she set her mind to. Nola’s mother, who raised her children on her own, encouraged all of her children to dream big; however, when Nola was 16, she realized that the opportunities she wanted for herself didn’t exist in her home
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Meet Christine Uwimbabazi, The Entrepreneuring Immigrant Behind The Wheel of Prime Care Transportation
When Christine Uwimbabazi came to the United States from her home country of Rwanda in 2000, she didn’t plan to open a small business. Instead, she came for college. Christine enrolled at LaRoche University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Six years later, she married Reverien Mfizi, one of her classmates. The two had gone to the same
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How a PPP Loan From a Low-Income Designated Credit Union Gave This Bay Area Nonprofit The Promise of a Brighter Tomorrow
Barbara McCullough knows a thing or two about nonprofit management. She’s been the CEO at Brighter Beginnings, a nonprofit created in 1984 to respond to the needs of families in resource-poor neighborhoods across Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, for nearly 24 years. With that level of experience comes the understanding that government funding is anything
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Ebony Harris, The Entrepreneur Putting Children — And Parents — In Good Hands
Ebony Harris has a special way with children — it’s a gift. She thought about pursuing a career as a pediatric nurse, but that didn’t appeal to her entrepreneurial spirit. Instead, in 2015, set her sights on opening a childcare center, where she could educate, support, and influence kids. Her and her husband, John, had
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Meet Dr. Ira Mandel – Mid-Coast Recovery, The Retired Physician Opening Up Recovery Residences Along Maine’s Midcoast
Dr. Ira Mandel self identifies as “the nut” who runs into a burning building to help people when everyone else is running in the opposite direction. That’s exactly what happened in 2006, when Ira moved to Maine to take over the Pen Bay Medical Center’s hospice program. During his first week on the job, a