CEO Stories: Moms as Entrepreneurs
Through collaboration and complementing each other’s strengths, Lucas and Ransome use the Academy to expose moms and their children to the possibilities of entrepreneurship and a more prosperous life – topics seldom discussed in the communities where they live. Listen to the podcast below to learn more about these two successful women entrepreneurs.
Bumpy Starts
Keisha Ransome’s fashion business, 2live2love, got off to what she calls a “bumpy start” in 2012, earning her $100 on Etsy. But within a couple of years, the self-taught designer saw her business take off, and she wanted to share her knowledge of how to succeed on Etsy with other Baltimore-based makers, and founded Baltimore Etsy Sellers. Business consultant Tammira Lucas co-founded the Moms as Entrepreneurs podcast in 2014 with the goal of helping bring women into entrepreneurship. Like Ransome’s fashion business, the podcast wasn’t an instant success. However, after a couple of years, the podcast gained enough traction to help launch the Moms as Entrepreneurs Academy.
Opening Up
Ransome and Lucas were connected by Will Holman, executive director of the makers’ space Open Works, a facility that offers makers use of industrial and commercial equipment. They applied for an Etsy Makers Cities Grant, with Baltimore becoming the only U.S. city to receive a grant in 2017. Additional funding came from the Kauffman Foundation. The collaboration among Open Works, Moms As Entrepreneurs, and Baltimore Etsy was more powerful than individual efforts. More important, it exemplifies the spirit of community building and giving back that underpins all three organizations. The Moms As Entrepreneurs Makers Academy will offer two 15-week training programs with the goals of teaching mothers and children about entrepreneurship.
The Future
Ransome and Lucas see teaching children about entrepreneurship as just one aspect of investing in the future. They believe that their model can be replicated elsewhere and their goal is to grow a national organization that can help break the cycle of generational poverty with a curriculum focused on business, business psychology and parenthood.