The Secret, the Significant, the Successful: Profiles of Women-led Businesses, Vol. 15

This week is a challenge for most of us. We're trying to figure out the best thing to do about our culture, the best actions to take to uplift our communities, and the best way to keep on when are emotions have so many layers.

One of the reasons that I advocate so heavily for women is that I'm tired of seeing the intentional lack of financial resources available for women in pursuit of business ownership. I believe that if more of us have economic power, we could change society.

This newsletter is a small part of my advocacy for pushing this agenda forward.

Edition Contents

• The Secret - Sometimes it hard to figure out which movement to join
• The Significant - Conglomerate Rage: Black Woman CEO's take on the murder of George Floyd
• The Successful - Movement Consulting moves toward increased diversity in academia

1. The Secret - Sometimes it hard to figure out which movement to join

By: Roshawnna Novellus ? Newsletter: The secret, the significant, the successful: profiles of women entrepreneurs

Founder 1: Hey Sis. I just felt the need to check-in. I know a lot is going on.

Founder 2: Yeah, It's hard to keep on going with my plans. But I know my plans are necessary, especially now.

Founder 1: Yeah me too. But I feel like our work is part of the solution.

Founder 2: It is. But people keep saying that we need to do this or post this or sign our name to this when we were working on solutions all along.

Founder 1: Yeah sometimes it's hard to know what things to add to your personal definition of your role is the pursuit of change.

Founder 2: I think we each have the right to do or react in a way that's in alignment with who we are. Without self, what else is there?

2. The Significant

By: Roshawnna Novellus ? The secret, the significant, the successful: profiles of women entrepreneurs | Also published in Swaay

Conglomerate Rage: Black Woman CEO's take on the murder of George Floyd

Photo by J. Mason Photography ( Jonathan Mason)

It's not about the riots; it's about persistent injustice.

Black people in America often have to accept racism, economic exclusion, and unequal access to healthcare. On top of that, we are more susceptible to death in the pandemic. Given all these oppressive factors, it should not be difficult to believe the anger surrounding the murder of George Floyd. There is video evidence of four officers’ involvement, and they weren't even arrested. This was simply the tipping point where the community couldn't take it anymore.

As a Black woman, I am deeply saddened and hurt by the recent murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd. It's important to note that the outrage about Breonna Taylor is much less than the outrage for men. In my mind, it goes to show how society as a whole continues to value the life of men way more than the lives of women. While no one has the right to judge the grief of another, injustice towards women continues to be lost in the narrative.

I live a little less than two miles from the protests that occurred over the weekend in Atlanta. I noticed the increased police presence in my neighborhood, as well as the evidence of the cleanup happening the next day. After the first evening of protests, I decided to talk to the women working in security and concierge positions to better understand how they were navigating the difficult situation. These women were afraid but had to take care of their families, so they had to come to work.

This narrative has continued to be true throughout time. Time and time again, women have had to suck it up and bottle up our pain, bottle up our hurts, bottle up the weight that exists on our shoulders, all to make sure our communities stay intact. We do it by focusing on our love for others, and often overlook our own needs. Black feminist Audre Lorde famously said, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” She meant that Black women must replenish themselves because they spend so much energy caring for their communities in the face of oppression. One way I care for myself is by focusing on my self-care routine every morning and evening. 

The Friday night of the protest, I woke up to text after text asking if I was alright. I remembered seeing the military vehicles outside my house when I came home and decided to check twitter. The first image that I saw was of the press conference given by Mayor Bottoms. She talked about how she was afraid for her sons, how we have a city with a legacy of diversity, and how we are the home of black leadership. When she spoke, I cried. I cried for the deep understanding of the difficulties of being a woman in power, a mother, and a steward of the culture all at the same time. I cried for the understanding that things are going to start being more difficult for us before they get better. And I cried for the many who feel like they have no say and no opportunity to thrive in this world.

As a black woman who started a company that strives for economic justice for women, I'm reinvigorated. My 'why' continues to be necessary. We cannot give up the fight. We owe it to our communities; we owe it to our ancestors; we owe it to our children, and we owe it to ourselves. I strongly believe that in order for society to change, access to resources must change. Diversification of business ownership is part of the solution. Business owners are the brokers of goods into the community, and they influence politics and legislation. The pandemic in itself is supposed to put 42% of all businesses owned by black people in the US out of business, so supporting those businesses is an important way to ensure that our culture is not left further behind.

3. The Successful

Movement Consulting moves toward increased diversity in academia

By: Dr. Victoria Farmer ? The secret, the significant, the successful: profiles of women entrepreneurs | Originally on EnrichHER

When you were a child, what was your dream career? Maybe a dance class inspired you to fantasize about twirling under stage lights as a prima ballerina, or watching Apollo 13 for the first time translated into hours playing astronaut in the backyard. Dra. Nicole Cabrera Salazar’s desire to reach for the stars as an Astronomy professor came about a bit later, after an incredible internship opportunity. Unfortunately, a profoundly racist and sexist graduate school experience made it clear that the professoriate was not a healthy path for her. Like any great entrepreneur, she turned a roadblock into an opportunity.

Nicole founded Movement Consulting out of a desire to improve the diversity of academic departments—especially in the sciences—so that other students would not have to experience the traumatic effects of prejudice and discrimination that marked her own graduate school experience. Movement Consulting offers services to make sure science organizations, universities, and laboratories can provide a positive culture for their employees. If you're interested in learning more, reach out to Nicole through her contact form or by emailing her at [email protected]. You can also follow Movement Consulting on Instagram and Facebook.

Nicole recently sat down with EnrichHER to discuss what inspired her to launch her business, the importance of mentors that know you better than you know yourself, and her vision for more inclusive academic departments.

EnrichHER: What inspired you to start your business?

Movement Consulting: By the time I got to college, I knew I really wanted to be an astronomy professor. That's what I decided my career was going to be. My path wasn't super linear. A lot of people in my field—in physics and astronomy—will have stories about how they deconstructed a radio when they were younger or always worked with Legos and stuff like that. And I didn't have that background, because I came from a working-class, immigrant family. So I didn't really find astronomy until I was in my junior year of college. I got an internship where I got to spend 40 hours a week observing on a telescope in Hawaii, and that was really amazing. That made me decide on astronomy as a career, and I went to graduate school.

Then, in grad school, I encountered a lot of discrimination. When I started, I was one of two Latinas in my department. The faculty were all White; I had one female professor, and most of my peers were White. And at the time, I knew about sexism, because I had been in Physics departments since high school. I was used to being the only woman, so when I started encountering resistance and pushback, I thought, "Oh, this is because I am a woman in Science." But it wasn't until my third year of grad school when I started taking a Race and Ethnic Relations class, that I realized that there was also an element of discrimination connected to my ethnicity. It’s this intersectional mix of oppression. I was so burnt out that I decided to leave my field. I was having panic attacks. I had a major depressive episode and had to finish my dissertation from home because the experience was so traumatic. It was traumatic in the full sense of the word.

At first, I didn’t want people to know about this experience, because it was so painful. I felt like my potential had been lost, like the dream I had had for so long had been lost. But I had to give it up because the environment was so toxic. Ultimately, I decided to leave research, but not to leave the field completely because I wanted to make it better. I founded Movement Consulting because I wanted to change the culture of science, which is a very toxic, overworked culture that produces a lot of burnout. I wanted to move that culture in a different direction, which is why my company is called Movement Consulting. I provide services for socially conscious scientists who want to change the culture of their fields or their departments or their university, but they're really not sure where to start.

EnrichHER: Tell us more about the services you provide and how they work.

Movement Consulting: We’re a private consulting service, and every academic department is different, so it depends on what they need to work through. Sometimes, students feel very isolated and lack a sense of community. In that case, I can establish a program that will foster community among students, which will help them become better researchers. It will help them stay in this environment. Other times, it’s deeper culture. Say a department wants to hire a professor, and they want to make sure the process is equitable. What I do is come in and look at their hiring process, and I point out places where they are introducing bias. This can allow them to change the process so that all the candidates don’t end up being the same as the department’s current race and gender makeup.

Another thing I do is facilitation, particularly in the area of science communication, in a way that emphasizes soft skills, like how to navigate all-white spaces. Some of the activities are more geared to people in power, to teach them to reframe their mindset to be more holistic and to center the humanity of the people within that department. I like to incorporate hands-on activities into the discussions that the participants have. When I was in high school, my AP physics teacher had this sign in this classroom that said, “I hear; I forget. I see; I remember. I do; I understand.” I love that and try to incorporate it into my facilitation.

EnrichHER: Tell us about a trial you’ve had to overcome as an entrepreneur. What did it teach you?

Movement Consulting: What I learned is that not every client is the right client. I don't want to work with people who just want to pat themselves on the back. I don't want to work with people who see diversity as a commodity-- as something that they can sell to potential students or potential faculty. I want to work with people whose values are aligned with mine and with those of my business, because I think that those clients stand to gain the most, learn the most and create the most impact.

EnrichHER: One thing that comes up over and over in the conversations we have on EnrichHER Society is the importance of networking and mentorship. Can you speak to a specific connection or relationship in your professional life that helped advance your business?

Movement Consulting: When I was a grad student, and I was overwhelmed with this decision to leave my field, it was a life-altering decision. I had this ten-year plan that suddenly was out the window. I couldn't stay on the path that I was on, but I didn't know yet what I wanted to do. I made an appointment with a career counselor. Ashley Watts is her name. I sat in her office so many times and just cried about all the things that were going on. I was so overwhelmed. When I started working with her, she said, “I see you having your own thing.” I was just like, “I need to find a job.” She helped me develop the skills I needed to do what I wanted outside of academia. Then she nominated me for a TEDx talk at my school, and I was able to give my first public talk about this new path I was on. I talked about diversity in STEM. That was especially important because Ashley got to know me in a way that my adviser did not know me. She was interested in who I was, not just the work I was producing. It's like she could see that potential and projected it into a future that I hadn’t imagined for myself yet. And so eventually I ended up starting my own company, and now she still advises me.

EnrichHER: We like to give our entrepreneurs the last word in these interviews. Any final thoughts to share with the community?

Movement Consulting: I think something that's really important that I'm trying to focus on more now is that, these systems we live within--whatever industry you're in, whatever job you have--there is a tendency to believe that we're never doing enough. This comes from capitalism. There’s an idea that you're only worth as much as you can produce. And if you're not producing, especially in these times, then it feels as if you are not contributing to society, or like you’re not contributing to your partnerships or your household. I want to invite people in this community to take a step back and think about where those feelings come from and to not blame themselves.

About the Author

Dr. Roshawnna Novellus is the founder and CEO of EnrichHER, a financial platform that connects female entrepreneurs with lenders who want to earn a return on their investment while fueling the growth of women-led businesses. Dr. Novellus is a gender equality advocate who believes in economic empowerment and inclusive economic growth. Dr. Novellus holds a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering, with a Minor in Finance, a Masters of Science in Information Technology emphasizing Information System Engineering, a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management Economics, and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering – achieving Summa Cum Laude in each. Roshawnna served on the Commission on Women for the City of Atlanta and was honored as one of the Women Who Means Business by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, one of the 40 Under 40 by Georgia Trend, one of the Top 25 Disruptors and Innovators in Tech, one of the 27 Black Founders and Investors to watch by PItchBook, and LinkedIn Top Voice #5 in Technology.