Production and distribution of City Club forums and Ideastream Public media are made possible by PNC and the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland incorporated Good afternoon, and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland.

We are devoted to conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

It's Friday, May 29th, and I'm Cynthia Connolly, director of programing here at the City Club.

And so pleased to introduce today's forum, which is part of the City Club's building success series, where we explore the stories behind success as well as unique challenges of entrepreneurship.

Recent data has indicated that entrepreneurship has surged in the wake of the pandemic, and it hasn't slowed.

Leading the way are women who have turned to entrepreneurship for better opportunities, flexible work schedules, and wealth creation.

According to a 2026 report by Wells Fargo.

Women owned businesses grew 12% from 2022 to 2025.

That's nearly double the growth rate for businesses owned by men.

These women led enterprises now employ 12.6 million people and generate 2.8 trillion in revenue.

The same report ranked Cleveland as one of the nation's top ten regions that foster the long term growth and success of women owned businesses.

So what sets Cleveland apart from its peer cities in terms of driving growth and expanding opportunity?

And what partnerships and initiatives are finding success in ensuring every woman has access to the capital?

Training, networks and mentorship they need to achieve their dreams.

Joining us today to discuss this and more are entrepreneurs who are breaking barriers.

We have Aisha Childers She's a Cleveland based entrepreneur and operator leading multiple organizations across early childhood education, food service, and community based event spaces.

We also have Nathalie A. Dibo She's the founding and managing partner of Dibo law where she leads a team of attorneys focused on business litigation, real estate and business law, and estate planning and probate.

And we also have Nitina Francis, the director of the Women's Business Center of Central Ohio, where she leads programs that support and grow women owned businesses across the region.

She's also an entrepreneur herself.

Monitoring the conversation is Roshanda Smith, senior vice president and business engagement director for Huntington Bank, where she leads initiatives to empower and support small businesses across the bank's footprint.

Before we begin, a quick reminder for our live stream and radio audience.

If you have a question during the Q&A portion of the program, you can text it to (330)541-5794, and City Club staff will try to work it into the program for you now.

Members and friends of the City Club of Cleveland, please join me in welcoming all of our speakers here today.

Good afternoon.

So it's been such a fun journey getting to know all of you.

And so we're going to start with the final question.

No surprise.

If we had a choice today, what would have been your walk on music and why?

Oh.

Oh good one.

Okay.

I'll take I'll take a stab at that.

So, my family is Liberian, West African.

And so our Independence Day is in July.

And so I would come out to a traditional song to give you a full scope of who I am, live it out.

All right.

Nathalie, I think I would just b any Rihanna songs.

Right.

Okay.

Yeah.

Just being put out on the spot.

I'm such a music lover, but, what a powerful woman.

And, I'm always impressed with her, so I think it would be any Rihanna song.

Really.

Okay.

So I listen to, like, a different kind of genre of music, which is like Christian rap.

So it's a personal, call for us.

Frank, at the song, I will listen to it is God is Good.

So that's the song I wrote ago.

Those are great.

I would, walk out to this girl is on fire.

Yeah.

I never get a bus.

So let's get into it.

How did you start your business journey?

And we'll start with Nathalie.

How did you get into it?

And why?

Well, thank you for the question.

Thank you to the City club and to Huntington Bank for having us all here.

I'm honored to be on the panel with these lovely women, who are strong and kind of pursuing their dreams.

How did I start?

I guess, I'm Lebanese.

My family immigrated here from Lebanon, as did I, and, and all most immigrant families, especially Arab, American, Middle Eastern families.

You know, I was supposed to be a doctor.

Okay, so I realized quickly, I don't I don't think I could do this.

I, I don't like the sight of blood.

I really, you know, I was having a hard time.

So when I was at John Carroll, I thought, okay, how am I going to break this to my parents?

I know I'll tell them I'm going to be a lawyer and that they won't disown me.

Everything will be okay.

And it's like, I don't know, closest thing at the time I can think of it.

And I worked out of me and I jokingly, jokingly say, disowned.

But for, especially the immigrants in the room, I felt like that will speak to you.

And so, I became a lawyer, worked for a woman owned firm in town.

That was that was awesome.

Got a lot of great experience, and I just realized that, I'm naturally I'm a natural leader.

And in different situations, I've been an even at that firm and some different tasks.

They gave me, and they kept kind of giving me more responsibility.

And I thought, this would be, you know, starting my own business and having my own firm would be a way to make an even bigger impact.

So that's a little bit about my journey of it.

Aisha.

I would have to say that the things that I was exposed to growing up, and wanted to create opportunities for change and impact in my community.

So witnessing certain children have disadvantages and not having access to certain opportunities that I was fortunate to witness.

I wanted to go into business, at an early age, though, I started off like just doing hair like as a kid, like 7 or 8 years old and, like, charges on my friends, like $5 a in your hair.

I think that and yeah, I was like, I think and it became a thing.

And then, and then I started like a dance group when I was younger, and I would get all the girls together, like, we're going to practice at this time, we're going to go perform here.

And I really like, like, had connections, was getting photographers.

My mom was like, what are you doing?

Like, you can't just go out here, give me kids.

So and then just going forward, just seeing how to create impact and really create change in the world.

You I believe you have to be entrepreneur.

You can go on to politics, and things of that sort.

But if you really want to get to the root of some of the causes and really create opportunities for growth, expansion, scalability, and get exposure to people that look like me into the different realms, I believe entrepreneurship is the way natural Born Leader.

I love it, as far as my journey.

So I stand up here with a little bit of duality.

Like I was introduced a business owner as well as a resource partner.

And so those two experiences let me be, the ultimate empath for our clients and customers.

And so, I started at ECDI just a year ago, actually a year this week.

I'll be there a year.

I understood the power of getting access to resources for myself and really wanted to have the opportunity to provide that to others.

Businesses don't just thrive because they are better.

Sometimes businesses thrive because they just have access.

And so it is very important as a resource partner to continue to provide those opportunities for our entrepreneurs as consistently and as energetically as I possibly can.

And so that really was the spark for my journey.

There have been people along the way for me that have given me an opportunity or have encouraged me or just said, hey, I think you can, and I was able to run with it.

And so I do work like that on a daily basis.

Sometimes it's just even an encouraging word, right?

Or someone will come to my office and they say, hey, I've got this great idea.

Okay, well, let's formulate the idea.

Let's make it into a tangible, palatable play by play.

And that's what gets people going.

So for me, that's how my journey really started.

Funny story.

When I was in high school, I had a principal that really didn't like me.

She said I talked too much, and she said, one day you are going to probably be an ambassador, right?

She was being facetious, but I took that on as like a badge.

And so I am not an ambassador in the formal sense.

Right?

I'm not at the United Nations, but I do advocate for my client in our in our, in my own customers on a daily basis.

So she really planted the seed when I was in high school.

I won't tell you how long ago that was, but, yeah.

So I take that on and that's really part of that I love that.

So along the theme The Rise of Women in Entrepreneurship, give us, the advice that you would give those who look like us and oftentimes are the only woman in the room.

And how do you navigate those spaces?

Okay.

All right.

So I'm a little nontraditional.

I like to look.

And if you go into a room, make it a challenge.

Make it an opportunity for growth.

Make it an opportunity to connect and build.

If we go into a room thinking that we have limited access and availability to different resources, then your mindset is already incorrect.

You want to have room with that mindset knowing that, hey, this is an opportunity for me to grow.

This is the opportunity for me to connect.

So I think that's a little bit where like kind of like I build, in addition to that, I just believe that you really can do anything that you put your mind to, so you can't limit yourself.

We are women and we are great, but we're not going to limit ourselves because we are women, that we can't get things done because we can.

So when you understand that you have the power and anything that we went through, we been through, we use that as a tool to be able to continue to build.

So any, things that I may have experienced as a child from trauma and just different things, I've utilized those things in my career now.

So I'm tapping into like the mental health and wellness.

But because I was exposed to some things in my childhood, I'm now able to use that pain, turn into purpose, and then be able to build a business off of those things.

And that makes it I will, I would say, one of the best pieces of advice my mother ever gave to me was, don't be afraid to ask me.

The worst thing they can do is say no.

And so I really take that on.

And I'm a professional question asker at this point.

And so I will ask right.

If it's no then that's just a redirection.

And that's what I really try to tell my clients.

Think about the biggest possible, the best possible outcome.

And if all it does for you to get that would be to ask a question, then you need to ask it.

That's the risk asking the question.

You can regroup later, but if you never ask, you don't know if that door will ever be open for you.

And so please take the time, formulate your question, and don't leave any room without an ask.

That would be I love it.

Yeah, that's awesome.

So and this is a for either of you, can you share a pivotal moment in your journey where you had to overcome or navigate or redirect in, in a challenging environment?

Yeah.

I can speak to that.

As a litigator, an attorney.

It's a male dominated field.

First of all, shout out to all the men in the room physically present for this.

You guys are awesome.

Seriously?

Seriously.

Your support means the world to us.

And, that just makes you such a stronger man in our eyes.

And a male dominated field.

It's been challenging.

I was doing the math this morning.

I've been an attorney 17 years.

I'll be 18 in November, and, a lot of people have helped me along the way.

Right.

Both men and women.

But I'm often in a room with.

With that.

I'm the only woman.

Right.

And so one of those times was a deposition that I had with with, there was another attorney, their client and my client.

There's a court reporter taking notes, and you only have a certain amount of time in those depositions.

You usually are entitled to one day, and it's like seven hours.

It's like a technical number.

And we've been at it all day long.

It's getting towards the end of the day and the opponent, the opposing counsel, was really not happy that I was doing such a great job.

You know, hitting his client with these questions.

And he was getting really irritable as the afternoon went on.

And this person starts counting down in my deposition.

All right, counselor, you've got T-minus 60 minutes left, and I'm.

And then he's T -59, T -58.

And I'm thinking, what?

Why is he doing, like, what is happening?

This is so rude.

It's so unprofessional.

And of course, the court is not there, but the reporter is taking this all down.

And the most you can do is kind of verbally make a record.

You know, this guy's throwing his pen down because if you're not there, you you don't know if they're raising their voice or not.

So I had to verbally make a record of what was happening in the room and keep my composure.

And, and kind of just be strong.

That.

Okay, you got this.

You're obviously pushing some button.

He doesn't want to go there.

He doesn't want his client to go there.

And so I just had to stay strong, pull myself together and finish that 58 minutes that I had left and, you know, do the best I could for my client and make sure they, they had the representation they deserved.

Wow.

You really held her composure.

Well, that was a hard one.

Yes, I will speak to that.

So immediately following Covid, I had a baby, so I had a baby right before Covid.

I had a baby in April.

We shut down in March.

I'd never had change a diaper before I had a kid, so I really did.

He and I were looking at each other like, what do we do?

I don't know, but at that time, I was doing I was a wedding planner, and so weddings didn't exist, right?

We cannot have a wedding.

And it really was a a crossroads of, like, do I really lean in because I also couldn't get a corporate job.

So I'm leaning in to the skills and the things that I've, that I've had that, that were untapped.

And so I'm a big idea person.

Anyone who comes to me, anyone who I'm going to probably find the biggest idea we can from whatever we're talking about, and I'm going to run with it.

And that's what I was able to do.

So I started with balloons.

Literally.

I would turn anything.

I'm like, hey mom, I need to do balloons.

Hey, my sister balloons.

That was the turning point.

And I learned how to take a good picture, and I ran with it.

And so that particular point in time, in addition to resources like the chambers and other resource partners, even ECD at that time were really what helped me sustain and grow to what I am today.

And it's a really a full circle moment to now be serving, as a director, at ECD for, for the Women's Business Center.

But that particular point in time made me really sit down and wonder my why.

I think a lot of times we forget the why in what we're doing, because the why keeps you centered.

The why keeps you grounded, and the why pushes you to take that next step.

Or don't you need to really reconsider, like maybe we do need to think about it, but the why?

And so that point in time really forced us all to sit down.

But it really forced me to think about, why do I want to do this?

Why would I want my son to look at me positively by taking this step or this leap dreaming?

And now I can stand and look at that fact almost six years ago.

And I'm like, okay, well, I know why now.

I know why.

So yeah, even in those challenging times, you realize that you're not in a it's not a silo, you're not on an island.

You're not by yourself.

Early in my career, I had a mentor shout out to Mr.

Don Graham, and he told me that, you needed to have pie performance, influence and exposure.

So how does your mentor village, your community, support you even through the best of times?

The worst of times and the in-between times?

How does that network, that village, and your mentors help you navigate those things?

Oh, okay.

Well, I want to touch on really quick the last question that I'll tie it in.

So I had to pivot.

Okay.

I have two childcare centers and in childcare you have to maintain ratios.

You are you have to be in compliance with so many different entities fire department, health department, the state of Ohio, USDA, so many different entities.

And we could not get staff.

So instead of like, okay, I'll keep getting sad, they're not showing up.

I created a staffing platform.

So now I saw a problem and now created a solution to the problem that not only serves me, but also serves other childcare centers as well.

So that was a way to pivot, you know, in a tough time.

Now to your question about the pie.

I do have mentors, but I have to be honest because God is my mentor.

So I am in partnership with the Lord and he guides and directs my steps.

And when I say that, I, for instance, one of the entities I own is create a space, create a space.

At first, when I began to plan it out, I believed I was going to spend $350,000 to do this build.

It ended up being $1 million.

However, God sent the right architect to me that gave love and favor and understanding and compassion.

Then he sent the correct contractor to me that has now my mentor, who's guiding me and lead in me and continues to send me different inspirational quotes every day.

And and my mentor.

It doesn't even look like me.

He's an older white guy, like 70 years old, dresses so amazing.

Gucci Louis is just so cool.

I just love him to death.

But but he sent these people in my life and because I was my steps were ordered by him.

I was able to be attracted to different resources in the different people to help and guide me, to lead me where I needed to be.

And then also continue to keep me sustained throughout the whole process, because you have a $350,000 budget and you go to $1 million, you can literally just fail.

Your business could just crumble.

But to this day, I'm still in operations.

I'm three years in.

So it's like it's just I think for me, that is my way to navigate my I love it and that's great.

That's I've had a lot of mentors over the years.

I wouldn't say there's like 1 or 2, but, there's just been a lot of support that I've been blessed to have.

And there's certain people you meet throughout your life and, you know, you all met this person where you meet them and you're like, oh my gosh, I feel like I've known them forever.

I feel like they get me, and I've been blessed to meet a decent amount of people like that.

And they've all, helped me at different times in my life and my career.

And it all goes back for sure to my parents who immigrated here, brought us to this country from Lebanon.

And, and from there, you know, my, my family, my extended family through my husband, all of the support I get from him lifting me up when when I'm down on my hardest days, especially being an entrepreneur.

And there's many of you here in the room.

There's judges that have lifted me up, magistrates that have supported me, my team, former colleagues, current colleagues, they've all helped in different ways.

It could be a word, a phrase.

It could be a text message.

It could be.

Let's go to lunch and and and coach you through this thing that you're navigating.

To me, those things mean the world.

I don't need you to show up on my birthday.

It's.

And that's lovely.

Okay.

Like being there.

Yes.

And I'm the worst at this, too.

Like, I might miss your birthday.

Okay.

Might miss your wedding anniversary.

But what about the other 364 days of the year?

That's like those people.

They're just.

There is what means a lot to me.

Yeah.

And, and there are some that have that have passed away that were near and dear to me that just have made connections for me, that I wouldn't otherwise have.

Also through, my bar association and the president of the Arab American Bar Association of Ohio.

And thank you.

I didn't want to be president and, and the other leaders are like, you're going to be president.

And someone like someone was like, I'm stepping down so you could be vice president, and then we want you to be, you know, it's just like that kind of lifting each other up and, and, in the community.

So that's my story.

Yeah.

I had two really powerful mentors.

Several.

But the two that come to mind, Miss Christina Macklemore.

She was a woman who worked at the first corporate job.

So my first big girl job, she was there, and I would say as a as a professional question, ask her.

She dodged me for a long time, but I was like, this woman, whatever her energy is, I got to be around her.

I just got to be next to her.

So I kept asking her to lunch and kept asking her if she was like, okay, fine.

And I, I laid it out for her.

I said, this is what I want to do here.

I don't know how to get there, but I feel like you can help me get there.

And she was willing to just walk me through and it was like, baby steps, take this meeting, do this project.

Little things that started adding up for me now have a track record to prove that I can.

I can be promoted.

And so she has been with me since a while.

I won't again, I won't tell you how old I am, but a while.

The second person, he was not a true mentor, but he was influential.

Adam, he was my manager at my second big girl job, and I had a really hard time at that job because I just really struggled getting the work done.

But he saw something in me, and he was willing to advocate for me.

And so he went to other managers, and he would give me projects, and he would give me things to do.

Again, we're proving the record.

Those two people were polar opposites, but they spoke to the to the range that I had as a person and a lot of times people who speak to us are not just speaking to us or mentoring us for right now.

They're mentoring us for where we need to go.

And those two people really helped me get to where I'm at today.

But those seeds that they planted were years in the making, and so I'm very grateful that they both took the time to mentor me as well.

I love that.

So we are in a very unique time in this country.

What are your thoughts on the current landscape of women in entrepreneurship?

Oh, okay.

Whoever one.

Yeah, I can speak to it.

I feel like we've always been in a unique time, but this particular unique time is impacting more or less than we have in the past.

As a person who I am the child of two immigrant parents who came to this country, go to college, they did all the things right.

They sent me to college.

My sister's a college, and I come out the gate and I'm like, hey, I want to start a business there.

Like what?

We already did all this for you.

What do you need to go struggle for?

Like, why would you do that?

But but they two understand the impact of being able to take an idea and run with it, because their immigrant story is that exact thing.

They came here with an idea and a plan, and they are still like they just retired.

So, like, it's really the full circle.

The times that we are in today, in my opinion, are forcing us to reassess what is considered normal.

We have to start thinking about what we have considered normal for almost our entire lives may not exist.

And what are you willing to do?

Not just to get back to the normal, but to create a normalcy that more people have the opportunity to participate in.

That is our responsibility.

That's something I believe in.

My responsibility is not just to go in and work every day and give you the same thing over and over for you to run a business that would not be true to what you're doing and to what I'm called to do.

What we have to do is assess how can your business be successful in this current state, and if it doesn't have the capacity to be successful, that does not mean it's a bad idea.

We just have to be more diligent in how we approach your idea, and that is the task that we are called to.

So whatever walk of life you're in, you might be a business owner, a mother, a dad, you could be a sibling.

We have to reassess because our normalcy is, is, is I would not say under attack.

I don't like that because really our normalcy is being questioned.

I'll say it like that.

It is being questioned on a daily basis.

And now you have to answer with what you think that is, what resources lean mean.

I also say this networking is not just about going up, it's about networking across.

There are sometimes more opportunities across than up.

And so are we willing to ask the person next to us to help us?

Are we willing to give that help?

Those things are very important for us to all progress forward.

Those are that we'll leave it there.

We'll leave it there.

It's great.

Yeah.

I like to I agree with everything you said.

However, I also like to provide opportunities for myself to be exposed to other environments.

I just came back from Africa yesterday.

So being exposed to a a country who does not have the access and opportunities that we have here, it puts your mind in a different space where you're like, I have a lot of opportunities here.

And not just, you know, in our physical world, but also on media, also utilizing social media and AI.

So now we are we're living in a different world, but we are we are adaptive, but we can adapt and we have to really acknowledge how we have so many different opportunities, so many.

And like you said, you like to think big.

I'm a big thinker, so I'll always try to think global business.

I never it's good to start local, but our goal should be global.

How are we going to do work in Japan?

How are we going to do work in Nigeria?

How are we going to work in Australia?

How are we going to create opportunities on a global landscape because we have so many different opportunities for technology, AI and things of that sort.

So I just think that we have to be a little bit more exposed to the opportunities that we have here, and then just think what a global mindset.

That's great to that.

Yeah, I was just going to add a little bit to this.

That for me, I feel like, you know, the women like even women in this room, I see a lot of people that I recognize.

I see some that I don't, obviously, but there's a lot of leaders, female leaders in this room.

And just something you can do today.

You can lift another woman up.

You can give her a seat at your table.

You can ask her, hey, what can I help you with?

How can I send you business?

You the number of times I try, the number of times and hours I spend trying to figure out how to send other people.

Business is probably, I probably should think about how to do my own business.

And sometimes my husband will be like, why are you thinking about that?

And I'm like, it just makes me feel so good to help someone else out.

And also, I think, like, privately, it's hard for me to ask help if I'm being honest.

And so I like when other people just like, give me that little nudge like, hey, is there like someone that you love, the type of business you're looking for?

And so I just try to be that for other people.

So you probably heard of the love languages.

And so I guess I'm kind of like speaking my love language to other people, like, hey, how can I help you?

You know, but I mean it, I mean it, and you can't stop me from talking about things that I love or I'm passionate about.

So if there's a there's a store I like and it's a woman owned business, I mean, and I'm thinking of a few, right now, I'm constantly talking about it.

Oh, I got this from here.

You should go there.

Have you checked it out?

So-and-so owns it.

And I'm like, their life story.

And I get great pleasure and joy in that.

And especially like when somebody will say, I went to that place.

And I told them so, and you sent me and they they hugged me.

And it's just nice.

So that's like a retail type of example.

However that works in the boardroom as well.

We're we're not there yet.

Okay.

We're climbing.

We're on this, road up the mountain.

But there are some women that are higher up.

Okay.

And I don't I agree with your lateral right.

And I that's I'm not saying don't do that.

Do that, do all of it.

But there are some women at the table already.

Yes.

And, I didn't have the courage necessarily or strength earlier on in my career to do some of the things that I'm asking those women to do today, but help us, help us all out.

Lend a hand.

And I know maybe, you know, you try lending the hand and the person drops the ball, they don't go to the interview, then go to the thing, and that'll happen from time to time.

But we're not going to be discouraged by that because there are go getters and hard workers out there that really could just use that little help, and that would mean the world to them.

Right?

Definitely.

And to to that point, we probably you've all heard the old trope, you've got to use what you have to get what you want, right?

What opportunities or what things have been made available to you to provide new opportunities for you.

Yeah.

Oh, I yeah, yeah, I can speak.

Come on.

We're talkers.

Yeah.

No, I'm just I guess I was trying to think of a good book.

4 or 5, like.

Okay, answer.

I'm not afraid to just be like, sometimes you just have to be in the room and the energy speaks for itself.

So as you can tell, I'm a very energetic person.

Sometimes that throws people off, sometimes it doesn't.

I can't do anything about it.

Me being in rooms sometimes is just that I in there.

My presence matters.

My name carries, I come from a lineage of people.

My mom is five two and she's even bigger than me, right?

Like, her energy comes in before her, and I say that to say, you can't shy away from that.

There are places that you're called to be in simply because that is where you're supposed to be.

And whatever you have in you takes you there.

That's also what I tell my clients when they come in.

I love to cook or I love to do this, okay, that's the starting point.

How do we take that and run with it?

Because now we have to create a system that allows you to keep monetizing and all those things.

But, I would say that that using what I have, I'm also, a very sarcastic, funny person.

I use humor me because I like to break the ice.

Right?

I read the room.

I try to break the ice because that's what makes me comfortable.

I actually sometimes get a little uncomfortable up here.

I'm.

I'm really glad that that I'm doing okay.

You're doing fine.

But I but I also think about those that don't have these opportunities.

And what would I tell them?

Stand firm in what you have.

You have something.

Each of us has something.

Whatever it is, use that.

Lean into that and take that to whatever room it is that you are going into.

So I would say that those things I would say also build in relationships.

When you build up like healthy relationships and great relationships with people, they will do that networking for you, like you just said.

So that has happened a lot for me.

Even operating the daycare, operating a restaurant, I've made great relationships with the health department.

So when they come in and the Department of Child and Youth and Family Services.

So when they come in, hey, how are you there?

I'll make an effort.

I'll get them a contract before I even get a contract.

I'll send food to the school district or to the Department of Transportation.

I'm doing business with them, so I want them to know that I appreciate them.

Grateful for this opportunity.

So I make a efforts like love when people who have supported me and provided resources and opportunities.

That's awesome.

Also, I'll give an example of, using what you have.

Okay, so I now have a baby.

Okay.

Bear with me with the story here.

I mean, I don't know, Lord knows how this happened.

I'm very thankful, but it took quite a long time.

Okay.

And now, you know, 44 with the baby, not allowed to say my husband's age, but anyway, so we.

And we own the law firm, right?

I own the law firm, and and my husband for years where we were trying to have a baby.

He's like, you know, when you have the baby, we should put a nursery in the office.

And I'm like, what?

I'm crying, baby in the office.

I've literally spent my whole career trying to fit in.

Okay?

I would sometimes wear my hair back, okay, because I've got curly Lebanese hair.

Okay.

I would, you know, just dress real conservative.

I wouldn't wear bright colors.

I mean, I've been in a male dominated field and it didn't always be.

It wasn't always as open as is.

It kind of is now.

It's getting there now.

And I've heard stories from from women that have been practicing a lot longer than me.

And it was a lot worse.

Okay, so I'm not trying to say my story so bad, but so, so, he he's telling me I have a nursery and then.

Oh, maybe eventually we could just let the rest of the team you know, use the nursery.

And I'm like, what?

This is crazy.

So that's where we end up, you know, I'm pregnant.

We end up having the baby, and he's still trying to convince me to have, like, one of the offices be a nursery.

And so, you know, we we have the space, you know, we're in control of the business.

And so it's like he was right.

Like, why not?

That would actually be great.

So many women that I've talked to over the years, especially in in legal right, you have to put in the face time, okay.

You have to put in certain number of hours a month and hours a year, billable hours.

Everything's about the billable hour.

And they stop, their partnership track if, if they're not in the office.

And so they might be really close to being able to make partner, but then they're having a baby.

Well, no one else can have the baby.

It's physically not possible yet.

And so I never really thought much of it.

I really thought much of it, to be honest, until I had one.

And I'm like, and for people who adopt, this is no different.

I mean, it is a life changing thing and I'm very blessed and thankful for it.

But my goodness, running a business and having a baby, and having a team that you, you know, you care for and you know, they do an awesome job and you want to, you know, keep those positions for them.

You want everything to keep going smoothly.

It's hard.

And it was a great idea.

We put in a little nursery at our office and we've now like opened it up to our team.

We have a, boutique size firm, downtown.

And so I'm really proud of kind of using what we had and the resources we had to create a solution where.

That's right.

You know, your baby's right there, and you could go see them and, you know, and it's it's nicer for everyone.

So.

Yeah.

And it makes everybody happy.

I think you wonderful.

So as you can tell, we've been having a bunch of fun up here.

But we are about to begin the audience Q&A.

For those who are just tuning in the our live stream or radio audience, I'm Roshonda Smith, senior vice president, business engagement director at Huntington Bank and moderator moderator for today's conversation.

We are discussing the rise of women in entrepreneurship and how we can drive growth, expand opportunity right here in Northeast Ohio.

Joining me on the stage are Aisha Childers Childers, CEO of ACA investment Group LLC.

Nathalie Dibo, founder and managing partner at Dibo Law LLC.

And also here with us Nitina Francis, director of Women Women's Business Center of Central Ohio at ECDI.

We welcome questions from everyone City Club members, guests and those joining via our live stream at cityclub.org or a live radio broadcast at 89.7 WKSU Ideastream Public Media.

If you like to text a question, please text it to (330)541-5794.

That's (330)541-5794, and city club staff will try to work it into the program.

Hey, we have the first question.

Yes, you already touched upon this, but could you, talk a little more about the impact of women owned businesses who are immigrants?

Okay.

I think we provide a very unique perspective because we live with the duality that oftentimes you don't have if you are not a child of an immigrant or an immigrant yourself.

So I'll use an example.

My parents have accents, but I don't hear it.

They're my parents.

I don't hear their accent, but other people do.

And I remember being very young, and they would go into spaces and people would attempt to try to make fun of their accents.

And I think that's where my advocacy, my strength for advocacy came, because I had to advocate for my parents.

Like, you can actually hear what they're saying, and they're actually very clear that is also the energy that we have to bring for businesses.

Oftentimes, immigrant leaders or people who are of immigrant status or who immigrated to this country sometimes feel like they have to overcompensate.

And you don't.

The idea that you have the idea, the business that you're running is the same as if you were not.

And so you don't have to overcompensate.

Being a woman who and an immigrant and all these other, hats that we have to wear are just tools, right?

I look at them as tools.

They're tools in your toolbox.

You can lean into an experience that you that you had maybe when you were a child.

Or maybe that's the sense of community.

I know my parents have community.

They provide community for me.

The immigrant population.

No matter where you are from.

Right.

Is strong because they know coming to a country like America means you have to stand in strength, whether that be by yourself, whether that be with other people.

And so tapping into that community, our goal when we are supporting our resource partners is to always go to our clients.

I'm sorry.

As a resource partner, supporting our clients is to always go back to the the bare minimum, right?

The idea, the system, because those things are universal, whether you're an immigrant, whether you were born here, it doesn't matter.

We have to go back to the foundation.

And those are the things that help everyone thrive.

And so we always at least that's my, kind of rule of thumb.

We tap back into that as frequently and as often as you can.

And as I mentioned earlier, you're y you're y could stem from your immigrant status.

But the foundation it is all the same.

So I would say that that's how we want to keep promoting and pushing our business owners.

But it's very important for anyone who comes to this country to have the opportunity to be able to do so.

And as a resource partner, that is what we try to do on a daily basis.

I will I echo some of what you said there.

I think, you know, I've always been, super proud of, where I came from and being a Lebanese, immigrant, and Lebanese American.

Now, I'm so proud of my roots.

I'm so proud of what my parents did and the hard work that they did to to bring us to this country.

And I think that's where it got my hard work ethic.

And I 100% agree that I still feel like I have to work, you know, even even harder.

There's a couple layers to that.

You know, the female thing, the immigrant, there's all kinds of things that come from that.

My parents also have accents.

I do hear their accent, but not and not in a negative way.

I think it's great, I love it, I love ax, I love it here, an accent and it, it just tells me the person has has experienced, more than maybe the average person.

And I don't blame the average person.

I just wish they had some opportunities, like you mentioned, to to travel and see other things, because those other things do put stuff in perspective, whether whether there are excellent, amazing things about our country and other things that need improvement.

But it puts everything in perspective to kind of see how other people live.

And you'll get some how, why aren't we doing this?

And then so I'm like, oh man, well, we got that running water.

Okay.

I mean, there there's so much room for improvement and we can do so much better.

As an immigrant, who owns a business, I feel like I do feel that having to work harder, my parents didn't have.

I mean, they had some family here.

My mother had some family here, but they didn't have, like, generations of people that they know they don't have, like, you know, John Doe, they could just call up from the country club that that knows a guy that can make the thing go away or make this work or give you the job or whatever.

They had to build that.

Okay.

And so I only have what they built in the time they came.

They were adults when they came.

Right.

Those all those all matter.

Right.

And it's just hard.

So my husband immigrated here as well.

Same thing.

He's building his network right now.

Right.

Other people already have generations of network and friends and and community here.

Right.

So that's what I was going to just add to what you said.

All right.

I have a text question.

It says if Northeast Ohio is ranked sixth best and helping women entrepreneurs succeed, what resources that are unique to the region have you all found helpful in your journey to success?

I've personally used the Small Business Development Center micro loan, which is a zero interest microloan that you can get up to $45,000, I believe that was very helpful.

ECDI of course is definitely a great resource.

The Cleveland Urban League is super, amazing.

And I think those are my top three right now.

Oh, Huntington, actually, actually, yeah, I bought for Huntington I bank one Huntington I love it.

Yeah.

They won Huntington and I, viewed their equipment loan loss program for some assets.

So I know something we could slash.

Yeah, I got a letter right here.

Huntington.

I was going to add to that the women's business center through the ECDI.

My firm and I for years have.

I've worked with them, and we've provided some.

What would that be called?

Like low bono services?

Brief legal advice to to the women that that they counsel.

I'll let you speak to that part.

So they're they're an excellent resource.

And also I would say, legal Aid is an excellent resource just across the board and also, to female entrepreneurs and, and women that just are in a spot and they need to get, get, you know, that help they need.

They do all these brief advice clinics as well, which are helpful to, to the community and bring every like lifting any woman up will lift up their, their children and generations to come.

Definitely.

Yeah.

Shameless plug.

I am ECDI resource partner.

So one of the things that we really attempt to do is meet our entrepreneurs where they are at.

Not every entrepreneur is ready for lending or may need lending.

So now we need to determine what resources we can do.

One on one coaching.

We can help you with projections.

Sometimes projections are all you need to understand.

How far can this idea take me?

Or where do I need to actually start?

Is it 5000?

Is it a thousand?

I started my business, my mom gave me $900 and she was like, do with it.

What?

You can figure it out.

And I said, okay.

And so along the way, you know, there's been consistent investment, but ECDI is a resource partner.

I to a members of chamber.

So I'm in the Columbus office.

But chambers have really been instrumental in providing the opportunities and back organizations also certifications.

Right.

If you can connect with any one of us and your name can be in our Rolodex, we have the ability to parlay that into consistent and continued opportunity for you.

So again, tap into as many resources as you can.

Other women focus organizations, nobles out there, a small membership.

Maybe if you set aside 100 $200 and take that and pay for a membership, pay for a mentorship, something that can again start the ball rolling, to really consistently tap into the resources that can help you.

And I'll add your city and your county.

Municipalities have so many resources.

Cuyahoga County has a Office of Small Business now, and the city has different programs.

So make sure that you're tapping into those municipalities as well.

I thank you for such a great panel.

My question, is what would each of your advice be to women in who are seeking entrepreneurship or climbing the ladder of whatever passion they may have, with individuals who they may face, whether it's men or unfortunately, sometimes it is other women who may be causing hurdles or may not want to see you succeed.

Change your circle.

Change your circle.

You change it.

Yeah, yeah.

You definitely want to surround yourself with people.

I don't like mine.

It is cool.

But people who can see bigger than you.

So if I have other people around me who could see bigger than me, then they can help me when I may not feel so secure in what I am doing.

And you want someone who all who has already went ahead as well and made that crooked path straight for you, that can give you insight and advice and wisdom and things that as a result, it's sparking your circle for sure.

And get into the rooms like she's this.

Yeah, I 100% agree with that because who you surround yourself with, I've learned over the years, makes a huge difference.

Yeah, I've lived this.

It makes a huge difference.

It makes a difference on your energy in the morning, your excitement about the day to day.

And and so many, like, unexpected people have, have just said the right thing to me at the right time.

And then so many people that I work with.

Thank you guys for being here and for doing what you do, because you see the best in me when I'm struggling to see that, you see the potential of the company when I'm struggling to see it.

And we all have those days, entrepreneurship ebbs and flows, right?

We have like the real high highs.

We have the low lows, and, and you need to have that group around you that, will kind of like, light the way a little bit, right.

Oh, did you think of this or.

I'm not seeing that.

You're seeing this as a problem.

I'm seeing this as an opportunity.

And I'm thankful for my team.

That does that for me every day.

Yeah.

I again, to just parlay off of what they're saying community.

But understanding what community looks like for you sometimes your community are friends, sometimes your community are your family.

Or is your family.

But community needs to be diverse to allow you to have the opportunity to overcome diverse challenges.

So when I was 23, I needed a certain kind of community.

When I'm 35, I need a certain kind of community.

I'm not 40 yet, but I'll need a certain kind of community when that time comes, right?

Understanding yourself and having your own strategy helps you determine what type of community you need to navigate where you're going.

I love it.

Yeah.

Hi.

Thank you.

What would you say, as women entrepreneurs, to the next generation of women entrepreneurs, to encourage them to continue their journey to entrepreneurship?

So yeah, this was a shameless plug as my daughter.

So but the pie really stuck out to me.

Also the performance she's doing amazing.

She's an honor student at Spelman College and sitting in this room, I hope gives her the influence, as you know, as well as the exposure.

So what would you say to that next generation of women entrepreneurs?

Okay.

Sorry.

I would say exposure in the sense of understanding that one path may not be the final path.

Right?

So when I was in undergrad, I was doing international business and then but I love clothes like I love fashion.

So my mom was like, well, maybe at a minor.

So I did fashion merchandizing, but then I also was a soccer player.

So then I would help the soccer team.

A lot of different exposure eventually helped me get on this path.

The path ultimately ended up being service.

I'm a person of service.

That was the through line, through all of the exposure that I got.

So the exposure helps you understand your through line, which helps you understand your path, which helps you strategize to get on the path.

Right.

So I would say as many things as you can a club, if it's an organization that you want to be a part of.

I did volunteer work.

That was my passion.

I'm an advocate for volunteering and planting seeds, so I did that.

Again, sports and other things.

But as much exposure as you can get, as early as you can get, as consistently as you can get, I think really is a great way for you to figure out where you want to go.

And cheers to you.

I hope you do so well.

I was just going to add that the groups and the clubs are really important.

So, I know there's Arab-Americans of Cleveland that are here.

My bar association, which is for attorneys.

Right.

But like, whatever is your passion or, meet those people, join some of these groups.

It gives you like natural, easy events to attend.

You can go meet as many people that that you can and build meaningful connections.

Networking is not about just collecting the card, right?

It's about okay, this person said they're really into soccer.

Oh, I saw there's a new soccer stadium coming in.

Let me email them and say, it was great meeting you.

I don't know if you saw this article, right.

It's just building connections.

It's not about what can someone do for me.

It's about how can we have a mutually beneficial relationship and, continue a meaningful, authentic connection with them.

And then I agree, volunteer work.

I couldn't speak, to, recommend it more, I mean, for obvious reasons.

But also think about it.

It's kind of like a date with strangers because, you know, and on dates.

Right?

Like, in a, in a romantic relationship, you're experiencing something, and then you got something to talk about, and it wasn't as cool.

We did whatever.

Bowling, darts, you know, concert.

Right.

That's kind of what volunteering is.

You get to do this activity with other people.

And I mentioned the brief advice clinics with Legal Aid.

That's one of my favorite ones to do.

And you walk in, you get to volunteer with them, you get to talk about the experience, and then you can continue that relationship with them afterwards.

So I love it.

Couldn't recommend it.

More is just natural, authentic ways to meet and get to know people.

And then those people will be advocating and and marketing you.

When you're not marketing, you know you have an awesome mom that brought you here too.

Yeah.

Finally, I'll add before the next question is just making sure that you're finding a solution to something, because lots of people have great ideas.

Everybody has an idea.

Everybody can bake a cake, everybody can do the thing.

But make sure that you're finding a solution to something that's authentic and sustainable and use I, I just started doing that.

So next lady, ladies, as a rather lonely representative of the class of old white guys, I want, I want.

And as a long time city club, member, I just have to say that years is one of the best forums I've been to.

The more energetic during that day.

And thank you for this very nice.

Thank you for sharing your, history, your courage, your vision.

And I have a question about your vision.

Where do you see each other?

Where do you see yourselves in 10 or 15 years?

What's your personal vision?

Oh, I'll start retire.

Is your ears.

I look at.

Yeah.

So I'm really big into, like, community development.

So that is one of the focuses when I travel to Africa is developing over there.

There's, there's is there's still at our country.

So we have a lot of work to do.

So creating opportunities I created a virtual company over there.

So I'm able to provide a lot of work and opportunity for the people that live in Nigeria based on my business and operations here.

So basically just really scaling that, creating housing and things of that sort.

That's great.

Yeah.

We should talk about the community development thing.

And thank you for the compliment.

I that's a great question.

I've been thinking about that a lot more, since we had a baby not too long ago.

So nothing like hit me with the hard one here at the end of the show.

I, I hope to have, a very, strong, sustainable law firm, female, that continues as female owned and, that that helps put other, women and minorities in, in a place where they can kind of live their own, dream.

Right.

I try to seek out people that haven't fit the mold at other firms, and, I like to help them see see what their path is and what they want and see if we can craft a relationship around that.

That, again, is mutually beneficial.

Right to the it's a business at the end of the day to the firm and to them personally.

So I hope to be in a position to, to to be doing that for more people.

And and the rest I'm going to have to get back to you on, on.

Well, so we'll see what life has in store as far as family goes, but yeah.

All right.

So in ten years, I'll have a 16 year old kid that's scary.

I don't know, I might be on the edge.

Okay.

So, like, driving, you know?

Okay, I my goal in ten years is to have anything that I'm doing be able to provide true opportunity for someone else.

Right?

So if, if I'm still at ECDI ten years from now, if that work that I'm doing can provide another job, can provide another business, can provide a true opportunity, and I mean a sustainable opportunity, that is something that I feel like my parents provided for me.

I want to provide for my kid and I hope to provide for someone else.

I want to be able to also start a foundation.

I think we have so many resources here in the room, but sometimes it's hard for people to navigate.

They don't know where to go, they don't know what to start.

They they ask one question here.

It really needs to go somewhere else.

Can we streamline that in some way?

I would love to.

I don't know how that works yet, but in my brain there's an idea for that.

So those are my my two big goals.

Get through 16 year old and and figure out the rest after that.

Yeah.

So thank you.

was a great question.

Can we give it up to our amazing panel.

Thank you to travelers Nathalie Dibo to Nitina Francis and Roshonda Smith.

Such an inspiration.

I couldn't agree more.

This was a very inspiring panel.

Thank you for being here.

Forums like this one are made possible thanks to generous support from individuals like you.

You can learn more about how to become a guardian of free speech at cityclub.org Today's forum is part of the City Club's Building Success Series and presented in partnership with Huntington Bank.

Our gratitude to the entire team at Huntington and Kerry Carpenter, especially for their continued support of the City Club.

The Thank you once again to our speakers and to our members and friends of the City Club.

I'm Cynthia Connolly and this forum is now adjourned.

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