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chicago
David Taylor III
Practice Management Consultants, LLC
David M. Taylor III is an award-winning financial executive. He currently serves as President of Advisor Coaching for Practice Management Consultants, L.L.C. David has more than 15 years in the financial industry and has expertise in business development and coaching financial advisors to high levels of excellence.
Jurema Nicole Gorham
Burst Into Books
Jurema N. Gorham is the Founder and Executive Director of Burst Into Books. In this role, she helps develop and lead the services offered through the organization. The mission of Burst Into Books is to provide culturally relevant enrichment opportunities, engage and support the community through access to resources, and leverage the brilliance of Black people to cultivate published authors. Burst into Books envisions a world that is transformed through intentional access to culturally responsive literature. Over 20,000 children have received free books to add to their home libraries since 2018. Jurema has been an educator since 2008 with experience ranging from Kindergarten to 12th grade.
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Laura Lane Taylor
Sunshine Enterprises
Laura Lane Taylor is the Managing Director of Programs for Sunshine Enterprises, whose mission is to empower high-potential entrepreneurs living in under-resourced neighborhoods to grow their businesses and transform their communities. Laura’s role at Sunshine includes recruiting and training instructors, coaches and staff who implement the Community Business Academy, Business Acceleration Services and Credit to Capital programming for entrepreneurs in our seven markets – South, West and North sides of Chicagoland; Construction Trades, Property Developers, Tech & Digital and Arts & Makers cohorts. Sunshine Enterprises has over 1400 graduates and has contributed to over 300 new business starts and seen a revenue increase of 104% from intake with existing businesses.
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Patrice L. Cousin
Envision Designs & Development, Inc.
Patrice Cousin has over twenty years of multi-faceted experience in real estate development; specifically in multiple aspects of architectural design, project management, zoning & permit acquisition assistance. He began his career at Triad Consortium Ltd. working on various mixed- use, in-line retail, and high-end residential properties prior to establishing Envision Designs in 2007. His leadership, management, and business acumen has made Envision Designs and Development Inc. a recognized name in contributing to the success of significant development and renovation projects throughout the Chicagoland area.
Roni Jackson
Red Flag Mania
Roni Jackson is a national speaker, experiential marketer, and education innovator. As co-founder of Red Flag Mania™, she leads teams in developing exciting education simulations that transform online and in-person learning through investigative storytelling.
With over 20 years of advertising and marketing experience, she began lecturing at the University of Chicago, teaching marketing courses and facilitating corporate workshops in cultural competence. Integrating storytelling into the classroom led her to combine her master’s degree in education and marketing expertise into experiential learning.
Zita Monique Smith
ZitaCooks Catering
Chef Zita Smith came from humble beginnings. Her mother worked multiple jobs, so her grandmother stepped in and raised her from a very young age. Due to her mother's hectic schedule, Zita looked forward to the one-on-one bonding time they would enjoy together every weekend when they would dine out at different restaurants. Zita would beam with excitement every time she was given the opportunity to devour savory entrees and decadent desserts. Zita quickly developed an appreciation and passion for flavorful cuisines which helped build her knowledge of creating unique flavors using a myriad of spices.