Entrepreneurship and Black Economics

Laura Bacon, the founder of The 3rd, is a lifelong community organizer, educator, and activist. She grew up in Columbia, MD and returned there to teach high school languages and Alternative Education. She also served as the Resource Teacher for World Languages and a Mentor Teacher for the Board of Education. Her community leadership in Howard County has earned her recognition as Howard County’s World Language Teacher of the Year in 2016. Through teaching, she saw firsthand how community and support structures for women of color could be determining factors in changing trajectories in a dominant culture where destinies are often fixed.. Throughout her life and career, she has actively worked to combat inequity where she saw it. After 15 years of teaching, she decided she wanted to build an organization that filled a critical need in her local community: The 3rd. She also consults and coaches on Vision and Community Building through her consulting firm, Maude.

Sophia Casey, MCC is the Founder & Chief Learning Officer at International Coaching & Leadership Institute (ICLI). Many people offer solutions, few deliver results. As an ICF Master Certified Coach, executive life coach, authorpreneur, and corporate trainer for several organizations, Sophia Casey does so much more than support individual and corporate clients with problem-solving. She helps leaders of all caliber get transformative results that catapult their organizations. She is applauded as a thought leader in the coaching industry and has mentored, trained, and coached thousands of executive, leadership, career, and life coaches.  

Having served as Director of First Impressions for a task force for the former Vice President of the United States, her innate ability for excellence, execution, and acceleration helped her support change agents with increasing their resilience and leveraging their strengths to get results above circumstances. More than 60 global retail, health, transportation, and IT organizations have recruited Sophia to provide executive coaching, DEIA training, strategic planning, and leadership development solutions. Her work with these organizations' executive cadre resulted in their strengthened leadership skills, a decrease in team communication misalignment, and enhanced productivity.  

Sophia’s love for leadership and executive coaching led to her being named a Top Transformational Coach by USA Today. She is proud of her work at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) where she served on executive teams responsible for processing over 200 million tax returns annually, managing over 6500 employees, and executing a $1.6 billion budget. Sophia served as an agent of change as head of training organizations in both the federal government and private sector arenas, including her tenure as Director of Enterprise-wide Training providing professional development solutions for more than 10,000 engineers, attorneys, and analysts. As a Master Certified Coach (CCC) through the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Sophia is an avid advocate for coaches to have strong coaching skills, become ICF credentialed, and have businesses that work.  

Sophia is also a bestselling author committed to women’s global empowerment as evidenced by her novel, Fierce Vulnerability: A Colored Girl’s Truths, Trials, and Triumphs debuting as Amazon’s number one new release for Dramas and Plays by Women, and the popular Ease & Flow Journal: A 31-Day Journal to Get Clear, Connected, and Courageous About Life. Her work has been highlighted on Fox News, NBC, CBS, and Success magazine. Sophia's stories of hope, leadership, and healing leave a distinct mark on the hearts and minds of others that cannot easily be erased.

In addition, Sophia is an Executive Life Coach and TJ Maxx Partner for their Find Your Maxx campaign with the HBO Insure show’s award-winning actress and speaker Yvonne Orji.

Cherie Harris is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Corporate Concierge. Originally a New York native, Cherie Harris is now based in Los Angeles after relocating from Atlanta, GA. Her long career in the corporate sector began with her first summer job at only sixteen. In 2019 she decided to leap out on faith and start her dream business Corporate-Concierge, utilizing her 25+ years of experience and skillsets to pour into startup businesses and help entrepreneurs thrive. She provides Business Coaching, Corporate Trainings, and marketing services. As well as personal development programs to build self-esteem, and tools to help you manifest the ideal life you desire. She believes and teaches that “You CAN have it all”.

Claude Harris Jr. is the owner operator of Final Appearance Detailing & Protection, located in Santa Fe Springs, CA. A car enthusiast at heart, has inspired his passion into transforming automobiles into rolling works of art. In 1992 he took the leap and turned this passion into a business, initially working on family member cars. Now three decades later, he is known as “OG Detailer” having worked on prestigious award-winning hot rods, classics, and custom builds. As well as taking on the role and responsibility of mentor to many up-and-coming Detailers. He has been featured on the popular TV show “Competition Ready”, has received the honor of being International Detailers Association (IDA) “2019 Detailer of The Year”, and featured in Hot Rod Magazine April 2022. If asked what has sustained him in business, all these years his answer is simply “Always remain teachable”.

William Myers, Jr. has been a Certified Personal Trainer and Licensed Massage Therapist for the last 15 years, now living in sunny Tampa Bay Florida. He specializes in helping busy professionals achieve optimal health without spending hours in the gym or struggling to adopt a difficult diet. His program teaches you how to be effective in your Nutrition, Strength, Cardio, Flexibility, and most important Mentality.  

Will's newest venture has been to transfer his complete system to an online, on-demand and impressively effective 90 Day Transformation. His community meets 1-2x a week on a coaching call as well as interacts daily in the team's Facebook group. Will says, "I actually feel way more involved in my clients' progress now, even though I am no longer holding in person sessions. My education videos can be replayed over and over, while the same goes for my walk-through workout videos. My system gives people the support they need, while also giving them the space to learn on their own. Everyone learns differently and I use multiple techniques to cater to each member of the team".

Lorene Phillips cares deeply about guiding leaders to be empowered and inspired because they can impact and guide others to become more inspired leaders. Lorene coaches high performing senior-level professionals as well as next-gen leaders to create meaningful impact in their personal and professional life.Lorene is called to work with underrepresented groups; young leaders, BIPOC professionals and people with differing physical abilities. She truly believes that everyone can live the very best version of themselves with coaching and leadership training. 

Lorene is not one to shy away from any conversation especially when it comes to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) awareness and training. Her years as a reinsurance executive gave her highly regarded real world executive experience in London and Bermuda which fuels her dedication to developing next-level leaders. 

Lorene founded several businesses including: • Clarendon Wallace, a leadership and career coaching, consulting and training firm, • The British School of Etiquette, Bermuda, • Co-founded ICLI, International Coaching & Leadership Institute and • The Huddle, an online educational series for Youth Leadership Development.