By BRANDON AND EMILY WRIGHT

Life isn’t always black and white. We don’t only answer yes or no questions. And rarely are we faced with only wrong ways and right ways to do things. But when it comes to building skills to produce winners on a wrestling mat and in life, there is only one way: the Wright Way. For over 10 years, my wife and I have owned and operated Wright Way Wrestling, a business initially started to coach wrestling and train physical disciplines to create better athletes. Today, our business has become so much more.

I was first introduced to wrestling when I was 5 years old. My father, Timothy Devail Wright, was coaching college wrestling in the Quad Cities at Augustana College. That college gym is my first memory of wrestling, and since then, my dad has been my biggest inspiration. I wanted to be great, just like him. I went to Iowa Central College, where I was a two-time All-American, national finalist and furthered my career at Grandview University. There I was two-time All-American, two-time national champion and undefeated in my division. But when I transitioned to coaching, I found my passion.

Through coaching, I am able to provide the same inspiration my father provided me in a sport where I didn’t see many people who looked like me. Wrestling isn’t considered common in minority communities, especially in Indiana, where basketball reigns king. We’re looking to change that using Wright Way Wrestling as a platform to develop strength and confidence, create championship mindsets and build character.

All children need to be taught how to navigate life, but African American children require experiences to both overcome societal obstacles and to realize their potential. Capabilities develop through interactions that shape children’s physical, social and emotional development, and all too often, African American children in low-income communities face obstacles to education that restrict them in most areas of their adult lives. Research has shown the importance of long-term consistency in expectations, high-quality instruction and social support for children. Without access to stable development opportunities and social learning comes a certain amount of volatility and often, an inability to reach one’s full potential.

In his song, “Immortal,” J. Cole expressed it best: African American people are told to “sell dope, rap or go to [the] NBA.” We accept the challenge. Wright Way Wrestling is more than wrestling — we aim to give underprivileged youth opportunities and allow individuals to gain life skills and coping mechanisms from the sport. We offer post-graduate athletes, veterans and coaches a place to get back into the sport, whether for recreational, therapeutic or health purposes. We are committed to developing partnerships with those whose mission closely aligns with ours to better serve a wide variety of individuals.

With four children of our own, my wife and I see firsthand how this sport can bring people together. My 5-year-old son is already hitting the mat and so is our daughter. We also work with other father-son duos, and it is beautiful to see their connection flourish in the ring — just like it did for my dad and me. Wright Way Wrestling continues to highlight the diversity and accessibility of the sport through moments of connectivity.

I always knew I would make a living from this sport that I love so much. Through the will of God, I was granted an opportunity to create a business with my craft to feed my family, live out my passions and give back to the community that helped build me.

Wrestling truly is for everyone. We’re currently working to grow and diversify the sport to provide opportunities for boys and girls of color, African American children, multicultural children, fatherless kids and beyond. We want people in our program to recognize that no matter where we started, or what barriers we face, we all stand as equals on the mat.

Brandon and Emily Wright are founders and owners of Wright Way Wrestling.

By JERWANA LASTER

Standing on your own two feet is how you support yourself. We rely on our feet to stand, walk, run and so much more, but are we always providing them the support they need? We Heel the Sole Podiatry provides high-quality, comprehensive foot care for the senior community — a community that requires support and help from people they can relate to. Especially for seniors of color, it’s critical that they’re able to access the quality care they need from health care professionals who look like them.

The aging minority population has inferior access to health care and receives lower quality services than the general population throughout their lives. This creates an evident disparity of more chronic medical conditions, which worsen over time, and leads to earlier deaths. Health education can be tied back to susceptible seniors of Black, brown and Latino descent being deeply distrustful of our government and health care institutions.

I wasn’t fortunate enough to grow up with either set of my grandparents. The knowledge and history passed down in Black families is vital to making sense of the world. Especially in the Black community, we face impediments to health care access, community health challenges and a lack of representation of health care professionals who not only look like us, but they better understand our unique needs. We Heel the Sole Podiatry was built out of a desire to provide quality and critical health care by the Black community, for the Black community and the community of seniors as a whole.

From the desire to start on my own and separate We Heel the Sole Podiatry from the “big” health care competitors, I strive to create an environment where patients feel like family — with trust being at the core of that patient provider relationship. Getting to know my patients and hearing their stories is a treat. Providing their bodies with the support they need is why I started my own practice, and I’m grateful for the trust they invest in me to help meet their health care needs.

But last year, my senior patients were not the only ones who needed support. I needed it. In March 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal regulator for nursing homes, restricted all visitation in response to the coronavirus, except in end-of-life situations. The senior community I saw was no longer accessible. Their doors were shut, and I was doing everything in my power to keep mine open.

When I discovered the Indy Chamber, I knew I needed the help and expertise of a team that knew all about business and the community at large. The Indy Chamber’s Business Ownership Initiative (BOI) team immediately referred me to the Rapid Response Loan program, where I received funding critical to my business’s survival. In addition, I was set up with business coaching and free webinars that helped answer questions and ease the financial depletion the pandemic caused my business.

I am here to serve and support the senior community. BOI allowed me to continue providing non-invasive, preventive podiatry services to a population in need at a time when they struggled to access quality care. We Heel the Sole has been able to participate in programs and grants that have changed the trajectory of my business, all because I took the time and initiative to connect.

BOI continues to connect me with resources and programs that have created an abundance of networks throughout the city of Indianapolis and the entire state. I didn’t know these opportunities existed prior to reaching out to the Indy Chamber.

My feet establish my voice and place as an entrepreneur in Indiana, and they led me down this path, which is one of the best decisions I have made to date as a small business owner. One day soon, I will say I am a big business in Indiana because of this support.

Dr. Jerwana Laster is owner of We Heel the Sole Podiatry.

By TIFFANY COKER

As an entrepreneur, everything often falls on you. The hours you work, the rates you charge, when you accept new clients and, ultimately, the sacrifices you make for your business, career path and calling. Since launching my business, Harris Consulting LLC, in 2018, I’ve realized that entrepreneurship is an industry where there is no work-life balance — and that’s during normal times! Like many, I couldn’t have predicted how the business landscape would shift nor how I would weather that shift during the pandemic.

I am an experienced mobile notary licensed in the state of Indiana. My work includes running background checks, taking fingerprints, offering legal courier services — anything that needs a legal signature. With a background in human resources, my skill set includes the management of many things related to employment; think hiring, employee compensation, labor law, retirement and nearly everything in between. However, during my tenure in HR, I quickly realized I wasn’t passionate about the work. I started to dream of a career path that would enable others. One that would help individuals secure a job at an organization and achieve ongoing credentials and certifications they need to progress. According to a recent Business Equity for Indy’s Learning and Talent taskforce report, college enrollment for Black students in Indiana plummeted by 12 percentage points over the last decade — from 62% in 2007-2008 to 50% in 2018-2019. This means that 50% of Black students are going from high school into the workforce — many without the proper job exposure, job training, education or certifications to find gainful employment that leads to a successful career path.

With a clear problem in front of me and the conviction to believe I could make a difference, Harris Consulting was ready to open our doors. However, I wasn’t prepared to put my business in motion as the rest of the world halted abruptly. When the pandemic arrived, it brought unique challenges for many small businesses like mine — problems that are shifting the paradigm of how we work and what a work environment looks like, and once again, my experiences are reshaping my business.

Times are changing, and with change comes innovation, specifically as it relates to remote work. Harris Consulting is in a position to help ease the burdens of large companies, corporations and business entities that are struggling to define their “new normal” in the workplace. We’re able to bring our expertise to our clients as we define their pain points, explore possible solutions and work to ensure that organizational culture and efficiencies aren’t sacrificed in solutions. For some clients, solutions look like hybrid work models. Others they don’t — but we ensure our recommendations help strengthen companies and set them up for greater resilience in the foreseeable future.

As I navigated the pandemic, my workload increased dramatically. I had to slow down my advertising, which I never thought I would say! I needed help. I need workers. And as an entrepreneur, I wanted to hire the right people for Harris Consulting. But since the pandemic arrived, demand is surpassing supply. I had so many questions, and thankfully, I had heard about the support offered by Indy Chamber and their Business Ownership Initiative (BOI) program. BOI allowed my small business access to free, one-on-one small business coaching, the professional access to training documents needed and, most importantly, compassion and empathy.

When I began working with BOI, I wasn’t sure if my business would be able to survive these trying times. Fortunately, today I can say Harris Consulting is a place where I got on my feet again. A lot of that was made possible by the time, care and effort my BOI coach gave to me. My business coach, Ms. Emily, came into my life and helped me find my light. She helped keep me afloat during COVID, and now she’s helping my business expand. I cannot recommend this service enough to a small business at any stage of life.

As entrepreneurs, we’re so used to giving our all and making things happen no matter what. But we all need help. And BOI is there to provide that support to us individually so that we can launch, grow and scale to help our neighbors and community.

Tiffany Coker is owner of Harris Consulting Indy.

By MONTEZ WILLIAMS

Giving people a second chance is woven into the fabric of our country. However, as nice as a clean slate sounds, it’s often difficult, if not impossible to get a second chance after incarceration. As a Black man, and a man who was formerly incarcerated, I am intimately aware that injustice comes in multiple forms; some systematically, because of the hardships I faced, and others socially due to the color of my skin.

Entrepreneurship was my tool to rising above discrimination and creating my own path to opportunity.

Entrepreneurship may be lonely, but fortunately for me, it was never a path I had to walk alone. In 2016, I received my horticultural degree. I have always thrived on being creative and educating people. That is my niche and my calling. However, when I was released from prison in 2017, I was just trying to figure out a way to get employed. I wasn’t the only one.

Around that time, in 2018, the unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated individuals was more than 27%. According to an analysis by the Prison Policy Initiative, that’s higher than the total U.S. unemployment rate during any historical period, including the Great Depression. I needed a job that paid a living wage, aligned with my passion for educating people and working outdoors and helped me find fulfillment that would help me change my life’s trajectory.

At the time, I had enough money to buy a lawnmower and a weed wacker, and those became the tools to my future. My humble business began when I cut grass on the east side of Indianapolis, but I needed help. I had a vision for the type of work I wanted to be doing and a hope that I could help others, but I had no idea I could create a pathway to opportunities through my community.

Lucky for me, my current, savvy business manager and grandmother was scrolling the internet and saw an ad for a program that helps formerly incarcerated individuals start their own business. It was the support and community I needed.

Through the Indy Chamber’s ReEntry Entrepreneurship Development Initiative (REDi) program, I began to pitch my business and learned the basics of starting a business. One-on-one coaching taught me cash flow, market research, customer relations and exposed me to tools that helped me create, launch and grow my business. Above all else, REDi taught me how to transform my knowledge and passion into a profit.

The REDi program focused on starting a business, but it did more than that; it genuinely felt like training and resources that were tailored to me and my experience. The experience was foundational in my career and life. Entrepreneurship allowed me to rise above the systemic discrimination in the job market. I was given resources and attention to rise above the stigmas associated with my background to create a path to economic opportunity.

My REDi coaches and community have helped me with everything that makes a business run. I’m lucky enough to have created more than a landscaping company — instead, I’ve built an organization with a mission.

A.C.E. is not only my nickname but my mission. A Child’s Environment is where opportunities, good and bad, present themselves. I want to be that good opportunity, the opportunity that provides money through work in the community, the opportunity to invest time in growing skills and the opportunity to plant seeds and be around to watch them grow.

I was serious about my passion for helping people and leaving my community better than I found it. If you are serious about what you’re doing as an entrepreneur, REDi will help you take advantage of every resource available. Being immersed in an entrepreneurial ecosystem keeps your ideas sharp and pushes you to continuously improve.

If you know your worth to this community and have the desire to prove how valuable you are to the workforce and city, REDi is where you need to be. The next free five-week REDi class will start on Feb. 1. Applications are now open. Click here to learn more and apply. For assistance applying offline, contact Neil Metzger at 317-464-2232.

Montez Williams is owner and founder of the A.C.E., A Child’s Environment, Project.

By STACIA MURPHY

Improving the quality of life for everyone means taking equitable measures that allow everyone to participate in the economy. In order to praise our city as a place where basic needs are met, and people can thrive, it’s vital we take actionable measures to advance inclusive entrepreneurship. As the director of Equity, Outreach, and Strategic Partnerships for the Indy Chamber, it is my responsibility (not to mention my own personal mission) to assist disenfranchised communities in solving problems of equitable access to business capital. Businesses are an extension of our community, and we have reached a rare moment of opportunity as corporations take a fundamental role in our fight for equity.

Business Equity for Indy (BEI) celebrated its first year and launched its website in late October 2021. BEI is a joint effort of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, the Indy Chamber, in collaboration with the Indianapolis Urban League to grow a more inclusive business climate and build greater equity and economic opportunity for the Indy Region’s Black residents and community members of color. BEI consists of a collaboration of organizations and business leaders coming together to make Indianapolis a more equitable city, focusing on public policy, health care, learning and talent, hiring and promoting, and procurement and participation.

Our goal is to have 100 companies and institutions sign the BEI Procurement Roundtable pledge, a commitment to advancing equity in our city. By signing the pledge, businesses are committing to making a more equitable Indianapolis over time. To date, 15 businesses have signed the pledge, and you can learn more about those companies at businessequityindy.com. The pledge is not a checklist that needs to be met before signing your name, instead, it’s a commitment to take meaningful action to address the issues of racial inequity and justice in Central Indiana and, ultimately, to advance Black-owned businesses. McKinsey and Company estimates that investing in Black-owned businesses is one vital way to help close the racial wealth gap and lead to $290 billion in our economy.

To truly advance and invest in Black-owned businesses and businesses owned by a person of color, we need to start looking at revenue-generating opportunities in addition to other access to capital ideas or within the access to capital conversation.

Indianapolis currently ranks 55th out of 85 metropolitan cities in the number of Black-owned businesses. For businesses of any size to grow in scale, one of the most sustainable ways is through multiyear contracts, whether it’s with governmental, corporate or institutional customers

Black-owned businesses tend to earn lower revenues in most industries and are overrepresented in low-growth, low-revenue sectors such as food service. Black entrepreneurs might also lack access to the networks and relationships that could help them earn multiyear corporate contracts. BEI Procurement Roundtable provides resources like peer-to-peer networking, quarterly opportunities to share best practices and learn from leading organizations in supplier diversity, and access to resources to identify local, diverse suppliers with the capabilities to meet their business’ needs.

Supplier Diversity Programs are designed to develop and foster strategic supplier relationships with companies owned by one of several diverse categories. According to the 2021 State of Supplier Diversity Report, less than six percent of corporate spending is done with diverse, disenfranchised businesses. Those categories of owners are defined in the following systematically disenfranchised minority groups; Black or person of color-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, LBTQIA+-owned, and disabled-owned meaning over 94% of supplier spending is done outside of those categories.

BEI is positioning Supplier Diversity Programs for success by removing barriers in Indy’s corporate community and capitalizing on the power of businesses seeking to change and sustain business practices. Our procurement roundtable discussions work toward supporting and standardizing more equitable processes and make these programs more widely adopted. A more equitable business landscape can mitigate the effects of systematic obstacles for Black business owners.

An investment in Black business owners creates equitable access to resources and opportunities. BEI is shifting mindsets by prioritizing actions that improve access to jobs, small business opportunities, education, health care, and public policy advocacy.

As leaders in this community, we must hold one another accountable for creating short- and long-term change. Please join us in our pledge by visiting businessequityindy.com and start sharing progress toward a racially equitable Indianapolis.

Stacia Murphy led the coordination of Business Equity for Indy Procurement Roundtable initiative and is the director of Equity, Outreach, and Strategic Partnerships with Indy Chamber.

By KRISTA BERMEO

Glass is perceived as fragile. Some objects that permeate its surface leave sharp, fragmented shards littered all around, but others shine through without obstruction. Others like light. When light hits glass, it passes straight through, illuminating a new world just on the other side.

In 2005, I transitioned from my career as a writer and consultant in pharmaceutical research and development to creating glass jewelry. As one would imagine, there are very few transferable skills between those two career paths. Long gone were the days of intense, critical thinking from sunup to sundown, only to be replaced by colors and shapes, whimsical and elegant styles, dynamic gold, silver, and titanium and an abundance of glass.

Glass is a fascinating medium that captures light in such a way that implies suspension, and I use that design concept as a starting place for many of my jewelry creations.

In nothing short of serendipitous timing, another Indy patron was experimenting with glass art. The Fireworks of Glass exhibit at the Children’s Museum was set to open in January 2006, and the buyer at the museum store wanted to connect with local artists who had worked with glass. I took the only pieces I had and left with none — they purchased everything I had in hand. After leaving with a promise to create more jewelry and bring it all back, I went straight to the Indianapolis library, and unbeknownst to me at the time, I began building my business. To this day, you will find my work in the Children’s Museum Store and other museum stores around the nation.

With great risk often comes great anxiety, and as I began to consider and later realize my new career path, I was often hesitant to take that life-changing chance. In many ways, my hesitancy prevented me from seeing that I had built a new business before I even knew I was doing so. However, as I began to embrace an unexpected chapter in entrepreneurship, I found myself connected with the Business Ownership Initiative (BOI) powered by the Indy Chamber. Things weren’t always perfect. In fact, things did go pear-shaped more than I’d like to admit. But having access to affordable resources and support through BOI, I was able to turn my colorful, sometimes lopsided pear-shapes into statement jewelry pieces.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4.3 million U.S. workers voluntarily left their job roles in August 2021. That’s nearly 3% of the entire American workforce. This “Great Resignation” is a time where many are beginning to explore entrepreneurship to replace tarnished tenures with fulfilling, new career adventures. The glass lining? There’s a solid place to land in this fragmented labor market, and organizations like BOI are ready and willing to support you along the way.

Artists create beauty from fragmentation. At just the right moment, microscopic grains of sand turn into glass with abundant beauty and potential. In many ways, the idea of beauty out of broken inspired my 2020 Shattered Glass collection — a testimony to a year characterized not only by unrest but also by the shattering of many illusions. This collection is my attempt to ask the question: How do we pick up the pieces?

Driving downtown in May 2020 and seeing the aftermath of broken store windows, my mission was clear: Collect the shards of shattered glass lining the street to make something beautiful and whole out of the brokenness. What many perceived as a violent, hostile act was actually a pivotal moment that helped illuminate deeper issues behind the glittering, glass-covered streets of Indianapolis. The 2020 Shattered Glass Collection was created to tell the stories of those whose voices have been silenced for far too long.

The meaning behind this project is deeply rooted, and my hope is that the impact is as well. Proceeds from the 2020 Shattered Glass collection were donated to The Bail Projects to amplify African American voices and foster positive change.

Small businesses are so impactful to our community because they provide opportunities for entrepreneurs, create meaningful jobs and help advance meaningful causes. In creating Krista Bermeo Studio, I work every day toward my goal of making light itself wearable, and this goal helps drive my vision for jewelry design: Keep it light.

Krista Bermeo is the owner and operator of Krista Bermeo Studio.

Jihada Garrett understands what people want doesn’t always match with what everyone else expects from them. She’s been there, tempted to slip into a traditional job somewhere after graduating from Howard University with a master’s degree in business.

The younger Garrett never went away, though — the one who studied psychology as an undergraduate and wanted to be a therapist because her passion was connecting with people and helping them.

Life happened, as Garrett said, and it wasn’t exactly therapy she got into in 2015. It was life coaching: helping people achieve specific goals, find clarity, go from being good to being great.

This year, Garrett added consulting, the natural progression to life coaching. She launched her firm — Hello, Me! — to work with everyday people, organizational leaders and business owners to find the same freedom she found.

“What I’m helping people to do is to figure out who they were before the world told them who they should be,” Garrett said.

Coaching and consulting are related but still different. Coaching is about defining goals and getting from Point A to Point B. Once that happens, Garrett has found many people want to take that further by, for example, starting a business. That’s when consulting comes in, which is more flexible than coaching; it’s about developing strategies.

Issues people go to Garrett with can range from their relationship to their career. After a consultation to figure out what people want to accomplish, Garrett determines how long they’ll work together — usually one to three months. They meet virtually once a week for an hour.

Garrett said it’s only been a handful of times that someone doesn’t finish the course, and that’s usually because they feel they’ve made enough progress and don’t want things to get more challenging.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hurt many businesses, but Garrett said the last year and a half has led more people to want something different.

“People have a larger awareness of just how fragile life is,” she said.

Learn more about Garrett’s services at jihadagarrett.com.

Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.