There is no easy route to becoming an entrepreneur, but I think Aireka Harvell‘s had some very unique challenges.
Despite running away from home at the age of 14, she was able to fall back on strong childhood values to turn her life around at the age of 18. A young mother, she quickly had 3 children and opted to take a career pause after the birth of her third child.
It was this career pause that allowed her to return to college where she graduated and eventually went on to earn a Masters degree as well.
She spent the bulk of her career with AT&T where she moved up the ladder to a six-figure salary and responsibility for a team of 180 people. Despite her success, she also had a strong entrepreneurial spirit burning inside of her.
It was a conversation with her son about something that she wished she’d known was going on in her community that led her to say “I want to know about that” – and Nodat was born. Today, it’s a local loyalty coalition program that benefits small businesses and their customers. With the support of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, a $20k scholarship from Google for Startups, and financial support from the community she’s cultivated, she eventually left her corporate job to focus on Nodat full-time.
In addition to being a single mom of four kids and a startup founder, she is a speaker and the author of Find the Beauty in your Now. She also co-founded the accelerator Twende to support entrepreneurs of color.
