#068 - Our discussion with Arturto was so inspiring and really went in 2 directions. In episode 67, he talks about his journey of starting Centro and we brought in a Centro entrepreneur, Annie Wang from Little Moon Bakehouse. In this episode, Arturo shares his journey as a social entrepreneur, providing wisdom from his experiences founding Centro, and writing his book *In Pursuit of a Noble Cause*. Arturo’s work centers on uplifting low-income and marginalized communities through innovative tools and social impact initiatives.

Arturo Noriega penned “In Pursuit of a Noble Cause” to support social entrepreneurs looking to start a social enterprise. It will also resonate with professors who teach principles of social entrepreneurship.

“I have read several books on nonprofit management, nonprofit leadership, and some tools, but they didn't necessarily hit home for me. I think what was missing is really the pain of starting a nonprofit or a social enterprise. It requires a lot of perseverance. It's a book really written about waking people up to our industry, the economic development industry, the struggle of women entrepreneurs in particular, and people of color, and my personal struggles.”

Arturo highlighted the rapid growth in the number of people of color leading nonprofit organizations. He emphasized that these leaders require support due to their unique leadership styles, which are often rooted in their cultural norms and understanding. Implicit bias can be a significant barrier to success for leaders of color, and it can negatively impact both their direction and overall achievements.

Arturo discussed the challenges with writing the book as a new author and while recovering from long COVID and also having dyslexia.

It’s a lot so we split it into 2 episodes.

#067 - Today we are joined by 2 guests: Arturo Noriega, Founder and CEO of Centro Community Partners and Annie Wang, owner of Little Moon Bakehouse. Arturo shares his journey of starting Centro to help entrepreneurs in underserved communities, particularly women and immigrants, build successful businesses. Annie discusses her path to launching Little Moon Bakehouse, a vegan, eco-conscious bakery. Together, they explore the roles of community support, sustainable practices, and the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship.

Centro Community Partners provides business training, financial literacy, access to capital, and 1:1 business coaching for success. Arturo says…

“We cater to how we can help you create an idea that is profitable… We listen to you… We will never judge your idea.”

Arturo shared that approximately 80% of the entrepreneurs Centro has supported since its inception have been women. When asked why, he said he believes women are more likely to seek help & training and have a desire to work and build community with other entrepreneurs to create a system of support as they embark upon their path to financial freedom.

Little Moon Bakehouse is a Centro company. Annie started Little Moon Bakehouse to make sustainable Asian pastries by lessening the environmental impact of food production. …

“everything is vegan, and we use compostable packaging.”

Eliminating animal products from food production can have a significantly positive environmental impact. Since many baked goods rely heavily on animal products such as eggs and milk, Annie faced an uphill battle that required reimagining baked pastries.

Arturo and Annie both underscore the importance of community support, intentional values, and perseverance in building impactful businesses. Whether it’s providing resources for underserved entrepreneurs or creating climate-friendly bakery items, both guests demonstrate the power of purpose-driven work in our Oakland community.

#066 - Today our guest is Ayodele Kinchen, a gifted and self taught artist, designer, and visionary. With a keen eye and talent for design, she finds joy creating wearable art that transforms the everyday woman into a Queen, and aims to design pieces that heal, encourage, honor, and beautify the mind, body, and spirit.

Her business started by making things for herself - handmade goods like jewelry, home decor, clothing, and handbags. People started asking, “Hey, where'd you get that from?” So she started making stuff for other people. But, when she started making waist beads, her business exploded.

“I have been wearing them since I was a child. I knew and understood the traditional practice of wearing them so I felt if I decided to actually make them for others, I can equip people with additional knowledge and context behind why they're worn. So I felt really good about adding that to my collection of goods, however, once I added that as a collection of items that I would include under my business name, it took off like crazy. And it's basically, it took over my entire business making handbags and jewelry and everything else.”

We thought we were talking to an artist, but found out we were talking to a culture keeper, a change maker, a healer, and a counselor. Ayodele’s customers love her, evident by the repeat bookings for private parties. But, the best compliments have come from the women who told her she literally changed their lives, one actually calling her a healer.

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear how Ayodele bet on herself - leaving her full time 9 to 5 while pregnant with her 3rd child and never looking back.

#065 - Today we talk to Carol F Burton, Founder of The Jeweld Legacy Group, a nonprofit consultancy based here in Oakland. The company is named after mother - Jewel. After a career in nonprofit management Carol saw an opportunity to work with nonprofits and public systems to provide support, technical assistance, resources, and show them how to partner in much more efficient ways to create more self-sufficiency.

“so that at the end of the day, our communities would look a little different, that our communities would have what they needed to do for themselves and they were not reliant on governmental agencies. And so that requires community-based organizations and grassroots organizations and faith-based organizations, advocacy organizations, and it requires the government, which is our cities and counties, to work better together so that our folks are doing better and they have the resources that they need.”

In addition to consulting with nonprofit organizations, The Jeweld Legacy Group does executive coaching, strategic planning, and they host and plan meetings around the intersection of homelessness, public safety, mental illness, substance use, incarceration and any of the other issues that impact African-American communities.

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear Carol talk about how using an executive coach is akin to using a coach in an athletic competition.

#064 - Today we talk to Toshia Christal who does not sleep - she is an artist, jewelry maker, painter, photographer, and licensed cosmetologist - a true Renaissance Woman. She is a creative person at heart and cannot be reduced to any one medium. She has a brick and mortar space at 2911 Fruitvale Ave to display all of her creative works.

Toshia was crafty as a child, but she always thought of them as hobbies. When she was injured on her job in 2008, she decided she did not want to go back to a job she did not like. It was time to turn those hobbies into a business.

“I was like, these hobbies are sustainable, right? These hobbies are my business. And so being at that disabled moment, I took the opportunity to realize that I didn't wanna go back to the job that I was at. It was not fulfilling for me. And let me take the opportunity to officially go to school, get my cosmetology license, and become licensed. And that's kind of how it all started rolling. Yeah, I always knew that I didn't wanna work for the man - a nine to five system that did not really feed my soul. So it was the perfect segue into entrepreneurship.”

As an Oakland native, Toshia is proud to be an Oakland small business owner. She credits a number of grassroots organizations like Womens’ Initiative, Akoma, Black Cultural Zone, and Kiva for helping her get her start.

Be sure to listen to the whole interview to hear Toshia talk about why confidence is so key to being an entrepreneur.

#063 - Today we talk to Destiny Muhammad, AKA The Harpist From The Hood. Destiny has an inspiring story. She grew up a military kid, but when her parents divorced, her mother moved with three little girls to Compton, CA. An episode of I Love Lucy inspired young Destiny to play the harp, but that was not seen as a practical choice for a family navigating the welfare system.

After graduating from high school Destiny became a barber, opening up a shop near the projects where she grew up, but then she got re-introduced to the harp.

“And for you barbers out there, you know, barbering is lucrative - LUCRATIVE. So I'm doing well and thinking this is what I'm going to do. In about 1991, I started dating a man whose best friend is a harp builder in a little town not too far from here called San Juan Batista. And in 1992, I got my first harp at the age of 30 and I started studying and eventually, I knew that I had had this dream and it was being brought back to me.”

She started taking lessons as a 30 yr old adult, playing next to children. She moved to Oakland from LA in 1997 and began playing farmers markets to gain confidence and that is where she found her name by starting a session with…

“Jack London Farmers Market needs every Sunday rain or shine from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and my name is Destiny Muhammad, and I'm your friendly neighborhood Harpist From The Hood, letting you know it is all good - here at the Jack London Farmers Market. People laughed, I mean, so it stuck.”

Stick around until the end to hear how an “inner message from God” about 6-7 months before the pandemic hit, made her start preparing before the shutdown.

#062 - Today we talk to Charmeng Robinson, a local artist who creates handcrafted original pieces that connect with nature. Charmeng’s pieces include acrylic paintings on canvas, timekeeper, clocks, handcrafted jewelry, coaster, dominoes, and more.

Though her late father painted, Charmeng did not take it up until 2020. She taught herself via online tutorials and then lots of practice.

“I started taking some tutorials on Facebook and I met a young lady that was doing the painting. I was just admiring it and was like, ooh, I could do some of that for my family friends. And that was as far as my brain took it at that time. So I started taking notes on what to do, how to learn, how to mix the paint.”

At the beginning, Charmeng was uncomfortable calling herself an artist, but she gained confidence after her cousin displayed her art in his San Francisco barber shop, Gifted Crowns, and she started having success at pop-ups.

That led to several commissions including Sweet Fingers Jamaican restaurant in Oakland, the Oakland Roots, and becoming the sole vendor at the new Lululemon store in downtown Oakland.

Stick around til the end to hear about how Charmeng got hooked up with the Oakland Roots.

#061 - Today we talk to Derreck Johnson, Founder of the nonprofit The Black Owned Project 365, which runs the Lifeline Culinary On The Job Training Program, a fully certified apprenticeship program that trains and mentors recently incarcerated individuals so they can have careers in the restaurant industry.

The idea came to him while standing on the steps of the capital while his cousin, Kamala Harris, was being sworn in as Vice President. But, this would not be his first rodeo. He had experience with this population, hiring his first recently released individual back when he had an auto-detailing business, one of his early entrepreneurial ventures.

He found himself short-handed one day when the rain cleared up and a bunch of cars started showing up.

“I don't wanna turn this money away. And one of the guys there was like, well, I can call the house and have some of my brothers come down. I said, okay, please get them now. I'm just thinking he's calling his actual house. And his brothers were actually coming to work, but he was living in a halfway house.”

“they came in and they started working and I was like, hey, can you all come back tomorrow?”

Derreck ran his first pilot this fall. He teaches them that the restaurant business requires hard work and you have to be consistent to be successful. He believes one of the secret sauces of his program is access to him. He works alongside them and does not give up on them if they stumble.

“I feel it does because they have a direct connection with someone that they would never have a direct connection with. Usually when they get into employment, you would not meet the boss. You wouldn't meet the person that's running the restaurant.”

Derreck still enjoys running his landmark Home of Chicken & Waffle restaurant in Jack London. It is “must stop” for politicians and celebrities coming through Oakland.

Stick around til the end to hear about all the famous people who have visited the restaurant.