Pivot With Purpose Season 4 Episode 9 Full Transcript

[00:00:00] Announcer: Pivot With Purpose, a podcast that highlights the unique stories of professionals that pivoted their careers to align with their work lives and personal lives more purposefully and with more joy.

[00:00:23] Announcer: Pivot what purpose is hosted by Megan Hall, a globally accredited career and business coach and creator of the Megan Hall Method. 

[00:00:33] Meghan Houle: Welcome back to the Pivot with Purpose podcast. I'm your host, Megan Ho, and in this episode we speak with Dr. Lakeisha Hallman, founder and c e o of the Village Market, an impact-driven economic vehicle dedicated to generating economic growth for black-owned 

[00:00:50] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: business.

[00:00:51] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Thank you for 

[00:00:51] Announcer: listening to Pivot With Purpose with host Megan, who you can find out more information about each guest, including full transcripts at Pivot with purpose podcast.com. And if you'd like to share your own pivot with purpose. Click on the share button and add your story to the conversation.

[00:01:11] Announcer: Finally, be sure to subscribe and share your comments wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Your support amplifies our voice. And now this week's episode 

[00:01:24] Meghan Houle: in 2016 with zero Investment Capital. After teaching for over a decade, Dr. Halman pivoted to launch the village marketplace, better known as T v.

[00:01:35] Meghan Houle: After seeing gaps and opportunities for black-owned businesses, she knew there was an opportunity to use the community skills she developed while teaching and apply them to creating a community of support for black entrepreneurs. The village market has played a huge part in elevating black businesses across the country highly due to Dr.

[00:01:54] Meghan Houle: Hallman's passion to ensure small business. Receive the resources and funding they need to thrive. Dr. Hellman, thank you so much for taking the time to join us on the Pivot With Purpose Podcast today. How are you doing? 

[00:02:09] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I'm actually really awesome today. Thank you for asking. How are you? Yay. 

[00:02:13] Meghan Houle: I'm doing well.

[00:02:14] Meghan Houle: Where are we chatting from? I'm in Boston. Where are you based Right 

[00:02:17] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: now in the greatest city in America, Atlanta. 

[00:02:21] Meghan Houle: I need to get to Atlanta. I really do. I have so many friends there and we need some of that warmth because here in the northeast, still in winter season, it's been a little gloomy and gray. So if you have any sunshine, send it up here.

[00:02:34] Meghan Houle: Send it our way. 

[00:02:36] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: We need sunshine energy. 

[00:02:38] Meghan Houle: Well, I've been doing a lot of research on you in the village market and I'm just so impressed with all that you've built and are continuing to build to curate opportunities for black-owned businesses. To me, you are the epitome of making dreams happen in service of your community and can see it literally takes a village.

[00:02:56] Meghan Houle: I'm looking forward to diving into your. Story of all things, careers and pivots and business building. But to kick off, I'd love to hear a brief outline of what are you up to today. I know we're catching New Atlanta, but tell us about maybe some of your current projects, commitments. All of that would love to hear.

[00:03:13] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: What I am working on currently is making sure that my team is operating excellence. I have a very great team at the village market and my other organization, our Village United, and in my retail store, the village. And so, mm-hmm. This year our Q1 focus is making sure that our systems and operations are in place.

[00:03:32] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: We have incredible partnerships underway with grantors from Walmart to MasterCard to Rockefeller Foundation, and so we're rolling out some pretty incredible program that is going to be a major. Sister to black businesses, ensuring that they have the back office support that they need, tech technical assistance, and also some novice capital.

[00:03:55] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And so in order for us to deploy these services and excellence, we are really focused Q1 in making sure that the team has everything that they need at our programs. A really tight ended design, and then the evaluation piece of that is everything we're doing, our smart goals, the KPIs are measurable and so we can be really ready to roll these programs out early spring.

[00:04:17] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Oh, I 

[00:04:17] Meghan Houle: love that. I'm so just heavy goal planning mode, which is what I need to do as well. Maybe I should come and spend some time with you, but that's amazing. How big is your team right now that you're working? Yes. 

[00:04:29] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: A big group. Yeah. Yeah. It's a pretty decent size group, especially being that I started as a single founder, and so now I've been able to grow.

[00:04:37] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: My retail team is up to 14 people. The nonprofit, we have six people with a couple contractors as well, and, and so I think that's about 21, 22 people that I'm here fortunate to work along. 

[00:04:53] Meghan Houle: Well, tell us where did those entrepreneurial roots come from? Was this something you were passionate about, maybe as a young professional or young age in terms of like business building and community building?

[00:05:04] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: The entrepreneurial bug came late. I started my career okay. As many 1981 babies, making sure that I went to college, that I got the degrees, that I had the traditional job. In my traditional job, I was a. And before I transitioned out from being a teacher, I was with the Georgia Department of Education as an evaluation research specialist.

[00:05:25] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: All that means I spent a lot of time looking at data and solving problems. Mm-hmm. Around literacy and math after school programs, so, oh wow. I can't say that I had this entrepreneur knowing, but as the city of Atlanta has a way of pulling entrepreneurship out of. I met a lot of friends who are entrepreneurs a lot in the gig industry, DJs, sound specialists, folks who had aspirations of opening bakeries and listening to their stories really enticed me on the data lens to look at it deeper with how do you actualize dreams?

[00:05:59] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: How do you go from saying that you want to be this major DJ to being able to be a DJ full? How do you move from doing a couple baked goods at a couple cute events to having end-to-end bakery shop? Yeah, those questions, I turned into focus groups with my friends and I'm very appreciative that they were my studies.

[00:06:21] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: But from listening to their stories, I realized that we had a problem, a problem that is pervasive across the country, that there was an opportunity gap for my friends and my peers who are. And from listening to their stories, I wanted to make sure that this wasn't a single subject group. I then started to do deeper research across the country to see are there gaps for black entrepreneurs?

[00:06:47] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: If so, beyond capital, what are the gaps? And what my research was, was finding is that it was accessed to customers mentorships, structural inequities, being locked out of the financial space, the lack of the ability to be credit ready. Those. And so I found as many entrepreneurs I saw that there was a problem, and I'm deeply passionate.

[00:07:12] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I think more than being an entrepreneur, I'm deeply passionate about proactively solving problems, and I started to draft what would be my first version of the village market, that my goal and vision, Megan, was to create a very vibrant ecosystem. What, from my words, a. For black entrepreneurs to have the resources, the mentorship, and then the end piece of that, the relationship with customers to ensure that my friends, starting with them, my friends had customers, but on the back end, they had to be support to be able to scale.

[00:07:51] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I had no idea that this would turn into a. It still surprises me to this day. Aw. 

[00:08:00] Meghan Houle: So well, so much passion for it and wow, what a lucky, amazing friend to have in you. That's so incredible. Yeah. So you went to school, did you go to school initially for education? Spent years in education, and then what was that major pivot point where you're like, okay, I'm doing this and I'm gonna do it full-time and leave.

[00:08:19] Meghan Houle: What did that process look like for you? Getting out of teaching in the 

[00:08:23] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: schools? Yeah. Again, I did not initially envision it being a full-time thing, but it took over my life. Yeah. What turned into what I wanted to do as one event for black entrepreneurs in the city of Atlanta, and during that event, I got a lot of email addresses, a lot of people saying, when is the next one?

[00:08:45] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And I never even thought about the. Until the emails came flooded in, and then I had to really think through, this was in 2016, when is the next one and what does the next one mean? And what am I doing? And am I doing something that I truly believe in and does it feel purposeful? And all those things were really a yes for me.

[00:09:06] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And so as I built the company, it began to grow the way that people found a sense of home and belonging in the village really let me know that I was on the right. And I'm sure many entrepreneurs will share this story that if you have a full-time job, there is one day that you realize that you're spending less time on your full-time job and more time mm-hmm.

[00:09:30] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: On this thing that wakes you up in the morning and also keeps you up late at night and. My performance at the department, at the Georgia Department of Education, I felt that I was underperforming there and overperforming in a sense for the village. That's when I knew that it was time for me to pivot. I didn't fall outta love with education.

[00:09:50] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I'm so deeply passionate about it now, but I, I found a new love in economic mobility and building community and place making for black entrepreneurs, and so I made that decision. What I feel is rather late at the end, 2019, that it was time to make a big jump out there, but it came with some full transparency, some contention when I was at the Georgia Department of Education and I was kinda left with the choice of who I was gonna be in education and who I was gonna be at the village market.

[00:10:22] Meghan Houle: Hmm. Interesting and so beautiful and it leads also so beautifully into my next question for you because I think for so many of our listeners in the Pandemic and after the pandemic, many of us, including me, picked up what we called these like side hustles or passion projects. With all the small businesses I know you support and definitely there's a lot of individuals that are working those full-time jobs and doing something else that they love and trying to show up in different ways for both.

[00:10:49] Meghan Houle: So in your advice, how do you feel like experiencing it firsthand, someone can be at first successful navigating, say, being in a corporate role and an entrepreneur? I tell many of my career clarity clients that I coach, you don't just have to be this or that. You can. And that, so how did you successfully, truly navigate that path?

[00:11:10] Meghan Houle: Because I, I love what you had said earlier and, and I would love to elaborate or maybe give some advice. 

[00:11:15] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I think it's important for people to know how normal it is. You know, we are the psalm of many parts and I think it is very much so possible to still be the person that loves your full-time job and to be the person that has another bright idea that adds color to their life and more meaning and more.

[00:11:35] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And it's okay to want to do both of those things. It is also okay to find a place in your life where you just simply want to pivot where what you are doing in a full-time, traditional world, it just doesn't really fulfill your purpose in a way that you so long for. And so you go full-time after your, this thing that I always coin as the thing that wakes you up and keeps you up at night.

[00:12:01] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And this is your big. It's very much so. Okay. And for those people who are trying to decide their path, I do think it's important to use your time and to serve your time as a full-time employee, to learn systems, to learn team culture, things that you love, things that you love about it, and to look at all those hard skills, hard and soft skills that you have the privilege of receiving under somebody else's.

[00:12:31] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And it, mm-hmm. Nothing prepared me more than the time that I served in education. I learned about hr, I learned about just things in structure and scheduling. Also learned about the things that I didn't like, and so as I built my own company and how I craft team culture and environment, I am very sensitive from my past experiences.

[00:12:55] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: But for those entrepreneurs, I think it's very important to know. No experience is lost. Take something from every experience, and so if you find yourself pivoting later and doing something full-time, you will need and lean deeply on those soft and hard skills that you learned from a very traditional pathway.

[00:13:13] Meghan Houle: Yeah. Wow. Such good advice and so true, you know? And take away what you can from every job that you hold, where you know you're learning and growing your own skills, and in that entrepreneurial soul that arises in you, where you're like, okay, I'm doing this. You can pull from all the pieces. And that's what you did.

[00:13:32] Meghan Houle: And before we go to a little teaser question, as I usually like to put people on the spot, so no pressure, but I'm gonna ask you a question prior, is there a year that stands out to you as really that pivotal point in your career? What happened? Like, was there a big juicy year where all things started coming together or any year where you're just like, okay, we're doing this.

[00:13:53] Meghan Houle: Or just like that pivotal point if maybe not a 

[00:13:55] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: year. Absolutely. I have a, a very juxtaposed story. And at the end of 2019, I was on my, I would say on the mountaintop for an entrepreneur. Mm-hmm. Everything was working on all high cylinders. Mm-hmm. The community partners, the people who wouldn't respond to email, they were emailing me now funders who was like, who is this lady?

[00:14:23] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Nell started the. How Bill, you're 

[00:14:26] Meghan Houle: like, lemme tell you. 

[00:14:27] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Yeah, let tell you and lemme remind you million times I emailed you before. Um, yeah. People really became very much so interested in what I was building and they saw the value because of the impact that we were having. And so I left 2019 on a high and I felt that finally I have a stake in a ground and it's.

[00:14:52] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And like it happened to many of us. The pandemic happened. Mm-hmm. I know. And my business model was very much so people centered in real time in person. Mm-hmm. And everything that I had built was pulled by. It is almost like there was an earthquake under my feet and there was nothing, no sense of security about where my company would be, where my employees would.

[00:15:18] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And where I would be after this pandemic, and we didn't have an endpoint of even what the pandemic would be and how long it would last. So I was really met with a very critical moment. There was research done, I think in May, 2020 that said over 46% of black businesses were going to shutter because of the pandemic.

[00:15:39] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I was deadly going in a direction of that 46%, and I had to pivot. I gave myself two weeks to feel all the things that I needed to feel and to be a human in the moment. Not an entrepreneur, but a human that's experienced something that is very scary. A human that could not go to Mississippi and check on my grandmother and hug her.

[00:16:03] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I gave myself to mourn and to be scared and to be curious about what life would be. And then I put my entrepreneur hat back on in two. And I focus on revisiting my business plan and restructuring it. Out of that time, I kept my team on and I presented to them two new business models. One would become my nonprofit, our Village United, and we will provide end-to-end acceleration incubators for black businesses and grant dollars.

[00:16:34] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And then secondly, I opened the village retail, which is my retail store. In Atlanta, Georgia, that's comprised of black businesses. And my purpose for the village retail, I knew that one day the world will open up again. And I knew before the world closed black businesses, black business owners, had dreams of seeing their products on the shelves or retail.

[00:16:56] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I knew that I could solve that problem. And so in the heart of the pandemic, I launched our village, United in the Heart of the Pandemic. I opened the Village retail October 20. And everything about my business, my purpose has been illuminated ever since. The pandemic was one of the hardest times in my life, hardest time that we've experienced as a people, but it also served as one of the greatest blessings of my life because it gave me a hard reset.

[00:17:29] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: That hard reset is the reason why my companies are thriving. 

[00:17:34] Meghan Houle: In so chill moments where, yeah, it's giving yourself two weeks to be human and feel all the feels where I don't think a lot of people did that. And then to this day, we have the pandemic P T S D, where we're still processing what happened almost three years ago.

[00:17:49] Meghan Houle: But gosh, that is so powerful. And so beautiful. And thank you for sharing and I'm really excited to dive into more of what your businesses are all about. But as I said in the spirit of the podcast, asking you a yes or no question, and then we're gonna go to a quick break. So are you 

[00:18:05] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: ready? I'm so ready.

[00:18:06] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Make it a heart. Okay. 

[00:18:08] Meghan Houle: All right. Well you already talked about it, but I would just love to, do you remember the exact moment you wanted to bring the village market to life? Well with that, we will follow up with that. Yes. After we go to a quick.

[00:18:36] Meghan Houle: Okay, Dr. Homan, so before the break, you said yes. Can you describe that moment when you really began to work towards putting everything together? And then I'd also love to hear what the village market is all about for our listeners. You know, to kind of break it down further. 

[00:18:50] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Absolutely. It was February, 2016.

[00:18:57] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I knew for sure that I was ready to bring the village market into a tangible way to the community. Before launching the Village market in April, 2016, I was hosting focus groups in gatherings at my Good friend Coffee Shop in Atlanta, and I would have these entrepreneur series called, it Takes a. And in those entrepreneur series I would bring high grossing entrepreneurs to talk about their journey and to be selfless in the advice that they gave to entrepreneurs who were budding entrepreneurs who are in an audience.

[00:19:31] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And so I did these series at Urban Ground Coffee Shop, and I'm still not good at social media by the way, but I was really terrible at the end. And so I had no idea that I should be filling and creating like assets and things like that. And so I really re relied deeply on word of. And so the coffee shop, we got to a place at the coffee shop where there is a line wrapped around the door of people wanting to get into my sessions and these classes Wow.

[00:19:57] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Of where people were having meaningful conversation. And as I, again, data person, I will look at the list of people who joined the village and wonder did they truly have entrepreneurial endeavors, did they have a product already? And from that, I found that 86% of the people who are visiting my session.

[00:20:17] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: All had product. That's when I realized that I could create the village market itself. And so for those who are listening, the village market, number one is the greatest thing I've ever done so far. But the village market in its form is a marketplace for black businesses. So it happens on a quarterly basis in the city of Atlanta, entrepreneurs from all over, we've reached 38 states thus far, coming to the.

[00:20:42] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And they sell their products and their wares over the course of two days, and we do this three times a year. The average attending before the pandemic, we had about 4,000 people to come out and shop from the village market. That's the physical village market in this form. Why? It happened three times a year because three months, uh, every quarter we would have educational trainings for those entrepreneurs.

[00:21:05] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: So we would put on classes, on branding, marketing, accounting, and then we would lead up to the great reveal for the next marketplace. So colloquially speaking, the marketplace felt like a popup on steroid. There is entertainment. There are over a hundred entrepreneurs from all over. There was a kid entrepreneur stem zone.

[00:21:24] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I created restaurants inside of the village market where people would have this culinary experience that was all plant-based from 12 to 15. Wow. Different up and coming culinary artists. So we were able to really scale this concept and grow it, and then of course the pandemic happened, and so we. Right.

[00:21:47] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Yeah. 

[00:21:48] Meghan Houle: Which we can dig into in a bit, but tell me, not having necessarily an entrepreneurial soul early on, but then really taking this incredible passion project, bringing it to life, doing so many incredible things. Why was starting your own business important to you? And maybe tell us a little bit about some of the support and resources you needed to make 

[00:22:07] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: it happen.

[00:22:07] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Thankfully, I had friends who were entre. So all of my blind spots that that passion didn't serve, they were able to tell me to and very grandly, like, get an accountant. Make sure that your business is structured correctly. And I had questions on what does that even mean? And so my friends were able to connect me with small business attorney so I can make sure that I had the structure.

[00:22:33] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I created the phrase supporters a verb. One of my good friends who's been an entrepreneur a long time, she said, you need to trademark. And so then I had to get a trademark attorney. So I spent a great deal of money upfront with the structure, but that is due to the support system that I had of friends who were al already entrepreneurs.

[00:22:51] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And as the concept grew, more people came on board to say, Hey, you really have something here. Make sure that you have this thing in place and that thing in place. But that support system, those resources deployed to me by my friends, really helped me have a very strong foundation for a. And as I know that most entrepreneurs, they get those things a little late, but I'm very fortunate that I had friends who said, invest the money early.

[00:23:17] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: So I spent close to $20,000 before I ever got started to ensure that I had a strong foundation built, and then I built within that foundation. 

[00:23:27] Meghan Houle: Right. I mean, as the saying goes, I know sometimes we're all scared to kind of put that money up front, whether investing in all the things you just mentioned, a coach, whatever, but you gotta spend money to make money as it goes.

[00:23:38] Meghan Houle: Right. But look at where it's led you, and going back to support as a verb, I just love that. I know it's highlighted on that beautiful greenery wall and all your like online interviews and the media. What does that statement mean to you? You already referenced like how important. To have support of others in the process, but what does support as a verb mean?

[00:23:58] Meghan Houle: And who is in that community? Or how would you define that? 

[00:24:01] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: We're all in that community. Support is like love. It's the thing that we all need. And the verb love it is the, it's almost the engine on our backs. It says, if you truly support something, you will put action behind it. So my love letter to the community, and this is the broader community.

[00:24:23] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: That if you truly are in support of the local community, if you are truly in support of anything that you feel like, I am very passionate about this, we should be able, I should be able, the community should be able, you should be able to look and see where your action lives If you do not have that action, and the question back to yourself should be, how can I become more active?

[00:24:48] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: How can I become a more active? How can I become a more active resource? How can I become a more active mentor? But things that we love, things that we're passionate about, it should be a verb at the end. There should be something tangible, something that we are physically doing in order to make sure that we can really disrupt change.

[00:25:09] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Yeah. 

[00:25:09] Meghan Houle: That's so beautiful. Well, thank you for sharing and outlining it. It really resonates for sure. And between the village market and the village retail, divide and conquer. And tell us a little bit about, because there's a village retail like. E-com online platform. Tell us a little bit about like the differences, and I'm sure you have like a wait list of people looking to get involved.

[00:25:30] Meghan Houle: So what are the differences in both in maybe how, how can someone 

[00:25:33] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: get involved? Yes. Let's talk about the village retail first. The Village retail is a physical retail store located at Punt City Market. We also have a.com channel so you can mm-hmm. All things village retail.com. So everything that's on that website is also physically in our store.

[00:25:48] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: We do have a growing wait list of entre. Who are seeking to get their products on our shelves. But I created the Village retail to also be an incubator. So if Megan, you come to Atlanta, you shop, you would shop as if it's just a normal retail store. But for the businesses, I ensure that they have classes with Target because many of them have aspirations of being in big box.

[00:26:14] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: So they're in an incubator with Target. We have guest speakers that come and just speak to those entrepreneurs privately. We have gatherings at the stores just for the entrepreneurs. It's very much so how I started, I've kept going. And the purpose of that, in order for black businesses to have a viable product, you have to be able to test it in front of a large sample size of customers.

[00:26:37] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: We have been able to have customers from all over the world because of where we're located in Atlanta at Point City. And as customers engage with those products, our entrepreneurs get to learn if a product has a strong burn rate or is it just sitting on the shelves? Why? And they have time to pivot and to really curate their assortment.

[00:26:56] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: So it's such a, a very live experience driven way to learn about entrepreneurship and also being a really cool cooperative space to do it. So that greenery wall that you saw, that is the, that is inside of the village retail. That is the store. 

[00:27:12] Meghan Houle: Awesome. How does someone get nominated or is there an application process and then getting sort of screened or like tested, like through your team?

[00:27:21] Meghan Houle: How can somebody get connected if there's an interest? Because you, like you said, you take people from all over the, the country really, and they come for these quarterly shopping events, which I will be putting one on my 

[00:27:31] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: calendar for sure. Absolutely. So for the village retail, The village retailers open seven days a week.

[00:27:37] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Mm-hmm. And there's an application process on the webpage@villageretail.com, where once an entrepreneur applies to be in the retail store, then it goes through the application process. That's seven people evaluate application and then two people make the final determinant. If the assortment of that product works well for the season, because we rotate brands out every.

[00:28:02] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Some brands have been able to stay with us a little longer due to the uniqueness of their product, but some, we have a pretty aggressive term that you're meant to be with us for a quarter. We help boost your sales and what we hope that they gives you the data to support being able to scale into other retail locations or open your own boutique as we've had some entrepreneurs be able to do for the village market.

[00:28:22] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Wow. Those are the seasonal large marketplaces. So imagine a festival where people are coming from all over to. And to set up shop inside of the village retail. Those are happening three times a year. We'll get back started this August, and so the application is on the village market.com and the application process is very similar to the village retail.

[00:28:44] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: We have seven people who review applications. Some entrepreneurs get called for interviews because of what we're seeking. It's not just working with entrepreneurs who's just trying to find places to. But are looking at these opportunities as a testing for their concept. And we're looking to work with entrepreneurs who are striving to build their very small companies now into larger viable companies because our goal is economic mobility.

[00:29:13] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: We want to raise black entrepreneurship up so we can boost the economy for black. Wow, 

[00:29:21] Meghan Houle: that's so amazing and so many different ways to work with you and truly having the opportunity to have someone come in and set them up for success, utilizing your incredible resources and education. What have been some of your proudest moments?

[00:29:34] Meghan Houle: Or is it one really proud moment coming out of the village market or the village retail? I'm sure you have a few, but any proud moment 

[00:29:42] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: you, I don't know if I have one singular proud moment, but I will say, That this collective proud that I feel is to see entrepreneurs look at their numbers and look at their selves, and I see their eyes light up because they believe in themselves in a deeper way.

[00:30:01] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: It's the validation that all of us need, that I actually have something, I have something that people love so much that they purchased or they gifted it for someone. But my idea, this thing that came only to me is actually something that is really special and I need to give myself to it. Those moments when I've experienced entrepreneurs, um, when they're moved to tears because their concept is validated, but really who they are, it's validated those moments.

[00:30:38] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Even on my most stressful days, I close my eyes and I replay those moments in my. So I can stay centered on why I'm doing this work. Well, how has 

[00:30:48] Meghan Houle: this whole building process and these offerings and all the things you're doing, how has it all changed your 

[00:30:53] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: life? It has added extra stress. You're like, where did we start?

[00:30:59] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: It has added extra stress. I, I believe that. But 

[00:31:03] Meghan Houle: you're such a beautiful human and such a beautiful soul, so I know in service it's always stress. It can be 

[00:31:08] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: stressful at times. Yes. It, it can, you know, I want, you know why it's important to say that? Because I want people to know that entrepreneurship is not just always idyllic situation.

[00:31:18] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Yes. You can have anxiety for the first. And so I've had to temper stress. I've had to work through anxiety, I've had to push through imposter syndrome, all these things. Yep. But the way that it opened my life up, though, these things were induced in me. I also experienced purpose in the way that I, I have days when I, I work out every day.

[00:31:43] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I'm on a Peloton listening to podcast, but there are moments on a Peloton that I close my eyes and I just. How grateful I am to do the work that I do. I am so grateful to be 41 years old and I'm very clear on what my purpose is. I know that that's a privilege. Yeah. And so it has opened my life that it is, has expanded my network.

[00:32:04] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: It has afforded me opportunities to do the work on a broader scale globally. I have a international partnership with The Bahamas. As I shared earlier, the work has expanded to 38 states. I've worked now. One of the key members of the city of Atlanta when it comes to economic mobility. I currently work alongside the mayor.

[00:32:23] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I've been invited to the White House. All these things has opened my life up, but there's nothing I am more grateful for than to be so clear on why I'm here. And, and the gifted is to be, to just be afforded the opportunity to serve in this. 

[00:32:43] Meghan Houle: Yeah. Amen to that. I mean, clarity is everything, and I know so many people struggle, but then also understanding the beautiful moments of just sitting in gratitude amongst the best days and the craziest days.

[00:32:55] Meghan Houle: I was just talking about this a few days ago with one of my coaching clients, of like seeing people on Instagram, seeing people, these awesomely curated lives where everything looks perfect and no one's struggling. That's not how. As we all know that social media, it's a wonderful highlight reel, so staying real and having voices like you as well to kind of taste the highs and then, which truly it's hard work and there's definitely, sun's not always shining every day, so to speak, depending on what you have going on.

[00:33:24] Meghan Houle: Thank you for sharing all that, and I'll have to get your Peloton name so I can high five you and take class together. Is there anything that you wish that you did differently? Or your biggest learning kind of takeaway from all that you've created? The 

[00:33:36] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: biggest thing that I wish I would've done differently was to document the process more.

[00:33:41] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Mm-hmm. And for entrepreneurs who are early in their idea or just simply in idea stage, write down everything. Those things that you write down could very well become your operations manual. It could be your communications when you're thinking through market. But write down these things because you will forget.

[00:34:05] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: So there are so many things that I just wish I would've documented early. So many memories that I've lost now because they've been replaced with other memories that I, I didn't have the money to do this, but I wish I had a videographer following me along in my very first village market so I can remember her, that version of me that was so innocent in this idea and so wide-eyed about just life and opportu.

[00:34:29] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: That those are the things that I would do. If I could, I would do differently. And then the other part, the advice that I would give to myself that, that version of me in in 2016 was trust the vision. I was a little bit ahead of my time, Megan, with the idea of mm-hmm. Bringing black businesses together in this way and making sure the foods are plant-based and not compromising that any product that's sold in the village market had to be.

[00:34:58] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: And that all the messaging on t-shirts at candles had to be affirming and the products had to be good and sensitive and taking care of our environment. I was a little bit ahead of my time, so sometimes I, I wondered if my idea, was it truly a good idea, was I wanting and longing for too much? And what I would tell myself, everything that you long for is exactly what our people.

[00:35:26] Meghan Houle: All. You are just so incredible, and I didn't realize everything. I mean, the plant-based is incredible in itself, but you're a trailblazer and knowing that just because you, you have an idea, you take the steps to put it. I think everybody at times is looking for that in. Since success, since instant gratification.

[00:35:42] Meghan Houle: Things take time. But I agree. Documenting and remembering. I have a lot of my clients too. I'm like, get a journal, whether it's work history or something big. You're going through, take even two seconds a day to just write down and then you have a book or like you said, manual. To go back to a couple more questions before I let you go, what are you most excited for looking into the future?

[00:36:03] Meghan Houle: Any fun plans? I know you're in planning mode now, but what can we expect? I'm 

[00:36:08] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: really excited to launch these program. Program, the her pro bono program, the Get Procured program, elevated Cities, I'm, I cannot wait until the community, our broad community, are able to take part in the hard work that my team and I are putting together.

[00:36:27] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I know that it is going to change the lives of so many, so many entrepreneurs. I know that it's going to afford those entrepreneurs community in a village that we all. And so I'm really, really excited about that. I'm excited about expanding my team. We are, I feel very fortunate to be in a place that we can hire people and employ them well beyond a lovable wage.

[00:36:52] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: I am so thankful for that. Again, I just can't believe it. I can't believe that this idea has turned into this thing and I get to work with some of the most talented people. I look forward to team expansion. I look forward to deploying. Our programs and getting those out to the community. And also on a personal level, I have some great vacations lined up, so I'm looking forward to that.

[00:37:15] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Yes, 

[00:37:16] Meghan Houle: we were just talking about that too. I mean, we're like, when's the next vacation we get to go on? So it's all exciting, uh, and everything where it is, you can tell your passion is. Infectious. You are such a beautiful human and I'm excited to continue to follow you and see all that you're doing. And like I said, make a point and make a trip to come visit in one of the, the quarterly shopping events with the, the village market and come see the retail store.

[00:37:41] Meghan Houle: So, how can listeners find you, you know, maybe if you are hiring in the future, or you know, just to engage and get to know more about what you're up to and all your businesses. What's the best place to send them? In terms of a landing page or just to engage with you in general? Yes. 

[00:37:57] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: So all the things that we talk about, it is the easiest to go to the village market.com because on the village market page, it will then, if you're looking, if you're an entrepreneur that wants to be take place in an incubator, need resources, need smaller grants, then it will navigate you to our village.

[00:38:17] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: You. If you are wanting to be in a retail store on the village market page, it would navigate you there. So Village Market is our mothership for all things help village market.com. Go there. If you would like to follow me. I'll, again, a terrible social media, but I do tweet and do a screenshot and put it on Instagram at least once a week.

[00:38:38] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Awesome. That's Dr. P Hallman on on All platform. 

[00:38:44] Meghan Houle: Perfect. We'll link everything and I'm sure, and especially, so for anyone you're looking to hire, are a lot of your team members Atlanta based or do you have like hybrid remote opportunities as well? Maybe 

[00:38:55] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: you're looking to sales. That's a great question.

[00:38:56] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Yes, so we, we do have hybrid remote positions as well. So we are, we are looking amazing in Atlanta for the Get Procure program, but for elevated cities, we're looking for program managers. As long as you are able. And sincere about community building economic mobility. Please make sure that you apply and you'll see those applications on the website.

[00:39:19] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: Perfect. A lot of 

[00:39:20] Meghan Houle: our listeners are looking for pivots. Pivots with purpose. So there you go. Everyone please check out all the links. And Dr. Hellman, I'm just in awe. I am over the moon inspired and impressed with you and all you've built to create the community in visibility within the VI village marketplace and village retail.

[00:39:39] Meghan Houle: And I know you're just getting started. Thank you for sharing your incredible pivot story and words of advice. And as I said for our listeners, please click the links in the show notes to check out all of Dr. Hallman's platforms and we look forward to keeping an eye on what you're doing, and I'll see you in Atlanta real soon.

[00:39:54] Meghan Houle: So thanks for sharing your beautiful story and your beautiful 

[00:39:57] Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon: soul. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. Thank 

[00:40:01] Meghan Houle: you for tuning into another episode of Pivot With Purpose. If you'd love this episode, please be sure to share it with your network. Leave us a review in a five star. If you are enjoying these pivot conversations and wanna keep the personal development going as an executive recruiter and master career in clarity, coach, join my community and be the first to have access to all of my content to set you up for success in whatever stage you are in career-wise, and get some inspiration.

[00:40:29] Meghan Houle: Be the first to know about local and virtual events I'll be hosting as well, so maybe you can join me in person. Head over to www.meganhall.com/community or click the link in the show notes to get on the 

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