We Added Our Largest Group of Founders to the Goodie Nation Community

As we continue our momentum throughout 2021, our goal is to grow our community to 300 founders by the end of Q3 — adding to the diversity of cities our founders represent. 

In July 2021, we added 24 new founders to our Next Generation program from across the nation to our community at one time.

As Next Generation Founders, these diverse entrepreneurs will have free access to monthly accountability huddles; 1-on-1 coaching; mental health support; and of course, our network!

These 25 founders come from 11 different cities and several different backgrounds, and they’re innovating industries including workplace/HR, culture, healthcare, education, and entertainment.

Take a look at who they are and what they’re solving:

Dumebi Egbuna, Co-Founder of Chezie

City: New York, NY

Industry: Workplace

Chezie is a diversity, equity, and inclusion software company that helps employers make meaningful impact with their DEI and helps diverse job-seekers find careers that they love.

Toby Egbuna, Co-Founder of Chezie

City: New York, NY

Industry: Workplace and HR

Chezie is a diversity, equity, and inclusion software company that helps employers make meaningful impact with their DEI and helps diverse job-seekers find careers that they love.

Daniel Pulley, Co-Founder of Staj

City: Chicago, IL

Industry: Art and Culture

Staj is an event-tech company developing a modern day solution for finding local arts events; music, dance, visual arts, theatre, comedy, etc. Their goal is that our platform will be the largest online directory for local arts events, artists and venues.

Joshua Ross, Co-Founder of Staj

City: Chicago, IL

Industry: Culture

Staj is an event-tech company developing a modern day solution for finding local arts events; music, dance, visual arts, theatre, comedy, etc. Their goal is that our platform will be the largest online directory for local arts events, artists and venues.

Calbert Warner, Co-Founder of JumpButton Studio

City: Philadelphia, PA

Industry: Gaming and Animation

JumpButton Studio is an award-winning studio working to increase representation within the games and animation industry.

Nicodemus Madehdou, Co-Founder of JumpButton Studio

City: Philadelphia, PA

Industry: Gaming and Animation

JumpButton Studio is an award-winning studio working to increase representation within the games and animation industry.

El Lewis, Creative Director of O. Studio Design

City: Alexandria, VA

Industry: Fashion and Apparel

O. is sustainable, smart/tech apparel that is centered around unity, innovation, and performance. It was created for men who want to impact the world and invest their time in becoming the best version of themselves.

Blair Armstrong, Founder of Gilded Body

City: Atlanta, GA

Industry: Beauty and Cosmetics

Gilded Body is a luxury body skincare company with a mission of elevating the conversation around body skincare while offering high quality and effective options that are easily incorporated into wellness and beauty routines.

Nzali Scales, Founder of Zaza’s Kitchen

City: Atlanta, GA

Industry: Food Education

Zaza’s Kitchen helps people of all ages feel the indescribable joy of cooking gourmet meals using fresh ingredients. Through their signature Prep-to-Plate Experience and cookbooks, Zaza’s Kitchen help people experience their inner chef from the comfort of their own kitchen.

Aga Key, Founder of Always RepresentED

City: Richmond, VA

Industry: Higher Education Management

Always RepresentED was launched with one goal: to create an equitable outcome for all in education. They provide a platform that specializes in helping universities illuminate blind spots by seeing through the lens of current and prospective students.

Taylor Cook, Founder of Tiny Bodega

City: New York, NY

Industry: Food and Beverage Retail

Tiny Bodega is an online marketplace dedicated to healthy indie food brands founded by BIPOC makers. They are pulling brands out of the tucked away “ethnic food” ? aisles and bringing them into the lit space they deserve.

Brandon Howard, Founder of U4Ea

City: Burbank, CA

Industry: Health and Wellness

U4Ea is a binaural beat generating app. It is designed to let the user select tones to listen to based on the meditative properties for which each tone consists.

Ronald Freeman, Founder of United Market 

City: Atlanta, GA

Industry: Music and Culture

United Market is a digital manager for music production professionals to manage client flow, communication, and booking of their studio sessions.

Jonathan Cornelius, Founder of Meet & Innovate

City: Atlanta, GA

Industry: Workspace and HR

Meet & Innovate sources talent that matches employers’ needs from a skill and cultural standpoint. They are not like other recruiting services because they have a talent pool of qualified, verified, and diverse job seekers.

Brent Wright, Founder of Virely

City: Atlanta, GA

Industry: Marketing Tech

Virely is a B2B SaaS Social Commerce Platform for Small Business. By integrating algorithm-based referral code sharing technology and communications platforms, Virely will help generate viral brand awareness and create higher levels of brand exposure for small businesses.

Austin Igein, Founder of Beach Box Safe

City: Atlanta, GA

Industry: Security

Beach Box restores peace of mind and convenience when visiting beaches, pools, and amusement parks by reducing the chance of theft of personal belongings. Beach Box is a portable safe, speaker, and USB charging station created to store your personal belongings.

Marvin White, Founder of Take 10 Trivia

City: Chicago, IL

Industry: Gaming

Take 10 Trivia is a prize and mission based trivia app that engages their players in fun trivia categories with the chance to win and make donations to great causes. Take 10 Trivia is currently on the AppStore and Google Play.

Zul Momin, Co-Founder of Oodles Rewards

City: Austin, TX

Industry: Information Tech (ecommerce)

Oodles Rewards helps B2B eCommerce retailers by deepening the synergies between our Loyalty & Referrals, SMS, & Conversational AI. They want the SMBs to work smarter, not harder by solving their everyday pain points.

Ebonique Boyd, Co-Founder of Budget Collector

City: Washington, DC

Industry: Personal Investment (Art)

Budget Collector is creating the “Netflix” of Fine Art. They are democratizing the fine art community and helping people feel comfortable investing in fine art.

Marvin Harris, Founder of Ovalz

City: College Park, MD

Industry: Information Tech (ecommerce)

Ovalz helps reconcile information faster without the the need to send spreadsheets and emails back and forth. Their mission is to help eCommerce stores become more successful and to reduce global waste.

Leban Arreh, Partner at Tikler

City: Atlanta, GA

Industry: Information Tech

Tikler helps companies eliminate duplicate efforts and information silos by offering EASY-TO-USE‍ document tracking for the entire organization. Tickler eliminates the stress of version control, filing systems, and important dates.

Destiny Wright, Founder of Scope: The Horoscope Dating App

City: San Francisco, CA

Industry: Social Media

Scope is a mobile dating app dedicated to creating accurate matches by pairing individuals through zodiac love compatibility.

Taj Salaam, Founder of BlaklistEd

City: San Francisco, CA

Industry: Education

BlaklistEd is an app that provides brief insightful summaries of bestselling progressive and socially conscious books, in text and audio.

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