Meet Our Entrepreneurs
How an Elevator Pitch Can Get You Published
Denise Knowles wears many hats: wife, mother, grandmother (known as Hunny), medical case manager for Street Works, roller-skater, published author, Empowerment Speaker, relationship coach, entrepreneur, founder of The D.U.E Over Coach, and Academy Alumna.
Denise was a part of our first “pandemic cohort” of The Academy in 2020. To keep our community safe, we transitioned our program to be 100% virtual via Zoom for the first time ever.
“Me and the world alike had to adjust to a different way of learning, communicating, and definitely a different way of living. I was amazed that [Corner to Corner] cared enough and was innovative enough to create a means to service its clientele, especially in times like we faced. My instructors (Carlos Partee and Honey Simmons) went above and beyond to create a space as close to normal as possible. ”
Even though The Academy looked a bit different, we still focused on the same values and taught the same curriculum. One of the key factors of our 10-week entrepreneurial program is keeping it community-led. Carlos and Honey are Academy Alumni themselves, who continue to see impressive growth since graduating from our program.
“One thing that was very vital to my experience was being taught by people that once sat in the same seats as us. It was an assurance that they understood and had compassion for the endeavors we were embarking on. It created a safety net that we were not alone.”
Even with that support, though, Denise encountered obstacles. She’s a people person, and the isolation brought on by the pandemic was extremely tough for her. On top of that, she’s not “at the top of the game in technology”, so learning a new skill while simultaneously learning all about entrepreneurship was a lot to take in.
But she persevered and graduated from The Academy in the fall of 2020!
As an author and speaker, Denise learned a lot about the power of words, and how she could use that power to further her entrepreneurial journey.
“People remember experiences, not just words spoken, but how the words make them feel. Creating an experience is what stays with them. My favorite thing is being authentic in all I write and speak, not trying to be like the next person but being who I am best at being which is unapologetically me.”
The #1 thing she learned from The Academy is an evergreen practice: “When it comes to your business, always be ready to share what you do in an elevator pitch. Being able to paint a picture in a short amount of time opens the door to networking and building relationships.”
And Denise would know! Back in 2014, she met professional speaker Mark Wiggins. During that short encounter, she said he would become her own speech coach one day. In 2020, right after she graduated from The Academy, that intention became a reality!
On top of that, in early 2021 Mark launched his brand new magazine Off the Bench and asked Denise to be a contributor. “I was one of the featured writers selected [for the magazine], and my book, Love Roll Lifetime, was also showcased in one of the first issues. Mr. Wiggins has provided me with so many opportunities to be on his platform on an international level – these are not opportunities that are granted every day!”
After her feature in the 2021 launch, Denise has continued to be featured in Off the Bench, including a summer partnership that featured her writing in July, August, and September 2022 issues.
You can read her work by subscribing here.
After overcoming the hardships of 2020, it brings us so much joy to see entrepreneurs like Denise achieving success and seeing continual growth in their businesses!
Follow Denise’s story
From Notary to Nonprofit
Tawana Mitchhart loves to have a plan. After working for Marriott and Southwest for years, she decided she wanted to start her own business. She attended esthetician school, got licensed, and opened her own practice in 2020, even with the hardships of the pandemic.
But God had a different plan for her. After just 2 months of running her own business, Tawana was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer in December 2020. She was forced to close her esthetician business as she fought against this extremely rare form of breast cancer, undergoing chemo and radiation throughout 2021. After feeling stuck at home and wanting to get back out there, Tawana found Corner to Corner on social media, and more specifically, she found Adrienne Bowling.
“I saw you featuring Adrienne’s story and I felt motivated. I wanted to follow in her footsteps and become a notary, too.” So Tawana got a new plan: enroll in The Academy, become a notary, and make some money. When she walked into class on the first day to meet her fellow entrepreneurs and facilitators, she was shocked to see Adrienne herself up front. “I just randomly picked this class to attend, without knowing that Adrienne was going to be my facilitator!” Tawana was thrilled to be learning about the notary business from the person who had sparked her interest in the first place.
But as she sat down to listen, God changed up her plans once again. Adrienne, and her co-facilitator Jelly, welcomed Tawana and her peers to The Academy and got right down to business. “They were so encouraging, telling us to tap into our passions, asking us if our business ideas were what we truly wanted to do. And on that first day of class, I went in with the idea of becoming a notary and walked out with the inspiration for my nonprofit, The Pinky Mobile Skin Coach.”
For the next nine weeks, Tawana pursued that passion and brought The Pinky Mobile Skin Coach to life. “Our mission is to literally meet people where they are in their cancer journey. After my cancer diagnosis, I went through aggressive breast cancer treatment – chemo, meds, radiation. I noticed the radiation was tearing my skin to shreds and discoloring it. As a cancer patient with complications like that happening often, we have to continuously get up and go to the radiologist, and go to the doctor for even more prescriptions.
I was just over it, it’s exhausting.
So one day, after treatments, I looked up and asked ‘God, what do you want me to do?’ Because I was ready to go back to work and open up my esthetician shop again. Well I woke up one day, and I knew it was nothing but God, He told me, ‘You’re not supposed to go back to work and charge people, you’re supposed to help people.’”
And that’s exactly what The Pinky Mobile Skin Coach has done. They provide free skin care, facials, products, and cancer coaching to people in active cancer treatment, meeting them where they are, in their homes, or at vendor events. “I deal with the aftermath of what you’re going through. They may want a facial or skin treatment, or maybe they just need to talk with someone. And the good part of this is that I’ve been in the trenches where those people are.
The doctors treat you, but now you need somebody, one-on-one, who knows exactly what you’re going through. I want to be that person, who knows where they are physically, mentally, and spiritually. We have cancer navigators, and they provide wonderful services, but they have so many people they need to care for. This is a one-on-one, unique, intimate experience, just myself and the client I’m with. They don’t feel like just a service or just a number.”
Recently, Tawana’s nonprofit got some much-deserved spotlight. The Pinky Mobile Skin Coach was featured on News Channel 5, in multiple states. Since then, she’s had a handful of women from other states reach out only to realize her services are only in Nashville… for now.
“I’m trying to network with other estheticians in those states to get free facials for those cancer patients there. I want to take this all over the world! We’re currently working on getting a camper vehicle and converting it into a mobile skincare unit.” And Tawana won’t stop there – she has BIG plans now, big dreams, and passions to bring this service to every cancer patient who needs it.
“I don’t want it to stop just at skincare. I want to offer therapeutic massages, nail services, barber appointments, wigs; a whole network of individuals who come together to support and lift up cancer patients.”
“This is the mission God gave me.”
Tawana not only found her passion for her nonprofit through The Academy; She also found a network of supportive Black women entrepreneurs to tap into. “My favorite part about The Academy was the camaraderie and sisterhood. I grew up in a very tight-knit family, and never really had a group of girlfriends. But I found that support system at The Academy. And that’s another thing Corner to Corner has helped me do. I was never the person to ask for help or reach out. I would struggle to do it on my own, but now I know I have this network of people I can reach out to for help if I can’t do this on my own. And I’m grateful to Corner to Corner for that.”
Tawana and her class still have a group chat going where they ask questions, offer advice, and lend support whenever it’s needed. They go to each others’ events, spread the word about their businesses, and are always there to cheer each other on.
“I would suggest Corner to Corner 10 times over because it’s not just about helping you grow your business – they help you with so many other aspects of your life, it’s so much more.”
Her advice to our incoming cohort of Academy students?
“Corner to Corner is going to do everything it needs to do in your business life and then some.”
“Leave what you think you know on the table and give it a chance. We go in with all these preconceptions about what other people have taught us or what we’ve come up with in our own minds. You need to shake that off and allow God, the facilitators, and these other individuals to pour into you. Take that wall down and shed the negative things you came in with. If you do that, Corner to Corner is going to do everything it needs to do in your business life and then some.”
Make sure to keep an eye out for The Pinky Mobile Skin Coach on social media, and stay tuned for Tawana’s special feature on News Channel 4 in October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month! If you’d like to learn more about The Pinky Mobily Skin Coach, follow her on Instagram @Pinky_MobileSkinCoach
