Rude awakenings make for the best enlightenment

Hi! I’m Celina, your new silent partner to help grow your business.

Learning The Power of Business Know-How

After graduating from college with a snazzy new job in business, 9-11 hit and I was "stuck" continuing to work in retail. Deciding to make the best of it, I quickly matriculated up the ranks from customer service associate at a top retailer to an assistant manager and then to running my own big box stores. By the age of 23, I had run million dollar stores where I learned the foundation for hiring talented staff, how to coach and develop individuals, and establish sound business practices to protect not only protect the business from theft, how to grow the business beyond what had been achieved before, and how to "sell" my ideas.

Business know-how gave me a "leg up" in law school

Then I decided to go to law school and I realized the lessons I learned in retail were pretty freaking helpful in the legal world. I had an edge on other budding attorneys who shied away from "selling" their arguments and themselves. I was totally comfortable persuading people towards my ideas and found that people were willing to invest in the me simply because they believed in the vision of my world. Following law school, I worked in private practice supporting complex merger and acquisition transactions, state government and courts, federal advocacy, and finally landed in nonprofit. I held some lofty titles and was often the only African American woman at the table of power. It was an incredibly heavy weight on my shoulders but one I took very seriously.

Run your small business like a corporation