The Business Journal Roundtable Series: Minority Entrepreneurs Tell Their Stories

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BUSINESS JOURNAL: Tell us a little bit about your company, what you do, when you went into business, and what you provide.

Ashlyn Symone Baker, owner of Signatures by Symone Brand Design Studio: I’m the owner of Signatures Brand Design Studio in Youngstown. We’re a full-service marketing agency. We do everything from graphics to plant-and-production to strategy to apparel – everything that you may need for your marketing portfolio. We’re a brand management company.

We’ve been in business coming up on four years. We’ve looking to expand. So we’ve got a lot of exciting things coming up.

DeShawn Scott, founder and CEO of the D5 Group: We’re a marketing management and creative services firm. So we deal with what I call big M and little M marketing. Big M is strategic and tactical marketing; little M is more like websites.

We’ve been around. This is our 10-year anniversary. We just relocated in downtown Warren. We moved from the Brite building over to the Huntington Building – more space. And we also have the Sound United Podcast Studio, which is a turnkey for individuals to come in, or businesses or nonprofits to come in, and produce content. Finally, we have a community podcast and with that we amplify unsung community heroes. It’s called “Sound United Presents.”

Lisa Robinson, founder and owner of Show Stopper Landscaping: I started in 2014. I’m still working on my business. I do landscaping. I do the flowers, the trees. And then I do balloons and flowers.

Now I’m trying to get my greenhouse and I’m adding to it a commercial greenhouse so I can excel a little bit more.

I’ve been doing pretty good. I did 32 yards so far this year. Still got a long list. Got to push through it.

That’s who I am, Show Stopper Landscaping, 3514 Market St. I’m hoping the grand opening will be next year. I’m doing pop-ups now. Like on holidays.

I’m doing landscaping all through the year. I’ll start with removing snow this year. That’s been added and my son’s going to help me. …

We’re in the old Burkland’s Flower Shop that I bought for a dollar. They said I couldn’t do it. But I did.

Terrell Washington, owner and founder of Leaf Relief: I operate dispensaries and manufacturing facilities in the cannabis space in Ohio and in New Jersey.

We started off as medical cannabis dispensaries. We were the 19th dispensary to open in the state and the first Black-owned dispensary to open in Ohio, the last of the original independents from RFA1 [request for applications].

It was a dream since 2016. We realized what was coming with the Legislature and the previous amendments that failed on the ballot. So, we started off as medical cannabis. Expanded from one dispensary to adding a manufacturing facility.

Now I have a second dispensary in Reynoldsburg outside of Columbus, as well as one in Plainfield, New Jersey. And then in 2025, probably early 2025, we’ll add a location in Austintown.

Kelan Bilal, owner of Excalibur Barber Grooming Lounge inside the Southern Park Mall and in Girard: We’ve been in business for 11 years in the Southern Park Mall, the first Black-owned barbershop within the mall, and the longest tenured minority business in the mall.

I have a few different things, a nonprofit, which is Grooming University. Also I am the chair of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Foundation. So we do a lot of community work outside of what we do as far as barbering.

Business Journal: Tell us some of the challenges you faced in getting your business going.

Bilal, Excalibur Barber: As a minority business? First, going into the mall was one of the biggest challenges; to know that it had never been done, how people were going to accept us.

And it definitely was a challenge watching people walk past daily. You could hear the talk, “Wow, that’s a Black business, a Black barbershop inside of the mall.” It was as if they’d never seen it.

Overcoming that was one of the things that we wanted to do because the purpose was to bring diversity to what the mall was. We were a group of barbers – young, very zealous barbers – very good at what we do. And we wanted to challenge ourselves and go into a market that nobody expected us to be in.

Business Journal: Have White people started coming to your shop or is it still pretty segregated?

Bilal, Excalibur Barber: We’ve always had a few White patrons. But the reason we wanted to take on that challenge is to go out there and prove that this isn’t just a Black establishment that cuts Black hair. And of course we don’t call it Black hair; it’s normally coarse, curly. Hair doesn’t have a race or ethnicity.

We wanted to prove that we can cut anyone’s hair that sits in our chair and people can be comfortable coming to us. Because that’s always been a challenge. If you go into a Black barbershop versus a White barbershop, it was segregated.

Business Journal: Have you succeeded?

Bilal, Excalibur Barber: A hundred percent, 100%. Not only from the patrons or the clients that come in. Our staff cuts White, Puerto Rican, Black, female hair.

We wanted to prove that we can do this all together. We have succeeded.

Business Journal: That’s great.

Bilal, Excalibur Barber: That’s been a challenge. But I like taking those type of risks.

Baker, Signatures by Symone Brand Design Studio: In my course as an entrepreneur, and even when I was in corporate America, I feel like as a minority business owner and just as a minority – I’m young, I’m Black and I’m a woman. So there’s always been an aspect of standing up taller, speaking louder. Which is why I’m somewhat flamboyant.

I’ve learned, in a sense, to adopt a command presence when I’m in a room, especially when I’m in networking events where I am the minority and I’m the only little thing that sticks out there. I try to ensure that I’m seen on an equal footing.

Not only am I a minority as a business owner, I’m a minority in my industry.

At the same time, I’m not on the level where I began. I was more of a crafter and I was just making T-shirts for birthday parties. Now we’ve obtained so many larger contracts that I’m in an industry where my competitors are the big guys. I’m in competition with FedEx, Office Max, Staples, anywhere you can get prints and copies.

That’s whom I’m up against. So there always had to be a level of confidence, one of those things I was born with, because I’ve always been a loudmouth. I’ve always had to stand up tall. I’ve always been a leader. I’ve always been class clown.

So that’s just one thing that I encourage when I do mentorship with young girls: Make yourself known. Have a nice firm handshake. Know what you’re saying when you speak. Even if you don’t know, it’s OK to admit that.

So that’s something that I had to learn as I grew in my career and also as an entrepreneur.

DeShawn Scott, D5 Group: I was wheeling up for this question. This is one of my favorite questions. As a minority business owner, my greatest challenge is perception – and that comes on both sides.

Some of us small-business owners – minority business owners – have coffee table conversations with our own people. Because the expectation is that we’re not at the professional level of a White-owned business or established business. We’re not as qualified to do what we have to do.

The other thing we hear on that side – from our own people – is, “Your prices are too high.”

What do you mean our prices are too high? We’ve done our research; this is the market rate. Or [they ask] for a discount. Or [say we show] a lack of support.

When I started my business I was like, Black people are going to come support me. If you look at our portfolio, it is nothing like that.

And that’s OK. Money is green. I’m not in business to be a magnet and deal just with people of color. I like to work with all people. So there’s that side.

The other side of that perception is dealing with everything from our suppliers, perhaps some financial establishments – and none of them are in here, by the way.

The state has programs for minority businesses. That’s also a doubled-edged sword for us because the expectation is – I had this meeting and I brought paperwork and they were asking elementary questions like, “Do you have a marketing plan?” It was the way it was asked.

I’m there thinking, “Here you go. Yeah, here you go.”

They’re asking, “Have you ever had a CPA?”

“Yeah, I’ve had a CPA for five years.”

It’s these questions – you have to be in the skin that some of us are in to understand it. It’s how they ask you these questions as if to say, “You just woke up and want to start a business.” And that perception hits on both sides.

So for me, it’s been our own people and it’s been dealing with established places where vendors and even customers [ask condescending questions].

The second challenge would be convenient outreach. I’m going to throw that in because I have to be candid. Sometimes we get invited to the table, I joke, in February and June. I keep a CRM and I put contact information of when I had the last call. I get this call at the end of January or the end of May, “Hey, DeShawn, how’s it going? We haven’t talked in a while.”

In my head I’m saying, “Yeah, it would have been this same time last year. They’re doing some event.”

And, that’s the only time. You’re never invited to have a conversation about economic development. You’re invited [only] to certain things.

Whether that’s unintentional or whether it’s because, well, you know what I mean. And these are things I went through and  continue to go through.

And then the last [challenge] is information distribution. What I mean by that is, as a minority business, we’re the last to find out information about certain opportunities.

About three years ago there was an RFP [request for proposals] that came down. I got a phone call, became excited. I was telling my late wife, “We’re about to tear this up and do this. So I’m on this call and they said, “You’ve got a week and a half to get it in to us.”

I asked, “When did [the RFP] come out?”

I’m informed, a little short of a month ago.

And I won’t use the word that I wanted to use because this is on the record. It was the first of many times where it felt like I was invited only because of a quota, because of some type of qualification. …

Those are the things that get my back up. Those are some of the things I face.

Business Journal: I’m glad we didn’t hold this in February [Black History Month].

Scott, D5 Group: But August is Black Business Month. And I rock with the Business Journal. Y’all have always been inclusive.

Business Journal: I get it. One of the reasons we’re having this roundtable is because we don’t have enough diversity in our paper. And we need to hear what you have to say.

Robinson, Show Stopper Landscaping: Being a woman and being a landscaper, I get challenged because if I have guys working, they try to challenge me. It’s hard. You can never get enough funds for what you got to do. You get a little bit to throw here and throw there. And then they’ll [lenders] tell you they’ll help you with something and you never get the amount they tell you. It’s always lesser or not enough. So I do two or three jobs to do what I got to do…I end up doing the most work, like always.

You just got to have hope and faith and just, just keep at it. I’ve been at it since 2014 and it’s never enough.

You keep doing and keep working and you’ll get there. If people would help us more, we could get there quicker.

Business Journal: You’re talking about financing and credit?

Robinson, Show Stopper Landscaping: Yes. It’s never enough.

Washington, Leaf Relief: We have unusual circumstances. I’m in them now because I can’t borrow money. [The cannabis business] is still federally illegal. So there’s no borrowing money. In my most recent endeavors, everything I make is going right back out the door because I have to pay in cash.

Or it’s banks closing accounts because they know what you do. You’re engaged in a federal illegal activity. If you come in, I can help you pick what you want but I can’t ring you out because then I would be engaged in a federal illegal activity.

Even the expenses of the business, I can’t expense a vehicle. I can’t expense my labor like a normal person because it’s no different than drug dealing until Congress finally reschedules. So myself and security are the only people who can be counted as a traditional employee.

We have a tax code unlike every other American business. That makes it a whole lot more difficult.

And then for the first 21/2 years, you’re paid in cash. There were only two banks in the state that would take dispensary money or cannabis money. Ironically, one was on an Air Force base.

There’s always been a taboo with cannabis, even though it’s woven into American history. The Betsy Ross flag was made of hemp. It was one way you could get out of serving in the military in World War II – under the Hemp for Victory Act. We pretend it hasn’t been good for America.

But us being medicinal first has helped because of how many people we were helping improve quality of life and end-of-life treatments… [Regarding challenges for minority businesses,] it’s tough to get into the room. It’s tough to have a qualified voice in those rooms. You wonder if it is because of quotas. In some cases, is it we don’t value you as a minority but we value your money?

That’s another factor. And I understand that I’m in a unique situation where the socio-economic status I’ve inherited insulates me. But there are a lot of people who can’t speak up because of the financial impact if they do. I’ve been very fortunate because of my industry. McDonald’s isn’t going to go out of business.

And people are always going to need medicine. You’re not going to shut down my [cannabis] business. You can’t. But that’s not the case for 99% of us.

They can’t speak up and advocate for themselves because of their fear of repercussions.

When I spoke up two weeks ago, the fact that there were no RFA1 Black-owned dispensaries opened on Day One of recreational sales in the state of Ohio, I got tons of calls and had to go to battle with the state. Then I had to reach out to all of the allies. They didn’t realize because of [my] serving on the [Regional] Chamber [board] and their other relationships, it’s you can’t bully this person. But there are 10 other stories from that day where somebody has been bullied because they spoke up. Some spoke and advocated for themselves or someone else.

Business Journal: Are you saying that on the first day of recreational sales, no Black-owned dispensaries were open?

Washington, Leaf Relief: There were zero RFA1 Black-owned dispensaries. All the original Black-owned dispensaries that got [medicinal] licenses back in 2018, all of [those] from 2018 who were the first in the state, none of them were allowed to open on Day One.

I don’t like to argue intent. I like to defer to the math. And I challenge you to give me a mathematical model where none of the original 60 dispensary operators, none of the original Black ones were allowed to open on Day One. And then they’re allowed to the day after?

Business Journal: You were allowed to open only on the second day?

Washington, Leaf Relief: The day after. But the financial impact and the PR impact of not being there on Day One are huge.

Business Journal: Let’s go to the bankers. What do you say to all these challenges? How can you help?

Juan Santiago, Farmers National Bank: I have a background in residential lending. For 20 years I helped people secure homes and have access to capital, whether to build, buy or refinance. In the last six, seven years, I’ve worked in community development.

I help in the areas of Community Reinvestment Act. That was enacted by Congress in 1977 to ensure that capital was accessible or banks were meeting the credit needs of their communities inclusive of low to moderate income. Not ethnicity or race or color driven, but as a result of redlining where there were neighborhoods where banks weren’t lending. That law was enacted to ensure that banks meet the needs of the entire community.

Three areas comprise the CRA: lending, service and investment. Pertinent to this conversation, the lending piece is what we do to make affordable housing accessible, loans to small businesses and small farms, and community development loans.

As to the challenges, there’s a mentorship component. It’s key for anybody going into – inclusive of minorities – if you’re getting into something, look at someone doing it well and have that person guide you.

We as lenders sit down. I look at it as consultative in nature. We want to see businesses succeed because it’s win-win for the community and the bank as well because we’re looking to lend the money. As they grow, we grow.

Mentorship is key. DeShawn [Scott] alluded to opportunity. And, it’s showing that there’s a level of excellence that you guys put out in the businesses you have.

As with Kelan at the mall. It could be a woman-owned business. It’s saying, ‘We have a standard like everyone else. My skin color may be different, but let me show you.’

Sometimes you have to work harder, twice as hard sometimes, even more. But it’s advocating for these businesses and supporting them.

[In regard to]access to capital, until the legislators have a change of heart, you’re going to deal with those challenges.

It’s incumbent upon us to work with Valley Partners, with Matthew [Longmire], and how Valley Partners has programs available to help.

One program, EDGE – Economically Disadvantaged Growing Entrepreneurs – is geared toward minority and women-owned businesses. It’s bringing that to light.

For lenders – whether Farmers or Consumers or any other bank helping these individuals start their businesses, grow their businesses and expand them – the key component is education.

People don’t know what they don’t know. So if we can educate them, connect them with somebody who’s going to take them under their wing, it’s going to bode well for everybody down the line.

Matthew Longmire, business resources manager, Valley Economic Development Partners: Housed inside Valley Partners is our Business Resource Center and our Minority Business Assistance Center.

What makes up Valley Partners are 18 loan programs. We specialize in small-business lending.

We have 18 loan programs for clients, depending on their asking amounts, the purpose it serves, and the location of their businesses. That determines the program.

At the table are some of our bankers on our loan committee – our loan committee is very diverse – [including] Vicki and Juan. We help our clients get the capital they need to their business.

But a step further, what I’ve been hearing, is how our communities have been underfunded with their projects. For example, if a client needs – let’s just say $20,000 – but they were approved only for $10,000, they have to accept the $10,000 because some capital at that time was better than no capital. But then, by accepting that underfunded capital, they were behind the eightball.

That’s one thing we provide at Valley Partners: free technical assistance, that mentorship. We work with our clients and ask, “What do you need?”

And then we help provide those quotes to back it up. Because we want to provide a very strong loan packet so that when we come to committee – we can’t guarantee approval – the only thing we can guarantee is that we will be in the best position to give you the resources that you need.

I always say this: For a plant to fully grow, it needs water, sunlight, all of the proper resources to grow.

Like a plant, a business needs resources to grow. It needs money. If it doesn’t have the proper resources, it won’t fully grow into what it’s meant to be.

At Valley Partners, we make sure our clients have all the resources to grow – for them to be successful.

Vicki Hall, business development officer and commercial lender, Consumers National Bank: I’ve been in banking for 40-plus years. So I’ve seen a lot. As a woman, I have also seen some disparities. I was the first woman lender at the first bank where I worked. That was a big deal back in the day. Now it’s commonplace.

But I look at what I do as consultive. If a client comes to me, I try to advise them, connect them with the resources, with Matthew’s group, Valley Partners.

We have a group in Salem called the Sustainable Opportunity Development Corp. I work with Julie Needs a lot there. Someone comes in. They have a dream, a vision. I start talking to them: “Do you have a business plan? Do you have projections?”

If they say no, I say, “Well, I can connect you to somebody who will help you free of charge.”

Those services are free of charge. It’s part of my role to direct my clients to those resources. And then when they’re prepared – and Matthew [Longmire] does the same thing through the Valley Partners – I can send clients to him and he helps them develop those concrete plans so that the client is prepared to come to me to request financing.

You need a good attorney. You need a good CPA. All these are things that I try to advise my clients to utilize: Get the best support underneath you that you can.

When I look at a client, I never look at them as a minority or whatever. I try to offer them the best options I can and help them to be successful. Because, as Juan said, when they’re successful, we’re successful. It’s a partnership.

Our bank philosophy is: We don’t want to just make you a loan. We want to develop a relationship. We want to see you grow and be successful

Business Journal: Any feedback?

Washington, Leaf Relief: Not seeing us as a minority: That statement comes from a good place. But there is value in seeing us as minorities because of the additional challenges we face. That is just the nature of it. They can’t go to other [funding sources] or they may not be told, like we’ve heard, of the opportunities whether that be because of race or network. There’s a multitude of factors.

It’s important to see the whole story because that’s a part of every single one of our stories: where we come from. Not just race but the culture as well. If you were to bring somebody in who graduated from Yale versus someone who graduated elsewhere, your approach or the conversation pieces would be different because of that person’s experiences.

Being able to see all of someone – and not shy away from seeing all that someone – allows us to have more honest conversations. More honest conversations make for more constructive conversations.

Business Journal: Generational wealth is a big topic today because the lack of it is the core of what hurts the development of minority businesses. Can anybody speak to that?

Scott, D5 Group: I put it like playing Monopoly, where the generational – and whatever historical wealth – that’s all great. I’m not bashing that.

Let’s just say the other players have been around the board three times. They own all the red properties and they own the yellow, even the green. And you haven’t rolled the dice yet. They’ve passed Go and everything else.

Allied with that generational wealth is access. It’s also generational. They have access to relationships and connections that you don’t. So that generational wealth is bigger than money. It plays a role like the Monopoly board but also gives better access and privilege.

I welcome the challenge. But when you’re starting out, you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. It took me five years to pay myself.

I decided to reinvest everything I made. I need a couple of transactions, make a couple of customers happy, so I can get this iMac. I did that starting in 2013.

That’s the difference with me. You just had to: “Look, baby, let’s pay the water bill. Let’s just give them half. I got to go to Staples and get some folders.” Until you land that one big contract and things go forward, that’s the difference.

Business Journal [to Robinson]: We assume this has been a problem for you because you started with nothing.

Robinson, Show Stopper Landscaping: With scrap, because I got the old Masters Tuxedo building and it needed a 100% makeover. I was willing to take that challenge when they told me to walk away, but I had to. It needed everything.

I worked multiple jobs. Then with the little bit of money I got from various agencies – I made that work. But I made it work. You’ve got to figure it out if you want to make it – and you will.

Business Journal: Did you receive any help from banks or other funding sources?

Robinson, Show Stopper Landscaping: I just did Valley Partners the other day. I pick up a check today. That will help me get some drywall and paint. I have a contract with them that I do their [landscaping] every year. And I have other commercial contracts. I did 32 yards this year. But it is hard.

Business Journal: You said you hire at-risk kids? Also returning citizens?

Robinson, Show Stopper Landscaping: Yes. I have some of my grandkids and then I have other kids who have challenges. They take all that anger and I make them work.

I show them how to landscape. I show them how to mulch. I’m trying to teach them how to trim trees. They can’t catch it yet so I got to do it. But they’re willing to learn.

You’ve got some who don’t. You’ve got some who just want to get out of trouble.

Then you’ve got people coming out of jail who want a second chance. I give them chances. But they’ve got to be willing to work. A lot of them do.

Bilal, Excalibur Barber: As far as generational wealth, I know nothing about that.

Robinson, Show Stopper Landscaping: Me either.

Bilal, Excalibur Barber: I do wish that parents or grandparents are able to set aside something. I came up in the era where there were tragedies in the Black households as far as drugs and all that good stuff.

So the ability to accumulate generational wealth wasn’t even thought of. All we knew was work.

As I was opening my business, I started with $15,000. And it looked like it was only $15,000. When I look back at pictures now, I can’t believe we opened the doors with this.

That’s always a challenge in a lot of businesses, especially barbers. We go into barbering feeling we can open this just because we can cut hair. You definitely got to have a plan and a passion for what you do.

Even though you have a great clientele, when you think about opening a full business, especially going into the mall or something like that, you have to have a plan.

I like taking on those challenges because you’re a trailblazer.

Baker, Signatures by Symone: As far as generational wealth, I don’t come from any. I haven’t seen any of my peers have any. It’s not something that the people who I went to school with ever had access to.

However, I’m determined to create it. I have a 9-year-old daughter. She’s bright as a light. She’s so intelligent and she always wants to learn. So I let her come to the office. I let her work for me to make her money, whatever expenditure she wants. She gets something new every week.

When I go to events, I bring her along because she wants to learn the business. She even says sometimes, “When I grow up, I’ll be busy running your business.”

It’s great for her and it gives her the drive to see me operating in that capacity.

So that’s why I take a lot of pride in making sure that I open those opportunities, not just to my daughter. I hire young people. It’s cheap help but it’s giving experience. I get to groom their professionalism. I get to mentor them. I bring them on and show them a different route.

Why is this not done in our schools? Why are we not learning entrepreneurship in the schools? Why are we not incorporating this into our teachings of how we’re going to integrate these kids into society?

Why are we pumping up our kids with football?

I went to Youngstown Early College so it was go to college. Get your degree. I did. That was everything. But had I known the path better, I might have saved that $43,000 for a college degree and started something else. It could have been a trade.

I appreciate that [help from Valley Partners] so much because – I say it all the time – my loan package dragged me by my ponytail. I had no idea what I was doing. Not that I didn’t know, I just did not understand. So I had to go and dig a little deeper, educate myself, ask more questions.

Matt [Longmire, from Valley Partners] walked me alongside of this, calling me every week, asking me what’s going on…

Washington, Leaf Relief: Generational wealth is half of the equation. The wealth is the armor. It can protect you. For the most part, learning the rules of the game is the weapon.

You can finesse your way through and get to the money if you know the rules. If you get the wealth, there’s a lot of rooms still closed to you unless you know how to operate by the rules.

It’s like going from little league football to play high school. It’s still football. It’s still business. But the rules are changed. I can hit you for real and that’s it with business.

Here’s what I hear all the time from people who have accomplished a lot in business financially: Why won’t they let me in this room?

It’s because you’re still moving this way. You’ve got to pivot and understand. To operate in that arena, you’ve got to change. You’ve got to stay true to yourself. But understand that things are different in different rooms. So getting in the game is the other half that comes with generational wealth, where it’s not just about the money.

Business Journal: What are the rules? How do you get in the game?

Santiago, Farmers Bank: Once you have that wealth, what happens is they don’t know how to manage it. We think just acquiring more things is to show the world, “I’ve made it.” It goes beyond that.

In addition to an attorney and an accountant, you need an adviser to say, “This is only going to last you so long and if you want to pass it down the line, then set some aside and invest this money, whether it’s back into the business or into the next generation.

It’s that circle of trusted – and that’s the key word, trusted – advisers.

Baker, Signatures by Symone: One of the biggest rules in this game is never operate based on self-funding. Always try to figure out how to get other people’s money. Don’t chase your behind. Don’t be afraid of going into debt. It’s a loan.

Washington, Leaf Relief: Not all debt is bad.

Scott, D5 Group: Right.

Baker, Signatures by Symone: Changing the narrative on [the role of debt] that’s one of the biggest rules.

Scott, D5 Group: There’s good debt. And I don’t know if it’s how I was raised. I’m like, “I don’t want to borrow money. I’m just going to work extra hard and make some money.”

And it didn’t take but for a couple of years that I’m willing to borrow.

Most of my family members hate to borrow money. It was the way I was brought up. It was an uncomfortable thought for me.

And so that’s one of the things you’re not used to. You don’t want to go in debt.

Business Journal: What are the other rules?

Washington, Leaf Relief: It depends on where you’re trying to go.

If you want a job and you’re a young kid looking for a job at the mall, the rules to getting a job at Abercrombie are very different than the rules to getting a job at Hot Topic.

So you have to present yourself appropriately. There are many rules and they change based on the rooms. That’s just it, and that’s for any part of life and for any job. But as you go up, it is different.

Hall, Consumers National Bank: From my experience, I know that when people come to a lender, it’s intimidating because you’re laying your life before this stranger. And they’re asking a lot of questions that make you uncomfortable. It’s hard to overcome.

Robinson, Show Stopper Landscaping: Yes.

Hall, Consumers National Bank: Did you have someone help you to find those resources? Did you have somebody saying, “Lisa, go check into this?”

Robinson, Show Stopper Landscaping: No. Nobody mentored me. No.

Hall, Consumers National Bank: That’s the big obstacle. She did the work. But if she had found the right adviser or mentor, it would have made her job a lot easier.

Business Journal: It seems successful minority businesses are mentoring others and entrepreneurship is catching on in the community.

Bilal, Excalibur Barber: Absolutely. Barbering is the ultimate entrepreneurship. From the beginning of time, everybody is their own business owner. Just because they work under the umbrella of Excalibur Barber doesn’t mean they don’t have their own business. And that’s what I teach them.

Get your own LLC. Build your own brand within this because I’m going to work as hard as I can to make Excalibur known. If an Excalibur barber is on the street and somebody asks, “Where you work, Excalibur?” They can say, “Yes, that’s a great spot.”

I want that feeling for Excalibur, to build a brand where the barbers within Excalibur can branch off and do whatever they want because they learned how to go to banks and have their books in order and know taxes and all that stuff.

Come in [to Excalibur], present yourself well, because we’re in a place where you never know who’s sitting in your chair. This man might want to lend you money. If you don’t look serious, then he won’t do that. The barbershop is an incubator.

Scott, D5 Group: Mentoring is like parenting. I wouldn’t be sitting here if I would have had a mentor to work in the building trades. I would be an electrician. That was my thing. But going into business, my first mentor was Mr. Bob Hill. He had Industrial Machining & Design Services.

When he became my mentor, I wanted to work in human resources. He told me, “No, son, you’re going to provide solutions.”

And he always said, “Solutions.”

We had a conversation every couple of weeks.

He met me through Flex-Temp. I was a temp worker, executive assistant, showed up in a shirt and a tie because I couldn’t afford a suit.

He walked up to me and said, “That’s a nice tie, young man.”

I’ve always been one of those people to mentor others. Some of that mentorship is to just to be a good human being. And in return for that, I got seven mentees. They’re interesting. Some of them want to start businesses. Some have no direction. Some have different things going on and so I allot time from my life. I don’t always agree with them.

I’m candid. I’ll ask, “Why do you come in here smelling like that?” I try to give them exactly what I needed at that age.

Business Journal: Tell us about your podcast studio.

Scott, D5 Group: My podcast studio, the focus has always been unsung community heroes. There was some conflict in the neighborhood many years ago. There were two young men related to each other.

If they had had a conflict, it would have trickled from street to street to street to street. And this lady invited them to her yard. She made them sit down. These men were neighbors. She served Pepsi and fried fish.

And all she said was, “We ain’t going to have no problems. Y’all going to straighten this out.” She sat for a minute and then she left. People realize how much of a de-escalation she did by having this conversation.

That woman’s a hero. The police wouldn’t have been able to do what she did.

So our podcast is about unsung community heroes. People are doing some incredible stuff that you just really never hear about.

Business Journal: Final thoughts?

Washington, Leaf Relief: Entrepreneurship is not new in our minority community. We have used other words, “hustling” and “grinding,” whatever. The media is paying more attention to where we are. We’re getting more exposure and our stories are being told in different lanes. Community is important for all business leaders, not just minority business owners. You cannot be successful in a silo.

Robinson, Show Stopper Landscaping: You should just work hard at what you want. It can happen. You got to put your whole heart and your mind to it, just do what it takes. If you can’t get the grants, keep on working. It will pan out. It will work.

Hall, Consumers National Bank: Entrepreneurs are a special group of people. They have such passion for what they do, what they want to do.

Surround yourself with good advisers. Go to your banker. Go to your attorney. Go to your CPA. Tap all the available resources. But have good advisers who can direct you in the right way to get the resources available.

Scott, D5 Group: No. 1, if you’re going to be an entrepreneur, whether you’re a minority or whatever, do your research on the product or the service you’re going to offer. … Do your research to find out if what you have is viable.

The second thing is to surround yourself with a super hero team, your accountant, your attorney, your banker, and I’m going to add a tax strategist.

The last thing, probably, is make sure that as an entrepreneur, you build a network of people outside of what I mentioned. Build a network of people who can support you.

And then make sure you take time out from this. Take a break when you can. Because if not, it will consume you. You’ll start to resent the thing that you once loved.

Longmire, Valley Partners: Have a standard of excellence. If you’re an entrepreneur, have a standard in your operations, in your business. Be resilient, persistent and consistent.

I take pride in serving entrepreneurs in the Mahoning Valley.

Bilal, Excalibur Barber: Find yourself a mentor who keeps you focused. Don’t go too far outside of your original game plan. Never Plan B, always Plan A.

Santiago, Farmers Bank: What everyone in this room can do is pay it forward to that next generation. We’re talking about what’s lacking. But you have it in you already. It’s just passing it on to the next generation.

Baker, Signatures by Symone: The education piece is a huge component. It is those things passed down to you, being able to get experience.

There are programs and seminars all the time. Coaches and mentors are out there. YouTube University will show you a lot of things. You can learn from it.

Once you do reach a certain level, send the elevator back down and bring up the youth. Bring up the ones who are undereducated. Bring up the new entrepreneurs.

Pictured at top: The Business Journal Minority Entrepreneurship Roundtable included five business owners and three lenders whose task is to help minority entrepreneurs. From left are Kelan Bilal, Vicki Hall, Terrell Washington, Lisa Robinson, Ashlyn Symone Baker, Juan Santiago, DeShawn Scott and Matthew Longmire.