Michelle serves as the Chair of The Women’s League of the Atlanta Black Chambers.  She is also the CEO of Journey Unlimited

Michelle Glover is the certified coach and owner of Journey Unlimited, LLC, a coaching firm in Atlanta, GA. A talented human resource executive with 15+ years’ experience, Michelle helps clients work in their purpose by guiding the self-discovery process, building mental resiliency, and developing the strategic roadmap for that delivers results.

You can learn more about Michelle by visiting her LinkedIn page.

Fun facts about her.
She was born in Granger, Utah, and she was the only African American baby born that week. People in the hospital would come to the nursery to see me. 😊

What is her role within the Atlanta Black Chambers, and what led her to become involved in this organization?
She worked as a successful HR Leader in Corporate America for over 12 years and was well-networked and respected within the organization. But once she took the leap of faith to start her business Journey Unlimited, she realized she had a limited professional network outside of the organization. Also, she had no clue how to be an entrepreneur. So, she joined the Atlanta Black Chambers to grow her entrepreneurial skills and her network. The ABC walks the talk in providing resources for black entrepreneurs to be successful. They offer workshops and training for professional development, industry-specific committees to support collaboration opportunities, and access to strategic partnerships with organizations to promote access to capital and contracting opportunities. There are so many opportunities for growth available by joining ABC.

How does her mission align with the Atlanta Black Chambers works to support Black-owned businesses in the Atlanta area?
It has always been her mission to see others perform their best. She achieves her own feelings of worth when she encourages others to grow, succeed, and accomplish great things. Her passion is strategically advising ambitious and visionary professionals about everything from career moves, purpose, and passions to even faith in the workplace. This is her purpose. In October 2015, she submitted to her calling, created Journey Unlimited, and embarked on this exciting entrepreneurial journey to help people take control of their lives and take the necessary steps to walk a purposeful career path.

As Chair of the Women’s League, she gets to help women pursue their purpose of entrepreneurship.

What are some of the key challenges facing Black-owned businesses in the current economic and social climate, and as an exemplary leader of the Atlanta Black Chambers, how she addresses these challenges?
Only 5% of Georgia’s women-owned businesses report over $250,000 in annual revenue (compared to 15% of men). While women of color own more businesses than white women in Georgia, our revenues are significantly lower: Georgia’s white women entrepreneurs make $198,000 in annual revenue on average, while black women only make $22,000 (Source: 2018 State of Women-Owned Business Report by American Express).

A painful 90% of women-owned businesses have no employees other than the business owner, and less than 2% have 10 or more employees (Source: US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Center for Women in Business). We have fewer employees, lower sales, and less chance of survival. Additionally, of those who start businesses, very few are actually doing it full-time. They are part of the 32 million Americans who consider themselves self-employed on a part-time basis (i.e., “the side hustle” economy). Their business is not their primary source of income – it’s just in addition to their regular day jobs. Other challenges we face are a lack of appropriate mentorship, mental health challenges associated with being a lonely solopreneur with no help, being a parent (oftentimes a single parent) while also trying to build a business, networking challenges, a lack of visibility to contract opportunities, biases in the business world and representation for the legislation needed to support their businesses.

What if we could even the playing field?

She believes we can and must do more to support black women in their efforts to build businesses, create jobs and grow our economy. So, the goal of the Women’s League is to help our black woman-owned businesses be more profitable, sustainable, and highly competitive – moving them from part-time to full-time solopreneurship and then on to small enterprise status – complete with employees. We know that most of our women entrepreneurs are struggling to survive. We need them to thrive so we can have more women who are able to positively contribute to our world.

Our Goals:
The Women’s League wants to ensure that our black women entrepreneurs are afforded every opportunity for success in the Greater Atlanta Area. We’re working to create jobs, solve problems and strengthen black women’s long-term competitiveness. It is clear that when communities help black women in business succeed, they ultimately help America succeed as well.

Our vision is to build legacies of generational wealth by transitioning black women entrepreneurs from micro-businesses to small enterprises.

The three main areas we serve our community to achieve our vision are Empower, Support, and Mentor.

EMPOWER: We empower our members by providing educational resources to equip them with what they need to know to grow/start a business.
We offer monthly webinars and quarterly events, training, and counseling each year on a variety of business topics led by highly sought-after subject matter experts. This is one of the many ways we’re able to provide high-quality educational resources to equip black women with what they need to know to start/grow/scale their businesses.

SUPPORT: We support one another through accountability groups to coach one another through the mental challenges of being an entrepreneur while balancing life.
We know entrepreneurship can feel lonely, but we aim to create a community where members are supported, engaged, and empowered. We have created a form of sisterhood that goes far beyond business growth. We work to speak to all parts of who we are as women, so we all can win.

MENTOR: We are equally committed to giving back to our community and helping foster an entrepreneurial spirit in our young black girls. We support young adults through mentoring relationships to expose participating students to various professions to encourage said participants to achieve higher success levels through regular meeting schedules and clarify the expectations and goals of this mentor relationship.

Her three success stories or achievements via her contributions to the Atlanta Black Chambers.
Her superpower is visionary leadership. When she took the Women’s League Chair role, there was very little framework for the committee. She was blessed with a blank canvas- perfect! So, with the help of the Lord, a great team, and support from ABC leadership, she was able to get to painting.

Over the past 6 years, the Women’s League has grown significantly, now encompassing approximately 80% of the Chambers’ membership. Each year, we go higher as an organization- building our portfolio of services to our members, growing our Women’s League community, and offering entertaining and educational programs that fuel the mind and soul.

EMPOWER: Our monthly conference calls went from 10- 15 members who would call in to now a virtual Zoom meeting with over 60- 75 attendees. Our signature events consistently sell out as a testament to the quality programming that we consistently deliver. Under my leadership, we have successfully executed an overnight retreat during Women’s History Month that gets bigger and better each year.

SUPPORT: The most crucial element of the Women’s League is the spirit of the organization. I aimed to create a community where members are supported, engaged, and empowered. We have created a form of sisterhood that goes far beyond business growth- we have created a Community. I launched our Quarterly Think Tanks in 2019, a mastermind experience that catalyzes ideas and action for business growth through peer coaching. Our members have received countless business opportunities through exposure from the Woman Crush Wednesday and Power Hour campaigns. And our LinkedIn community has grown from 100 to over 3,000!

MENTOR: We have our own community outreach initiatives within the Women’s League. We are equally committed to giving back to our community and helping foster an entrepreneurial spirit in our young black girls. We have hosted a toiletry drive for homeless women, donated to a domestic violence shelter, supported breast cancer organizations, provided entrepreneurial mentorship for middle school students, and conducted self-confidence workshops for middle school girls.

What are her goals for the future of the Atlanta Black Chambers, and how does she envision the organization evolving to meet the needs of its members and the wider community?
Her goal for the Atlanta Black Chambers and Women’s League is for the organization to be a conduit for creating more black millionaires

Life’s Motto / Powerful Quote.
The destiny of thousands is tied to the obedience of one.