Brenda Weathers Hargroves has a BA degree from Douglass College, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and an MBA from Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey. She is an author, mentor and serial entrepreneur. Her areas of expertise include small business consulting, nonprofit management and personal finance coaching.

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ENTREPRENEUR | Her postgraduate journey quickly landed her on the entrepreneurship track, when she and a partner owned, operated, and eventually sold a temporary and permanent placement agency specializing in providing accounting and finance personnel. Brenda later followed her passion by opening her second business, a gallery where she restored and sold furniture.

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"EDUPRENEUR” | Brenda’s self-starting habits ignited an inspired journey to unabashedly create, explore and share her experiences. Especially motivated by a desire to help Millennials and other young adults live their best life now through retirement, Brenda’s current blog, #LitBizLife is an encouraging open letter to like-minded self-starters who are ready to master managing their financial and career goals.

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AUTHOR | Literary journals have published Brenda's short stories and essays, and she is currently seeking publication of her first novel. She has also written several articles about small business ownership and nonprofit management. her first novel.

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MENTOR | For many years, Brenda has provided consulting services to other nonprofit organizations and small businesses. She designed and taught a financial literacy curriculum for underserved families. Drawing upon years of nonprofit consulting, financial literacy education, grant proposal writing and business administration, Brenda founded two 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.

 

The Sherman Hargroves Educational Support Fund launched in 1998, in memoriam of her late husband and based in New Jersey. We’re HERE To HELP based in Tampa, Florida, opened in 2011. These grass-roots organizations served 75 at-potential students with average grades from low-income households. The students received more than $100,000 in scholarships, along with a supportive network and mentoring to ensure graduation.

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In addition, Brenda also co-administered a City Colleges of Chicago Foundation scholarship fund established in memory of her sister, Saundra Weathers Banyard, who served as Vice President at Kennedy King and Harold Washington Colleges.

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Brenda is the personification of tenacity, determination and the power of refocused grief and adversity to catalyze compassion projects that service distressed communities and transform families. Her mantra: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”