CIA Media Group

At CNote, we consider ourselves to be the CDFI industry’s biggest cheerleader. Then we met Montina Young.

When Montina was just 18 months old, her mother abandoned her. She was raised by an aunt, but she ended up homeless when she was 16 years old. Still, Montina managed to get her GED, and she hasn’t looked back since. Professionally, Montina has done a little bit of everything over the course of her career. While she s…

Dunamis Transition Solutions

 Solopreneur, Naomi J Hardy, is passionate about people and enjoys managing relationships during change, guiding business owners and their employees during uncertain times. 

A native Louisianan, Naomi grew up in a large family pushing her to learn and manage different personalities, “My family is a close-knit family where cousins are like sisters and brothers; aunts and uncles are like second parents. So, I gre…

Mírame Boutique

From a young age, Kassandra Torres had a passion for fashion and design. After years of working jobs to help support her husband and four children, Kassandra was ready to fulfill her lifelong dream of running a boutique that helped others look their best. Kassandra attempted to launch an online clothing store in 2017, but she closed it within a year to focus on her family and demanding full-time job. When COVID hit Mercedes…

Axum Culture

Jeanette Sellers has a mission: to build community that celebrates the beauty of diverse, African cultures. She wants her children to “feel their culture” and see it represented in everyday life. 

Jeanette didn’t plan to be an entrepreneur. As an undergraduate, she joined a student activist group to address the injustices she experienced on her recently de-segregated campus. She noticed her fellow female activists c…

Fina’s Cooking & Catering

Graciela Carrillo expressed her love for cooking from the early age of three, “I was in the kitchen cooking with my grandmother all the time,” said Graciela.

After finishing college, Graciela traveled Europe where she attended culinary school. Returning to the states, she worked in a variety of restaurants, enhancing her cooking skills and deepening her passion for food. Later on, she found herself jobless after the rest…