We were lucky to catch up with Candace Houston recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Candace, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

My mission is to educate encourage and empower women globally. As a single parent, a woman of color in the corporate world, and a woman, I have lived the struggles that come with all of those people. Not having help, not knowing all of the resources that are available and not being valued is what we experience. Through Nspire U!, I take those experiences and use them to help others not have to face these struggles alone.

Candace, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My professional background is over 30 years in advertising sales and management. I worked in radio, television, digital, print and even cellular sales. I ended up in sales by chance, not choice. I didn’t like being in sales, but I became really good at it. It also provided a good life for my two kids and myself! I developed great relationships with my clients and started helping them with multi-level marketing, outside of what the company I worked for was selling. This made me feel good. I was able to put together strategies that brought them success. Out of that effort came other things that I didn’t realize I was good at. Event planning and management was one of those things.

In 2009 God gave me the name “Nspire U!” I had no idea what it meant at the time, but I had an LLC formed and a logo created. That was my “evidence of things not seen” moment. I worked with businesses on the side, while still navigating through the corporate world. What I saw on that side was that the sales industry in the market I was in was not supportive of Black Women being successful. The salespeople who didn’t look like me had all the large accounts, received all the call ins and the bigger checks. I knew God had a bigger plan. I finally walked away from the corporate world and launched full-time in 2017 after managing a political campaign for the first time. We won by a landslide and the candidate/business owner became my first client.

Since then we have evolved into a full-time Events, Entertainment and Marketing Firm. We work with major industries like Coca Cola United, USA Hospital, Mobile County Commission and Small’s Mortuary (3 locations.) We create marketing campaigns for these companies, as well as plan and manage events for some of them. On the event side we have managed large expos, conferences, 3-day music festivals and HBCU Footballs games with a week of events surrounding it. These platforms are the core of our business right now.

The Pandemic was tough on our business as all events were canceled and not many people were advertising. We knew we had to shift in order to stay connected to the community. During that time, my daughter and I launched the first African American Female-Owned Internet Station on the Gulf Coast. Through this platform, we provide information, entertainment and inspiration to our audience. We are a voice for our community, making sure we provide information on resources that are available to them. We also highlight our local artists by playing their music and interviewing them on our shows. We play a variety of music that appeals to all ages and cultures. Our station can be accessed through our website, and our free app, Nspire U On Air in the Google Play or Apple Stores. Make sure you check us out!

At Nspire U!, our culture is family. We don’t call employees “staff members.” We are a team who is “family.” We all have the same mentality when it comes to the business. Everyone understands the vision and we all follow the same model to make sure the vision comes to life. I am most proud of our team.

Our core values are empowering women, supporting our communities, global influence, innovation, philanthropy, diversity and inclusion and continuously raising the bar.

What sets us apart from businesses similar to ours is that we are intentional about connecting with the community. We make sure that we partner with non-profit organizations, when it makes sense, to promote their cause. Also, we have the ability to offer multiple platforms to our clients. We offer ad placement, social media management, graphic design, a platform for them to advertise their business and event planning and management. With us you can have your cake and eat it too!

We are growing Nspire U! as a global brand. We have the ability to work outside of our market, we do travel! Our goal is to become a nationally known brand and travel the world helping businesses grow through marketing and events.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Yeah, so this is short and sweet. I funded the business from my personal accounts. I didn’t come from a wealthy family, wasn’t able to secure funding from a funding source, so I had to make it happen! Even with all the grants and loans that were being disbursed during the pandemic, we received some but not nearly the thousands and millions that other companies did. Once we launched full-time, we were able to take on more clients and our revenue began to grow. God gave me this vision and I wake up every morning believing that he will provide the resources we need to keep it thriving!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Reputation for a business, particularly a black owned business, is everything. The Nspire U! Culture is built on integrity and professionalism. We go beyond the terms of a contract to make sure that we are delivering the results that we promise our clients. Working outside of work hours, going the extra mile-s, producing desired results and more, and developing more than just a client relationship is how our reputation has been established in our market. We do more than just work for our clients. We build relationships with them and make ourselves available at times when others may not.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nspireu.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nspire.u/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nspireunetwork
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candace-minniefield-houston-a702981a4/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ur4YQFbPY98j73TzLolGA