We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michelle. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michelle below.

Michelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The ‘experts’ said that I would go out of business within six months and that my business model wasn’t viable. What none of us knew was that everything on our planet was about to change.

In 2011 I was interested in creating technology for folks over 40 to help them successfully navigate online dating. I immersed myself in what was at the time a really vibrant tech and coworking scene in Washington, DC. I remember attending my first talk with founders at a new coworking space. The energy was amazing.

However, the more events that I attended, often with hundreds of attendees, even when they were predominantly women-led events, there were very few Black women.

While I didn’t create the team to create the dating technology, I sure did learn loads and made great connections. And, in 2015, relocated to South Florida. By then I’d curated an amazing community of over 1,000 predominantly Black women entrepreneurs, creatives, bloggers, influencers and others who craved connection and great information. I launched the Her Power Hustle podcast and spoke around the country at conferences about podcasting and relationship marketing.

In each city where I was speaking I would host local pop-ups where the women in our online community could come together in person. Many lived locally and had never met, and some were also speakers at the conferences.

In 2018, I solidified our informal pop-ups by formally launching Her Power Moves – Broward, the first of 3 chapters of our community where women come together to ‘Connect, Collaborate & Create Cashflow, Unapologetically.” I would teach my proprietary unnetworking(tm) strategies and the women would get to make deep connections, friendships, partnerships and learn different aspects of building a successful business.

After almost 5 years of scouting locations and feeling very nomadic, I dusted off an idea for a space that I’d had in 2016.

I felt there was a real need in our community for microbusiness owners and side hustlers to have a space where women and Black entrepreneurs could rent office spaces, conference rooms and host their own meetings and events.

And here’s where we return to the ‘experts.’ My business model was that instead of the multiple hundreds of dollars per month that all of the other coworking spaces were charging, ALL of our spaces would be on-demand, pay-as-you-go. And once the pandemic happened many traditional coworking spaces folded because people couldn’t go into the spaces they were paying for each month.

I realized that the typical side hustler and solopreneur did not have the budget to invest in a full-time space, nor did they have the need. But no one was providing us with options that weren’t our local library or Dunkin’ Donuts or Microsoft store.

And that’s when I opened the doors to Her Power Space, a Woman forward, Men welcoming coworking space and business center near Fort Lauderdale. We opened the doors on January 12, 2020 and on March 31, 2020 I was locking them under mandatory shut down.

We returned to the space in May and from then to now my community and I have hosted online events, hybrid events, in-person events. Our community also uses us for the business mailing address needs and as of August 28th of this year we have expanded to another location where we have executive suites and dedicated desks, as well as conference room and content creation.

The bottom line to me is that the only ‘expert’ opinion that matters is that of your ideal customer. I knew in my soul what our community needed–and when I didn’t serve a need they also let me know, like adding mail scanning services during the pandemic, that folks still use today.

I’m so grateful for our community and so glad that I didn’t let anyone talk me out of doing what I believed was best. The vision is yours! Pursue it even when others can’t see it! They’ll adjust!

Michelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I graduated from high school at 17 and by 22 I was a divorced single mom, with 2 children in diapers. I worked for the federal government as an admin and took community college classes.

At 30 my children walked with me across the stage to receive my Bachelor’s from Cornell University and three years later, my law degree from U Penn Law.

For over 15 years I focused on becoming a lawyer and was convinced that that was what I’d be for the rest of my life.

I’m an “accidental entrepreneur”.

In 2012, as an unhappy DC corporate lawyer I co-authored a self-published book on online dating in your 40s. Having no marketing experience, I leveraged Twitter to amplify our message and connect with potential readers; leading to a feature in EBONY®.

Sharing my journey with my online community, by 2015, I’d amassed a community of over 1,500 women around the Globe who looked to me for tips and tools for their business journeys. In 2015, I left DC and relocated to South Florida launching Her Power Moves, to host monthly events at women-owned businesses.

By 2019 it became apparent that not only did I need a space to host, but so too did our community. In January 2020 I opened the doors to Her Power Space. We are the first Black Woman owned coworking space in Broward County and the first and only coworking space in our city, which is a HUD low-income community with two Opportunity Zones.

Founding Her Power Space as both a brick and mortar business and community of women and Black and people of color business owners was the natural outgrowth of my journey of curating spaces and sharing resources for our community’s success. My motto is #weallwin. We have the answers to all that we need to succeed in business.

Her Power Space is more than four walls and wifi. We are a virtual and in-person community of over 4,000 business owners who I connect with each month to provide workshops and resources on everything from mental wellness to access to capital.

In 2020 when the federal government exhausted PPP funding by late April, before it even reached small businesses, the oft-cited reason was those funded entities were, “Too big to fail.” I mulled that phrase over in my head and it felt wrong. I was on the ground with our community who was hurting and at a loss for options to stay afloat.

I created “No Small Business Left Behind®” and within 2 weeks of the bankrupt PPP I was hosting a six-hour virtual summit with speakers and workshops on crowdfunding your own PPP, networking online, accessing emergency capital with Community Development Financial Institutions and mental wellness. To date we’ve assisted over 150 microbusiness owners with workshops and exposure.

Her Happiness Clinic is a monthly mental wellness gathering for women entrepreneurs that I co-founded with Dr. Lavita Johnson who specializes in the psychology of happiness and Jacqueline Dawson a licensed mental health therapist. We have a book club and ‘The UnChamber’ a co-ed monthly workshop series and resource library.

In a nutshell we are a go-to resource for microbusiness owners in both our local community and worldwide through our virtual platforms.

“The realest thing a person can do is put somebody in a position to make money.”

I can’t quantify the impact of our programming on our community’s revenue. But I have helped our community get speaking opportunities and publicity, including a paid speaking gig in Dubai. I’ve introduced hundreds to one another and they’ve forged joint ventures. I’ve brokered a distribution deal with Wal-Mart.

A few months ago, Black-owned independent online bookstore owner, Shahida, of Redwood Books, wrote to me that she’d made 4 sales directly traced to our members within 24 hours of her first time at our book club! Money directly out of Jeff Bezos’ pocket! Oh yeah, and she also recently opened her first stationary book kiosk in our local mall!

I receive emails of gratitude from our community members for something I’ve shared, from a grant opportunity to an email that simply said “Thank you” on Thanksgiving. People thanked me for not selling them something.

My most proud moments are each time that someone in our community says, “I can walk to your Space from home. I really needed this and we didn’t have anything like this until you came.” My city is a HUD low income community with 2 Opportunity Zones. To say we are underserved with business resources is an understatement. But our small business community is vibrant and my Space provides a hub.

From 2020 to 2021 I graduated five cohorts, approximately 125 Black women with businesses and business ideas, teaching the Women’s Entrepreneurship 360 program for the YWCA of South Florida. A 7-week program culminating in their first pitch competition that I hosted and for which I brought in amazing judges from our local business community. I beam with pride.

Finally, I love the number of introverts who feel comfortable in the spaces that I curate. #weallwin

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

There’s an old game: “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”. In essence, you can look at any movie and trace a connection to Kevin Bacon within six steps.

I truly believe that I’m within about four degrees of everyone on the planet!

I attribute this to having been on the planet over 50 years, but also having lived and worked in so many states, cities and countries. I was in my late 30s when I’d lived in any one home for more than 3 years. In my entire life!

So, years of life and geography have played a large role in my interacting with large numbers of people in diverse environments.

My secret sauce is connections. I’ve never met a stranger. Additionally, I have an uncanny ability to remember what people are passionate about or the professional and business fields that they occupy. AND, then, when I encounter someone who needs something, I’m able to recall someone who has what they need.

Our community refers to me as a walking chamber of commerce! I think that my love for people and what makes them passionate and then caring enough to help them succeed as they pursue those passions has endeared me to some and those folks send potential folks my way and my reputation as a connector organically blossomed.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I am NOT a strong Black Woman and I do need assistance.

Just because you CAN do something yourself doesn’t mean that you should. If you’ve ever been disappointed by someone not delivering on an obligation then you likely know that twinge and thought: “I should’ve just done it myself.”

When those disappoints stack up, whether in our personal lives or school (to this day I hate group projects) or business/work, the path of doing it ourselves becomes seductive. But the only place that path leads to is exhaustion, frustration and resentment.

There is little that we can accomplish without a team AND the bigger our vision and the more people who are dependent upon our success, it becomes imperative that we lead by delegating and focusing on our zone of genius.

Asking for help has been one of my biggest lessons in my own strength and in my own softness–not weakness.

Contact Info:

• Website: herpowerspace.com
• Instagram: @herpowerspace
• Facebook: facebook.com/herpowerspace
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/michelleytalbert
• Youtube: youtube.com/michelleytalbertt