We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Noelle Pratt a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Noelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The more we talk about good leadership the more we think good leadership practices will spread and so we’d love for you to tell us a story about the best boss you’ve had and what they were like or what they did that was so great?

My boss of the past 6 years, Julie Hutchens, is everything I want to be as a business owner and more. Ms. Julie runs Excite Gym & Cheer in Highland Village. She is so caring and understanding, but knows how to get the job done. Everything about her business is family oriented, from how she interacts with her customers to her employees. Usually with most gymnastics and cheer gyms, you don’t see the owner as much, or they may just oversee, but Julie is involved in every single thing. She goes out of her way to memorize every person on her teams names, and make you feel so special. She has been in business for over 20 years now, so she clearly knows how to operate a business well. Watching her over these past 6 years handle adversities, and a post COVID business, truly inspired me. She taught me that you can be successful without sacrificing your morals. While 4 Da Girlz is mainly online right now, I have plans to start an in-person sector here in the next year or so, and I hope to incorporate good ethics the way she has.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

Hi! My name is Noelle Pratt. I am the owner of a women’s empowerment business called 4 Da Girlz. We first launched in June of 2020, right as we were starting to get out of quarantine. I am a very social person, so quarantine was very hard for me. I figured if I’m sad and having a hard time, other people probably are too! I’ve always wanted to do something with women’s empowerment, so in April I went to the drawing board and came up with 4 Da Girlz. We are mainly online, and provide daily motivations, mental health resources, fun videos, and more through our website, 4DaGirlz.com, and our social media pages. In June we will hit our 2 year anniversary, and I am proud to say we have empowered more than 3,000 visitors from more than 10 countries. Our main goal is to help every women become the best version of themselves, to know their worth, and have a safe space for women to connect.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

I started my first job when I was 15, and I have saved a little bit of every paycheck. When I graduated high school, I got a lot of gifts from friends and family and had that put towards savings as well. It is because of this that I was able to start 4 Da Girlz.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

4 Da girlz has had multiple photo/video shoots, as well as outdoor events. Trying to coordinate with my ambassadors while I am away at college has proven to be very tricky, as well as being Covid- cautious. We have run into multiple obstacles, especially with the Black History Month campaign. We were supposed to have our video shoot at the beginning of January 2022, but then Omicron came in full swing. We had to cancel and reschedule; some of my models were going to come down from out of town, and had asked off work, while other have collegiate sports obligations. Trying to find a date that worked while also maintaining a Covid-safe environment was a little tricky. Thankfully, it all came together in the end, and it was an absolutely beautiful piece.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.4dagirlz.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/4dagirlz20/?hl=en
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/4dagirlz1?lang=en

Image Credits
Beth Tate