Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tee Wilson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Tee, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, folks often look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight – but that often obscures all the nitty, gritty details of everything that went into the growth phase of your business. We’d love to hear about your scaling story and how you scaled up?

My business partner Danielle McGee founded Black Business Boom in 2018 as the “Groupon for Black Businesses”. She was inspired to create the app when she learned so many entrepreneurs of color were having challenges building awareness and reaching customers. However, when she launched the app she quickly found there was another problem. She could not effectively market small businesses without ensuring they were ready. A lot of the businesses didn’t have adequate brand assets, websites, or a social media presence. How could we market them on an app if they were not ready to put their best foot forward to their audience? It was during this time that Danielle and I decided to join forces to provide marketing services to small business owners.

As we started to onboard clients, we faced another challenge – how do we make marketing and brand development services affordable and accessible for our clients who historically don’t have equal access to the resources or capital they need to grow or scale their business? We found many of our clients just could not afford our services and oftentimes we would provide services for free because our purpose and passion is to help entrepreneurs of color in any way we can. These challenges forced us to think outside the box and find an innovative solution for our business model and our clients.

As we developed a plan of action, the Covid 19 pandemic hit. The world came to a halt and suddenly entrepreneurs across the country were working hard to keep their businesses afloat. We immediately came up with a plan to host a webinar to teach small business owners how to use digital marketing to continue to grow their businesses during a crisis like a global pandemic. This was our first digital marketing webinar and we realized education and training might be the next stage of evolution for Black Business Boom.

Shortly thereafter, we had an opportunity to work with the Nashville Business Incubation Center (NBIC). The NBIC received grants to support minority-owned businesses impacted by the pandemic. Black Business Boom led Digital Marketing training cohorts for over 75 students under the NBIC program. We taught classes on everything from brand development, graphic design, search engine optimization, website building, and more. We also did one-on-one coaching with participants and provided 3 hours of free marketing services after their courses. Witnessing our cohort participants expand their knowledge and become more comfortable executing their digital marketing was a turning point for us. When entrepreneurs that completed our courses started to see success after implementing our strategies, our idea to evolve into training was validated and Boomin University was born.

Later in 2020, we were contacted by Cummins, Inc. They were providing grants to minority business owners and were seeking an education and training program that could better prepare their grantees for success after receiving a grant. Through our partnership with Cummins, Black Business Boom has trained over 200 business owners in the past year. We recently completed a six-week session with cohorts running simultaneously in five cities: Nashville, Memphis, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis. We have also launched a course in Accounting.

What started with one forward-thinking woman’s idea to launch a coupon app for Black entrepreneurs, has grown into a six-figure business education and training company that now employs 12 coaches and five full-time employees. We are building, growing, and scaling the next one-stop-shop education & training program for minority business owners. We could not be more proud of our journey thus far. After many challenges, changes, uncertainty, and pivots we can say that success does not come overnight, but if you work to find solutions instead of giving up as soon as you face an obstacle, you will get there.

Tee, 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?

I see my story through the lens of three phases: learning, experience, and enlightenment. My original major in college was nursing. I have Sickle Cell Anemia and I would be hospitalized often. I decided I wanted to help people like my nurses helped me. In my first lab in college, we had to dissect a rabbit and I passed out. I learned that just because you admire something, doesn’t mean you’ll be good at it or that it’s what you’re purposed to do.

I changed my major two more times before landing in Mass Communications. It should have been a no-brainer. I love to talk. I love to write. I love to be creative and most of all I love finding solutions to creative problems. In Communications, I found my sweet spot. I never looked back.

I started my career as a Marketing Communications professional over 22 years ago in my hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. As a military spouse, I had an opportunity to grow as a professional in many locations and within a variety of industries. My path led me to roles at the Housing Authority of New Orleans, The United States Department of Agriculture, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, The United States Air Force, Ingram Content Group, The American Red Cross, Loyola University, and Coldwell Banker.

I was also a small business owner for six years with operations in four cities. I not only evolved as a professional, but I also learned what gives me purpose. I learned it is not my job to “save the world”. It is my job to make an impact in small, meaningful ways. In the first phase of my career, I learned that there is no perfect role or perfect organization, there is only finding purpose in what I do.

The things I learned and experienced in my previous roles were instrumental to my effectiveness in my current role as Chief Marketing Officer for Black Business Boom where I lead brand development, social media, strategic communications, and digital marketing education for small business owners. I consider myself a strategist more than anything else. I get an adrenaline rush when someone comes to me with an idea and I have an opportunity to make it come to life. When what you do and who you are aligned, that’s when you know you’re working within your purpose and passion. That’s how I feel when I’m building brand and communications strategies.

I believe what sets me apart from others is my self-awareness in my work. I’m a creative thinker and my life experiences very much influence my imagination and what I believe is possible for myself and my clients. I am good at putting myself in my client’s shoes and also the shoes of their target audience to develop the best approach and strategy for success. I can see things from so many different angles and I peel back the layers that most people don’t take the time to notice. I’m intuitive and insightful. I believe my clients appreciate that about me the most.

I’m working in a lane that feels right to me. I have joined organizations that align with my values. As a founding member of The R.I.S.E. Coalition, a new non-profit on a mission to serve as a resource and a voice for people of color in Rutherford County. I have finally stepped out on faith to create a mission-based organization to help the people that need it most. I am also a Board Member for eMpowerment, Inc., Rutherford Cable, and The American Red Cross Heart of Tennessee Chapter. In all three roles, I lead marketing and communications efforts. I feel blessed to do what I love both professionally and in service to my community.

I have been enlightened about the value of my talents, the power of my voice as a Black woman, and the obligation I have to use my talents and my voice to empower others and my community. It has been a very long and complex road to get here, but I finally feel like I am exactly where I am supposed to be at this time in my career. I’m most proud of myself for conquering my fears and for charting my path. In the past, I played it safe and only reached for low-hanging fruit because they were easy wins. Why reach higher and risk failure? I’m no longer afraid of failure.

The pressure I used to feel to fit in is gone. Molding myself to meet the expectations of others and to be accepted by the status quo is no longer an option. I realize I’ve already made it. I’ve done so much, helped so many people, and overcome so many obstacles, now it is time for me to exhale and do the work that feels good to me. I consider this my extra credit round in my career. This is where things get fun!

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I moved to Nashville in 2015 intending to lay low, work a regular 9 to 5 job and just be content. Well, anyone that knows me knows that wasn’t going to happen! I quickly got bored and decided it was time to see what else was in store for me here. I will admit, it was not easy. My hometown of New Orleans is a very laid-back city. Things didn’t feel as competitive and status-driven as they do here. I didn’t feel I fit in well with the Nashville social landscape. I went through a lot of ups and downs. In some instances, I experienced a lot of trauma due to not understanding how to navigate the political and social landmines in the city.

By mid-2019, I started to have a pretty cynical view and began retreating a little bit more back into my shell. It was around that time I joined a Facebook group created by my now business partner Danielle McGee. I thought maybe this group would connect me to people I hadn’t engaged with yet, and I might be able to find my tribe after all. Well, little did I know, Danielle would play a vital role in helping me build my tribe.

After engaging in the group for a while, we decided to meet for dinner. We learned we had a lot of things in common. We are both only children raised by single moms, our birthdays are three days apart, and we both had the desire to help our community, specifically Black entrepreneurs, girls, and women. We quickly became good friends. Danielle is an innovative thinker with an exemplary work ethic. She is diplomatic, patient, and one of the smartest people I know. She is also technologically savvy and not afraid to dig into the nuts and bolts of business in a way that I’ve never been eager to explore. In other words, Danielle is the critical thinker and I am the creative thinker. We work well together because we complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe the things I experienced before meeting Danielle had a purpose. It was so that I would recognize and appreciate a good partner, ally, and friend and not take it for granted. It is because of my life experiences that I lead with gratitude first in our work together.

I met Danielle at a time when I was truly in an uncertain place and trying to figure out what my journey would look like here in Nashville. I feel like the puzzle pieces started to slowly come together when we joined forces. My advice is to never let a few bad interactions or disappointments stop you from exploring new opportunities. When given the opportunity to engage and collaborate with others, lead with good intentions, authenticity, and gratitude. And lastly, seek out people who compliment your best qualities while inspiring your growth at the same time.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There have been many struggles throughout my career, but those struggles made me wiser, stronger, and more resilient. As a military spouse, I had an opportunity to try many roles, but never had an opportunity to truly plant roots and bloom anywhere until I settled here in Nashville. In many ways, my inability to stay in any role very long made me insecure about my value as a professional. I always felt I had to prove myself to be seen as worthy. When offered feedback or constructive criticism I would feel it was because I was inadequate. I decided I would not strive for greater opportunities or push myself “out front” more because my insecurities had morphed into an intense fear of failure. So, I would just stay behind the scenes in almost everything. But there was always this urging inside that I was meant to do more, say more, and be more. I also faced challenges by often being the only woman of color in the spaces I was in. That comes with an entirely different level of pressure and expectations.

Despite all of this, I never quit or gave up on myself. I pushed through every single time. There have been times when I would look back at a situation I endured and wonder how I persevered when all the odds were against me.

I believe there are three reasons:

1. My upbringing – my mother raised me to believe nothing was beyond my reach. I watched her face so many obstacles in her life and every time she survived, she conquered and pushed through. Being resilient is in my blood.

2. My stubbornness – I don’t fail. It’s just not an option. I pivot, I adapt, I adjust and I find another way…but I do not fail.

3. My support system – without my husband, I could not do any of the things I’ve done in my life. He has been my equilibrium. He gives me balance when things get shaky.

Resilience is part nature and part nurture. I have been blessed to have both.

Contact Info:

• Website: itsteewilson.com
• Instagram: @itsteewilson
• Facebook: @TeeWilson

Image Credits
Ashley Payne Photography