Episode 3 - The Power of the Village, Faith and Freedom in Entrepreneurship featuring Esi K. A. Gillo

Esi Kagale Agyeman Gillo is the Co-Founder of DIFFvelopment. She is a wife, mother and mentor to the students she works with. Esi is committed to re-empowering people of African descent by holistically empowering college students to disrupt negative patterns of history through personal development and entrepreneurship. If she had to describe herself in one sentence, she would say that she "is passionate about all things authentic and puts nothing above her freedom."

This is DIFFvelopment's 3rd year of operation. Synergistic with the mission, this is the first year that DIFFvelopment's clients are all Black owned businesses. Fun fact: She and her husband were also featured in OWN'S docuseries Checked-Inn in 2017.

Esi holds an MSc in African Studies from the University of Oxford, UK, a BA in Afro-American Studies and Psychology from Smith College, and a certificate in African Studies from the Five College Consortium. She has also studied in Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana.

In this episode, we highlight the interconnectedness of the village and faith in entrepreneurship. We also put this episode in the context of Juneteenth and what that means for the work. Esi reflects on her journey of being present as both a Co-Founder, wife and mother. The interplay of all of these factors lends itself to the freedom inherit in entrepreneurship, a career option that as she notes to her black students, "is a part of who you are".

We are rooted in our resilience as we share Forward 4O’s platform with this rising WOC in the nonprofit and social enterprise sector.

Want to support DIFFvelopment? Look at some options for supporting here. On a more personal note, help me increase my fundraising goal 40% by 9/30/2019.  Follow highlights of their evolution and impact @diffvelopment

Continue to support Forward 40 on IG and Twitter @forward4tea.  You can also learn more about the host Coach Faith here