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Course: Entrepreneurship > Unit 1
Lesson 14: LaKeshia Grant - CEO & Founder of Virtual Enterprise ArchitectsBusiness and Family
LaKeshia Grant founded Virtual Enterprise Architects as a place where she would have a voice and create an environment where others could be heard. She discusses her industry and encourages would-be entrepreneurs to incorporate their core values in their business. Grant’s mother may not know exactly what the information technology business does, but she instilled a strong work ethic and the spirit of entrepreneurship in her daughter. Created by Kauffman Foundation.
Want to join the conversation?
- do you mean all the people around us are our family?(2 votes)
- We are all connected energetically and family is a term that can mean through DNA or by way of that deep, energetic connection that gives us the feeling of a past connectedness whether it be in this lifetime or a previous one. That knowing that we have been together before and that our souls have come together again for growth.(1 vote)
- How did you get interested in becoming an IT consultant?(1 vote)
- who started Entrepreneurship(0 votes)
- It has always been here so long there were humans. It has simply evolved.(1 vote)
Video transcript
- LaKeshia Grant, the CEO of
Virtual Enterprise Architects. We're an IT consulting company based in the Washington D.C. area. Well, I always thought I was different. I felt it was always an innate feeling that something was different about me. And to me, in order for
you to truly be different, you have to really call
upon those instincts and just act on it. You have to take the step forward, but it has to be an educated step. You have to make sure that you're armed with all the tools and
everything that you're gonna need in order to make that step possible. Inform yourself and
educate yourself first, but most importantly, act. Don't just think about it. Don't just write it down
on your vision board and never attempt it. If you never attempt it,
you're gonna always view that as a failure no matter what you do. People are very attracted to numbers. When they see the growth of
small businesses like myself, they really feel inspired
to look at their own goals and become entrepreneurs. We have nine core values. Our very first one is volunteerism. My internal staff, all
nine of us and myself, we volunteer every third
Thursday and Friday at a local food bank. I don't think it's every going
to leave our company culture because to me family
starts in your own homes and then in your communities,
and then it grows from there. That's pretty much how we stay true to who we are throughout this growth. My parents are middle class folks. They were rooted in South Carolina, and they love everything South Carolina. That's pretty much how I was raised. When I first started the company and said that I was gonna jump out and become an entrepreneur, they thought I was
absolutely insane and crazy. My mother did not understand it at all. So I made it a habit of not mentioning my
business at all to her. I acted as if I was still
working for someone else and never really let them into
what I was doing day to day. Last year we were honored by the city in which the mayor held a
press conference for us. And I told my mom, I said, hey, Mom, the mayor's gonna be honoring us in about two weeks, and I'd like for you to come and attend. And so she said, "Well, what
is he gonna honor you for?" And I was like, for my business. And she said, "Oh, well, what
kind of business is this? "Again, what do you do?" I'm like, it's computers. So we had the press conference, and my mom proceeded to
hand the camera to the mayor to take pictures of herself and me and my father and the rest of the family. She was turning to people saying, "That's my daughter that
they're talking about." She hugged me, and she
said, "I'm so proud of you. "I still don't understand what you do "and why we're having this, (laughs) "but I'm so proud of you." I have a wonderful family that has done, I think, a wonderful job in instilling a spirit
of entrepreneurship, as well as a strong work ethic. I've noticed in most of my engagements that not everyone has that
same feeling or sentiment of we're in this together, we're a family. It's just not a sentiment
that's consistently practiced. I truly believe that entrepreneurship is attainable for anyone. If this country girl can sort of do well in the big city, others
can do the same thing.