'We need to see ourselves': Md. woman uses business to uplift Black women entrepreneurs
MARYLAND (ABC7) — What started as a way to elevate other Black women entrepreneurs who looked like her has transformed into a successful, full-time passion project for one Maryland woman with her Side Hustle Pro podcast.
Nicaila Matthews Okome is the epitome of a successful multitasker as a busy mom and hard worker. Now, she can focus all of her attention and energy she has on her podcast, which she uses to uplift and highlight other successful Black women entrepreneurs, some of which are based right here in the D.C. region!
"I started out doing my podcast as a side hustle, and it started as a blog as I was looking for a role in D.C. that led my interest in social media marketing," Okome said. "I was interested in working on stories about women working full-time jobs while working on a passion project. And as I started to write these stories that I was interviewing, I decided to turn these into audio podcasts, which gave [the stories] so much more character."
This is where the name 'Side Hustle Pro' came into existence for the podcast in 2016 after Okome says she started listening to podcasts around 2015.
"I'm a Black woman but I have been intimidated by entrepreneurs - I wanted to hear about more people like me - who do it on the side, who may be a little more risk-averse," Okome said. "I said - I don't see these Black women represented as entrepreneurs."
Since Side Hustle Pro originally launched in 2016, Okome says she has interviewed more than 100 women from across all industries, from beauty and fashion, to real estate, tech, and online business owners. In 2019, she was also featured on the Today Show.
One of her more recent interviews happened to be Yene Damtew, who is based in Arlington and has quickly become known as Former First Lady Michelle Obama's hairstylist.
"I came about interviewing Michelle Obama's hairstylist, Yene, because I'm always looking for interesting women, to show entrepreneurship looks different," Okome said. "I came across her on Instagram, I was drawn to her work, drawn to her humility, prior to the Inauguration, she was doing it all behind the scenes, I was drawn because she was so humble, hardworking and skilled at her craft, larned more about her background, learned how she came to have that incredible responsibility."
Okome has interviewed some other inspiring women such as Arsha Jones, the founder of Capital City Company in D.C. who created a well-known Mambo sauce. The podcaster calls Jones an "eCommerce genius."
"She just really, really understands marketing, and human psychology," Okome explained. "She started from an empty shop with less than $100, started her own website, her own domain - and she's very warm which makes it more comfortable to learn from because I know some people get intimidated, so it's important to me that everyone understands - this is a person who started from zero, she is so indicative of Side Hustle Pro, with how successful and down to Earth she is."
Another inspiring interview that Okome pointed to on her podcasts was Dr. Pamela Jolly. She said Dr. Jolly does a great job explaining how Black women can build legacy wealth.
"She shows how we should be thinking about building our path to wealth," Okome said. "Anyone interested in side hustling or building a side hustle needs to listen to that episode."
When asked where she finds her passion in what she does, Okome explains that "It's important to see yourself - you have to see you can do something before you believe it - it's not just for people with trust funds."
"Black women, in particular, we need to see ourselves, just like anyone else," Okome said.
She further explained this point by saying she grew up in a time when she didn't see dolls who looked like her or women on the cover of magazines who looked like her.
"As a matter of fact, when I was about to start the podcast, I never saw entrepreneur podcasts or shows talking to these women," Okome emphasized. "I just said - I'm just going to do this, there's no reason we're not featured on these magazines - I would like to say [you're seeing more stories like this] because of Side Hustle Pro highlighting these stories."
When she's not working on podcast episodes for Side Hustle Pro, Okome says she is coaching other podcasters.
"The next layer of Side Hustle Pro - helping others find [their] voice and start podcasting - it's something that has a relatively low start-up cost, but not many people understand how to market themselves, you have to figure out who your ideal listener is, connect with them online, or your show won't grow.
This is where Okome says she came up with the idea for 'Podcast Moguls,' which helps with business podcasting in terms of acquiring business and sponsorships through your podcast.
"You can make this not just a passion, but profitable," Okome said.
For more information on the on-demand course and monthly coaching from Okome, or for more information on how to sign up for the next training, click here.
For more information on Okome and her work, click here to go to her website. Click here to listen to some of the Side Hustle Pro podcasts.
