The key to liberation for marginalized communities starts with economic independence. Throughout my career, I’ve been on a mission to empower individuals to realize their full creative potential and see a pathway to legacy building. Through my work with small businesses for 6 years, learning of their challenges in order to bring relevant services and programs, I came to understand the various barriers to entry. I have worked to identify and create innovative solutions to eliminate these barriers including access to capital, technical assistance and financial literacy and have collaborated with various communities and groups to develop programming that will give people access to information, people, organizations and funding that will allow them to create generational wealth and leave a legacy of economic independence while also creating jobs and improving the quality of life in their communities. This work of Equitable Economic Development has as one of its aims, the cultivation of a vibrant and thriving business community that will attract longterm and significant investment in economically distressed, underserved and underdeveloped areas.