Fort Worth’s Sundance Square is now home to a new leadership academy for women. Elevate HER Business Academy, a mentoring and leadership mentoring program for female entrepreneurs, celebrated it’s grand opening and ribbon cutting December 3, 2019.
Members of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce attended the ceremony and presented Elevate HER president and CEO Raychelle Meyers a plaque commemorating the program’s inclusion in the chamber.
Meyers said she was inspired to start Elevate HER Business Academy while she was working with young businesswomen through Apples & Oranges, a nonprofit organization that provides healthy foods to youth affected by poverty. She said she realized female entrepreneurs could benefit from having a support system and mentors while discussing the importance of life insurance policies and protecting assets.
“One of the things I realized when mentoring women was that they did not plan for a legacy,” said Meyers. “We don’t plan enough for the future and we don’t have a strategic plan on what’s going to happen if something happens to us.”
Meyers said Elevate HER seeks to support businesswomen as individuals and help them create legacies for their families.
“When I started this company, I was thinking more along the lines of the family,” said Meyers, “and that’s what my business is about.”
Yolanda Henderson, investor relations specialist for the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, was one of several Chamber representatives attending the ceremony. And expressed the importance of encouraging diversity among local business leaders.
“The model has changed,” she said. “For a long time, it’s been men in business, men in business. But women have ideas, we have inventions, the sky’s the limit for us. And it’s just time for us to be heard.”
That change is exciting, and Henderson believes it’s because women are living up to their full potential.
“Anything that promotes women in business, I’m all for it,” she said.
Also attending the ceremony was Meyer’s cousin Brittiny Morehead who wants to open a coffee shop and believes she has the potential to impact her customers’ lives.
“This business, it’s mind-blowing. It really motivates you,” she said.
As she left the event, she said she was filled with validation and renewed confidence in her ability to be a successful entrepreneur.
“Just being there, you felt like your life had already changed,” she said with a smile and ready to take on a new adventure.
