meet our entrepreneurs.
Propeller Alumni
We’ve been running our accelerator programs since 2011, helping nonprofits and small businesses impact thousands of lives. Our entrepreneurs are working to tackle disparities in community economic development, education, food, health, and water.
2021 Venture Class
2 B Chic Boutique & Glam Parlor is your stop shop made exclusively designed for women and girls. The boutique “has a mixture of styles such as comfy & lounge, classy, and party pieces with amazing quality that you can dress up and down while looking and feeling chic.” The Glam Parlor includes a hairstylist, lash techs, and makeup artist that beautifies and boosts confidence.
Brandy Armstrong is the owner of 2 B Chic Boutique & Glam Parlor. Brandy has always been passionate about fashion, beauty, and mentoring young girls and women. She has over 20 years of professional experience in retail, fashion, and beauty that inspired her to open 2 B Chic Boutique and Glam Parlor.
The Collaborative Community Initiative (CCI) is a New Orleans-based non-profit that has grown out of the work of The Collaborative, “a group of minority businesses and allies who together advance public policies that promote economic parity and inclusion in the City of New Orleans.” The goal of CCI is to “promote economic equity and the building of generational wealth in disenfranchised communities through community-focused data analysis, education, and engagement.”
Michelle Nixon Stanton is a founding board member of the Collaborative Community Initiative (CCI). She is also a founding member of the Collaborative, providing administrative leadership as head of the Collaborative Support Team for the past nine years. In addition, Michelle is the director of CUEE, a community lender that supports small and minority businesses in New Orleans with funding and personalized business analysis. She is also a partner in the firm Seventeen18, specializing in organizational consulting for small to medium businesses, start-ups, and non-profits. Michelle is a member of the board of the Louisiana Chamber of Commerce Foundation, a support organization for minority chambers of commerce across the state.
Jessica Jenkins is a founding member of the Collaborative, and the founding board chair of the Collaborative Community Initiative. In addition, she is the owner of Blujay Designs, a graphic design firm in New Orleans, and is part of the Collaborative Support Team, providing logo design, web design, and general communications assistance. Jessica also spent twelve years on the team at CUEE, a community lender, assisting small, minority-owned businesses in New Orleans.
Shana Hartmann is a founding board member of the Collaborative Community Initiative, as well a founding member of the Collaborative. As an independent consultant and now a partner in the firm Seventeen18, she has spend the past dozen years focused on community outreach, communications, and public policy research. She provides the Collaborative and CCI with data research and analysis in the areas of local policy, public contracting, and economic disparity, as well as providing communications and organizational support.
J.B. Holton and Associates, LLC is a full-service restoration and environmental services firm seeking to expand its services by developing sustainable, healthy, and resilient affordable housing using industrial hemp-based building components.
J.B. Holton and Associates, LLC is a full service restoration and environmental services firm seeking to expand its services by developing sustainable, healthy, and resilient affordable housing using industrial hemp based building components.
Be Loud Studios believes, “Kids need outlets to speak up and be heard, and they need safe places to practice using digital tools. Our culture often devalues the voices of youth, especially BIPOC youth” and fosters kid confidence through radio production. In addition, Be Loud Studios work with students to amplify the creativity that is already within them by teaching digital media skills, coaching students on script writing, and finding outlets for kids to be louder.
Executive Director, Alex Owens (he/him/his) is a dedicated educator with over ten years of classroom experience. Before founding Be Loud, Alex led the Innovation Program at Bricolage Academy in New Orleans, creating the space for elementary students to design and create through different media. Alex has built his career on steering creative schools and learning environments. Whether a maker-space, construction site, or a radio station, Alex encourages hands-on learning and collaborative problem-solving. Alex founded and has led Be Loud Studios for the last two years. He is most proud of starting a student call-in hotline during COVID, creating a fellowship for teachers to collaborate around radio, and, of course, building a community of kids who find belonging at Be Loud programs.
Diana Turner (she/her/hers) is an educator who has worked in New Orleans public schools as classroom teacher, an intervention specialist, and teacher coach for the last thirteen years. She was a founding teacher at both Bricolage Academy and Firstline Schools. As a coach, Diana has helped teachers find ways to connect innovative and artistic projects to their classrooms. This experience brought her and Alex together to find a new way to engage students through radio, which led to Be Loud Studios. At Be Loud, Diana acts as a “Jill of all trades,” coaching kids on their radio segments, grant writing, and leading fundraising campaigns.
Ngombo Café and Sanctuary is a café and healing space created by exonerees, artists, and activists, and led by New Orleans youth. Their prison abolitionist-driven mission is to “provide plant based products grown in tandem with incarcerated individuals to facilitate healing for the communities they have been accused of harming. It is through this unique collaboration that we envision a world without prisons.”
Jackie is a co-founder of Ngombo Café and Sanctuary. Her work is at the intersection of abolition, social practice, and contemplative studies. She has spent the last two decades working directly with incarcerated folx, most notably, her elders Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe. She has been the recipient of multiple residencies and fellowships including, but not limited to, an A Blade of Grass Fellowship, Creative Capital, Art 4 Justice, Robert Rauschenberg Artist-as-Activist Fellowship, Soros Justice Fellowship, Eyebeam Project Fellowship and a Schloss Solitude Residency Fellowship. She is based in New Orleans where she continues to work on Herman’s House, Solitary Gardens, The Prisoner’s Apothecary PLUS and several other community generated, advocacy based projects.
Christin Wagner is a co-founder of Ngombo Café and Sanctuary and has lived and worked in New Orleans for nearly ten years. She is a graduate of Tulane University with over 20 years of experience in the restaurant/hospitality industry. Most recently, Christin worked as a paralegal where she gained experience in criminal and civil rights litigation. Since the completion of her AmeriCorps program in the early 2000’s, she has maintained a dedication to serving communities and is an active volunteer/member with several local organizations aimed at legal system reform and prison abolition including Court Watch NOLA, Solitary Gardens, and Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition.
Jerome Morgan, co-founder of Ngombo Café and Sanctuary, is a native New Orleanian who was wrongfully incarcerated at Angola State Penitentiary for 20 years and was fully exonerated in 2016. He is a Co-founder of Free-Dem Foundations, Co-Owner/Licensed Barber with Real Gentlemen Barbershop, Graphic Designer/Writer with Park Roots Productions, LLC, Client of Innocence Project New Orleans, Social Justice Co-Facilitator at local schools, Community Activist with Students At the Center (SAC), Justice & Beyond, The New Jim Crow Ministries and Panelist for Criminal versus Gentlemen: What Defines The Black Male Image 1 & 2, co-author of “Unbreakable Resolve: Triumphant Stories of 3 True Gentlemen” (2017) and “Go To Jail: Confronting Systems of Oppression” (2021).
Robert Jones is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and a co-founder Ngombo Café and Sanctuary. Robert is also co-founder of Free-Dem Foundations, Inc. and founder board member. He served more than 23 years in prison for crimes he did not commit and in 2017, he was totally exonerated. While in prison, he re-educated himself in law, business, government affairs and peer counseling. He is now a motivational speaker, Co-author of “Unbreakable Resolve: Triumphant Stories of 3 True Gentlemen”, and well-known community activist. Robert sits on the Board of Directors of Innocence Project New Orleans, New Orleans City Council Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, Dillard Advisory Board for the Center of Racial Justice and the Community Advisory Group Committee of the McArthur Justice Center’s Safety and Justice Challenge Initiative, designed to decrease the jail population of New Orleans.
“Individuals transitioning out of homelessness are seldom supplied the lasting emotional, physical, and financial support they need to live healthy, sustainable lives.” Reunion Shoe Company is a social enterprise that was created to help bridge the gap for people who have gained housing and require holistic care. Reunion Shoe provides a one-year program focused on developing skills in the areas of emotional intelligence, job skills, and resiliency for individuals with a history of houselessness.
Dan Fowler is the Founder and Program Director of Reunion Shoe Company, a social business dedicated to employing and empowering folks transitioning out of homelessness. He has worked in the homeless community in a variety of capacities, including advocacy, one-on-one ministry, and collaborating alongside various systems of care. Among those efforts are another initiative he founded called Ninth Hour Ministries, an advocacy video project. There, he had the privilege of building relationships with individuals experiencing homelessness, and gained a better understanding of the challenges facing the community. Dan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Industry Studies from Loyola University New Orleans.
We Lift coordinates wheelchair transportation across Louisiana, on an APP and “utilizes the advances in technology, allowing clients and drivers to be connected in real-time.”
Irell Warren has 10 years experience counseling and managing hospital D/C’s. After recognizing the challenges coordinating transportation, Irell launched his own transportation company, 17 years ago. In efforts to better serve the community, Irell partnered with Safr technology company to put medical transportation on APP, in order to make coordinating transportation more efficient.
2 B Chic Boutique & Glam Parlor is your stop shop made exclusively designed for women and girls. The boutique “has a mixture of styles such as comfy & lounge, classy, and party pieces with amazing quality that you can dress up and down while looking and feeling chic.” The Glam Parlor includes a hairstylist, lash techs, and makeup artist that beautifies and boosts confidence.
Brandy Armstrong is the owner of 2 B Chic Boutique & Glam Parlor. Brandy has always been passionate about fashion, beauty, and mentoring young girls and women. She has over 20 years of professional experience in retail, fashion, and beauty that inspired her to open 2 B Chic Boutique and Glam Parlor.
The Collaborative Community Initiative (CCI) is a New Orleans-based non-profit that has grown out of the work of The Collaborative, “a group of minority businesses and allies who together advance public policies that promote economic parity and inclusion in the City of New Orleans.” The goal of CCI is to “promote economic equity and the building of generational wealth in disenfranchised communities through community-focused data analysis, education, and engagement.”
Michelle Nixon Stanton is a founding board member of the Collaborative Community Initiative (CCI). She is also a founding member of the Collaborative, providing administrative leadership as head of the Collaborative Support Team for the past nine years. In addition, Michelle is the director of CUEE, a community lender that supports small and minority businesses in New Orleans with funding and personalized business analysis. She is also a partner in the firm Seventeen18, specializing in organizational consulting for small to medium businesses, start-ups, and non-profits. Michelle is a member of the board of the Louisiana Chamber of Commerce Foundation, a support organization for minority chambers of commerce across the state.
Jessica Jenkins is a founding member of the Collaborative, and the founding board chair of the Collaborative Community Initiative. In addition, she is the owner of Blujay Designs, a graphic design firm in New Orleans, and is part of the Collaborative Support Team, providing logo design, web design, and general communications assistance. Jessica also spent twelve years on the team at CUEE, a community lender, assisting small, minority-owned businesses in New Orleans.
Shana Hartmann is a founding board member of the Collaborative Community Initiative, as well a founding member of the Collaborative. As an independent consultant and now a partner in the firm Seventeen18, she has spend the past dozen years focused on community outreach, communications, and public policy research. She provides the Collaborative and CCI with data research and analysis in the areas of local policy, public contracting, and economic disparity, as well as providing communications and organizational support.
J.B. Holton and Associates, LLC is a full-service restoration and environmental services firm seeking to expand its services by developing sustainable, healthy, and resilient affordable housing using industrial hemp-based building components.
J.B. Holton and Associates, LLC is a full service restoration and environmental services firm seeking to expand its services by developing sustainable, healthy, and resilient affordable housing using industrial hemp based building components.
Be Loud Studios believes, “Kids need outlets to speak up and be heard, and they need safe places to practice using digital tools. Our culture often devalues the voices of youth, especially BIPOC youth” and fosters kid confidence through radio production. In addition, Be Loud Studios work with students to amplify the creativity that is already within them by teaching digital media skills, coaching students on script writing, and finding outlets for kids to be louder.
Executive Director, Alex Owens (he/him/his) is a dedicated educator with over ten years of classroom experience. Before founding Be Loud, Alex led the Innovation Program at Bricolage Academy in New Orleans, creating the space for elementary students to design and create through different media. Alex has built his career on steering creative schools and learning environments. Whether a maker-space, construction site, or a radio station, Alex encourages hands-on learning and collaborative problem-solving. Alex founded and has led Be Loud Studios for the last two years. He is most proud of starting a student call-in hotline during COVID, creating a fellowship for teachers to collaborate around radio, and, of course, building a community of kids who find belonging at Be Loud programs.
Diana Turner (she/her/hers) is an educator who has worked in New Orleans public schools as classroom teacher, an intervention specialist, and teacher coach for the last thirteen years. She was a founding teacher at both Bricolage Academy and Firstline Schools. As a coach, Diana has helped teachers find ways to connect innovative and artistic projects to their classrooms. This experience brought her and Alex together to find a new way to engage students through radio, which led to Be Loud Studios. At Be Loud, Diana acts as a “Jill of all trades,” coaching kids on their radio segments, grant writing, and leading fundraising campaigns.
Ngombo Café and Sanctuary is a café and healing space created by exonerees, artists, and activists, and led by New Orleans youth. Their prison abolitionist-driven mission is to “provide plant based products grown in tandem with incarcerated individuals to facilitate healing for the communities they have been accused of harming. It is through this unique collaboration that we envision a world without prisons.”
Jackie is a co-founder of Ngombo Café and Sanctuary. Her work is at the intersection of abolition, social practice, and contemplative studies. She has spent the last two decades working directly with incarcerated folx, most notably, her elders Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe. She has been the recipient of multiple residencies and fellowships including, but not limited to, an A Blade of Grass Fellowship, Creative Capital, Art 4 Justice, Robert Rauschenberg Artist-as-Activist Fellowship, Soros Justice Fellowship, Eyebeam Project Fellowship and a Schloss Solitude Residency Fellowship. She is based in New Orleans where she continues to work on Herman’s House, Solitary Gardens, The Prisoner’s Apothecary PLUS and several other community generated, advocacy based projects.
Christin Wagner is a co-founder of Ngombo Café and Sanctuary and has lived and worked in New Orleans for nearly ten years. She is a graduate of Tulane University with over 20 years of experience in the restaurant/hospitality industry. Most recently, Christin worked as a paralegal where she gained experience in criminal and civil rights litigation. Since the completion of her AmeriCorps program in the early 2000’s, she has maintained a dedication to serving communities and is an active volunteer/member with several local organizations aimed at legal system reform and prison abolition including Court Watch NOLA, Solitary Gardens, and Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition.
Jerome Morgan, co-founder of Ngombo Café and Sanctuary, is a native New Orleanian who was wrongfully incarcerated at Angola State Penitentiary for 20 years and was fully exonerated in 2016. He is a Co-founder of Free-Dem Foundations, Co-Owner/Licensed Barber with Real Gentlemen Barbershop, Graphic Designer/Writer with Park Roots Productions, LLC, Client of Innocence Project New Orleans, Social Justice Co-Facilitator at local schools, Community Activist with Students At the Center (SAC), Justice & Beyond, The New Jim Crow Ministries and Panelist for Criminal versus Gentlemen: What Defines The Black Male Image 1 & 2, co-author of “Unbreakable Resolve: Triumphant Stories of 3 True Gentlemen” (2017) and “Go To Jail: Confronting Systems of Oppression” (2021).
Robert Jones is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and a co-founder Ngombo Café and Sanctuary. Robert is also co-founder of Free-Dem Foundations, Inc. and founder board member. He served more than 23 years in prison for crimes he did not commit and in 2017, he was totally exonerated. While in prison, he re-educated himself in law, business, government affairs and peer counseling. He is now a motivational speaker, Co-author of “Unbreakable Resolve: Triumphant Stories of 3 True Gentlemen”, and well-known community activist. Robert sits on the Board of Directors of Innocence Project New Orleans, New Orleans City Council Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, Dillard Advisory Board for the Center of Racial Justice and the Community Advisory Group Committee of the McArthur Justice Center’s Safety and Justice Challenge Initiative, designed to decrease the jail population of New Orleans.
“Individuals transitioning out of homelessness are seldom supplied the lasting emotional, physical, and financial support they need to live healthy, sustainable lives.” Reunion Shoe Company is a social enterprise that was created to help bridge the gap for people who have gained housing and require holistic care. Reunion Shoe provides a one-year program focused on developing skills in the areas of emotional intelligence, job skills, and resiliency for individuals with a history of houselessness.
Dan Fowler is the Founder and Program Director of Reunion Shoe Company, a social business dedicated to employing and empowering folks transitioning out of homelessness. He has worked in the homeless community in a variety of capacities, including advocacy, one-on-one ministry, and collaborating alongside various systems of care. Among those efforts are another initiative he founded called Ninth Hour Ministries, an advocacy video project. There, he had the privilege of building relationships with individuals experiencing homelessness, and gained a better understanding of the challenges facing the community. Dan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Industry Studies from Loyola University New Orleans.
We Lift coordinates wheelchair transportation across Louisiana, on an APP and “utilizes the advances in technology, allowing clients and drivers to be connected in real-time.”
Irell Warren has 10 years experience counseling and managing hospital D/C’s. After recognizing the challenges coordinating transportation, Irell launched his own transportation company, 17 years ago. In efforts to better serve the community, Irell partnered with Safr technology company to put medical transportation on APP, in order to make coordinating transportation more efficient.
