Devon Moody-Graham calls herself a “serial entrepreneur.”
She is the owner and operator of CEO Mom Empire, a consulting firm that is celebrating its 14th year. her fourth business. As “chief solutions officer,” she says she takes small and upcoming startups under her wings, coaches their owners, and provides support ranging from assessing capital to structuring management.
She has worked with over 1,000 local small businesses, and also operates a non-profit focusing on youth entrepreneurship called the Biz Spot Community.
Growing up in East St. Louis, Graham-Moody, said her mother and maternal grandmother were both cosmetologists, and her grandmother had a cosmetology school in East St. Louis. The entrepreneur’s dad was a shoe repairman, who ran his one-person business for 61 years.
“I grew up around entrepreneurs,” said Moody-Graham.
She was inspired to launch CEO Mom Empire because, at a young age, she noticed the toll being an entrepreneur took on her family. She remembers her dad working every day, nonstop. No vacations and seeing him experience burnout.
“I really thought about why minority-owned businesses have so many problems with growth within their business, employment, and finances. All things needed to help sustain a business and build generational wealth,” she said.
“It’s really about me helping people create a strategy to get their business from point A to point Z.”
Moody-Graham holds a degree in Consumer Textile Marketing and Consumer Psychology from the University of Illinois – Champaign. She has a masters degree in business from the University of Phoenix and enjoys “being these startups’ biggest cheerleader.”
She says many of her clients forget their “why.”
“It’s ok to enjoy the fruit of your labor, she explained.
Once she learns the problems they are facing, she devises a plan to tackle them.
“Most of the time my clients are focusing on the transaction of the business, many of them are just trying to stay above water,” said Moody-Graham.
When clients first use her service, many of them don’t have a plan to create passive income. She uses her mom and grandmother as an example. When they were hair stylists, they only made money when they were doing hair. It was an exchange of dollars for hours.
She commends millennials who create ways to create additional income in businesses that align with the industry they are in.
For example, cosmetologists sell hair extensions, and many have classes where they teach other hair stylists the latest hair trend or how to do eye lashes.
All of these outlets are ways to create passive income so that cosmetologists don’t have to rely on just one income.
She helps clients create goals that span a one to a five-year limit. She begins by having them fill out a questionnaire that “allows them to dream without limitations.”
“When I help them identify those dreams without any barriers, they discover their why,” said Moody-Graham.
She says being an entrepreneur is not for the faint at heart, it requires hard work and discipline, and it’s much easier to have a stable paycheck, and a steady job. But knowing your why Moody-Graham says it is all worth it.
Her startup clients include Raw Belly Juice, Mind Game, and C-Mac Consulting, but she is coaching some pretty heavy hitters as well.
She assisted Harris-Stowe State University with its international program and Lindenwood University is also a client. She served as its “entrepreneur in residence,” and helps find mentors for its entrepreneur program.
She advises her clients to hold on to their core values. She remembers how easy it was to get swept into someone else’s dream that pulled her away from her original plan.
“When you come to CEO Moms Empire, be ready to work, be ready to commit. Nothing happens overnight,” she said.
To learn more about CEO Moms Empire visit her website at https://ceomom.ueniweb.com/.
