104. Breaking the entrepreneurship box + creating inclusive spaces with Abbiola Ballah

Over the past year and a half, we’ve fortunately seen an increased interest in creating more inclusive spaces. We’ve seen it discussed more in general, and we have absolutely seen online course creators, instructors, coaches, and leaders start to think more about inclusion in their spaces. This is great! AND, this week’s guest, Abbiola Ballah, challenges us to look at the way that we think about inclusion and ask - are we really thinking about the people we want to include as a whole, or are we reducing them to just their race, sexuality, or ability? Abbiola Ballah has 16+ years of experience working in education, curriculum design, and DEI. She has taught English to students all over the world from a wide range of backgrounds and considers herself a member of the international community having lived in many different countries. Abbiola draws from this experience to teach online course creators and hosts how to foster inclusion through an intersectional lens, and teaches a virtual workshop Take Inclusive Action to help business owners do just that. But that isn’t all that Abby shared with us in this episode. She also shared her experience on the winding road of entrepreneurship - specifically, what it was like for her learning that she could think outside of (or break, as she put it) the entrepreneur box. That her process and her business didn’t have to look like anyone else’s, and that she was free to break the rules in business. I’ve had the privilege of working with Abby and have witnessed this journey first hand (you can hear her talk more about that experience in episodes 86-89) and all I can say is - this woman has some incredible experience to bring to the online business world and I absolutely can’t wait to see the impact she is going to continue to have. I’ll be at her workshop on January 20, and there are still spots available, so if you’re ready to grab your seat head over to bit.ly/TakingInclusiveAction