2023 Fellow Focus: Celena Green + ProsperWorks
Tech founder, giver, champion for economic empowerment,…2023 Fellow Celena Green of ProsperWorks shares more about her journey as a social impact entrepreneur.
What life experiences propelled you into the entrepreneurial space and made you decide to be your own boss?
A few experiences led me to consider entrepreneurship. The first is working with my Dad, who has been a small business owner for over 30 years now. As a professional, he secured over $5M in business for his employer, but was unable to realize that kind of wealth for himself. He shared his struggles and lessons with me, and this planted the seeds for entrepreneurship early on.
Years later as a professional, I too led multi-million dollar, international projects, and helped other entrepreneurs and leaders grow their businesses across the U.S. and internationally. Yet, my salary was capped regardless of how much I brought in, I had little control over my time, and my health was deteriorating. I ultimately pursued entrepreneurship to control my time and working conditions, and to have the potential for unlimited wealth. I want this freedom not only for myself, but for others as well. That’s why the businesses I’m building will help employers, employees, and stakeholders prosper together.
What do you enjoy most about being a founder?
As a founder, I really enjoy the creative and iterative process of bringing an idea into reality, and then seeing the positive impact of that on someone’s life for the first time.
What do you wish someone had told you before you started your entrepreneurial journey?
I had access to lots of information before I started out, so I don’t feel like I was missing much. What I noticed is that much of what I had been told didn’t really resonate or make sense until I was in the situation myself. There is such an overwhelming amount of advice out there - often conflicting and contradictory - that trying to seek preemptive advice might just make things more confusing. The best lesson I learned is that there are different types of businesses, business models, and different paths and stages of business growth. The usefulness of any advice should be evaluated based on where you are in the journey and your particular goals.
Tell us about an experience you had as an entrepreneur or in starting your company that exemplified one of Camelback's core values: "Belief in Mission + Vision"; "Unafraid of Failure"; "Constant Learner"; "Humble + Hungry"; and "Give First."
As an entrepreneur I have taken to heart the value of Give First. I’ve earned a tremendous amount of goodwill, as well as lessons learned to inform the business, by being willing to give of my expertise and time with others.
How do you stay motivated?
I stay motivated by reviewing my goals and my “why” daily, and by remembering that this is a marathon, not a sprint. Celebrating small wins and lessons learned also keeps me going.
Let's talk about your legacy. How do you hope your venture will make the world a better place generations from now?
I hope that ProsperWorks will transform the way companies create and share wealth with their employees, and that long-term, employees and their families will have a path to wealth-creation through employee ownership.
What's your favorite book or podcast that you draw entrepreneurial inspiration from?
I grew up reading Black Enterprise magazine, and there is now a huge wealth of business knowledge and inspiration available from diverse contributors on a number of channels. I read the mainstream media as well as Afrotech, POCinTech, and enjoy hearing breakdowns and insights on MicroConf, My First Million Podcast, NFX, The 20 Minute VC Podcast, and SaaStr Podcast. There are a number of great founders and investors who share their knowledge in their own newsletters as well.
A few entrepreneurship books that I’ve been inspired by (which happen to have been written by women) include: Leapfrog by Nathalie Molina Niño; It’s About Damn Time by Arlan Hamilton; Yes, You Can Do This by Claudia Reuter; Mechanical Bull by Cheryl Contee; Build the Damn Thing by Kathryn Finney; and Dear Female Founder: 66 Letters of Advice from Women Who Made $1 Billion in Revenue, by Lu Li.
I also draw inspiration from media sources and books exploring ways of doing business differently. Some good reads on this are Adventure Finance: How to Create a Funding Journey that Blends Profit and Purpose by Aunnie Patton Power; Humanocracy by Gary Hamel; and Ownership: Reinventing Companies, Capitalism and Who Owns What by Corey Rosen and John Case. I also look to organizations like SOCAP, Conscious Capitalism, and Zebras Unite, as well as news sources like ImpactAlpha and Fifty by Fifty.
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