Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 10 June 2010 — Page 9

The Muncie Times • June 10, 2010 • Page 9

continued from page 7 out short-term loans from him and a few close friends if I really needed, but I do believe those days are behind me. Once, when I was downtown and my electric bill was $700 and my family simply didn't have the money to pay My lights were about to be disconnected so I called my surrogate mother, Bea Foster and told her what was going on. She told me not to worry - she would take care of it - just to give her my account number. And just like that, she did - and she did not want paid back. People like her really made me want to try harder to succeed. She believed in me and told me not to quit and it meant something that she had been a ground-breaking entreprenuer herself. In some ways I am like her - we both have tenacity. Randall Sims nicknamed me "Baby Bea" and that always makes me laugh! I also took out a small business loan, which I still owe and intend to payback. The microloan committee is comprised of very caring community leaders and they have been very longsuffering to me and others who went down for a bit during the recession. Q: How involved is your husband in this venture? A: For Valentine's Day, Aaron bought all my office furniture and decorated my office. He has also been very instrumental in bringing my new shop to reality. He has been very supportive, which is great because when I operated GB's downtown, we were not on

one accord. Things are different now and we try more to support one another. He lets me do my own thing, but reels me in if necessary. He is a great administrator, able to view things much more comprehensively than most people. I have always believed we are better together - when we hit that zenith in the spirit - that's a whole new venture - the enemy had better watch out! Q: You once had an ice cream shop in downtown Muncie. A: I closed downtown because of two things: The Roberts Hotel closed and immediately we felt a serious drop in sales, about 30 percent. That's a lot - for us, it was our profit. We kept trying for about a year afterwards, but it was a huge blow and I couldn't see us recovering. When I had an opportunity to get out of my lease early, I saw it as a good sign and bolted with the purpose of reopening elsewhere possibly. The second thing was me being so very tired of fighting the health department on things that seemed truly benign. I felt like they were picking on me all the time and that regardless of what I did, they had marked me for life. When I see some of the big restaurants being closed because of similar things now, so I don't feel so bad. At least I know now it's not racist, which is what I did think. Q: How long will you keep the business going? Or do you have a threshold beyond which you will not go in terms of expenses, losses or a break-even point?

A: I will keep things going as long as God gives the resources. EMG is for-prof-it, but GB's will be a not-for-profit treat shop. We will serve light lunches that include hot dogs, coneys, sloppy joes, nachos and hamburgers and chips. People can pay what they can - it's a novel idea but one I am looking forward to impementing here. There are soup kitchens and other places that serve dinners for free but I've not seen a place that serves shakes and sundaes to families who can come and just pay what they can. Q: You also have a newspaper or newspapers. How is that going/ Where do your newspapers circulate? Names? A: The name of the company is Elite Media Group. The newspapers are The Lafayette Ledger and The Anderson Aim. Both are minority newspapers: we reach 6,000 minorities in Madison County and 4,000 in the Tippecanoe County area. Q: Do you think this is the right time to start an ethnic newspaper, since the economy is still sluggish? A: We have been in existence since Fall 2007. We started out publishing monthly, and the advertising was simply not there. We now print both papers four times a year, plus a few extra supplements. We can manage that without much of a problem, thanks to stalwarts like Ball State University, Marsh, Purdue University, and others.

Q: What's your target audience? Whaf s your circulation? A: Our target audience is minorities living and working in Tippecanoe and Madison counties. Our purpose is to provide a unique perspective on issues, people and events not covered in the mainstream news. Q: What other ventures are you considering? A: I'd like to publish a rely news-magazine in Muncie that focuses on all good news: in fact, that's the name, Good News Muncie. It would feature uplifting, inspirational news stories and profiles on exciting people. It would be for all readers. Also, I want to be a liason to close the political gap between white and black churches, people of faith who are liberal and conservative. The vitrol between Christians was embarassing during the presidential campaign and still is combative. I would like to be a force to bring ideologies together and to ask the question: "who would Jesus vote for?" Q: What challenges and opportunities have you confronted as a young African American woman breaking into business? Do you have a mentor or adviser(s)? Most African American women tend to go into the hair care, hair fixing and beauty supply businesses? Why did you choose to march to a different drummer? A: I have had the usual set of discriminatory situations

that many minorities have experienced who are my age, but truth be told, the biggest impediment to my success as a whole has been fear of failure and my very own personal "confidence crisis." For reasons I have not completely identified, I have struggled with those two very real things all of my life, and not just because of race. As a child I always felt unattractive and out of place, both within and out of my family. I grew up thinking I was unattractive and not really of value even though I knew my parents loved me. Maybe it was comparing myself to the Brady Bunch or the Cosby's -1 really don't know. All I do know is that i've had to literally force myself to engage with others, in private relationships, professionally and socially. I've been very reluctant to do so on countless occasions, but I've managed by the grace of God to push myself out in the public to be accepted or rejected by customers and advertisers and to challenge myself that I could offer as good a product as the next person. On the race front, it was very hard for me because I grew up in an all- white community where I was the only black girl in my school. I just went into a shell to hide when I was a kid because I did not feel equal or normal like everybody else. I felt better being alone sometimes and rather than appreciating who I was, I saw all the reasons why I was less-than. • My parents were very loving to me and didn't bring me harm, but as a continued on page 10