Leon Abdullah El-Alamin Leon Abdullah El-Alamin, CEO of The MADE Institute Name: Leon Abdullah El-Alamin Company Name: The M.A.D.E Institute Designation: Founder & Executive Director of MADE  Have you ever made a mistake or completed a task after which you thought to yourself, ‘Maybe I could have done better?’ or ‘I should have done this instead of that?’ We all wish for second chances in our lives and those who get them are the lucky ones. When you do have the chance to redo something, you always make sure to do it perfectly. Leon Abdullah El-Alamin, the CEO of The MADE Institute, is an entrepreneur who is guided by these ideals and is transforming the lives of those who become victims of violence and who have been impacted by mass incarceration by providing them with an invaluable second chance! Turning His Passion Into His Profession We all face many challenging choices along the way, there is no denying that. You can either come to the conclusion that where you originate from doesn’t really matter in the end; what matters is the destination that you land upon, or you can blame your situation and the circumstances that you were born and raised in as the cause of your poor judgments and downfall. Born and raised in Flint, Michigan, Abdullah had humble beginnings early on in his life. It was not easy for him as his grandmother was responsible for most of his upbringing. His mother influenced his life later on in his teenage years. Leon was born and raised in a hostile environment, so it’s not unexpected that he chose the same path. During his adolescence, his surroundings influenced his choices, and for a while, he adopted that culture. Soon enough, he realized that his environment was a mess. He saw first-hand the damage that drugs, mass incarcerations, and structural racism in the institutions caused not only to the people actively involved in them but also to their families. It destroyed people and drove families apart. It was after observing all of this that Abdullah made up his mind, he was not going to be just another bystander, he was going to sit there and wait for change to come but he would lead the change himself. From that day onwards, he has made it his life’s mission to end mass incarceration and help rebuild marginalized communities and those who get caught in the cycle of violence! Education: The Most Powerful Weapon Leon Abdullah shifted his focus from the violence-ridden streets and all other negative aspects of his environment to positive things that would benefit him in the long run. The passion that drives him today is spirituality. It has had a profound impact on his life and helped him think deeper and develop a solid mindset. His love for the community, his family, and those riddled with violence guides him on a daily basis. He now addresses structural issues such as racial profiling, police brutality, mass incarceration, miseducation, and the economic exploitation of marginalized communities. He aims to hit these issues at their core and come up with solutions that will help eradicate them. Today, his organization The MADE Institute which stands for Money, Attitude, Direction, and Education is dedicated to serving the community. He is attempting to give a second chance to those who became negative products of their environment. A Community Development ReEntry Corporation, M.A.D.E offers comprehensive trauma-informed programming for juveniles and adults who have a history of crime but have the potential to recover and contribute to society. In addition to this, M.A.D.E also helps at-risk youth who are born and brought up in environments similar to that Abdullah was raised in. The institution attempts to do everything in its power to change the lives of these individuals around. M.A.D.E is committed to making people’s lives better than ever! From Convict to Clean Chit You can’t save anyone who wouldn’t save themselves if you weren’t there! We all know the extreme environment Leon was brought up in. He got caught up in it, and as a result of some poor choices and terrible timing, he was convicted and sentenced to 12 to 20 years in prison for drugs and gun charges. He served 7 years of his sentence after a drug law had changed in the state of Michigan. Abdullah’s focus shifted toward making a name for himself and working for the betterment of his community. After he was freed from prison, the first thing he did was visit North Flint, his old neighborhood. He made many investments in properties that he believed had strong financial potential and at the same time, held special significance for him. From here, The MADE Institute’s unofficial history began. Leon trained folks who had just been released from prison how to rehabilitate their houses, live better lives, and become productive members of society. What the MADE Institute Has in Store? The Government established community development centers do not offer as many facilities and programming that particularly focus on those who have been impacted by the war on drugs and the school-to-prison pipeline as M.A.D.E does. From offering workforce development and helping individuals learn new skills to providing transitional housing, the organization is fighting to better the lives of individuals. In addition to these skills, urban farming, financial literacy, required mentoring, job readiness with opportunities, health and wellness, research, technology, and advocacy are all undertaken by them. They aim at the holistic development of an individual to ensure that they are ready to stay away from a life of crime. The most popular course offered by M.A.D.E is their Life Skills program, a 10-phase program that lasts for 12-14 weeks. It aims to aid an individual to grow in all aspects of life. The course can be undertaken by people from all walks of life as there is no age restriction in place. It teaches students how to dress for work, how to construct a cover letter and resume, and how

Varetta Huggins “Get a seat at the table or create your own table and lead it.”  Varetta Huggins – Most Powerful Women in Business Varetta Huggins life story is about setting goals and doing the work daily to achieve them. Her life began on the small guitar-shaped island of St. Kitts in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean.  A fertile sunny island blessed with fruit and vegetable trees, beautiful beaches with aquamarine oceans, and friendly people, makes St. Kitts one of the most beautiful islands all year round.  She grew up in a single-family home with her mom and her little sister and by island standards, they were poor, but the island provided the food and water they needed daily to survive. She remembers her mom’s constant voice telling them to “make something of yourselves…and do well in school” because her mom did not complete her schooling.  Her mom had her sister and her as a teenager and was forced to end her schooling early to raise them.  This fueled Varetta’s goals as a teenager which were to pass her end of grade exams annually and to graduate high school.  During her last two years in high school, she met a teacher who became her mentor and told her she could study Computer Science in college and her goals were expanded to go beyond high school.  After graduating high school, she started applying to colleges.  When she applied to Hampton University, she had to complete an essay which required her to describe her short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals and share how she would change the world with a degree from Hampton University.  Her long-term goal was to own a software consulting company and she knew that to be able to make this a reality she needed to have a degree in Computer Science and to understand how to manage information technology and people.  Her short-term goal was to graduate college with a degree in Computer Science and her mid-term goal was to graduate college with a master’s degree. She got married in 1995 but decided to continue pursuing her goals instead of starting a family immediately. She was accepted into the Computer Science program at Hampton University and in January 1997 she arrived in Hampton, Virginia where the cold immediately reminded her that she was far away from home.   The campus of Hampton University was surrounded by water, and the beautiful trees, flowers, and friendly people reminded her of home. She graduated Hampton University in three and a half years then landed her first job in 2000 at NASA’s Langley Research Center as a Computer Programmer and Analyst working as a Government Contracting Consultant for SAIC.  She had achieved her short-term goal then began working immediately to complete her mid-term goal.  She moved up to the DC Metropolitan area in 2002 and transferred within SAIC to work at NOAA’s National Weather Service as an Information Engineer.  She quickly enrolled in a master’s program at the George Washington University and attended classes during weeknights. She graduated in 2005 with a master’s degree in Information Systems Technology concentrating on Management Information Systems and a Certificate in CIO Federal Executive Competencies.  She also gave birth to her first child in 2005 while working on her degree. She had achieved her mid-term goal, did well in school, and started her family, all in the same year. She needed to gain more working experiences as a Government Contracting Consultant before she could complete her long-term goal. She left SAIC to work with another Government Contractor and became one of the first Consultants hired for a new government contract at NOAA’s National Weather Service. She transitioned engineers, managers, and other staff onto the contract then began managing numerous projects on the contract. She then obtained her Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification from PMI then moved to work with Government Contractors at the Federal Aviation Administration then back to NOAA’s National Weather Service.  In 2009, she found a business mentor then she decided to start a Government Contracting company based on her strength of IT Project Management.  In November 2009, V-Project Management Consulting LLC was born, and the logo included colors from the Caribbean Ocean. Her first Government client was the Federal Aviation Administration, and she became the first billable Government Contracting Consultant for V-Project Management Consulting LLC.  It was at this moment that she felt she had made something of herself and achieved her long-term goal.  Today, she is the President and Chief Executive Officer of V-Project Management Consulting LLC where they offer Enterprise Program Management Office services to their government clients.  Their contracts included working with FAA, ED, USDA, DOJ, and USAID and they have hired up to 20 employees and consultants since their inception.  In 2018 Varetta started the V-Government Contracting Success Program where she speaks across the U.S. to business owners about navigating Government Contracting and offer Executive Business Coaching services to business customers.  As she looks at the work they have done for their government and non-government clients, she can truly say that her knowledge and work has changed the world.  Live Every Day by Purpose To live every day by purpose by inspiring and empowering business owners to achieve personal, spiritual, professional, and financial growth, even more.  She understands that being a speaker, mentor, and executive coach means that she is given the voice to influence others who are looking for someone to fill the gap and inspire them.  Empowering others mean that I give them the knowledge they need by showing them how to fix the problems that arise in their businesses. Varetta’s says Client Centricity as her greatest strength One of her greatest strengths is that she listens to her customers and provide them with the solutions they currently need based on where they are at in their business journey. Their competitive advantage is that they show their customers how to solve their current needs not just provide to them what they need.  She calls this their how

Jessica Rosa You try, you may fail but the real failure is when you stop trying. Today through this column we bring you the story of a powerful women who didn’t stop trying and that’s what became the success mantra of her life. Unveiling the life of Jessica Rosa who is inspiration of many. The outset story of her career all started at the beginning of the pandemic. She was working in the hospitality industry as a Front Office Manager and Sales Coordinator, she had been working in the industry for almost seven years at the time. Unfortunately, like many others, she was laid off from her position because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. In the blink of an eye, the world changed drastically, and she knew she would have to make some changes to adapt. After taking some time to consider her future and what she truly wanted in it, she knew she wanted freedom, to support others, to use her full potential to do something she was passionate about, and to never be limited. This led her to recall a conversation she had with one of her older sisters before the pandemic. She had informed her about her entrepreneurial journey as a Virtual Assistant. At the time, she thought she could never run her own business. After recalling this conversation, she did some research, took a Virtual Assistant course, and launched JM Virtual Solutions, LLC by the end of December 2020. When she first launched her business, she was doing general virtual assistant work. She had no idea what services she wanted to offer or whom she wanted to work with. So, she was doing a bit of everything and working with any client who was willing to work with a new VA. It took her about four months of being in business before she niched down into social media marketing as that is really where her passion is. She was also receiving a lot of inquiries for social media management from clients. Additionally, she was and currently am, working on her Master of Science degree in marketing with a concentration in social media. All of this to say, social media was her calling. Today, she is happy to say that as a social media strategist with a passion for supporting fempreneurs, she has had the pleasure of working with over fourteen women in the online space, helping them implement social media strategies that align with their business goals to help them achieve them. She feels blessed to be able to wake up every day to do work she is truly passionate about that also provides her with the freedom she was looking for and best of all, there are no limitations as to where her business can go. Its all about Passion, Creativity, and Innovation Several aims and ideals guide her as an individual and a social media professional. The first is creativity. Working in the marketing space and creating a lot of content as a social media strategist, creativity is a value high on her list. She has always been a creative person and have always admired the arts. The work she does at JM Virtual Solutions has given her that creative outlet in my professional life that she can share with her clients. Passion is next on her list. When you have passion for what you do, you never work a day in your life. She has come to learn the truth behind this statement as she wakes up every morning with so much passion for the work she does, that it sometimes feels like she is not working. She believes that when we are passionate about something, we put more of ourselves into it and produce better results. It is important to her to not only have passion for her business but for the businesses of the clients she works with as well. Nothing stays the same for long in the world of social media. Therefore, JM Virtual Solutions aims to be innovative. Steve Jobs once said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” As the leader of JM Virtual Solutions, she aims to be innovative in developing social media strategies and campaigns that work toward helping her clients achieve their goals. Being Human- Have an Emotional Connect Her greatest strength in the social media world is simply this, being human. She thinks when we enter the digital space, especially as a business, we forget that the individuals on the other side of the conversation are human. At the end of the day, people do not like to be bombarded with sales, they want to be talked to like a human. As humans what drives us to make a purchase is our emotions. Think about when you go to the store and you try on the perfect dress. It makes you feel confident, sexy, and beautiful. Those emotions that you feel are what drive you to make the purchase. One of the things she helps her clients with is focusing on making that emotional connection with their audience. The key to social media marketing is knowing who your audience is and how to connect with them on an emotional level. Social media is very much like a cocktail party. You mingle, introduce yourself, strike up a conversation, and start connecting with people, right? Many conversations are happening at once in the online space. People are introducing themselves, asking questions, a common interest is discovered, and a connection is made. If you want to be successful with your social media marketing efforts and build a strong community of fans, build trust, and gain loyalty, you need to do it online the same way you would do it offline. Having a strong comprehension of this has helped her to develop her approach, providing a valuable strength to social media marketing. All about JM Virtual Solutions She is the founder, strategist, and creative behind JM Virtual Solutions. As a solopreneur, her primary goals are just about