15 Entrepreneurs That Changed My Life This Year

3 min readJan 14, 2017

2016 was a BIG year for me.

Like really big…

I presented on 15 stages.

Afrotech by Blavity
Kellogg BMA Conference
Tech Inclusion
TechStars FounderCon
SOCAP
Black Professionals Network Bay Area
Work Play Lead
Diversity Advocates
Ola Initiative
New Schools Venture Fund (NSVF)
ASU GSV
Social Venture Network (SVN)
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
Edsurge
Teach for America 25th Anniversary

I traveled to 11 states and 1 international country (Viva Mexico!).

Louisiana, Utah, Nevada, Massachusetts, Ohio, Colorado, Maryland, New York, DC, Arizona, and Illinois.

I was honored with 5 incredible recognitions.

Medium’s top 10% of Writers

LinkedIn: Top 10 Voices in VC and Entrepreneurship

The Registry: 40 Under, 40 Tech Diversity Silicon Valley

Case Foundation’s 50 Inclusive Entrepreneurs to Follow

Hackbright: 10 Black Female Leaders in Tech to Watch

I wrote 30+ articles that over a million people read.

Of all the articles, my most popular one was My White Boss Talked About Race and This is What Happened, which was later featured in the Huffington Post, LinkedIn, and Black Enterprise.

I launched my personal brand: MandelaSH

(btw…have you seen my Instagram yet? It’s on and poppin!)

I interviewed some of my heroes (like Troy Carter).

Like I said. It was a fantastic year on so many levels. But don’t get it twisted. I put in more work than I ever have before. And I know that’s why I had the year I did.

But more than that, I took the initiative to learn a lot this year, and I constantly sought out other people who could help me. And before 2016 gets too far away, I want to stop and recognize…

15 entrepreneurs, in particular, who inspired me to dream bigger and go farther than ever before!

To these entrepreneurs, I want to say THANK YOU! Thank you for your courage, consistency, and resolve to pursue your dreams; it’s inspired me to pursue my own.