How it Began…with an Elephant
It was 2019 (which seems like a lifetime ago now) when Travis Trull, founder of Flint Global, posted some pictures of Sheldrick Wildlife Sanctuary on his Instagram. My daughter had recently received an elephant adoption as a gift and I was so excited to know that someone I knew was visiting there. Travis had been coworking at The Biz Foundry for about six months at that time so I knew a bit about him but not a ton. After seeing his IG post, I was so excited and could not wait to chat more.
Once we started talking, Travis let me know that he was working to launch a non-profit later in the year. The endeavor would be similar to what we do as an entrepreneur center but on a global scale; it felt right to jump in and help. Travis is a heads down, grind it out and get the work done type of founder. I am a “connect all the people, make some noise, and celebrate big type of community leader.” A great partnership was formed.
Throughout 2019 I found ways to help plug myself into Flint’s mission and purpose. It filled me with pride that we had a global non-profit started and housed in The Biz Foundry in Cookeville, TN. I introduced Travis and his team to anyone I thought might be useful or interested. We started meeting with rotary clubs in the area and telling EVERYONE about what Flint was doing and how (by working with this amazing nonprofit) we could be a part of economic growth on a global scale.
During this time, I found some ways that my knowledge set could be useful to the folks in Kenya where Flint is working on opening the Kenya Entrepreneur Center. The timeline for the opening has been fuzzy with the pandemic and other factors but the dream has never wavered. One event that we hosted in November 2021 was an entrepreneur spotlight event where we had Travis present on all that Flint was doing and invited Shehla Rooney, founder of GoKnee, to present as well. Through that connection, Travis and Shehla realized that there was potential to expand GoKnee and at the same time help potential Kenyans with knee pain. AND they would have an additional impact by helping to spur some economic growth!
Although the path to this Kenya trip has been much longer than anticipated, my excitement still remains just as high. The top things I am looking forward to while on this trip are meetings with business leaders, recording Powered By Her interviews, and visiting Sheldrick Wildlife Sanctuary to see my daughter’s elephant. Thanks for going on this journey with me!