UMGC Alumni AssociationLinkUp for Start-ups: On Your Own, But Not Alone

Moderator - Carl E. Brown Jr. ’97 
Carl E. Brown, Jr., is the host of The Small Business report on Sirus XM Radio Channel 141 and has been called a “Transformational leader” by Earl “Butch” Graves, Jr., publisher of Black Enterprise magazine.  He currently serves the State/Executive Director of the District of Columbia Small Business Development Center (DCSBDC) and is also a Supervisory, Contracting Officer for the District of Columbia. Mr. Brown previously served as a  small business counselor at the Howard University Small Business Development Center and served five years as the Executive Director at the Center for Minority Business Development. 
 
Mr. Brown is a visionary who uses his gifts to help empower the minority business community and is the recipient of numerous awards and citations for his work in the community and with minority owned businesses. He has written legislation in support of strengthening minority business programs and contract compliance. He has provided volunteer leadership support to the City of Bowie Economic Development Committee; Boy Scouts Troop 1559; and the City of Bowie Education Committee. When campaigning for a seat on the Bowie City Council the newspapers called him “Blunt Taking Brown, he will tell you the truth like it or not.”

Jaemellah Kemp ‘14
Jaemellah Kemp is a mother, nonprofit founder, and all things nonprofit management. Her passion to help single parents and youth inspired her to found IT TAKES TWO, INC in 2012, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that awards scholarships to students living in single parent homes and provides youth programming. During its 10 years of service to youth and families, the organization has awarded 30 scholarships totaling over $10,000. 
 
Ms. Kemp extends her love for community through Jaemellah Kemp Consulting, a nonprofit startup firm that assists aspiring and new nonprofit founders to build successful nonprofits founded on sound principles and relevant information. Ms. Kemp has launched over 40 nonprofit organizations from vision to implementation with 100% 501(c)(3) approval rate, and to date, has provided service support to over 1,500 nonprofit founders, volunteers, board members, and others in the industry. Nonprofit start up and board governance are her niche service areas.  
 
Ms. Kemp is a co-author of the book The Nonprofit Legacy. She is the former Programming Committee Vice President of the UMGC Board of Directors, a 2015 Achiever’s Award recipient, and was spotlighted in 2018 by the University System of Maryland (USM) for her leadership through IT TAKES TWO, INC and its impact on communities.

Qyana M. Stewart ‘12 
Qyana M. Stewart is a Tech, Social, and EdTech entrepreneur, social justice advocate, educator, speaker, and award-winning philanthropist with over 20 years of combined experience in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. She is a certified Software Product and Project Manager, as well as an entrepreneur, serving as the CEO & Principal Consultant of GlobalForce Tech Consulting, LLC, a technology and software development company, and President of GlobalForce For Girls, Inc., an education technology nonprofit founded during the pandemic.   
 
Passionate about higher education and the advancement of Black women in STEM, innovation, and entrepreneurship, she plays an active role in the George Washington University ecosystem, serving as a Mentor in Residence (MIR), GW New Venture Competition pitch judge and coach, Innovation Commercialization Assistance Program (ICAP) mentor and adjunct instructor, Korean Innovation Center (KIC) Tech Frontier program mentor and National Science Foundation (NSF) National and Regional I-Corps technology industry mentor.   
 
In continued support of entrepreneurs and small business growth and development throughout DC, Ms. Stewart serves as the Program Director of the Entrepreneur Development Network DC (EDNDC), a business model training program built on the Lean Startup methodology. EDNDC supports diverse, DC-based entrepreneurs and small business owners as they seek to redefine success for their ventures post COVID-19.

Jon Bassford '17
Jon Bassford ‘17, MBA, JD, CAE is an operations executive who has personally launched and managed operations for over a dozen startups, small businesses, and nonprofits. Mr. Bassford is Founder and CEO of Lateral Solutions, LLC, an operations management company. The company is dedicated to giving time and resources back to founders and owners to focus on their core business instead of administrative functions. Jon founded Lateral Solutions to help more founders and business owners succeed.

Mr. Bassford's expertise is in creating streamlined and efficient operations to reduce administration. A hallmark of his career has been evaluating operations to ensure that they are driving results as well as doing so as efficiently as possible.

Mr. Bassford is a speaker, consultant, and entrepreneur having launched several of his own businesses in addition to the many organizations he has supported.