#70 Entrepreneurship Chat: CJ Meenan + Tracey Syphax - A Few Things - 42 Min
We discussed a number of things including:
1. Tracey and C.J.'s entrepreneurial journeys
2. How entrepreneurship education has changed since NFTE
3. New trends and initiatives
4. Prisoner/reentry education initiative
5. Youth education initiatives - gaming
Tracey is the Founder of From the Block to the Boardroom LLC, VP & COO of Phax Group Construction & Design LLC, Senior Managing Partner with Phax Group LLC, and cofounder of Reentry Ventures.
Educated in the Trenton public school system, Mr. Syphax received his diploma in 1980. He later attended Mercer County Vocational Technical School. He has spent his 20 year career in business as a strong advocate for ending mass incarceration for non-violent offenders by using proper re-entry tools and entrepreneurship.
Mr. Syphax is a former Co-Chairman of the Board for the Mayor’s Office of Employment & Training (MOET) in Trenton, NJ. He is a former board member of Capitol City Redevelopment Corporation, having been nominated by Senator Shirley Turner and appointed by Governor Christie to oversee millions of dollars in construction around the Capitol District. He was also the 2011 Princeton Chamber Entrepreneur of the year, the 1st African American to receive this award in the Chamber’s 51yr history.
In June of 2016, From the Block to the Boardroom launched Reentry Ventures in partnership with Open for Business Ventures with the shared goal of helping returning citizens through entrepreneurship and online support networks. Mr. Syphax was Co-Chairman of the Board of the African American Chamber of Commerce of NJ and Chairman of the Trustee Board at Union Baptist Church. He was selected as a 2014 White House “Champion of Change” Honoree for his diligent work in the Re-entry field and for being a strong advocate on behalf of the formerly incarcerated from an unprecedented number of 900 nominees throughout the country. One of his proudest programs, of which he is a founding Board member and current Chairman of the Board, is the Minding Our Business (MOB) program; an 18 yr old national award-winning program that mentors and teaches 6th & 7th grade public school students how to start and operate a business.
Both national and locally, Mr. Syphax has received many awards for his business success, passion in giving back to his community and uplifting as well as encouraging the next generation of entrepreneurs. He was named Empower Magazine’s 2014 “Person of the Year” and is the former host of weekly radio and TV shows titled, “Violence Serves No Purpose” and “Trenton Talks” on WIMG 1300 AM and WZBN Channel 25.
He has been featured in numerous publications, magazines & news outlets such as NJBIZ, C-Span, The Network Journal, Black Enterprise, NJN News, CNN Ireport, Don Diva Magazine, Young Men’s Perspective Magazine, The Source Magazine and BBC News of London. Mr. Syphax is a contributor in the documentary, “Elementary Genocide 1 & 2” and co-stars in the upcoming documentary, “Incarcerating US.” Mr. Syphax is also the author of the award-winning memoir, “From the Block to the Boardroom” which details his life story.
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C.J. is an entrepreneur and educator with vast experience teaching entrepreneurship and starting small businesses. He holds an MBA from Babson College and is a leader in entrepreneurial education who specializes in curriculum design for individuals and groups. He's designed startup programs at all levels from elementary to adult learners, is certified in Driving Economic Growth Through Entrepreneurship Ecosystems through Babson Executive Edu. and he's also a certified corporate coach. C.J. believes in lifelong learning and leads by example. He enrolls in 3-4 courses each year and is certified in Entrepreneurship Essentials via Harvard Business School.
C.J. is a co-founder of The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. At NFTE, he helped develop curriculum and launch an entrepreneurship training program that's been implemented at high schools and universities around the world. During his career, he has trained thousands of entrepreneurs in the principles of starting and scaling a small business.
Throughout his career C.J. has focused on supporting entrepreneurs through training programs such as Veterans Launching Ventures, Reentry Ventures, and Street Startups C.J. has also taught and lectured on entrepreneurship at Wharton, Columbia, Stanford, Babson and Georgetown, just to name a few. A highlight of his career was bringing entrepreneurship education programs to India and UK. His work has been featured in publications such as Inc.
Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, Success Magazine, and Black Enterprise. In 2014, C.J. co-authored The Beginner's Guide to Entrepreneurship and co-founded workshops with specially developed curriculum, complete with online entrepreneurial networks! Open for Business Ventures /Network, a multi-platform company providing entrepreneurship education through a combination of online courses and real-time.
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