Melissa Bradley

Advisory Council Member

2023 - Current

https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/organization/sba-initiatives/investment-capital-advisory-committee

Board Member

2023

Board Member

2023

Managing Partner

2017

1863 Ventures accelerates New Majority entrepreneurs from high potential to high growth by bridging entrepreneurship and racial equity. Founded in 2016, 1863 Ventures assists New Majority entrepreneurs grow their businesses through rigorous programming, consistent coaching, personal and professional mentoring and access to capital. We are an independent, Black-led nonprofit organization that delivers business development programs designed to bridge the gap between entrepreneurship and equity. Our programs seek to accelerate new majority entrepreneurs from high potential to high growth. Our vision is to create $100B of new wealth and economic power for and by the New Majority.

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

2015

Sidecar Social Finance (SSF) is a social impact agency that provides impact investing advisory and capital services to individuals, institutions, and social enterprises.

Professor of Practice

2012

Over the last two years, she was commended with the Entrepreneurship Faculty Excellence Award, the Joseph F. LeMoine Award for Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching Excellence, the Peter W. Gonzalez, Jr. Award for Excellence in Adjunct Faculty Teaching, and The Ideas Worth Teaching Award, which celebrates exceptional courses that are preparing future business leaders to tackle society’s largest challenges and create a more inclusive, just, and sustainable version of capitalism. Melissa has produced two major research projects, Small Business Survivability Study for New Majority Entrepreneurs and Cost of Being a New Majority Entrepreneur.

Founding Director

2021 - 2022

Responsible for launching the inaugural Center for Black Entrepreneurship (CBE) at Spelman and Morehouse Colleges. The CBE supports the entrepreneurship minors at both schools as well as an online certificate course in entrepreneurship.

Co-Founder

2019 - 2022

Company acquired by Zen Business

Managing Director

2016 - 2018

Project 500 is a business development program to help diverse businesses scale in terms of revenue, staff and investment retained. Our goal is to recruit and retain up to 500 businesses to receive hands on training, capacity building, mentoring and networking to advance the economic success of their businesses and their communities. We seek to accelerate new majority entrepreneurs from high potential to high growth.

Co-Chair

2016 - 2018

NACIE is a federal advisory committee that was created as part of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010. The Council advises the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on issues related to accelerating innovation and expanding entrepreneurship, with an additional focus on employer-driven job skills training.