Founder
Aja's story
From the north side of St. Louis to teaching women how to build a business of their own.
North St. Louis
It was Aja and her mom in a two-family flat in the heart of the city. They did not have a lot. When her two younger sisters came along, Aja stepped up early and helped raise them. Responsibility landed on her young, and she says it only made her stronger.
Prove them wrong
Then the family moved to St. Charles, and she felt the difference right away. People there had a whole list of what a girl like her was supposed to turn out to be. She has spent her life being the opposite.
The plan changes
She went to college and earned a bachelor's degree in criminology. She could sing and she could write, and she thought she was going to be famous. Then she became a mother, and the plan became providing for her child.
2008
A degree and a strong work ethic got her a good job in the mortgage business. Then the housing crisis hit, and the good job was not safe any more.
A skill she could sell
She earned a bartending license. Every time the day job let her down, bartending carried her and her kids. She turned out to be a people person, and she learned the craft for real: the recipes, the etiquette, how to run a bar.
Teaching it
She got known for it, so she started teaching it. She built an online bartending course, brought in guest speakers and rented bar locations for class. She taught makeup and lashes too.
The desk
Later she worked for a small-business lender in St. Louis. Women came to her desk and she walked them through it step by step: the LLC, the funding application, the paperwork. She stayed on them until it was done.
The big check
One of those women got funded to open a laundromat. Aja watched her hold up the big check. That was the day she knew she could really help women start businesses that work.
Her own bar
Earlier this year Aja had the funding and the contract to buy a bar. The day before signing, the owner texted that her staff would keep it instead. That was the last time Aja asked for a seat. She is now working with a commercial realtor to buy her own.
Why the Academy
The best thing her first business gave her was not money. It was being in charge of her own time while her kids were small. She wants other women to have that, with somebody in their corner the whole way.
“I had one person who acted like I could do anything. I want to be that person for somebody.”
Aja Amazing
Be first in when the doors open
The first class is opening soon. Put your name on the list. It is free.