After owning and operating her own medical billing company for 10 years, Tunisia Irby was ready to give back to other entrepreneurs who needed a helping hand. She found WomenVenture and liked the mission and focus on women entrepreneurs. Three years ago, she volunteered with WomenVenture for the first time and hasn’t looked back.
Tunisia built her own business from the ground up. Entrepreneurship quite literally changed her life. When she started her business, she was a single mom of seven. In a decade, she went from being broke to building a six-figure business and owning her own home.
Although she eventually found success, Tunisia is no stranger to struggle. She didn’t know the first thing about business when she began, but she started her company anyway as a means of survival. When the first launch did not go as expected, Tunisia decided to take a step back and find more resources to educate herself on running a business. She took WomenVenture’s business training class at the time, after which she re-launched her business with much more success. Now, over a decade later, she is back at WomenVenture, teaching those same concepts that helped her succeed.
Tunisia started volunteering at WomenVenture as a mentor for Small Business Essentials, and then became a trainer for the Getting Ready series. She uses her own experiences and anecdotes to inspire and motivate clients, while also making sure they have realistic expectations when it comes to starting a business.
Tunisia also works hard to make sure that her students know that you don’t necessarily need to start with wealth to succeed in business. Owning a business can be a key to BUILDING that wealth. If a budding entrepreneur has a good business idea, business skills, and determination, she can succeed no matter what her economic background may be.
Tunisia genuinely enjoys sharing her expertise to help other women succeed in business, and she loves being at WomenVenture. “If you want to give back, WomenVenture is a great place to do that,” Tunisia says. “Their classes really do help. I WAS that woman who WomenVenture helped, so I know first-hand.”
If you are interested in volunteering with WomenVenture, contact volunteer manager Blair Halperin at bhalperin@womenventure.org or join us at an upcoming volunteer information session.
