Eight impressive businesses from food, IT, entertainment, services and education are pitching Thursday, August 25 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The LevelUp culmination celebration this week boasts an impressive list of companies that made it through the nine course series. They will each present a professional pitch deck to a panel of judges, while investors and lenders in the room will be able to ask questions for clarification.

This could be you

MKCircle’s The CEO Series and VSEDC have partnered to bring the LevelUp series, a mainstay of VSEDC’s core curriculum, to local small businesses. The series is designed to help small business owners shift their mindset toward growth. Those who follow the training through to culmination consider it a transformative experience for themselves as leaders and for their vision for their company.

Program leaders Dr. Karen Semien-McBride and Renee Moncito know this could be you with the next LevelUp cohort that launches on September 15th.

Shift your mindset to understand the value and potential of your business

Shifting your mindset is essential to a business owner or entrepreneur. Getting buy-in for your vision takes developing a value proposition, identifying barriers to your business, and understanding where the opportunities lie. Once you have a hold on that, you figure out what your business model should be and create a roadmap for your company that includes a marketing and sales strategy, the team you need, who your competition will be, your projected financials, and eventually a compelling story of your business.

These are the topics our eight businesses below will present in their professional pitches on Thursday, August 25 from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Want to watch them pitch? Register here.

Let’s meet the LevelUp businesses

Tahesia Hall, is CEO of Hair Taxi Mobile Barbers, a traveling barber service based in LA that was initially for the elderly, but has expanded to other areas of need in the community. https://www.htmobilebarbers.com/

 Aaron Jones is CEO of Original Taco Pete, a taco stand on S. Central Ave. He just expanded to open a new branch on Slauson. originaltacopete.com

Domonique Roberts is CEO of She’s Going Places, Inc., a Compton-based non-profit that was created to support women and girls through empowerment by providing professional and personal education and development resources. shesgoingplaces.org

Andrea Williamson is CEO of Create Noise, a publishing non-profit for a diverse, innovative approach to literacy to our youth, based in LA. Create Noise Publishing Facebook Page

Nkechi Howell is CEO of Kiddie City Enterprises, an indoor playground for children 7-years and under in Leimert Park, Los Angeles. Kiddiecityla.com

J Chun is CEO of TechOnsite, a cyber security and IT services company in LA that helps companies streamline to become more efficient with their proactive IT support services and solutions. techonsite.com

Pamela Flennory is CEO of Jayden’s Courier, LLC, a high-touch delivery service based in Covina. jaydencourier.comhttps://www.jaydencourier.com/