Always Amazing AcademyBusiness. Confidence. Sisterhood.Always Amazing AcademyBusiness. Confidence. Sisterhood.
Her roadFounder · Always Amazing Academy
From the north side of St. Louis to teaching women how to build a business of their own.
It was Aja and her mom living in a two-family flat in the heart of the city. They didn't have a lot, and 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.
Then her family moved to the suburbs and she felt the difference right away. People there had their own perception of what a girl like her was supposed to turn out to be. She has spent her life becoming the total opposite and proving them wrong.
She earned a Criminology degree, her Series 7 & 63 financial licenses, wrote and sang professionally and was on her way to the top. Suddenly, the plan changed overnight, and she was no longer focused on herself. She had to shift her focus to being there and providing for her child.
With a degree in hand and a strong work ethic, Aja was able to get a good job in the mortgage industry and provide for her family. Then the 2008 housing crisis hit, and her good job was no longer safe.
Faced with continuous layoffs due to the mortgage and financial markets, she then learned a new skill: bartending. She earned a bartending license and became proficient at the craft. Bartending carried her and her kids through many rough financial times. So she honed in on the skill and perfected her craft.
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.
After the markets stabilized, she later started working for a small business lender in St. Louis. Women then came to her desk, and she walked them through it all. Step by step: the LLC, the business plan, the financial documents and the funding. She stayed on them until it was done.
One of the women she helped got funded to open a laundromat. Aja watched her hold up her big check, and that was the moment that she knew she could really help women start their own business from start to finish.
Earlier this year, Aja had the funding and the contract to purchase a turnkey bar. The day before signing, the owner contacted her via text and told her that her staff would be keeping the bar instead. That was the last time Aja asked for a seat at someone else's table. She is now working with a commercial realtor to buy her own property and her own bar.
The best thing her first business gave her was not money. Instead, it was the ability to be in charge of her time while her kids were small. She wants other women to have that as well: control of their time and efforts no matter what their family dynamic is, all while someone is in their corner rooting for them to succeed.
"I had a person in my corner who acted like I could accomplish anything that I put my mind to. I want to be that person for somebody."
Aja Amazing