CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Fort Mill woman is seeking solutions to challenges that make it difficult for women in business to succeed.
Dawn Nicole McIlwain started Queen City Women in Business last year, after experiencing her own roadblocks in entrepreneurship.
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McIlwain and her husband DaMario broke into the artificial intelligence space, starting their company Skilldora to offer online courses taught by digital humans.
Despite having an AI figure created in her image, McIlwain said success was harder to duplicate.
“We made global history as the first Black couple to actually accredit AI avatar instructors for adult learning," she said. "Once we got that accreditation, we were ready to work in the corporate space. I started to ask, 'If I can't get in the door, and we made history, who else is trying to get indoors and can't get in?'"
According to a LendingTree analysis, roughly one in five U.S. businesses fail within the first year. Hoping to clear barriers and ease the pathway to success for women, McIlwain started a new venture, Queen City Women in Business.
"I said to my husband, 'You keep on going with Skilldora,'" she said. "This is getting ready to be my purpose. I'm going to fight for every single woman.”
She says the membership-based company offers a community of women entrepreneurs pathways to certification and access to businesses looking for talent. It's something Brooke Elliott of BE Complete Coaching & Consulting said made a difference.
"It's giving you not only a community of very driven women," Elliott said, "but it's giving you a community of education so that we're all learning together.”
Monday, Jan. 29, McIlwain will take her passion to Hyatt Centric South Park for this year's Queen City Women in Business Breakfast Conference to show women entrepreneurs that anything is possible.
"We already have a multitude of women who got certified with the city of Charlotte," McIlwain said, "and we're just getting started.”
More details on the conference and ticket information can be found on Eventbrite.
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