Work for yourself participant finds her path to success

Alethia Brown, 57, is an author, film producer, screenwriter, project manager, business analyst, motivational speaker, and podcaster. She’s also unstoppable. In the 1990s, the native of

Queens, New York, established Mahogany Productions LLC, an independent film company formed to produce documentaries; she wrote her first screenplay at 22. “I was trying to do my Spike Lee

thing,” she laughs, adding, “It worked out better for Spike Lee than it did for me.” Over the course of 30-some years, Alethia has held a wide range of jobs, hoping to eventually make

Mahogany Productions her main source of income. But as she watched a pandemic-fueled recession wreak havoc on small businesses — and especially on women entrepreneurs — she realized her

dream also included helping other women stay afloat. So Alethia created a subsidiary of Mahogany Productions called AMB Design and Marketing Services, a consultancy that helps small

businesses promote their products and services. And she decided to take the steps necessary to turn this side hustle into a full-time gig. In 2021, she joined the first cohort of aspiring

entrepreneurs who applied and were accepted into AARP Foundation’s WORK FOR YOURSELF@50+ INCUBATOR PROGRAM, a collaboration with Bridge for Billions that provides people over 50 who have low

income with substantial hands-on support so they can successfully launch and grow their business. Now in its second year, the program is currently accepting applications for both

entrepreneurs and mentors. “It was a different approach: breaking down how I should structure myself as a business, the services that I offer, and how I communicate those and find my

clientele,” she says. Key to the Incubator Program is the matching of entrepreneurs with volunteer mentors. The expertise and coaching the mentors offer is invaluable. Alethia says of her

mentor, “She was _awesome_! She helped me put together presentations and flyers and helped me create my pitch. She worked with me through everything, from beginning to end.” A WAY OUT OF NO

WAY Alethia knows a little bit about beginnings and endings. She left New York for Charlotte, North Carolina, because, she says, “as a single mother, I wanted a better place to raise my

daughter.” But when the financial markets collapsed in 2008, she lost her job as a project manager at Wachovia. “I went from making almost six figures a year to nothing.” She and her

daughter survived on her savings and 401(k) for a while, but those ran out by mid-2009. In short order, Alethia lost her car, her townhouse, and the “dream home” she had started building in

2007, where she and her daughter had put their handprints in the foundation. She tried to apply for loan modifications in hopes of keeping one of the houses, but without a job she couldn’t

qualify. By that point, all she had to live on were her unemployment checks. Then Congressional squabbling held up extended unemployment benefits for six weeks, leaving Alethia with zero

income — despite the fact that she had an offer letter from Wells Fargo, which had bought Wachovia and was bringing back project managers like her. But an offer letter wasn’t a job, and it

wouldn’t sustain her until she was formally hired and began drawing a paycheck. Alethia applied for housing and food assistance for herself and her daughter, only to be turned down because a

social services officer deemed her ineligible, saying she was “employable.” She was stunned. “I said, ‘I'm not even getting unemployment right now. And you're refusing me housing,

you’re refusing my daughter support, because of what my _potential_ is?’ Make it make sense!” Out of options, Alethia sat in the social services office pondering her next move. “I had

nowhere to go,” she says. That’s when a woman approached and handed her a business card and told her to call the number, leading her to a program that provided shelter for women with

children through a rotating roster of churches. Less than two weeks after entering the program — “11 days, 18 hours, and 16 minutes,” Alethia says with a laugh — she secured an apartment

with her offer letter and $300 provided by the program. ON THE PATH Since then, she’s changed jobs several times, each time expanding her skill set and her income. And when the COVID-19

pandemic brought another layoff, she turned her full attention to Mahogany Productions, relying on her severance package and unemployment benefits to pay the bills. During this time, she

produced a documentary — _Unmasked: Exposing Inequalities_ — that was an official selection of the NY International Arts Festival and the Queens Underground Black & Brown Film Festival.

She currently has several other documentaries in development and pre-production, as well as a podcast that she started during the pandemic. And, of course, there’s AMB Design and Marketing

Services. Applying what she learned through the Work for Yourself@50+ Incubator Program, she’s continuing to build her newest endeavor while helping other women take their businesses to the

next level, including her own daughter. “I’m nurturing her growth as an entrepreneur,” Alethia says proudly. Of the Incubator Program and its results, she says, “If you haven’t had exposure

to what it really takes to start a business, this is where you want to go. It’s gonna structure you. It’s gonna organize you. It’s gonna make you think outside of the box as to whether or

not this is the path you want to be on — and how to stay on that path.” LEARN MORE ABOUT WORK FOR YOURSELF@50+ AND HOW TO EXPLORE SELF-EMPLOYMENT. _READ MORE STORIES__ about how our programs

have helped people find hope, and about the volunteers who give so much of themselves to help others._