It’s not easy to be a paper chaser, to have your block on fire, or to make something out of nothing, but Court Smith of Courtsmith and Nana Kofi Nti of 510Media both have done exactly that! Harnessing the energy of growing up in the evolving landscape of hood culture in Oakland, they each followed their passions and turned lemons into the quintessential lemonade stand, not only operating successful businesses that employ other Black creators across a variety of disciplines, but as leaders of HOPE Academy, a behavioral science-based course for emerging entrepreneurs.Leading up to the start of a new session of HOPE, Kahja chats with Court and Nana about humble beginnings, the weight of public success and failure, the unique challenges facing Black entrepreneurs, and why true success in business is a group effort.Sign up for this year's session of Hope Academy starting January 18th!CourtSmith510MediaWanna keep up in between episodes? Follow Kahja on IG at @kahja_vs_kahjaEpisode recorded at StayDiff