Founding a nonprofit was not the future Tanya T. Morris envisioned for herself when she graduated college. She actually wanted to be a writer. 

“I wanted to be the female Spike Lee,” she said during an interview with AL DIA. “I wanted to make movies and television shows.”

After graduating she wrote for several newspapers, including the Philadelphia Tribune and the Daily News. She said this work made her a more disciplined writer. Aside from writing, the majority of her work has been in the nonprofit sector. 

Over the years, she has been a caseworker, substitute teacher, and an outreach worker, to name a few. During this time she also wrote three books on motivation: “The Power of One,” “Drop Your Baggage,” and “Divine Inspirations.” 

The idea for Mom Your Business came out of an event of the same name. The event was held on Mother’s Day and included a movie viewing of Dream, Girl, a performance from an all-girl band, and a panel discussion. A friend encouraged Morris to continue putting on events like it. 

Morris developed more events designed specifically to help female entrepreneurs with families. The goal is to help them blend their commitments. 

“We don’t talk about balancing. We talk about blending. And blending requires prioritizing family, business, and work,” she said. 

They help the entrepreneurs do this by providing mentorship and connecting people to subject matter experts.

Prior to the pandemic, Mom Your Business was looking to create a coworking space for their entrepreneurs. They were able to get into this type of space, at the University Science Center right before everything shut down. 

During the lockdown, they developed their Founders to Funders: Business Accelerator program. 

They were able to secure a new co-working office space at 76 Forward.  

In addition to the business accelerator, Mom Your Business hosts events like The Holiday Link Up!, was a pop-up shop event for small businesses, and pitch competitions. They currently have a competition scheduled for Dec. 15, 2021. The event is in partnership with Zenith Wealth Partners and Women’s Way. Ten women will compete to win the $50,000 first prize. 

When talking about the future, Morris says that they plan to grow the business accelerator program by splitting it into several industry-specific programs. They will also be starting a community impact fund to invest money in Black and Brown entrepreneurs.