Mega Masterminds - How to Identify Funds For Your Business or Nonprofit

During this workshop, Founder and Executive Director of Black Tech Link will share creative ways to scale your business by identifying funding opportunities available through grants, government contracting, and corporate partnerships. Elizabeth will share how she took a B2B and B2G approach to scale her business. Elizabeth will share where to identify funding opportunities for small businesses and nonprofits.

About Elizabeth Cotton-Harps

As a Southern California Native, Elizabeth Cotton-Harps has been influenced by the culture and diversity she has experienced through her childhood and adult life. Growing up in inner city Los Angeles, at a young age Elizabeth fell in love with the Spanish language which was a stepping stone that led her to pursue International Business, Portuguese as a major at California State University, Fullerton. After studying abroad in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil for a short period she quickly returned to Los Angeles to take up public service working for the State of California - California Science Center. Her major accomplishment in this role was supporting the efforts of the movement and logistics of the Space Shuttle the Endeavor through an urban corridor. Through the movement of the space shuttle, Elizabeth saw how technology inspired the South Los Angeles community but quickly realized the growing digital divide among Black populations. Elizabeth shifted her efforts to supporting educational and workforce development efforts to increase access of underrepresented communities into technical and leadership roles. Serving 5 years as the Director of Development for the Los Angeles Urban League Young Professionals, Elizabeth supported regional economic development by connecting with the employers to provide training and staffing opportunities for low income and unemployed individuals. In 2019 Elizabeth was selected by the US State Department to share her expertise and knowledge on creating tech ecosystems for underrepresented communities during a US Mission to Brazil. This inspired her to create her own nonprofit called Black Tech Link where she currently supports technical education, international development, and workforce development. Black Tech Link is A CA- Based 501c3 Community Organization dedicated to advancing black communities through technical education, workforce solutions, and networking opportunities. Elizabeth focuses her passion of uplifting black communities through engaging and impactful workforce and business development platforms geared to providing resources for aspiring business and tech professionals while highlighting black excellence, knowledge, and expertise. Leveraging her education and work experience she continuously works to inspire black communities in the US and throughout the diaspora in Africa, Canada, UK, and Brazil.  Her life's work is to spark black professional and business tourism in communities with growing economic opportunities. Her leisure activities include body boarding, running, and watching TV Series about domestic terrorism (24, Jack Ryan, Homeland, Designated Survivor, Shooter, etc.).