It was the phone call that changed everything. Just like that, Nicole Antoine was laid off from her job, just months into the pandemic.

Though she had a few side hustles, one of which was Four Brown Girls, event management facilitation company, she worried about her next steps.

Fortunately, right around that time, Futurpreneur’s Black Startup Entrepreneurship Program was created with support from RBC and BDC. She decided to enrol and was accepted.

“The way their program is constructed is to make you accountable,” Antoine told Black Dollar Magazine. “They don't just give you the money. They provided mentorship and were open with me about making sure I found a match with my mentor. They also helped me with resources and connected me with people and businesses in an organic and authentic way.

“Even though there was a lot of fear attached, it was all about Black individuals that really believed in what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. (Futurpreneur) worked with me to make sure that my business plan wasn't just like filling out a check box, but it was something practical,” she added.

Now a Futurpreneur graduate, Antoine used the opportunity to create N/A & Company Inc. — a Black-owned event management and marketing agency that uses a Black-centric lens to connect forward-thinking corporations to prominent Black professionals and promising students.

N/A & Company Inc. provides event management and marketing services, including brand activations, DEI strategy, public speaking, and more.

“We cater to different personas. For instance, the wanderer, for example, represents that some of us like going out and looking for a space where we can optimize our talents. But we have the entrepreneur, we have the student, and we have the professional. So, these personas are created to counter the idea that Blackness is monolithic,” Antoine told Black Dollar Magazine.

Antoine’s success with N/A & Company Inc. and Four Brown Girls has put her in the realm of six-figure entrepreneurship, something she couldn’t imagine as a corporate employee. But now she said she is rewarded for the hard work she’s put in and is pushing toward $500,000 in sales this year.

“I left the workforce to become an entrepreneur, not to be a slave to my business, but to feel that I'm not even working and to have the ability to be my own boss so that I could be there for my husband, children, and myself, ultimately,” Antoine said.

Moreover, Antoine is the creator of Blaxpo, a career fair where hundreds of Black professionals, students, entrepreneurs, and wanderers came to connect, learn, and take up space.

The event connects people to companies like Futurpreneur, RBC, DMZ, Ernst & Young, CN, KPMG, Bell, Colliers, and several others. It includes specialty workshops, live podcasts, a career expo, and more.

This year's event will be hosted on Oct. 14 at the Toronto Marriott City Centre Hotel.

“I want to be at the level where I can kind of share that knowledge and that know-how with other Black creatives and work with them to level up to even higher tiers,” Antoine said of her goals this year. “I want to hit my forecast goal of half a million, which we're on track to do. Next year, I want to be on track to hit a million, and that's like the energy (for me). I want to stick with who I am and be unapologetic.”

Futurpreneur's Black Entrepreneur Startup Program is funded by RBC with additional loan financing from BDC. It offers two years of one-on-one mentorship and access to a national network of Black entrepreneurs and community groups.

For Black entrepreneurs between 18 and 39, it launched in March of 2021 to support them with access to funding, resources, and support. Click here to sign up.