Economic Vitality and Entrepreneurship

I am a second generation college graduate and come from a long line of entrepreneurs right here in the 41st who built businesses that strengthened our neighborhoods. From Park Heights to Park Circle, small and minority owned businesses have long been the backbone of our local economy. They created jobs, supported families, and built corridors that once thrived with activity and opportunity.

That legacy is personal to me.

At the federal level, I worked to help small businesses access support programs, navigate funding opportunities, and understand the processes required to compete and grow. I guided entrepreneurs through complex systems so they could secure resources designed to help them expand operations and sustain their enterprises. I saw firsthand how government can either be a gateway to opportunity or a barrier that discourages growth.

Today, many of those same business communities are struggling. Rising operating costs, limited access to capital, workforce challenges, and shifting economic pressures have made it harder for small businesses to survive and scale. Reviving Baltimore’s neighborhood corridors requires practical support for entrepreneurs and policies that remove unnecessary barriers to starting and sustaining a business.

Through my work in public service and community leadership, I understand how procurement practices, licensing requirements, tax policy, and funding decisions impact small businesses at the state and local level. In Annapolis, I will support policies that expand access to capital, strengthen opportunities for minority and women owned enterprises, improve transparency in state contracting, and ensure that public investment reaches neighborhood based businesses.

When we create an environment where small businesses can grow, we do more than strengthen individual enterprises. We stabilize families, restore commercial corridors, and build long term economic resilience in our communities.