From Adversity to CEO:Entrepreneur & Author, Chitoka Webb

Chitoka Webb is a successful business owner and author who lives in Hendersonville, TN. Raised by her single mother, Webb grew up in the Preston Taylor housing projects and landed her first job in a grocery store at only 13 years old. When a senior in high school, she was told by school authorities she couldn’t graduate with her class just a week before the ceremony due to being one point short in her chemistry class. Now, in her mid-30s, Webb owns several businesses – that she founded. The self-starter worked her way up, landing other jobs at fast food restaurants, nursing homes and a Convent for Nuns (Sisters of Mercy). Webb graduated from an adult learning center, and she got her barbers license in 1999. She began her self-employed career at 23. She worked as the only female in one of Atlanta’s largest barbershops before opening two of her own shops. Through her impressive business growth, Webb suffered blindness for six months as a result of Behcet’s disease. Steroidal eye injections and a long list of medications corrected her failed eyesight. She never gave up. Using perseverance she found in her own heart led Webb to write her memoir, Something Inside of Me (Greenleaf Book Group, July 1, 2011). Some of Webb’s successes include being appointed by the governor of Tennessee as a trustee to the Clover Bottom Board of Trustees, a mentor for the Nashville Justice Center, president of the North Nashville Chamber of Commerce and being elected to the prestigious Entrepreneurs Organization. Webb is currently a volunteer auditor for the Nashville United Way and serves as a board member for the Middle Tennessee YMCA. Find out more at: http://www.chitokawebb.com