This black nurse has helped over 100 minority nurses to start their own businesses

In contemporary times, many workers are taking on additional jobs outside their core expertise. The aim, among others, is to diversify income sources and/or for job satisfaction. But the terrain comes with acquiring additional skills to be suitable for the supplementary job.

A nurse has taken a giant step in this regard. Michelle Greene Rhodes, from Florida, is empowering other nurses to build their own businesses. She founded Michelle Rhodes Media LLC (The RNterprise™ Academy) to assist other nurses to meet their goals outside their traditional roles. 

The RNterprise™ Academy is an online brand that creates personal development programs for nurses to imbibe in them entrepreneurship. It provides participants with 21 hours of the coursework focuses on business startup, business planning, paid public speaking, and how to self-publish books of their own. Since the start of the program in 2016, she has helped over 100 nurses to become entrepreneurs, start businesses, write books or take a chance at public speak. 

“Coming from a background of over 20 years in Managed Care and Registered Nursing, I decided to pursue my passion for creating personal development programs for Nurses, she says. “Combining my love for coaching, the business of Healthcare and out of the box thinking, I am proud to have helped over 100+ Nurses become entrepreneurs, start businesses, write books and enter the realm of paid public speaking,” she added: “As a certified mentor who has completed both the WellCoaches and Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship programs, I am able to provide my clients with a nurse professional perspective.”

She is a recipient of a variety of awards, including “Woman of the Year” (Xcellence Inc., 2017), “Managed Care Nursing Leader of the Year” (AAMCN, 2017), “ICON Award for Nurse Entrepreneurship” (Florida Nurses Association, 2019) and “Community Leader Award” (Love Yourself to Life Inc., 2017). “Encouraging female entrepreneurship, and specifically uplifting black women in the professional sphere, is an essential element to our mission,” she says of her company. 

Michelle is a native of St. Petersburg, Florida and graduated top of her Nursing class in 1995 from The Florida A&M University with Cum Laude distinction and a Gold and White Honor Society recipient. She received her Master’s in Health Science and Managed Care Certificate in 2001.

She notes that the success of her first book, RNterprise!, made her realize the need for personal development training for minority nurses. According to her, she received reports of bullying hostile work environment, racism from colleagues who felt stuck. “I realized that with entrepreneurship, there was no ceiling and the lane that is created, is from one’s own expertise as a professional nurse.”

“When launched in 2016, there were not many coaches who were pouring into other nurses like I envisioned, so I created this brand. Fast forward and now we have helped over 65 nurses become self-published authors, 40+ open businesses, and 25+ get paid as a public speaker or trainer,” according to Blackbusiness.

She continues: “It brings me joy to walk in my lane, and still support healthcare in an ancillary way. These nurses excel by leaps and bounds, once they come into alignment of their true message.” 

Beside her firm, Michelle is also a leader in a number of organizations. She is Co-Chair of Special Projects with the Mayor’s African American Advisory Council — a community liaison program between the Mayor and Tampa’s African American residents.

Michelle is also the Founder of Emerge — a volunteer organization dedicated to preparing students to be ready for careers in Healthcare. As a Veterans Spouse, she also is a Certified “Co-Starters” Facilitator for ActionZone ™, a local nonprofit dedicated to educating Veteran on the transition into entrepreneurship.