Ke Daniels joins Dayton Tech Guide!
May 7, 2019
KeAnna Daniels is an empowerment coach, super connector, entrepreneur, servant-leader — and now the newest member of the Dayton Tech Guide team!
Ke is our new Program Manager. She’ll be developing new programs to reach residents in Dayton’s neighborhoods & suburbs, as well as engage students from area colleges and k12 schools. Her goals are to truly understand entrepreneurs’ needs, offer innovative programming to meet these needs, and to continue to drive collaboration between the region’s organizations & institutions, and across city and state lines using her network.
“I’m excited to officially be working with a team I’ve been working with the last year and a half, in a more official capacity, supported by an institution, to work on improving intentional diversity & inclusion,” Ke said. “I’m excited to explore opportunities and possibilities of programming we can offer in an out-of-the-box type of way.”
A Dayton native, Ke attended Colonel White Academic Magnet Academy. She studied social work and entrepreneurship at Miami University, then earned her masters degree in social and economic development and a certificate in management from Washington University in St. Louis in 2014.
After grad school, she was a recruiter for a new progressive STEAM school in St. Louis, then Administrator and eventually Executive Director of GatewayVMS, an organization that provides pro bono mentoring & support services & resources to entrepreneurs.
She returned to Dayton in 2017 to help care for her grandfather. In December 2017, she launched KMD Empowerment Consulting, LLC, her faith-based life and business consulting company, and jumped right into the Dayton entrepreneurial ecosystem as a volunteer.
But her entrepreneurial instincts stretch back even further. She did hair on the side in high school and college, and has almost always had a side hustle.
“Even as a young girl, I knew I wanted to be my own boss,” she said. “I always had an entrepreneur mindset. I found positions that allowed me to hold leadership roles, to make decisions and work with flexibility and freedom.”
Off the clock, you’ll find her giving back to the community — she holds roles as board or committee member for Co-op Dayton, UpDayton, Dayton Startup Week & Startup Grind Dayton, and she’s the founder and leader of the Gem City Entrepreneur Resource Fair; kicking back with friends, family and her bichon poodle, Kobe; or traveling — she checked more than a dozen places off her bucket list last year.
She’s able to tackle it all by prioritizing personal time & positive self talk. Her personal motto: “Faith Over Fear.”
“I love what I do because I see how it affects me and my community, it brings me joy to positively impact myself and others. It comes naturally and organically to me,” she said. “I like to work with people who are positive and risk takers, not pessimistic. Sometimes the constraints of society can keep us in a box. I love working with people who think outside of the box, who focus more on doing rather than talking — those who create the change they wish to see.”
Know Ke, or want to know Ke? Shoot her a welcome email: [email protected].