CLEVELAND — "If you're doing it here, you have a certain tenacity and grit. They just don't make them like this anywhere else,” said Cleveland native Camille Heard.
It’s not the first time we’ve heard that Clevelanders are just built differently. But Heard, a 33-year-old entrepreneur and dot connector, not only talks the talk, she walks the walk. Heard wears a number of hats, but it all began when she decided to bet on herself back in 2018.
“My entrepreneurship journey started with my own startup, FELOH, for everyone's love of hair and beauty and it's a beauty ecosystem for today's beauty lover. So I'm the co-founder and CEO.” Heard explained.
FELOH was born after Heard left Cleveland to pursue higher education, a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her major: Public health. Heard graduated and accepted her first corporate job, but was still unhappy. Looking to make a change, she had to have an honest conversation with herself.
“I thought I wanted to go to med school, but I came to understand that that's what I thought society and my parents wanted me to do,” she explained. “ Like, I don't have to do that if, you know, Camille doesn't want to do that."
After reflecting, Heard moved back home turning her childhood bedroom into an office and dived into her true passions. Through her journey of self-discovery she’s continued to find ways to give back. In one of her current roles, she serves as the Entrepreneur in Residence for the local organization JumpStart Inc.
“I have the opportunity to work with other really, really awesome early stage entrepreneurs and founders to aid them in their journey.”
Upon returning home to Cleveland, Heard also wanted to connect with other like-minded individuals, so again she took action, bringing Tastemakers United to life -- serving as the Chief Visionary Officer.
“I thought, ‘Hey, if we could convene people together, people like me to meet other people that probably, you know, need to network and connect,’ So they're tastemakers united,” she explained.
For Heard, all of her moves were in alignment with building a thriving and supportive community, something that Heard says is critical to an entrepreneur’s success.
“Community for me means having a network, having, you know, allies, having supporters, having, you know, individuals that you can lean on in different parts of your journey, but also you can partake in assisting in different parts of your journey too. So it's like a mutual relationship. You cannot be in a community without being a contributing community member.”
While entrepreneurs come in a variety of forms, Heard has always seen herself as the kind that sees the big picture.
“And then there are entrepreneurs like me that I would say more on the visionary end and not necessarily all of the technical pieces, but can see a really, really big vision and understand how to disrupt an industry that has been away for so long.”
And in 2022, she got the opportunity to use her gifts to help lead her hometown.
“I am a co-founder of Future Land,” she said. “I had the opportunity to jump on board super early and really just help, you know, change the face of Cleveland and what it looks like for people trying to pursue their dreams.”
FutureLand is an annual two-day conference that aims to celebrate and amplify diversity in tech, small business, art and culture in Northeast Ohio. In its second year, it saw thousands of attendees. For Heard and her colleagues, Futureland is just the beginning of what’s to come for the town once known as the mistake on the lake.
“There's still a lot of work that I know that we need to do, but just for my time being back here in 2018 into now in 2023, it feels different,” said Heard.
And while transforming the city one event at a time, Heard is also making sure she sees changes personally too.
“I'm all of these things all of the time, but I'm also just Camille, just a human all of the time to you."
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