Twende: Rethinking Entrepreneurship S1:E6: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Heart of Nashville’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem with Brittany N. Cole and Brynn Plummer

Twende: Rethinking Entrepreneurship is a production of the EC, and it’s all about engaging in open and honest conversations with incredible Black and LatinX business experts, investors, and founders. Twende is Kiswahili for “let’s go!” It’s our rally cry here at the EC and represents the vibrant passion to level the playing field for entrepreneurs of color. Join us in Episode 6 of Season 1 where you meet the hosts: Brynn Plummer and Brittany N. Cole.

Meet Brynn Plummer

With a Bachelor’s degree in English and Comparative Literature and a Masters Degree in Education from Lipscomb University, Brynn jumped into Teach for America supporting diversity, recruitment, and community before joining the Nashville Entrepreneur Center in 2018 as our VP of Inclusion & Community Relations.

Brynn helped bring to life Twende, a program supporting Black and Latinx founders through entrepreneurship. Since its launch in 2019, Brynn has also helped launch and host this podcast, Twende: Rethinking Entrepreneurship. Her leadership brought her visibility and a great job opportunity as the VP of DEI at AllianceBernstein just a few blocks away from the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. The leadership of Twende and the host of this podcast will be transitioning to Brittany N. Cole, CEO and founder of Career Thrivers.

Meet Brittany N. Cole

A Nashville Native, Brittany was the youngest of three children. She and her brothers “didn’t want for anything,” and appreciated the love and joy they had as a family growing up. Her father is a graduate of American Baptist College in Theology and works as a pastor in Columbia, Tennessee. Her mom, also a college graduate, was one of the first to integrate at a college in South Carolina.

Brittany N. Cole was on a pre-law track at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, but transitioned into the world of corporate where she worked for Pfizer for 12 years in sales, marketing, and leadership development, plus DEI related activity. In 2015, while living in Chattanooga, Tennessee, she opened up an image consulting business helping women have the look that was in alignment with the future and career they wanted. This led to a calling to start her own leadership development company and consult full time.

Cole joined PreFlight at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center in 2019 and launched Career Thrivers. As the CEO and Founder of Career Thrivers, Brittany felt a call to help lead DEI efforts at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center to help foster and bring connection of DEI to entrepreneurship.

The Future of DEI in Nashville

The Nashville Entrepreneur Center is partnering with Career Thrivers to take our Twende program, our Twende Podcast, Twende Partnerships, the Twende Summit, and more to the next level by furthering engagement in Nashville, across the state of Tennessee, and beyond. Learn more here.