JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – A graduate of Arkansas State University, Shunqetta Cunningham, runs a program named Over-A-Cup that instructs Black women on how to become entrepreneurs.

She holds monthly meetings with women over a cup of coffee or tea to discuss future business plans.

“My everyday job is to support nonprofit organizations and community leaders,” said the CEO and lead nonprofit strategist for the Over-A-Cup organization.

Cunningham is a mother and college graduate who helps women to become business owners. As the CEO of Over-A-Cup, Cunningham’s role is to support nonprofit organizations and community leaders.

She helps with grant writing, strategic planning, nonprofit development, and leadership training.

“I believe that nonprofit organizations are the second responders of our communities,” said Cunningham. “My role is to gather all the resources that these organizations need and put them on a path to success.”

However, even those organizations need financial assistance.

Cunningham’s motivation to help African Americans who want to become entrepreneurs is due to systemic barriers and the lack of information.

“We just need to know what we don’t know. To learn what we have not been taught, and that’s how Over-A-Cup gathers these women,” said Cunningham.

She says that Over-a-Cup gathers these women to provide them with the right resources to help them achieve their goals.

“We have graduated 21 black women entrepreneurs,” said Cunningham.

Helping women find success is what makes her job so rewarding.

“We just hope that the information we share is enough to empower anyone who wants to go out and be more business savvy,” said Cunningham.

LaGanzie Kale, founder and general manager of KLEK 102.5 FM, the first African American radio station in Jonesboro, has seen the growth and impact of Over-A-Cup and how many people Cunningham has helped in the last six years.

“I’m happy to see how far they’ve come along. I look forward to seeing where they go from here,” said Kale.

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the original headline for this story, it mentioned Cunningham helping “colored people” become entrepreneurs. This was an insensitive error and has since been addressed. We sincerely apologize for this mistake.

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