Charles Ashley III has given up dream jobs because he has a fire in his belly to help as many people as he can. His company, Cultivating Coders, seeks to bring coding camps to people who don’t usually have easy access to digital tools we take for granted – those living in poverty, as well as people of color. But what do you do when you have an in-person business model and a pandemic hits?

This week on The Founder’s Mind, we’re talking to Charles about how he successfully migrated his business to the virtual realm and even added compelling new offers such as his Code Crush Crew. Charles also speaks passionately on how we can overcome the digital divide and how the implementation of small business loans has put inequality in the spotlight.

Listen to the episode and remember to shop local!

• [04:48] – Charles explains his background and road to Cultivating Coders
• [13:48] – Community equity
• [18:37] – A hard lesson in business
• [24:33] – What drives Charles
• [32:24] – Issues with the disbursement of SBA money
• [37:09] – Entrepreneurs know that you eat what you kill

Charles Ashley III is President & Founder of Cultivating Coders, a New Mexico based company that provides technical training and curriculum in web and mobile application development to K-12 schools in tribal, rural and overlooked urban areas that lack resources in coding and computer science education. 

Prior to his current role, Charles was a Marketing & Strategy Consultant for several clients including Harmonix Technologies, VARA Wines and DeVry University. He previously served as Film Liaison & Marketing Manager for Bernalillo County’s Economic Development Department in New Mexico and was Manager of Marketing for CNM’s STEMulus Center. 

Charles currently sits on the US Eagle Federal Credit Union Advisory Board, Learning Alliance and has served on variety of boards such as New Mexico AIDS Services, Albuquerque Youth Basketball League Board, Mayor Berry’s Albuquerque Deep Dive Council for Arts & Culture and Mayor Keller’s Education Transition Team.

The Founder's Mind is a podcast for entrepreneurs wanting to gain insights and tactics from founders of all kinds to learn, grow, and be better equipped to navigate the inherent challenges of entrepreneurship. The podcast is hosted by Adam Mutschler, a Leadership Coach and COO at The Kedar Group.

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This podcast episode was produced by Dante32.