Advisor: Daphne O’Neal

Daphne O’Neal learned about Pacific Community Ventures’ (PCV) business advising program while scrolling on Instagram in the Summer of 2022. After doing some research, she realized that her personal and career goals aligned perfectly with PCV’s overall mission of providing BIPOC businesses with support to grow their businesses, and signed up as an advisor. Using her 30-year mortgage underwriting experience, a Master’s in Business Administration along with a Minor in Pan African Studies, she made a personal vow to make continued strides in helping businesses get funded.  After signing up as an advisor, Daphne also registered for PCV’s Advising BIPOC entrepreneurs cohort. She completed the four course training and used what she learned to assist the businesses she works with. Specifically, she now uses the DISC Assessment as a tool to aid businesses in leadership. 

Daphne has been paired with three small business owners since she began and continues to work with them all. She first began working with Derrick Dawson, the owner of an IT company called Cybernologist. She assisted him with getting low-cost web development, provided credit advice, assessed the benefits of hiring a virtual assistant for growth, and supplied information on grants and funding options. 

Shortly thereafter Daphne began mentoring Rachelle Lukusa, the owner of Lukusa Business Concierge Services, a full-service firm offering affordable bookkeeping solutions. Daphne assisted her in making changes to their current processes and building a revenue stream of $100K.  Currently, they are working through increasing visibility on sites such as Facebook and Instagram while making changes to the website, and LinkedIn profiles which are necessary for future growth. 

Lastly, she was paired with Maritza Guillaume Emile, the owner of an urban development company called Bara Homes. The company was seeking financing to be able to fund three projects moving forward and Daphne used her financing knowledge and resources to help the company in the process of getting pre-approved for $100K.  

When asked about the overall mentoring experience, Daphne replied, “PCV allows a business advisor like me, who is authentic, to bridge the gap. Small business owners need to know that there are people out there like me who will grind for them. When I was a business owner I didn’t have anyone to help me. For me to be available to small business owners and for PCV to be the liaison for businesses to have access to help is phenomenal. It’s exactly what needs to be done. Sometimes it’s just them knowing that you are there.”