Rhonda Carson Leach Director, Urban Entrepreneurship Consultant

As Director of the Urban Entrepreneur Program, Rhonda Carson-Leach is responsible for developing and implementing an entrepreneurial development program focused on providing consulting services, educational programs, and network building services to address the needs of ubran entrepreneurs. She is also lead facilitator for the Institute's Urban Power to Prosper, a nine-month certificate program for small business owners in urban neighborhoods that explores such topics as access to capital, financial management, strategic planning, sales strategies, access to new markets, and managing human resources.

Rhonda Carson-Leach has over 16 years of experience motivating small business owners, entrepreneurs, executives, nonprofit leaders, groups and individuals in a career or life transition to use their innate abilities to master their goals and achieve success. Her areas of expertise include leadership development, conflict resolution, and group dynamics. She is also an executive life coach, management consultant, corporate trainer, and motivational speaker in the Pittsburgh area.

Rhonda Carson-Leaach was honored as one of 50 Women of Excellence by the New Pittsburgh Courier in 2009 and as a Minority Small Business Champion by the U.S. Small Business Administration in 2005. A member of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania, she has served on the boards of the American Society for Training and Development, YWCA of Pittsburgh, Children/Adults Recreational Services, Urban Youth Action, Inc., and the Pittsburgh Chapter of the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Club, Inc. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.