FLAT IRON HAPPY HOUR PODCAST EPISODE 7: Entrepreneur and Leader Karla Ballard

In Episode 7, I sit down with Philadelphia’s own Karla Ballard. I met Karla when I participated in a cohort project in summer of 2020 with the City of Philadelphia, sponsored by Global Village (VLLGYING) with support from the Ying organization and the Knight Foundation (@knightfdn). Her leadership skills were evident instantly and we shared a special moment back in August, when we had a meeting, right after she got off the phone to be asked to run as a Vice Presidential candidate on the independent Ticket with Brock Pierce. Enjoy hearing about Karla’s journey and shout out to all the Global Village and VLLGYING cohort fam. (https://www.glblvllg.com)  Stay tuned at the end of the episode for a DJ mix by our producer;  “the other guy” dropping some 70’s funk for everyone!

Karla Ballard is the Founder and CEO of YING (https://yingme.co ) , a peer to peer skill sharing platform set to launch on a global scale via the IOS and Android app markets. YING helps members within groups and communities facilitate on demand exchanges fostering a task-oriented economy between members. Engaging members in a complimentary currency that supports community and individual benefits. The platform has a b2b enterprise engagement for NGO's and Corporations as well creating a plug-in play sharing ecosystem for any affinity group.

Ms. Ballard, most recently ran as the first black and seventh generation Indigenous women to run on the Independent ticket as a Vice Presidential candidate alongside fintech blockchain mogul and philanthropist Brock Pierce for the 2020 Presidential election. The campaign's mission was fueled with a message of love, unity, and innovation and achieved positioning on 16 ballots throughout the US. Her impact in ensuring young people and disenfranchised voters came out yielded millions of impressions 43k voters. Ms. Ballard was also formerly SVP of Participant Media’s TAG division, a social-action agency working with brands, foundations and the public sector to ignite compelling campaigns that drove impact in vulnerable communities. Prior to joining Participant Media she was with Ogilvy & Mather as the SVP and lead for The IMPACT Studio working on projects that ranged from the State of California to Sony Pictures Television. Previously Karla worked at One Economy Corporation where she led a vital division of a $51 million BTOP grant focused on broadband adoption and became an appointee to the Federal Communications Committee on Diversity in Media. In addition, she created and led corporate relationships with partners such as Comcast/NBC, Verizon, Participant Media, Sprint, City Year and others. She is a current advisory board member of Blue Star Families, Philadelphia 250, Co-Chair of Shareable, Hashtaglunchbag, and USC’s Next Gen Council for Stephen Spielberg’s SHOAH Foundation. She's been a visiting speaker at Harvard, UCLA and Georgetown University and is a former board member of the nation’s second largest Community College, Northern Virginia Community College. Karla is also the co-founder of the first Urban League in the state of Delaware, The Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, and served as the first female national president of the National Urban League Young Professionals.

In 2012 Karla was awarded in NYC the Keeper’s of the Dream award from the National Action Network. Much gratitude for taking the time for this episode, Thank you Karla!