Before Black Business Month ends, we’re spotlighting a sensational serial entrepreneur and restaurateur who’s promoting her line of stone-ground grits with an HBCU-benefiting twist.
Source: Divine Influence PR
Ebony Austin, the visionary behind Nouveau Bar & Grill, Nouveau Noir, Nouveau Creations, and Stir House Atlanta, is expanding her philanthropic efforts with “Grits That Give Back.”
Dedicated to supporting HBCU students by contributing 100% of proceeds to scholarships, the stone-ground grits line that carries a goal of making higher education more attainable for students nationwide is available in Publix stores in 180 locations.
Source: Divine Influence PR
Amid the exciting news, Austin detailed to BOSSIP how Langston University inspired her philanthropic efforts, her recent addition to Inc. Magazine’s “Inc. 5,000” list, and why she believes “all great things come from HBCUs.”
So you have Nouveau Bar and Grill, Nouveau Creations, Nouveau Noir, and Stir House; tell us how your entrepreneurship journey began.
Yes, but before all of that I owned my own real estate company, which I currently still have. I started in Chicago with one property at a time. I bought my first property at 29, and then from there I decided to fix it up, flip it–and that’s what really allowed me the extra revenue to be able to start any of my restaurants. My first love is and always has been real estate. I literally just finished building my own house that I built ground up. I built property in Dallas, Orlando, of course, Chicago, where I’m from. And so that’s how it all started coming out of corporate America, saving money from corporate America. I would save 30% of my checks and at one point I worked three jobs and I would save two checks and keep one check for my everyday living bills and that’s what helped me really get into the real estate part of my life.
You made the list of Inc. Magazine’s 5,000. How does it feel to be recognized for your work? You’ve been doing this for a while and you are definitely getting the recognition you deserve.
Thank you. It doesn’t feel real because you’re doing the work and sometimes you never get a chance, really, to sit back and say, “Wow, we really did this.” And so the day that [my publicist] Eboyné sent me the message, I saw the email and it was a moment of just complete gratitude to God, my team, the community. And that was the first time out of having Nouveau that I can remember actually having tears of joy. That was my first moment to feel like, you and your team really, really, really did this. Because, again, I don’t believe that one person can do any of this by themselves and it takes the right team. And God has really blessed me with an amazing team. Literally the day that I got the news, I literally just cried and told God, “Thank you.” I don’t even know if I could have said thank you anymore because we really did the work. We really put in the work, wWe really involved our community so that it wasn’t just profitable for Nouveau, it’s for the people that work at Nouveau. But we really involved our community as far as our day-to-day giving back and making sure that we pour into the community and keep our footprints in the community. So this was probably the largest accomplishment that I’ve really received. And so it just still don’t feel real.
One hundred percent of the proceeds for “Grits That Give Back” fund HBCU scholarships. Talk to me about why that was important for this initiative.
Because I was once those students on the yard and sitting in those classrooms. I was one of those students crying because I couldn’t figure out how I was going to come up with the money to finish school. And so for me, when I think of anything HBCU, I go back to my struggle. I go back to those days when I would lock the doors of the closet in my dorm and just get on my knees and cry to God because I knew that I wanted to finish school and I didn’t know how he was going to do it, but God will put people in your path. And this gentleman [on campus] called my mother and asked “Hey, can you give her $50 a month? We can reduce this, that, and the other.” And my mother was like, “No, she’s going to figure out school for herself. I want her to be in a place that if I’m not always here, she knows how to get out and make things happen.”
Source: Divine Influence PR
And I remember just crying. And this gentleman made it, with the help of God, that I was able to finish school. And I remember praying and telling God thank you and saying, “God, when I get to a place in my life, I promise that I’m going to give it back to these students.” And so once I finished school and started corporate America, I would do stuff as small as gift baskets for the kids that were going to college in my church. I started off on a small scale and then I would go back to my high school and give gift baskets with $200 and sheets and comforters and things like that. I’ve been giving back to students at HBCU for over 20 years, just not at this scale. And so my grits line allowed me to be able to give all of the proceeds to students and be in a position that we never have to tell a student, “No.” And we’ve been really blessed to never have to do so.
How did attending Langston University help you embark on this entrepreneurship journey?
I definitely think it was part of molding me into the person that I am today because at Langston University, I got the opportunity to see my friend start selling dinners and I said; “Oh, okay, you selling dinners? Let me start selling chocolate chip cookies.” I would go to the grocery store and buy Pillsbury bulk cookies and sell them, put them in plastic, and sell them in school. It started as a hustle deal but it also showed me if I stuck to anything that I really believed in, and I really worked hard for it, that the reward was definitely on the other side. So going through an HBCU, and going to Langston definitely helped mold me into the person that I am today because it definitely showed me a lot from the other side of being away from your family, and not getting your mom to carry everything. I worked in college. And just being around so many experts and that’s why I told people all the time, I believe that all things great come from HBCUs.
So if there’s a current Langston University student who wants to follow in your footsteps, what advice would you give them?
I would say, just do it. And as crazy as that sounds, that’s been my motto. Whatever it is that I want to do in life, I put the work behind it and I do it. And I do it consistently now. So even when we were making $12, literally maybe in a day, right? I never gave up. I literally ran my restaurant as if it was completely full on both sides. So I think that the goal, the mission, and the focus have to be in being consistent in whatever it is that you love. Not what it looks like today, but stay focused on what, in your mind, you’re going to grow it to be. And that’s what helped me tremendously because even when we weren’t making money, I was still out celebrating the students who graduated from high school who were going to college. For all of our Noveau customers that were graduating from high school, we gave them money. So it doesn’t matter what your situation is right now, the goal is, where do you plan to be in the next five years? Where do you plan to be in the next year? And I think that sometimes we go and we do these long reaches. “Oh, I plan to do this in the next 20 years”, but what’s going to happen in the next 90 days to get you to the plan that you have for the next 10 years? The next five years? So I think it’s setting realistic goals, just in your mind, not when nobody going to create things, but if my goal is to do 2 million in the grocery store, right? How do I get there? How do I get in those grocery stores to be able to create that? And then what’s next from there once we accomplish that? So I just think that it’s really betting on yourself, believing in yourself, keeping God first, and staying consistent and the rest will come.
Source: Divine Influence PR / Divine Influence PR
What’s next for you?
I just signed a contract on a plaza. It has nine units and it will be my first commercial real estate project. So I’m super excited about that. It’s going to allow people that look like me a space and an opportunity to start their own businesses. I want to help be a part of change that allows us to do that. Literally not even five minutes ago, I just signed a contract for a community that I will be building in Dallas. So I’m excited about that for people that look like me and they’re first-time home buyers. They’ll be able to buy a house and we’re actually building; we’re starting with five and then we’re going to build the next 20. So it’ll be our own community, I’m super excited about that. Then I just finished building my house and closed on my first house, so a lot of great things are coming and I’m going to create spaces for seven entrepreneurs that are new to have their own space and real estate. So I’m excited about that.
Where can we follow you?
@ebonyakira or nouveaubaratl.