From the founder of Atlanta’s thriving Village Market comes an inspirational guide for entrepreneurs and leaders, showcasing the transformative power of community support to overcome systemic barriers to business success.

Support is a verb.

Dr. Lakeysha Hallmon keeps that phrase pinned to her wall as a reminder of the transformative power of community. As she leaned into her purpose and began pursuing her entrepreneurial dreams, she quickly realized the racial disparities and systemic issues impacting Black owners of small businesses. In Atlanta, she met many brilliant creators and small business owners who were going after their dreams too and believed that their trajectories could be catapulted if supported by an invested community.

She founded the Village Market, a collective of Black small business owners, to harness the power of community in growing and scaling many Black-owned businesses. The Village Market funneled millions of dollars into local businesses with the aim of building generational wealth and economic prosperity within Atlanta. Dr. Hallmon was delighted to find that her beliefs were true: that by rooting our lives, businesses and work in community—the right community—we find the resources to create and support economic mobility. Equally important, we can sustainably grow our dreams.

No One Is Self-Made is an inspirational business narrative weaving together themes of community, building purposeful and impactful businesses, collective economics, and debunking the myth of being self-made. Entrepreneurs at any stage of growth will appreciate Dr. Hallmon’s story—with all the ups and downs—of founding the Village Market, and the road-tested advice she dispenses for those trying to find success in business. She explains the economic and social factors at play, the surprising missteps that can detour one away from achieving goals and outlines the tools necessary for entrepreneurs to create their own thriving village. Along the way, it becomes clear why working within community is a more powerful, successful path to success than going at it alone.