IVORY ROSE CHAMBESHI, MPA, MPL
Founder and Chief Champion

IVORY ROSE CHAMBESHI, MPA, MPL — FOUNDER AND CHIEF CHAMPION

Competing demands and deliverables from grantmakers and stakeholders. The emotional highs, lows and overwhelm of being a small business owner. The anxiety associated with an upcoming program audit. Too many tasks; not enough time! 

Ivory is intimately aware of these struggles and more gained from her decade of experience in nonprofit management, small business development services, research and education. She enjoys identifying opportunities and solving problems for clients, and does so with gusto!

She has interacted with individuals from various sectors who are challenged by dwindling resources, overflowing task lists and the fast, info-overloaded 21st Century pace, having served in program director roles in service organizations in South Los Angeles and Southern Africa.

In addition to nonprofit leadership, she has coached and trained over 100 microenterprises and small businesses as Program Administrator for Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation-City of Los Angeles BusinessSource Center South Region. These businesses made considerable strides in growth and success through technical assistance provided by Ivory in the areas of marketing, operations, certification, licensing and business planning. She’s supported small and diverse businesses in increasing opportunity through procurement as Outreach & Compliance Manager for USC’s Small Business Diversity Office.

Ivory specializes in helping entrepreneurs and organizations chart the path from A to B. This manifests in expertise in the areas of planning, marketing and community engagement, program management, fund development, and grants management. She is also highly-skilled in project management and market analysis, and has earned distinction for her research, analysis and writing skills.

A strong believer in entrepreneurship, community-driven planning, and economic empowerment, Ivory credits her path and life’s calling to her mother and grandparents who emphasized serving the “least of these” among us. She is proud partner to a dynamic, albeit Bruin husband, ecstatic mommy to a sweet and spunky girl and Goodwill’s most dedicated customer.

Education and Honors:

• Humbled Honoree:
  • 2016: Rising Star Award Nominee, Los Angeles Business Journal Women’s Summit
  • 2013 Catlin-Long Scholar, American Planning Association Planning in the Black Community Division;  Ronald E. McNair Scholar (Claremont Graduate University); Ralph Bunche Scholar (Duke University)
• Proud Trojan: Master of Public Administration; Master of Planning; Certificate of Nonprofit Management and Policy, University of Southern California
• Prouder Highlander: Bachelor’s degree in Ethnic Studies, University of California at Riverside

Affiliations and Specialized Training:

Connect with Ivory Chambeshi on LinkedIn.