My name is Danielle and I based in Tampa, FL. I was raised lower income, however I was always taught the benefit of giving back and helping others. In high school I picked up photography and upon graduating I fundraised my way to South Africa, where I taught in the squatter camps along side Table Mountain. Fast forward ten years, multiple mission/humanitarian trips, two children and a thriving wedding photography business with my husband, I found myself compartmentalized in ways I felt were unnecessary. After a heart breaking trip to Burkina Faso, West Africa in 2014, I started Black Sheep Bride (BSB,) an online wedding and lifestyle publication devoted to socially conscious and sustainable couples, vendors and products that value giving back. We began our startup journey in Jacksonville, FL at a Pitch Festival called One Spark. Since our launch we have participated in 2 business incubator programs that collapsed mid-way through (due to lack of funds,) however we’ve managed to grow our socially conscious wedding directory to nearly 200 vendors across the nation, by bootstrapping alone. We also have over 16K followers on our social media and have been deemed one of the most disruptive voices in the wedding industry to date. I also spend a lot of time traveling to speak across the nation to various audiences about the power of connecting your passion with purpose and even gave a TEDx Talk this past Spring. As our brand awareness and momentum grows, our expenses, interest and debt grows as well, so we are in a pivotal scaling season and need all the help we can get.