A God Sized Dream

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About the Episode

Business leaders Will Acuff and Shana Berkeley discuss their economically supportive, community-building nonprofit Corner to Corner and share their journeys and experiences which inspire them to create equity in underprivileged communities.

Inspiring Equity. Centering Others. Maintaining Drive.

Entrepreneur and faith leader Will Acuff and Executive Director of Corner to Corner Shana Berkeley sat down with Dr. Greg Jones to share their inspiring journey of creating economic opportunities for marginalized communities through entrepreneurship. 

Together they illustrate their nonprofit Corner to Corner’s mission and demonstrate how community-building starts with empathy and guaranteed equity for all.

“We launched Corner to Corner with this vision of what it would look like to have a nonprofit that is focused on economic equity,” Will outlined. “How do we create opportunities for neighbors to economically thrive on their own terms?”

“Our neighbors have passions, talent, drive and creativity, and the mindset is that we're doing this together,” Shana added. “Your life is your own. And so we help, but we don't create that for other people. They create it for themselves.”

Corner to Corner has an audacious goal: to help launch 10,000 Black-owned businesses in and around Nashville over the next decade. “And there is space in place to do that,” Shana shared. “We are so excited about what we're building. We are so excited about the partners who believe in us and come alongside the work that we're doing.”

This episode covers…

• The importance of creating equal economic opportunities for underserved populations.
• Maintaining a selfless attitude while attending to community needs.
• How ambition to create change must be empowered by a genuine desire to serve others.

Enhancing Equity

Will describes how he and his wife are committed to building and maintaining meaningful relationships, which is at the heart of the nonprofit’s origin story.

“How do you do community development in a different way, and how do you invite neighbors to the table?” Will asks. “One of the ways is that you show that you are not about consolidating power, and that when you can see that and feel that and you walk into a room and go, ‘Oh, this feels like space that is crafted for me because it was crafted by my neighbor, my auntie, my friend, my cousin.’ There's a different thing that happens.”

Shana describes the empowerment she experiences working with Corner to Corner, and how the nonprofit ensures her ideas are heard. “To be able to create something on my own really set my heart on fire in a way that I couldn't identify at that moment, but I knew.” 

Maintaining Selflessness

While discussing how each individual champions hope through serving the community, Shana points to how her own experiences as a staff member continue to inspire her to pour into the community with empathy and intentionality.

“As somebody who's been a staff member, people have a vision and have businesses, and so they really can speak to what our community is growing and learning. I'm very intentional about making Corner to Corner a great place to work and a place where you can be yourself, learn and grow, and apologize and try again.”

Will describes his intention to create space for social change and financial equity within Corner to Corner and recruit members of the community to join in.

“Right from the beginning we said, ‘Hey, if this is going to feel authentically like the community, then we are going to get out of the way fast.’ And so it was built into the DNA of Corner to Corner to say that we were going to hire from within the community.”

Shana believes the company fosters economic opportunity and emphasizes the importance of effective communication in helping others develop their talents and abilities.

"Our neighbors are full of passion, talent, drive and creativity. The new mindset is that we're doing this together," she explained. "One thing we often discuss is the desire not

just to be someone’s something, but to truly be somebody. And how do you become somebody? By having control over your own life. We support that process, but we don't create it for others—they create it for themselves. They flourish on their own terms."

Modeling Ambition

Within Corner to Corner’s business model, Will shares how they work to train entrepreneurs and build resilience, while simplifying the complexities around starting a business.

“We demystify business. Because business on some level is what you've been doing your whole life. We're just giving you the structures to bring that idea into the marketplace,” he said. “So it does not feel like we're giving a new mindset. Rather, it feels like we're giving structure to an existing mindset.”

Expanding on that intention, Will shares his desire to hold space for the needs of his team, highlighting how numbers are less important than creating authentic change.

“If I'm only ever focused on these outward metrics that somehow define us as successful, then I've missed it completely because the results will never be worth it, period. You’re only as good as that day was or as bad as that day was. And so I ask myself, ‘How do I anchor my heart to something deeper?’”

Shana describes her vision for Corner to Corner is to keep love at the center of community-building and financial equity, which they do with everyone they work with.

Corner to Corner currently has a wait list of over 6,000 people for their Academy Business Training Program, which Will attributes the success to word-of-mouth. “The people who actually lead the program are all graduates of the community,” he said. “And so that word-of-mouth thing – that, ‘Oh, I can do this because I see my friend do this’ – that has become a primary driver for us.”