Although Habitat for Humanity is known for providing affordable homes, after the move-in, we continue to look for ways to support each family.
For homeowners seeking higher education and professional opportunities, Vision. Goals. Action! (VGA), helps to change the lives of eligible Atlanta Habitat homeowners and their dependents through scholarship and grant awards.
“A lot of our homeowners say, ‘I want to start my own business’ or ‘I want to have my own side hustle’ or ‘I want to do something to bring in more income on the side.’” explained Paola, Family Services Learning Facilitator. “So that’s where our entrepreneurship initiative started.”
“Launch! is a Shark Tank style business pitch competition where our homeowners pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges, who are typically community volunteers, and are able to compete for cash to fund their small business,” Paola said.
VGA Launch! supports emerging entrepreneurs with the leadership speaker series, Boss Talk, and the pitch competition. Since its creation in 2015, VGA has expanded each year—impacting 36 families, awarding more than $53,000 in grants and scholarships, and influencing 274 people who attended related events.
Otika, owner of Tika Shuntae Photography and Photobooth was the first-place winner of the 2022 VGA Launch!. Established in 2019, Tika Shantae started because Otike wanted to capture her family’s special moments and memories and it quickly grew to a vision of capturing memories for everyone.
“Our mission at Tika Shuntae is to capture moments for our clients while providing exceptional customer service and competitive pricing.”
Tika Shuntae offers a selfie photo booth and a 360-video booth that allows guests to choose between taking a photo, boomerang, video or GIF. Guests can then instantly share the media with themselves via email, text or instant print.
Otika also makes a special effort to employ local teens when she can.
Now that she has won the Launch! competition she plans to use the funds to obtain a company vehicle to expand Tika Shuntae to new states.
She hopes this will “allow us to continue our journey and grow our vision of capturing moments for people and families one spin, one shot and one snap at a time.”
