I have a story to share.
I’ve been in business since I launched my very first company, a staffing firm, in 1994. But in 2015, I made history. When accelerators required people to put life on hold for three months to attend a program in another city with a group of strangers, I decided to build a different path.
Hold on now. I know there are people who are going to jump in my comments and talk about who did what first or best. So let me state the obvious (meaning what you can Google yourself). Angela Benton was the visionary behind NewMe Accelerator back in 2011. It was an accelerator for Black FOUNDERS, not just for women. Felena Hanson created Hera Hub, a co-working space for women in 2011. Shaherose Charania, Angela Chang and Shivani Sopory created Women 2.0 incubator program in 2006 for women in tech. Code First Girls was launched in 2012 as a coding education program. I take nothing away from these incredible women, and I’m grateful that they were bold enough to pave the way.
But Mogul Chix® did it first in 2015. The virtual accelerator model. Let me explain.
The Spark
I was serving as a mentor at the Straight Shot Accelerator in Omaha, NE (shoutout to the phenomenal Mark Hasebroock for believing in my talent and trusted me to mentor his cohorts for four years). I had flown out to speak at their event with a massive, painful abscess in my gums. My face was on swole for real. But I soldiered through with my talk. I was at the airport miserable in pain thinking there has to be another way.
I was thinking back on the sacrifices people needed to make to attend these accelerators. There was a young lady who had just given birth two weeks prior to the start of that cohort. She had her newborn baby in a stroller right by her side as she worked on her business (ironically named Borrow for Your Bump). I was amazed. While I was proud of her, I felt sad that she had to bring her baby with her. I thought “Why? Why did she have to choose between staying with her newborn or losing an amazing opportunity?”. The way accelerators were set up back then made it impossible to attend if you have family obligations. The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I became.
The other thing that was heavy on my mind is that there was a tiny representation of people who looked like me. There was only one company with a duo that happened to be Black. The young lady with the baby was not Black, but she was the only woman in the cohort. I wouldn’t blame the program for those numbers because many of us did our best to boost the numbers for representation.
Sitting at the gate waiting on my flight back home my mind was racing. Why did moms have to choose? Why were Black and Brown people not showing up? Where were my Latinos? Who has time to fly across the country and spend three months with strangers, leaving their families and obligations to build a company?
And then that AHA moment hit. I could build that…virtually. And right there, in that airport, Mogul Chix® was born. I began rewiring the traditional model of accelerators and sketched out the framework that would be the Mogul Chix® Academy Accelerator.
Mogul Chix® was the FIRST virtual accelerator for Black and Brown Women. Sure, over the years it has transitioned into the Business Growth Accelerator and has been open to all qualifying Black and Brown Women and allies. But that doesn’t diminish what was started. What I started and grew.
Here’s why I did it. The Mom with the two week old baby. The lack programs for women who looked like me. The already outdated model for accelerators was ripe for change. I knew it was crazy as I outlined it in my little notebook. After all, nobody knew me for that. It was a big risk, but I was ready and excited. When I got home I fleshed out and wrote the curriculum, reserved the domain, and built the accelerator. The rest was history.
Since then, Mogul Chix® has evolved. We now host a Business Growth Accelerator and stepped back from startups. There are so many programs out there that are doing great. The evolution required me to think bigger and move into under-served lanes. Everyone was focused on startups, so that opened an opportunity for me to focus on growth. We’ve gone on to launch CEO Advisory Services, podcasts, a print magazine, a staffing division and now a tech division that focuses on #talenttech. And there’s more to come. We have been dedicated to helping high-performing Female Founders grow and scale formidible companies, build revenue generating teams and step into their CEO roles with confidence.
Being first in this particular space allowed me to open doors for those who came behind me who got it and saw the potential. So while there were other women-focused programs in existence, they were incubators, coding programs, bootcamps and workspaces. But I made history for creating a space to learn and thrive in virtual spaces for women of color. The distinction is important. Mogul Chix® filled a void in a time when there was nothing for us, by us of that kind. I removed the barrier that traditional accelerators imposed. Who had time to fly across the country when they had babies to care for? By offering a flexible, virtual, founder-first model, we were able to help high-performing, high-potential women scale who would have otherwise been excluded from the startup ecosystem.
Those were fun times, but it didn’t come easy. When you’re a first mover, people doubt you, copy and scrutinize your every move. I’m proud of my accomplishments. I took a risk that paid off not just for me, but for the ladies who went through the accelerator, and those who came after them who benefitted from the evolution of the brand that built an ecosystem. I made the decision to stop playing small, I’m continuing to grow a community and a movement. I’m still learning, growing and evolving.
If this resonates, let’s talk. I help CEOs stop playing small by building the right team that generates revenue, protects their time, and supports long-term growth.
Book a Discovery Call with me. Let’s map out your money-making team together. Your next level doesn’t require more hustle. It requires more strategy and the right people to execute it. Schedule your call.
Adrienne Graham
CEO|Founder
Mogul Chix®
Connect with me here or over on Linked In.
©2025 Adrienne Graham and Mogul Chix®. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Adrienne Graham and Mogul Chix® with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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