"I have a passion for small businesses and a special place in my heart for the fearless people who launch them. Small businesses truly are the engine of the U.S. economy.
Being a business owner is the best way to become master of your fate. My goal is to help you succeed!"
Ivy Walker is a serial entrepreneur, author, teacher, business coach, and award-winning director and executive producer of documentary films. She is a woman of many talents who
has spent her career working in various industries perfecting her wide range of skills.
She is passionate about small businesses-the engine of the American economy-and their founders who determine to become masters of their fate by following their dreams and betting on themselves.
She is passionate about small businesses-the engine of the American economy-and their founders who determine to become masters of their fate by following their dreams and betting on themselves.
Ivy has founded or co-founded multiple companies, including Helios Digital Learning, a company using digital storytelling to help business professionals and students improve their ethical decision-making, Purpose Workforce Solutions, a staffing firm that specializes in connecting the aspirations of disconnected youth to job opportunities, and AskCoda, a risk-management platform for small businesses.
In addition to her entrepreneurial endeavors, Ivy's professional background includes successful stints at Fortune 500 companies in consulting and investment banking and experience in private equity and the social venture/non-profit sector. Her wide range of professional experience makes her uniquely qualified to help other entrepreneurs achieve the success they desire in their business endeavors. She has incorporated the values and strategies she learned from these experiences into all other aspects of her multifaceted career.
In her career as a business coach, Ivy has worked with more than 200 business owners through a non-profit accelerator where she served as the Executive Director and through her own coaching practice. She has advised entrepreneurs at every stage of the entrepreneurial journey, including pre-launch start-ups and entrepreneurs exiting mature businesses.
As an educator, Ivy teaches risk management to entrepreneurs and non-profit executives as an adjunct faculty member at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She also teaches an Ethics and Leadership course at Northwestern University, where she holds an adjunct faculty appointment. Ivy has previously taught entrepreneurial finance at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Through years of working as a teacher, Ivy has curated the perfect approach to educating business owners on the ins and outs of risk management and business acceleration.
As a documentary filmmaker, Ivy won three Telly Awards, including the People's Choice Telly, for her short-form documentary film BLIND SPOTS. She also served as an Executive Producer on the documentary film ALL THE QUEEN'S HORSES, a film created by Helios Digital Learning as a tool to teach business owners and government officials about the perils of fraud and willful blindness. ALL THE QUEEN'S HORSES was the number one documentary in the country when it was released in April 2018.
Currently, Ivy is actively involved in her community through her board service at Gateway Foundation, Bottom Line, and the Chicago Public Library System. She is also a board member of Forest Capital Management, a privately held company that provides modern and sustainable investment solutions to businesses.
Ivy holds an MBA in Accounting and Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Community Health with a concentration in Health Services Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was awarded Kellogg's Entrepreneur Supporter of the Year award and the Anti-Defamation League's Rising Star award in 2011 and 2009, respectively.