UBR Spotlight: Artyce CEO Candra Palmer’s Tips for Entrepreneurs

This week on The Urban Business Roundtable, UBR contributor Renita D. Young speaks with entrepreneur Candra Palmer, founder of Artyce Designs, a company that lets shoppers create and design their own footwear. Motivated by a personal passion for distinctively designed shoes, Palmer launched Artyce in 2004.

Palmer has been recognized as a true innovator in the footwear industry, with her company being featured in Black Enterprise magazine and on the Black Enterprise Business Report television show, as well as on BET, ABC, NBC and WeTV. Her visionary footwear concept also led to her company being named one of the top breakout ideas by Smart Money magazine. Artyce Designs was also a 2008 Black Enterprise Small Business Awards finalist. Palmer joins the Roundtable with tips for entrepreneurs and to share how following her imagination helped to fuel her business dreams and bring her unique enterprise to fruition.

Also, UBR contributor Samantha Pass speaks with finance and operations expert, small business owner and certified tax practitioner Nikita Johnson, who’s spent more than a decade helping others manage budgets and get through tax season. Johnson joins the Roundtable to provide tips for entrepreneurs to make it through tax season.

And finally, every week on UBR, you’ll hear my “Alfred’s Notepad” segment, get motivation and inspiration from author and entrepreneurial icon Farrah Gray, a weekly wrap-up of business news from USA Today business correspondent Charisse Jones, our Patient Investor Report from Ariel Investments and key economic intelligence for small business owners from our UBR economists Derrick Collins and Rasheed Carter.

If you have a question you want answered or a topic you want addressed on The Urban Business Roundtable, connect with me at BE Insider, the social media network for people who are serious about Black Enterprise. You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook.

Alfred Edmond Jr. is the senior VP/editor-at-large of Black Enterprise and the host of the Urban Business Roundtable, a weekly radio show, sponsored by Ariel Investments, airing CST Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on WVON-AM 1690, the Talk of Chicago. You can also listen live online at WVON.com. Check back each week for UBR Spotlight, which features additional resources, advice and information from and about the topics, entrepreneurs and experts featured on the show.

Small business is BIG BUSINESS at the 2012 Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo hosted by Nationwide, May 23-26, at the Hilton Chicago Hotel in Chicago, IL. Expect innovative sessions, high-powered speakers, and an early peek at the products, trends, and services you’ll need to stay ahead of the curve. Beat the March 16 Early Bird deadline to get a $200 registration discount at www.blackenterprise.com/ec/! And be sure to nominate your company or another business for our Small Business Awards! Want to pitch your business idea and win $10,000? Don’t miss the chance to enter our Elevator Pitch Competition before March 30 to qualify for the $10,000 grand prize. To register and find out more, visit www.blackenterprise.com/ec/