INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Each week on Community Link, Carolene Mays takes a look at an organization or business that is making a positive impact on the community.

This week, Mays was joined by Joy Mason, a business leader, author, and “game changer.” Mason is the founder of Optimist Business Solutions and the Six Sigma Racial Equity Institute, two groups that work to provide leadership roles for women of color and develop the workplace.

Mason shares with Mays her background and how it led her to the path of entrepreneurship.

“I actually did not have entrepreneurship in mind when I started my career. I started at Eli Lilly and Company and my background is in the sciences, specifically microbiology,” she said. “I was in technical services, which is process improvement, quality assurance, and quality control, which is data analysis for our products, and global product management.”

Mason says she retired in 2017, but still wanted to be a creative involved in the community. “I wanted to have an impact, I still want to work, and I also wanted flexibility,” she said. “So, entrepreneurship and creating my own business gave me the opportunity to do that.”

She shares how her businesses help Black women learn essential business skills and help them get business certifications to launch them into success.

To learn more about Mason’s leadership businesses and the various programs they offer, watch the interview above.