As difficult as it was, local business owner Joslyn Kelly managed to hold a major secret for nearly 2 weeks. Saturday night, the J's Breakfast Club proprietor and Gary native Joslyn Kelly was able to let the cat out the bag that her popular restaurant had won a $25,000 Powershift Entrepreneurship Grant courtesy of the NAACP and Shark Tank's Daymond John.
The NAACP, the country's oldest civil rights organization, introduced Black Entrepreneurs Day, an initiative developed to recognize and honor Black business owners. Kelly was 1 of 9 business owners selected for the honor out of more than 5,000 entries submitted from all over the country.
"I read about the contest online, and decided to shoot my shot by submitting an impromptu video explaining why J's Breakfast Club deserved the grant and how it would help my beautiful city of Gary," said Kelly.
Kelly, her immediate family, advisory board members and staff gathered at J's Breakfast Club to watch the Entrepreneurship Day FB live broadcast where the grant announcement was made and a pre-recorded Webex interview between Kelly and John aired.