This week we have a conversation with Felecia Hatcher Co-Founder of Code Fever and BlackTechWeek. Hatcher is of Jamaican descent and is White House award-winning entrepreneur and Author of the books “How to Start a Business on a Ramen Noodle Budget” “Focused” PopPreneurs and “The C Student’s Guide to Scholarships-A Creative Guide to finding scholarships when your grades suck and your parents are broke.” Hatcher Founder of Feverish Pops, a gourmet popsicle boutique and manufacturing brand with a Fortune 500 client roster that would make your head spin.  Hatcher is also a Globally sought-after speaker, media darling, and mother. For the past decade, Felecia has dedicated her life to inspiring a new generation of leaders to do epic stuff, through her conversational talks on Entrepreneurship, Tech Innovation, Funding and Personal Branding. Hatcher has been featured on MSNBC, The NBC Today Show, The Cooking Channel, Essence Magazine, BET, Black Enterprise, and the Miami Herald. Here is our conversation with

What age did you know you would become an entrepreneur?
I started my first business at 19 as a freshman at Lynn University. I wanted to create, that was always a goal of mine even before I know what and entrepreneur was. 

Many businesses have a moment they call their “big break”, whether it be a news story, a big contract etc. Have you or your business had that “”big break “yet?
Yes, there have been a few moments that have catapulted our work, I would say being featured on the NBC Today Show and Cooking Channel with Feverish the gourmet popsicle company I started and rand for 7 years. With Code Fever it was being honored at the White House in 2014 as a White House Champion of Change for STEM Access and Diversity. 

Tell us about the Code Fever project? Tell us to the story behind what inspired you to start this ambitious initiative?
With Code Fever we are on a mission to train and mentor 10,000 Startups founded by people of color. We do this with full stack development training programs for youth and young adults, as well as tech community events that get more Caribbean’s and African Americans engaged in the tech and startup ecosystem. Black Tech Week is our initiative to not only celebrate innovators of color but also provide collision points for our community to get the deal flow, exposure and access to VC/Angel funding and mentorship by trailblazers in the industry.

Will Jamaica and the Caribbean be a part of this project?
Yes a big part of our 2016-2017 expansion.

There is a large population of Jamaican-Americans living in South Florida. With Miami being the host for the 2016 Black Tech Week have you seen a growth of Caribbean-American participation in the event?
We definitely have seen growth not just in participation in our programming but we’ve noticed our efforts have led to an increase at local tech events around South Florida where 2 years ago you would not see anyone of color in attendance.

What other projects are you working on that you can tell us about?
A Big project that we are working on after Black Tech Week is building out an innovation hub/ space to increase the number of fundable and scaleable minority startups and access to training and resources. 

Are you working on any new books?
Haha I feel like I am always working on a new book, right now my main focus is getting ready for the new release of Start a Business on a Ramen Noodle Budget (Petersons) this summer June 3rd in stores nationwide. 

If a high school graduate who was interested in pursuing technology as a career or business asked you what area they “get into” what would you say?
I would say Data Scientist-The ability to extract knowledge and insights from all the data that tech companies are collecting is in high demand 

Seven day, six night, all expense paid, my vacation destination is…
I would have to say it’s a tie between Burlington Vermont and Paris. Both are beautiful places that I would love to go back to and explore more. 

My favorite guilty pleasure is…
Brownies and Netflix 

My favorite Jamaican food is…
Brown Stew fish 

What is the funniest thing you saw on Social Media about Jamaican parents and you could relate?
My all time favorite is the Shark vs. the Dolphin video, It’s not about parenting but it’s hilarious and always the top of my list. I would say Basement Granny is pretty funny as well.

To Learn More about Black Tech Week and Felecia Hatche visit:  

Website: BlackTechWeek.com
Facebook: BlackTechWeek
Twitter: @BlackTechWeek
Website: feleciahatcher.com