Hear from today’s leading entrepreneurs about how they started their business and the strategies they are using to operate and grow their business.

Time: 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Where: Morgan State University, The Earl G. Graves School of Business, Room 211

Who: Morgan State University Students who have interest in starting a business and surrounding community resident

Space is limited and registration is required.

Speaker Bio

Drs. Elmer and Joanne Martin founded The National Great Blacks In Wax Museum in Baltimore, twenty-five years ago.

The Museum is the country’s first wax museum concentrating on black history, life and culture. It is a national attraction and has been featured on major television networks (CNN, NBC, BET, etc.); magazines (Jet, Essence, Black Enterprise, etc.); and newspapers (The Washington Post, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc.).

Dr. Joanne Martin received a BA from Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida; her MA from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, and her PhD from Howard University, Washington, DC.

In addition to her duties as Founder & President of the Museum, Dr. Martin served as Director and Coordinator of the Learning Skills Center at Coppin State University, in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Martins co-authored four books together: Social Work and the Black Experience; The Helping Tradition in the Black Family; Black Extended Family and Spirituality and the Black Helping Tradition in Social Work.

She has received several honors, including the Lambda Kappa Mu Sorority’s Community Service Award; Who’s Who Among African Americans, Distinguished Black Women Award (presented by Blacks In Sisterhood for Action), National Association of Negro Women Business and Professional Club Award (“Women of Vision Excelling in a Non-traditional Profession”) and the Delta Sigma Theta Community Service Award.

In 2001, Dr. Elmer Martin passed away, while on a research tour of Egypt.

In June 2003, the Museum received its national designation through the bi-partisan efforts of Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD).

The designation frees up nearly $5 million in federal funds for the Museum’s expansion.