Entrepreneurship: a universal word with countless recognitions. For Shelley Darby, being a successful entrepreneur means leaving an impactful legacy, being financially stable, and taking risks for the benefit of the entire community. Darby is the proud founder of Be. Coffee Tea Wine at the Atlanta University Center (AUC) and later opened a Kumon franchise, a math and reading learning center in South Fulton.
While attending Spelman College, Darby majored in Biology with a pre-med track but later realized that it was not her calling. After graduation, she started working in the public sector as a teacher but felt that she could not make a real impact on the world. Darby wanted to shape the minds of tomorrow by preparing students for the real world but this was hindered by restrictive curriculum. As a mother, she also realized the importance of imparting quality education to young people. Soon after this eye-opening moment, Darby had the idea of opening her own educational facility.
“When I talk about making an impact, I don’t just want to teach math and how to read. My mission is to teach my students to contribute and be a contributor to their community,” Darby said.
But she faced several obstacles along the way. During the opening process, Darby’s higher-ups told her that she had to open Kumon branches in areas they wanted, not in the predominantly black community of South Fulton. Their argument was based on the argument that Kumon centers had to be opened in places where residents were willing to pay for remedial education, implying that black residents might not be willing to pay for Kumon’s services because they had low incomes.
After hiring an independent demographer to assess the home values and incomes of South Fulton residents, it was conclusively proven that the area had the financial resources to afford additional education.Darby successfully established Kumon in the Sandtown community in 2004.
“I was almost devastated because I really wanted to do this. My son was doing it and I was so passionate about the program and I knew how groundbreaking it could be, especially for black kids. When they told me I couldn’t, it really hurt, but I was going to find a way,” Darby said.
Twenty years later, Cumont continues to thrive. But Darby has chosen to contribute to her community in a new way. She has noticed gentrification taking hold in certain parts of Atlanta, where people of different races are constantly moving into historically black communities and taking ownership of homes and businesses. Darby appreciated the positive changes in the community and the emergence of profitable businesses, but she opposed developers’ efforts to completely transform the community.
Hoping to be part of the solution, Darby opened Be. Coffee Tea Wine in the AUC development in 2023. Georgia Institute of Technology (GA Tech) was looking to buy the property, but fortunately Morehouse School of Medicine bought it instead, and Darby was able to rent the coffee shop space. As a Spelman graduate, she knows the importance of black students having their own space and understands that if GA Tech takes over the area, the atmosphere will be completely different.
Additionally, Darby founded a coffee shop with the goal of fostering unity and providing a safe space for the West End community. Her goal is to create an oasis that celebrates AUC students and makes them feel valued and recognized.
“Growing up, I didn’t know any Black entrepreneurs or have anyone close to me, and everything in my community was owned by other races, so I didn’t think it was a real option for me,” Darby says, “But then one day I realized that if I really wanted to leave a legacy for my kids, if I wanted them to see things differently, I had to do something different.”
