Recognizing Black innovation: Serial entrepreneur & tech founder Ivy Walker ’98 MBA

In honor of Black History Month, Kellogg is sharing the stories of Black innovators and entrepreneurs in our community who are launching businesses that shape the world around us.  

In this first installment of the series, we spoke with Ivy Walker ’98 MBA, a three-time founder and the CEO of Purpose Workforce Solutions. Her staffing and placement firm specializes in engaging diverse talent, especially young people and first-generation college graduates. A leader in the tech space, Walker is also the co-founder of training platform Helios Digital Learning and the founder of AskCoda, an AI-powered COO for small businesses. 

Ivy Walker ’98 MBA knows that entrepreneurship is in her genes. She recounts coming from a long line of founders: Her parents, brothers, aunts and uncles all ran their own businesses, so she knew from a young age that entrepreneurship was the path she intended to take.  

Now, with more than 25 years into her career, she has built and leads several successful companies. In all that time, the best advice anyone has ever given her came from her father, she says.  

“He told me, learn on someone else’s dime,” explained Walker “It makes no sense to go and start a business and bang your head against the wall learning the basics. There is so much about business that you’ll have to figure out. You need to have experience. Go work for a big company, and you can take what works for you and leave what doesn’t when you start your own business.” 

She followed his advice and joined a large accounting firm as a consultant in the healthcare group immediately following the completion of her undergraduate degree in healthcare administration.  

“I learned about models and how to analyze things — it was a wonderful experience,” she said. Business school wasn’t initially on Walker’s radar, but she made the leap and enrolled at Kellogg after hearing from friends and colleagues about the wonderful experiences they had when they pursued their MBA. And once again, she remembered more words of wisdom from her father. “My dad had explained to me the value of getting a postgraduate business degree. I had gaps in my skillset — finance being one of them. Getting my MBA allowed me to expand my skillset.”

Gaining rich perspectives 

Walker says the exposure to new thoughts and ideas was one of the most valuable parts of her Kellogg experience. “Sometimes we undervalue the opportunity to see life through a different lens. Interacting with people who are nothing like you and whose experiences are nothing like yours can be enrichening from both a personal and professional perspective.”  For her, keeping an open mind has been vital to being successful as a student, and ultimately, as a business leader.  

Walker credits the culture at Kellogg and the opportunity to interact with people who were completely different from her as playing a critical role in leading her to where she is today. And the school’s dynamic culture is precisely what drew her in, and the access to different perspectives helped mold her personally and professionally.  

“When I came to Evanston, it felt like I was home,” says Walker. “Kellogg exposes you to topics, ideas and areas of interest that you might not have heard of before. There are also plenty of opportunities to interact not just through classes but social groups, clubs, and activities. Expand your horizons and network as much as possible. Kellogg is the perfect opportunity to do that.”  

Maximizing her potential 

Walker approaches her work from one fundamental core value: “If you are not true to who you say you are, you cannot be happy.” While all her businesses are different, they have a common thread of making people the best version of themselves. Helios Digital Learning, her education media company, helps students and business professionals think about learning from a different perspective. Walker launched this company to help bridge the gap that she believes exists in ethics training within corporate America.   

And then there’s Purpose Workforce Solutions, a socially conscious staffing firm, which helps people with barriers to work. Walker and her team help people obtain employment and get the wrap-around support they need to stay employed. All her businesses are rooted in contributing toward aspiring to create a positive impact within the communities and organizations they serve. 

In fact, it was Walker’s commitment to her community that inspired her to start Purpose Workforce Solutions. “I grew up on the West Side of Chicago, and I am very familiar with the various barriers to work people face,” Walker says. “If we are going to help raise our communities, we have to understand the traumas and the triggers that contribute to a cycle of poverty. And, in a small way, that’s what our company tries to do.”  

Assessing risk, embracing flexibility 

Now as a successful entrepreneur across several industries, Walker encourages everyone to learn as much as they can and be the best employee possible, but when it is time to go out on your own, you should embrace it.  

“Once I started my business there were many lessons I put into practice from my previous experiences,” she said. “It is easy to start a business, but it’s not easy to be successful. And I can’t repeat my dad’s advice enough: ‘learn as much as you can on someone else’s dime.’”  


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