Today we’d like to introduce you to Angela McDowell.
Hi Angela , we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
In the quiet hours of a fall, pandemic evening, unencumbered by those interruptions that prevent authors from expressing their authorship, I wrote. More significantly, I remembered that I am a writer and I started writing again. In 2020, I chose myself and joined the Great Migration and resigned from my Student Counselor position. I had a conscious shift in mindset. Good thing too because success after a short period of time encouraged me to start I Love Paperwork in 2021. I learned in one of the many 2-week courses I’d taken over the pandemic that if you want to go into business, I needed to solve a problem. I usually refrain from generalizations but this I know is true: People HATE paperwork! I just so happen to love it (visit ilovepaperwork.org for more info).
Liberal Arts student here! The first big word I learned was ‘conscientious.’ It was on my 2nd grade report card in the notes section. A childlike curiosity has served as an incredible resource in entrepreneurship. Sure, I started an entrepreneurial journey at 39 after becoming so overwhelmingly frustrated with working for arbitrary white men in all their higher upness and after having won 7 lawsuits against white supremacy in Minnesota in my 10 year residency (another story for another time perhaps), but the important thing is I started. As a lifelong creative, specifically writer, I’ve historically had an estranged relationship with finances and business, but as a Grant Writer with a 94% success rate and solo-prenuer the challenges were completely unforeseen.
As an entrepreneur, I fancy myself a lifelong learner and became excited to tackle my financial literacy challenges head on to better benefit myself and clients. However, I quickly realized that if I were to transfer my personal success-rate over to clients, I would have to fill their learning gap as well. The demographic I wanted to serve could not afford my $5k grant writing fee, so I became a social-prenuer. Inspired by the Hip-Hop Museum opened by prolific rappers Nas and LL Cool J with funding from State of NY in 2021, I started Let’s Learn Collectively On Our Life’s Journey (or L.L.C.O.O.L.J. LLC) in 2023 with funding from City of Minneapolis Partnership Engagement Fund and an award from the Racial Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (REIB). The new civic engagement and literacy organization has a mission to simplify bureaucracy for all and a vision that all people can access, comprehend and formidably engage Government in order to benefit the greater good.
Our 2-week virtual cohorts are on a range of topics from Vendor Registration, Getting Grant Ready, Contract Compliance, Proposal Drafting, to Intro to Bidding, Grant Matching, Program Development, and more. Virtual and IRL options allows learners to interact with the material in safe spaces with the opportunity for 1-on-1 support. We offer consultation with cultural responsiveness and pride ourselves on simplifying bureaucracy for all. We are where to start to leverage public funding for public good!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
To date, Let’s Learn Collectively On Our Life’s Journey has supported clients in raising over $3.5 million with plenty of stories to tell! The obstacles involve some of the more interesting opportunities our Government gives us to thrive. Did you know that there is specific monies earmarked to protect non-profits and religious institutions from domestic terrorism? It’s true. It’s called the Non-Profit Security Grant Program and I’ve been having all kinds of fun with it since 2021 (sarcasm, sarcasm, sarcasm). We’ve supported clients from California to Colorado with the NSGP and whether it be a synagogue, community center, or daycare the challenge always comes in realizing the measures we’re taking to protect ourselves from one another and that these measures are necessary in the first place. Which brings to mind the another obstacle.
As a black lesbian, I have the challenge of helping people see the Government as an ally. Read it aloud and you’ll chuckle. Black women are 3xs more likely to be murdered in Minnesota than our white female counterpart but as conscientious as I am, I still say, the system is not racist and is not the problem. If you didn’t chuckle, my work here is done. You’re welcome. The truth of the matter is, the Government isn’t going to stop talking in high-faluting statutory language, it’s their jam. The cool thing about it is that the Government is only as powerful as the people that empowerment it regardless of how you feel about kings. This is a democracy and if we don’t engage it, the road stays bumpy. The only smooth road will be the one we pave with hard work.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
LLCOOLJ LLC is a civic engagement and literacy cohort based in Minneapolis. We have 6 locations with our main existing in NE Arts District and North Loop. Not only do we help people, businesses, and non-profits alike do better business with the government but we lead by example. The podcast, Simplifying Bureaucracy w/ Angela, that delves into viewers questions and interviews local and national guests, aires on our YouTube channel. Viewers can leave a message at 1-844-GUVMENT to be addressed on the show. Our organization services multiple Government partners with the common thread of providing equity-infusing programs to the community. Why pay a grant writer that can’t write a grant to pay themselves? Our offer is simple, we give you a baseline from which to travel, in essence, we simplify the process for you to not have to rely on others to carry your vision to fruition. This December 1st-11th is the next cohort offered to get Grant Ready for 2026. $500 registration fee gets you 5 live-virtual webinars where you can gain answers to long-seated questions about how to fund your self, business, or non-profit venture in 2026. Additionally, 1 hour consultations are available at llcooljorg.com
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
As a naturally curious, lifelong creative, I’ve always been excited to learn new things. I studied Computer Aided Design & Drafting at North High School in Minneapolis and majored in African Diasporic Literature and Spanish Language in College at Fisk University, Morris Brown College, and Middlebury College. I don’t just love to learn new things, I like to curate purposeful learning experiences for myself and others. As an entrepreneur, I fulfill that dream everyday working with clients in a wide range of industries. Our organization is constantly supporting diverse entrepreneurs across the country in their endeavors from luxury affordable condo developments in downtown Denver for residents leaving drug treatment to raising awareness of skin bleaching creams in Minnesota to teaching Safety and First Aid to youth for Davidson County, Tennessee.
Pricing:
- $500 2026 Grant Ready Cohort Dec 1-11,2025
- $50/hr Public Funding Consult
Contact Info:
- Website: www.llcooljorg.com
- Instagram: @llcooljorgdotcom
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/let-s-learn-collectively-on-our-life-s-journey-llc-simplifying-bureaucracy-for-all-885639206/
- Youtube: @L.L.C.O.O.L.J.
- Other: LLCOOLJ.INFO
