August is National Black Business Month. Since the 2000s, we’ve been taking this month to support Black entrepreneurs, celebrate their successes, and recognize the obstacles they’ve overcome.
Westminster, Maryland is home to a unique, diverse, and motivated small business community. So this month, we want to take the time to highlight just a few of the many Black-owned businesses that call Westminster home and contribute to its vibrant community.
Collision Course
Marketing Assistant Marie Overman first spoke with Tony Gerald, the owner of Collision Course.
Collision Course is a joint venture between Tony and his wife Ashley. This upcoming soul food restaurant is over 10 years in the making. We’ve all been eagerly anticipating the day their Main Street location opens its doors. In the meantime, you can find Tony and Ashley catering local events, serving food during Main Street festivities, or during brunch at River Downs Golf Club.
What inspired you to start Collision Course?
I’ve been in the restaurant industry for 25 years this year. It’s always been something that I found a passion for and something that I was really, really drawn to just with the creativity that you get to do… the management side, the ordering and everything just seemed so intriguing to me when I was 18 years old.
And I always say that in life, if I could find a job, find work that I love to do that I can take care of my family with. And that’s the thing that I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
So this cooking–restaurants–is something that I know that I can do, something I love doing and something that I know I can take care of my family doing.
How long have you been running Collision Course?
Collision Course as a company started in February 2022 and ever since then, has been full steam ahead.
Could you tell us about your Main Street location?
We will have three operations once that gets opened on Main Street. We do brunch at River Downs Golf Club in Finksburg every Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and then the Café at Tech Court just opened and we’re in the soft open phase.
As soon as we can get back to getting Main Street operational, then we’ll get back over there and start sanding and putting things together and getting that operation off the ground.
So what is it like sharing your experience and food? How does serving the community make you feel?
It makes me feel awesome. I think the way that I show my love is through acts of kindness and acts of kindness can be just making good food for people, just making sure the attention to detail is there and the flavor profiles are the way that they are supposed to be.
But the reactions that I’ve been getting from the community have boosted my confidence in knowing that this is something that I’m supposed to be doing and it’s something that I can absolutely do and be successful at.
What challenges have you faced as a Black business owner and how did you overcome them?
Well, a table would have a complaint about the food item or something, or service, and they would ask for a manager.
And I would go out as a manager in my nice button down, nice pants, nice shoes. I have my keys, I’m clearly the manager. I’m telling everybody what to do and I would walk up to a table and I would introduce myself as the manager. I’m telling you, I’m the manager.
They would go through stuff and then they would ask to see the real manager. Yeah, they asked to see the real manager–I am the real manager. I’m directing staff. Like you see, I’ve been here, I’ve been doing it. I’ve talked to other tables around you. I’ve made sure everybody’s doing okay. Like–what makes you think I’m not the real manager?
It just goes back, you know, I’m not naïve–it goes back to me being African American… a young Black man standing there and it’s just no respect.
So, some of that carried over into the business side of it… We’re talking to contractors and electricians and representatives from companies that will supply or house things that we need in the restaurant.
Me and my wife, my wife is Caucasian, my wife is white. They were focused on talking to her when I’m the primary owner of the business. We would talk and we would say what we needed, and then they would immediately not look at me and they would look at her and start talking and say “so we can do…” and they would start explaining things and they wouldn’t even look at me.
They would just look at my wife and I’m sitting there like, hey… I’m the owner of the business. Like I make the decisions, you should talk to me so I can tell you what those decisions are that I’ve made.
And when we’ve seen that has happened, me and my wife noticed it right away and we do not utilize that company.
So it’s something that we’re conscious of. It’s something that we think people need to be conscious of. And then, in turn, we want to make sure that we’re inclusive and wanna make sure that the people who we are dealing with are inclusive as well.
We got kids, we have a 15, 8 year old and a 2 year old and I think just making sure that they understand the importance of inclusion within their school, playing with their friends–just making sure that they understand that everybody’s equal.
We all breathe the same air, it’s just maybe a hue in our skin is a little bit different. But we want to make sure that we point out those importances to our kids.
Are you excited to open your location on Main Street?
Yes, super excited. We have a couple of things happening right now–River Downs, we do catering events there as well, the café opening up.
But I think just being open up, that’s our main goal. The thing that got Collision Course started. It was the thing that we are most anticipating and it’s the thing that we know would be our major draw. It will be the thing that people want to come and see. It would be the thing that people are expecting because it’s something different for cuisine in Westminster, it’s not the same thing that you’re getting. It’s not Italian pizza, it’s not seafood, it is authentic soul food that we’re providing. So I’m super excited because that’s the main one–that’s the main operation.
I think making sure that it stays culturally appropriate, you know–it is soul food that is Southern inspired African American cuisine. It doesn’t necessarily have to be African American cuisine, but the bulk of it in the way that got started was with African American cuisine and it’s creeped over into Latin America. It’s creeped over into the island cuisine as well and the island cuisine has crept into soul food as well.
So just being able to marry and bring some of those flavors and some of those things that we have here in Westminster–beyond excited.
I wanna do something different. So much more feeling to it when it’s made with love–I’m serious. It is made with love and it shows in the food, it shows in the flavors.
I think the biggest compliment for me with my food is when people eat it and they don’t have to pick up a salt or pepper shaker and they just eat the food and they look like, “Oh my God, this is amazing…” That’s properly seasoned food. Not too salty, not too bland. It is right where it should be and made with love.
Is there anything you would go back and do differently if you could?
Yes, I think initially just maybe taking my time and selecting my location. I love the Main Street location. I think we’ll be there for a while, but the building is just pretty old and it’s given us a lot of problems, you know? We’re just opening and getting some things done. So maybe have something a little bit more ready. That’s maybe the only thing I would do differently, maybe take on some initial investors instead of doing it myself to start off with as well.
What advice would you give others considering starting their own business?
My advice that I would give to someone else trying to start their own business is to take your time, you know, make sure that you have a passion for what you’re doing because the passion will get you through the tough times. When the money is not coming in as fast as you want it to come in, when the problems and complaints start happening when it isn’t getting up and running like you expected it to be and it’s been over a year now since you’ve been trying to get it open… That passion is really the thing that keeps us going.
Not just our passion for the business, but our passion to be a part of and help our community as well. Collision Course has given us a platform to really start to give back and do things that we wanted to.
We just hadn’t had the platform to do so before–presenting at MAGIC, or helping out their investor meeting last night, or doing the catering for Gauge Digital’s 10 year Anniversary, or doing the Chamber Connections for the Westminster Rescue Mission next month in August of this year…Things that we probably could have done but wouldn’t have had the same access to if we weren’t in business.
We’ve dropped off food to the fire stations, Hampstead, Westminster… We’ve dropped off stuff to the local missions and shelters, dropping off food when we’ve had excess or when we’ve seen the need and we’ve answered the call. Like I said, with the things we might not have been able to have access to just as regular everyday Carroll civilians, but having the platforms and having the connections that we have been afforded has helped us out so much.
Take a look at Collision Course, stay tuned to everything they have going on through their website at https://collisioncoursemd.com/
All of their locations are listed, along with chronicles of their community activities, so stay updated!
Next Marie met with Judith Walker, founder and CEO of Nurselynx.
Nurselynx caters to their clients with a number of services, including in-home care, chronic illness management, and supplemental staffing in facilities. Their app is a one-stop solution to fulfill immediate and pending health care needs.
What inspired you to start NurseLynx? What inspired you to create positive change in healthcare in your community?
I actually am a health care provider and have been for over 30 years. I wanted to be able to provide a social impact through my organization to improve the way that we work in the healthcare field. And I want to support organizations, but I also want to support the people that work for them so that we can provide better care, improve health outcomes for the clients that we serve.
When I first became a nurse, for instance, I had time to maybe give a back rub to someone that was really suffering. It was maybe a five minute massage, but it helped to relieve that person’s anxiety and their pain and their stress so they were able to start to heal more quickly. All of those things have changed because we are pretty much overworked.
My organization finds different ways to solve health care inequities through technology and by mobilizing the human component by helping with certification programs, training programs. And we connect with other organizations so that we can be able to allow young people to have another offering other than college if that is not what they are looking to do.
How long have you been running your business?
I actually started my organization in 2021. In December of 2020 I started part time while I was still working as a director of nursing, and left the director of nursing position in October of last year and began to do this full time.
What challenges have you faced as a Black woman running your business and how did you overcome them?
I’ve faced quite a few and I thank you for asking me that question, actually, because that’s one of the main ones that a lot of people are scared to ask. I feel that it’s important to know what we have to anticipate as being just a woman owned business and a Black owned business.
Of course, there is some prejudice still out there, and so it is harder for me to gain contracts because I am a minority.
The biggest problem is building those relationships. I have to work twice as hard to build the relationships with an organization in order for them to contract with me. And I have to do the same thing on the home care side. I have to do 10 times more in order to gain the public’s trust.
It has also been hard for me to gain funding. I’ve done everything: made sure my credit was in order, my business plan was in order, all of my processes in order to still be denied any kind of funding which is so needed because, of course, I have to handle payroll and a lot of my contracts don’t pay timely. That makes it very difficult.
I also have gotten a lot of pushback–and I’m hoping it’s not because I’m a minority, but I can’t help but wonder because certain contracts I don’t get paid for on time where my white cohorts do and I’m not sure why that is.
So… it makes me have to struggle that much harder to sustain my business because I’m trying to constantly work against the tide to be able to pay my own bills and make sure that I’m taking care of my family. I’m single, so if I don’t make any money, I don’t have any money. So it’s been very difficult.
I do have to say that living in Carroll County, I’ve gotten support from organizations like MAGIC and I have been really blessed that organizations like that exist who help to spotlight organizations like mine to help me to get more traction.
What have you learned from those challenges?
Well, one of the things I’ve learned is that there’s no such thing as bad news; it’s just news. It’s restored my faith in God. It’s really made me closer to God.
I’ve also learned that if someone tells me no, that it may be no today, but it may be yes at another date, that I need to continue to work on myself and on my organization so that I can build enough public trust that people do want to say yes to me.
And so I just continue to work. I don’t feel any bitterness about it. I’m actually still very, very blessed to be an entrepreneur and be over 50… I am very grateful that I have so many people that are in my corner and do believe in my business and my goal to affect change in the world.
Is there anything you would go back and do differently if you could?
Oh, definitely. The first thing I would have done is not try to build my app by myself without more guidance. When I first built the app, I did use an organization overseas and I did not get the product that I required. And so I invested time and money that went down the drain… I would have gotten my certifications first, get more mentorship, more guidance.
I was very frightened in the beginning to trust people with my visions and my goals. I’ve learned that there are a lot of people that want me to succeed and will put me in front of the right people so that I can succeed.
What advice would you give others considering starting their own business?
Well, the first thing I would say is join organizations, join your local chamber, definitely join 1 Million Cups. It really did start to get me more in front of the healthcare space. There are a lot of people in other organizations that will mentor and guide you–write down your idea and make sure that you are laser focused on what you are actually trying to accomplish.
Show that you are a differentiator from what is already out there, take your time and write down your goals and missions for your business and then start to check off what you’re accomplishing and track it. Make sure you have some kind of program so you can look at your accounting.
It’s very important to do your research. Research your competitors, look at who already has a solution similar to yours and how you can make yours better… Is it customer service? Is it the tactile feel of your product? You really have to look and see what you are bringing to the table that is different from others.
Is there anything else you would like to say?
For me it’s customer service that is very, very important.
We can take care of seniors. I want interaction, I want you to find out what that person likes to do–whether they like to play board games or go for a walk or go around the neighborhood in their wheelchair. Just things that will help encourage them. Because it is hard when you are living a life that is other than what you had planned when you’ve had a stroke or other debilitating illness that prevents you from doing the things that you used to do and love.
So my goal for my organization is to teach people how to be kind–teach people how to be outside of themselves and see others and not just themselves and not to see this as a job, but as a mission that we are looking towards the future. This could be me one day, this could be any of us one day. Our goal is to make sure that their life hasn’t ended, it’s just changed.
Check out NurseLynx at their website https://nurselynx.com/
