066: Latoya Stirrup (Digital Grass Innovation & Technology)

Latoya Stirrup on Innovation City

“Help to be a change agent in whatever it is that you’re looking to get into.” — Latoya Stirrup

Welcome to Innovation City—powered by Venture Cafe—where Tyler Kelley and Michael Johnson, Co-Founders of SLAM! Agency, interview innovators, creators, and disruptors to discover how business is changing in the modern world.

Created and produced by SLAM! Agency in cooperation with Venture Cafe St. Louis and Venture Cafe Miami, Innovation City gives you an inside look at how rapidly business and culture are changing thanks to increasing diversity and inclusion, heightened creativity, and a stronger and better-connected business community. Venture Cafe is the largest combined gathering of entrepreneurs and innovators anywhere in the world. Events are held every Thursday in St. Louis, Miami, and other leading innovation cities around the globe.

Today’s guest is Latoya Stirrup, President & Co-Founder at Digital Grass Innovation & Technology. As a self-described creative solutionist, Latoya is a entrepreneur, producer, and strategist with over 14 years of experience in advertising and marketing. Latoya sits down with us to discuss her background in communications and marketing, her family’s legacy in Miami and how she is building on it herself, using your voice to make a change, and finding your niche in the community.

They discuss:

• Being an entrepreneur, producer and strategist
• Over 14 years of experience in advertising and marketing
• Co-host of Tech, Beats, and Bytes podcast
  • A weekly show that is done in partnership with Digital Grass and House of Mac at Venture Cafe Miami
• Her background in communications and marketing
  • Working at Ogilvy in New York and Agency Ten and The Community in Miami
• Capitalizing on the job opportunities that are available in South Florida
• Formed Digital Grass in 2013
  • The agency is a resource and support for small businesses who do not have access to getting high-quality marketing materials
• Digital Grass moving into content creation (i.e. Tech, Beats, and Bytes podcast)
• Her family’s legacy in Miami and building on it herself
• Her great-grandfather, E.W. Franklin Stirrup, being a pioneer of Coconut Grove
• Carrying Miami’s history into today
• Writing for the Miami Herald when she was a senior in high school
• KAZMALEJE, a company she owns with her sisters that sells products for textured hair
  • Starting manufacturing and product shipping
• Why she refers to herself as a creative solutionist
• Understanding how important politics is in business, innovation, and technology
• Using your voice and voting on policies that have an effect on your municipality
• Making East and West Miami more connected
• The challenge of Miami’s current transportation systems
• Bridging the gap between the different Miami sectors to ensure everyone can thrive
• Taking advantage of the public spaces in Miami
• Excitement about being part of Miami’s growth spurt
• Finding your niche in the community
• Taking time to think about what you want to do with your life to help make a change for the better