Entrepreneurship and Business Ownership
What nearly three decades of entrepreneurship teaches you about opportunity, decision making, survival, reinvention and building for the long term.
Sharifah Hardie · Business Strategist · Entrepreneur · Global Speaker
Big ideas. Business truth. A clear next move.
Sharifah Hardie has spent nearly three decades building businesses, embracing emerging technology, creating media platforms, advising entrepreneurs and organizations, and learning firsthand what it takes to survive, adapt and grow in business.
Long before artificial intelligence became the conversation of the moment, Sharifah was building on the internet. She created her first website in the 1990s during the dot com era and has continued evolving alongside technology ever since.
Today, she brings that experience to stages, boardrooms and business conversations, speaking about entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, technology, funding, visibility, leadership and the realities of building something that lasts.
Invite Sharifah to SpeakA Builder on the Stage
Her perspective was built in business, not just on a stage.
Sharifah's story is one of entrepreneurship, technology and reinvention.
She entered the digital world when having a website was still a new idea. She learned technology by building with it, learned marketing by promoting businesses, learned media by creating and participating in it, and learned entrepreneurship by experiencing both the opportunities and the consequences that come with making real business decisions.
Over the years, Sharifah has launched companies and initiatives, advised entrepreneurs and organizations, developed marketing and visibility strategies, worked on grants, sponsorships and funding opportunities, created technology platforms, and helped organizations determine what to do when the next move was not obvious.
That experience shapes the way she speaks.
Sharifah does not approach entrepreneurship as a collection of theories or motivational slogans. She talks about what happens when the strategy works, what happens when it does not, what founders learn when circumstances change, and how leaders recognize the opportunity that may be hiding inside a setback.
Her audiences get perspective earned through experience, along with practical ideas they can take back to their businesses and organizations.
Nearly Three Decades of Business and Technology
From the early internet to artificial intelligence.
Sharifah began building websites in the 1990s, when the commercial internet was still taking shape.
Since then, she has watched technology repeatedly change how businesses launch, market, communicate, sell and compete. Rather than observing those transformations from the sidelines, she has built businesses through them.
That history gives Sharifah a different perspective on today's artificial intelligence revolution.
She understands both the excitement surrounding emerging technology and the practical question every business leader eventually has to answer:
What does this actually mean for my business?
Her conversations about AI and technology focus on opportunity, implementation, adaptation and the decisions leaders must make as technology continues changing the competitive landscape.
Business Is More Than the Success Story
The lessons people remember usually come from what happened along the way.
Sharifah speaks candidly about entrepreneurship because she has lived its different seasons.
Building a business means making decisions without perfect information. It means pursuing opportunities that may or may not materialize. It means finding capital, building relationships, changing strategies, adopting new technology, creating visibility and sometimes rebuilding when circumstances change.
Those experiences allow Sharifah to speak to entrepreneurs and executives without pretending that business follows a perfect trajectory.
Her message is not simply about succeeding.
It is about developing the judgment, adaptability and strategic thinking necessary to keep moving when the original plan changes.
Signature Conversations
Business conversations grounded in experience.
Artificial Intelligence and the Next Business Revolution
Lessons from experiencing the rise of the internet and what that history can teach business leaders navigating AI today.
Business Strategy and Growth
How entrepreneurs and organizations can identify what is actually preventing growth and determine the next strategic move.
Funding and Access to Capital
A practical conversation about grants, sponsorships, investment, relationships and the realities businesses face when looking for money.
Visibility, Marketing and Authority
Why being excellent at what you do is not enough if the people who need you do not know you exist.
Leadership, Resilience and Reinvention
What happens when the plan changes, the opportunity disappears, the market shifts or the leader has to decide what comes next.
Technology and Innovation
How businesses can evaluate emerging technology without chasing every trend or ignoring changes that could reshape their industry.
Economic Opportunity
Entrepreneurship, technology and access as tools for creating stronger businesses and stronger communities.
For Event Leaders
Bring a business voice with lived experience into the room.
Sharifah is available for keynote addresses, executive conversations, fireside chats, panels, workshops and moderated business discussions.
Thought provoking conversations for entrepreneurship, business, technology, AI, leadership, marketing and economic development audiences.
Strategic perspective for leaders and organizations navigating growth, technology, innovation and change.
Relevant business conversations for chambers of commerce, nonprofit organizations, universities, entrepreneurial programs and economic development organizations.
A direct, conversational perspective for discussions requiring someone who can connect business strategy with entrepreneurship, technology, funding and real world experience.
Looking for Additional Speakers?
The Ask Sharifah Network also connects event organizers with speakers across business, entrepreneurship and related fields.
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