Emily Budd, 34

Emily Budd has worked in the Southwest Florida nonprofit sector for more than a decade. So it was a natural next step for her last year to purchase Naples-based EK Consulting, which provides fractional executive leadership and operational support for nonprofits. 

She sees a lot of similarities between running a small business and running a nonprofit. “You try to make the most of what you have and try to be the most effective with what you have,” she says. “And there’s also a lot of room for creativity. Being an entrepreneur, I get to be really creative in how I want to approach this industry. There’s not really a clear-cut path of being a nonprofit management consultant; I get the flexibility to carve that path for myself.”

Photo by Mark Wemple