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

Throughout her career, she’s turned to her father, Russell Budd, for insight and advice. As the founding partner of Naples-based PBS Contractors, he’s been down the entrepreneurial path himself.

“I’ve always used my dad as my gut check,” she says. “And while we’re not in the same industry, I think we think really similarly about things.”

A key lesson she’s learned from him? You’re never done learning. “In any industry that you’re in, it’s always changing and growing,” says Emily Budd. “You’ve got to just keep on seeking out more information. But I also think to grow as a person and expand your world view, it’s so important…I’m really big on podcasts and audiobooks; I am constantly listening to something.”

Of course, father and daughter don’t always agree on things. “But I do try to take what he says and frame it from my point of view,” she says. “At the very least it gives me a different perspective.”

She has also found a new sense of fulfillment as a business owner. “I’m excited to take this organization into the next chapter with my lens on it,” she says. “I’m looking forward to getting to work more with other clients and helping to make the nonprofit community stronger here in Southwest Florida.”

And she knows strong nonprofits make the whole region strong. “I think we all feel called to help our fellow man,” she says. “So it’s important to have an avenue in which we can do that that’s effective and impactful.”