DALLAS — Long before Karen Dickey passed away on Independence Day last year, she left three small, yet inspiring words with her daughter that have ultimately changed the overall landscape of her life.
“Go be great,” is what she always told me Dickey’s daughter Angie Steele told Making Headline News during a telephone interview from Memphis Thursday afternoon.
Much to the delight of her beloved mother, who died just moments after going into cardiac arrest, “great” is what Steele has steadfastly been.
To her masterfully distinct credit, as a thriving Memphis-area businesswoman, Steele has been nothing short of remarkable.
A self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur,” Steele has emerged as a fixture and an inspirational force amongst Mid-South entrepreneurs in recent months, considering she has – for a lack of better words — a slew of irons in the fire.
For starters, this Memphis Westwood High alum is widely known for her immense talents as a longtime licensed cosmetologist, a career that spans more than 16 years. Currently, she accommodates clients at V’s Styling Studio, located at 3639 New Getwell Road, Suite 14 in Southeast Memphis.
In addition, Steele is a notable market specialist for her assortment of sponsors, in which she routinely stage to her Facebook timeline an assortment of informative, thought-provoking blogs and live footage.
As if that’s not enough to fill up her already congested itinerary, Steele has become a well-established T-shirt designer in recent months, assembling paraphernalia that bears several of her mother’s most memorable personal catchphrases as well her own personal slogans.
In between servicing clients, marketing, and upgrading her T-shirt designing brand, Steele coaches The Great Eagles recreational soccer team that is sanctioned by the DeSoto County (Mississippi) Soccer Association.
To her credit, even as a rookie youth soccer coach, she has proven that she boasts the smarts — and patience, mind you — to coach and inspire a group of tender four-and-five-year-old athletes, considering she guided her team to season-ending undefeated record.
Wait, there’s more.
All things considered, Steele is also widely known for assembling periodic food reviews for the popular “Your Memphis Menu” blog.
MORE OF ANGIE STEELE: https://www.facebook.com/yourmemphismenu/?hc_location=ufi.
So how to explain a jammed packed schedule for a progressive Mid-South-area businesswoman whom, given the immense strides she’s made in recent months, appears destined to — you know — add to prolific entrepreneurship tenure that is blanketed by greatness?
“Because I am my brother’s keeper,” said Steele when asked why it is imperative that she esteem others daily higher than herself. “I think it is up to us to build each other up, brick by brick.”
Fortunately for Steele, a native Memphian who grew up near the Westwood district of the Bluff City, she grasped the notion of what it means to become an influential individual through entrepreneurship long before she was old enough to land a job.
Steele comes from a family of hard workers and a few entrepreneurs, a trend that was spearheaded by her late grandfather, Herman Dickey.
A native of Corinth, Mississippi, Dickey was a notable, well-respected businessman and devoted family man in that he was known for breaking horses, as well as driving taxis and trucks and owning a local café.
Herman Dickey passed away in the 1970s.
Although Steele never met her grandfather, the stories she heard about him are ones that have greatly inspired her to — you’ve guess it — go and be great.
“For one, he liked family because had over 10 kids,” Steele said with a laugh. “And I was told he was a good family man and a hard worker. My grandmother, who was a Proverbs 31 woman, loved him.”
Like her grandfather, Steele’s grandmother contributed mightily to her granddaughter’s dazzling entrepreneurship repertoire.
“She did all kinds of stuff,” Steele said. “And because of that, I am a survivor. The whole family showed me that anything can be done. I mean, we stayed in Southwest Memphis, but we were never poor.”
For what it’s worth, Steele had only heighten her level of greatness through entrepreneurship after the recent passing of her mother, who was also responsible for instilling into her daughter business-oriented attributes.
“Me and mama had a cake decorating business on the weekend and we did great,” Steele said. “And when things got dark, she would say, ‘Be the light in dark places.”
In a city that has seemingly been hampered and crippled for years by a lethargic economic landscape, Steele has gone to great lengths to defy and conquer the greatest of odds — with God, her Helper, leading the way.
So much, in fact, that now she deems it necessary to give back and spread some of that greatness to others.
On Saturday, Steele will host her inaugural “Go Be Great Memphis Entrepreneur Conference” from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at Makeda’s Cookies at 488 South Second Street.
In assessing her tenure since vacating college nearly two decades ago despite being offered an academic scholarship, Steele doesn’t shy away from the notion that she undoubtedly is walking and basking in her divine purpose.
“I was about to start (college), but I became a small business owner,” Steele explained. “I co-owned a flower shop. They paid my car note, insurance, and I had a weekly salary. It was exactly where I wanted to be. I had the drive to be an entrepreneur.”
She’s since been nothing short of impressive.
Which, as she can greatly attest, is valid proof of what typically happens when your mom encourages you to, Go be great.”
For more information about Memphis entrepreneur Angie Steele, email her at: angie18ald@gmail.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you are an entrepreneur, business owner, producer, author, athlete, musician, barber, life coach, motivational speaker, cosmetologist, tax preparer, model, or pastor/minister who is seeking exposure and would like to share your story with an in-depth news feature, call Reporter Andre Johnson at 901-690-6587 or Facebook message him under “Andre T. Johnson” for details.
Andre Johnson is Founder and Publisher for Making Headline News. A 2000 graduate of the University of Memphis School of Journalism and a former staff reporter the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, Johnson covers the NBA Southwest Division from Dallas, Texas. To reach Johnson, send an email to memphisgraduate@yahoo.com. Also, follow him on Twitter @AJ_Journalist.
Excellent article!