Ivanna Price

Ivanna Price, based in Tulsa, OK, is Founder of The Social Bar, a small digital creative agency that provides creative media services to entrepreneurs and organizations.

Born in Ukraine, Ivanna Price found her home in Dar-es-salaam, a town meaning “Place of Peace” in Arabic, where she spent the majority of her life and attained her education. Her exposure to twenty-two different countries led to a widened cultural perspective, in addition to fluency in three languages: Russian, Swahili, and some French. Ivanna even had the chance to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, reaching the summit at the age of seventeen.

Leaving her home behind, Ivanna set off for the United States to pursue her dreams of teaching, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education. As time passed, her passion for entrepreneurship and creativity developed and she has since been striving to bring her dreams to fruition with The Social Bar.

"I wanted to educate and support growing businesses and individuals become successful in marketing their businesses. After developing my own brand, website and services, I was able to attain clients and create conversions for myself," said Ivanna.

The Social Bar Team is a small media creative agency that strives to articulate dreams into content – working with large organizations, nonprofits, artists, entrepreneurs and small business owners. 

During the pandemic, there was a rapid increase in entrepreneurs lacking knowledge in how to create high-quality content, marketing and social media strategies to generate conversions for their businesses. Driven by her enthusiasm for photography and creativity, Ivanna saw the opportunity to support these businesses.

Since then, she has aided numerous organizations, won multiple grants and pitches and participated actively in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to form a growing creator community, giving opportunities to independent contractors by linking them with small organizations, providing them with access to marketing services. 

She told us, "I want to build a hub that people can come to gain resources. I want to create opportunities for other people to grow and build."

Tulsa | OK

FOUNDER, THE SOCIAL BAR

• Chris Harvey, Manager, Member Experience at Sky’s the Limit
• Dr. Jessie Montana Cain, JMC Consulting Firm, LLC
• Tara Payne, Payne Creative Consulting Group and Mavens Meet

When creating a business from scratch, every aspect of the business needs to be created. It can be challenging to know what to focus on and the nuances of how to start a business without having experienced it first hand. Ivanna was grateful to tap into the expertise of fellow entrepreneurs who are the midst of starting their own businesses. Through her work with these peer mentors, she was able to develop the essential pieces to lay groundwork for her business.  

Founders, Dr. Jessie Montana Cain and Tara Payne were able to consult and work with Ivanna on her business based on what they found to be successful in client acquisition and onboarding. And these mentoring sessions made a huge impact on her business – an 80% increase in her business!

Ivanna also greatly benefited from the peer mentorship of Chris Harvey. Ivana told us, "I received invaluable assistance from Chris Harvey to build a pitch on the Sky's the Limit platform, for which I was awarded a $2500 grant. This grant enabled me to acquire the necessary tools, services and personnel needed to help me expand my business, increasing it by 56%." The support from Sky's the Limit gave her the assurance that, even when her endeavors seemed to be going unnoticed, investors had not completely turned a blind eye.

Through a connection of enterprising individuals, Chris was also instrumental in supplying her with the resources, access and guidance to feel assured in pitching her business. His guidance always kept her encouraged to believe her ideas were worth the investment. 

With the support of her mentors, she was able to achieve thirteen key milestones, which not only moved her business forward, but also increased her energy level and improved her mental well-being.

"On those days where I feel like I haven't accomplished anything, reflecting on milestones I have achieved reminds me that I have made progress. Imposter syndrome is very common among entrepreneurs, but this practice gives me a sense of assurance that I am succeeding. I also get a good idea of how profitable my business is and how it has grown. Of course, making money is great, but having a strong professional network that allows me to capitalize on new opportunities is truly rewarding. Knowing that my business is making an impact on others' success and seeing the tangible results motivates me more than anything," said Ivanna.

The peer mentorship she received in combination with the funding that Sky's the Limit awarded Ivanna accelerated her business growth substantially and set her up for success now and in the future.