Meet Count Me In Success Story Leah Brown

She had the right tools and enough tenacity to take her business to the multi-million dollar mark.

By Erin Semple
From readersdigest.com
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Leah Brown with fellow entrepreneur and supporter, Alice Dear.
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Courtesy of Leah Brown
Leah Brown, minutes after winning the M3 award in New York City.
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Leah Brown and Alice Dear
Courtesy of Leah Brown
Leah Brown with fellow entrepreneur and supporter, Alice Dear.
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For business owner Leah Brown, 45, reaching the million-dollar revenue mark took more than the right tools. It took tenacity. Her company, Aten Solutions, identifies and provides skilled staff to run clinical trials. Aten's biggest challenge in getting to the million-dollar goal was convincing its large pharmaceutical clients that the company could handle bigger jobs. 

"They would give us the small, unsexy projects that no one else would do," said Brown, the winner of a Make Mine a Million $ Business award, a program developed by Count Me in to encourage female entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. "We had to put our feet to the fire and approach our clients with an unrelenting 'We want more, and expect more, and are asking for more.' The result: We got more."

Prior to starting her own business, Brown had 15 years of executive management experience working for a large consulting company and boutique healthcare firm. She launched Aten Solutions while grieving the unexpected death of a close relative who suffered with HIV. The experience led her to start a business that supports the development of drugs that save the lives of women and minorities. Four years later, her company reached the six million dollar revenue mark.

Brown and her supportive ex-husband co-parent two boys, ages 17 and 14. The company is headquartered just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. "Everyone has their own office and we even have a kids room (used mainly in the summer) and a napping room (used year-round; we believe there is a major return on investment from afternoon power naps)," Brown said.

Brown, originally from Maplewood, New Jersey, earned an Information Technology degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1985, and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Kentucky. She was admitted to the North Carolina Bar in 1992. Most recently, she completed two executive management programs at Tuck Business School at Dartmouth College and Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University in Chicago.

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Related Links
  • Meet Count Me in Success Story Garnett Newcombe
  • How an "aha moment" helped her take her business from stuck to generating more than $1 million in revenue.
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  • She founded Indian Bread Co. in New York City's Greenwich Village.
  • Get to Know Nell Merlino
  • Merlino is Founder, President and CEO of Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence, the leading national not-for-profit provider of resources for women to grow their micro businesses into million $ enterprises.

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