What does the resume of a profitable restaurateur, actual property investor and philanthropist appear to be? For Atlanta’s Ebony Austin, it appears like working her approach up the ladder at Godiva for 12 years, shifting from supervisor to company specialist to overseeing retailer operations. She later turned a enterprise improvement supervisor for 1-800-Flowers, overseeing all of the Fannie Could chocolate outlets within the Chicago space.
After attending the Your Home Academy, she says she purchased her first property for $30,000, then flipped it for $300,000. Her actual property investments allowed her to open her first restaurant in 2019, and now she owns 5: Georgia-based Cliché Restaurant and Wine Bar in School Park, Stir Home in Atlanta, Nouveau Bar and Grill with areas in each School Park and Jonesboro, and Nouveau Noir in Dallas, Texas.
She was a millionaire by the point she was 35 and has given away greater than $1 million in scholarships to college students at traditionally Black faculties and universities (HBCUs).
Yearly, she creates a Christmas expertise for 1000’s of households in want and says she has by no means spent lower than $250,000. Her largest occasion was on the Gateway Heart Area in School Park in 2024.
Most individuals would collapse beneath the load of accountability Austin carries, however for this dedicated entrepreneur, self-discipline permits her to remain centered on her objectives.
“I come from a spot of understanding that for those who actually need one thing, to dream it’s positive, however self-discipline will all the time be that bridge between onerous work and your goals and the place you at the moment are…. I’ve all the time had grit and grind about myself, and I’ve all the time appreciated good issues, and I understood that so as to maintain them, I wanted to place within the work,” she says. “And most significantly, I all the time knew that in some unspecified time in the future, I wished to be in a spot the place I may truly assist individuals. That was extra of my motivation than something: How do I get in a spot the place I’m efficient in communities that have been like mine?”
Having grown up in a tight-knit neighborhood in Chicago, Austin says that she felt wealthy due to the love that surrounded her.
“You’ll be able to go to your neighbor’s home and have dinner and have time, and they might ensure you received again house secure,” she says. “So all of it felt like household. So I understood that it was larger than a greenback quantity. It was actually extra of how do you be of service to individuals and the way do you assist and what does affect appear to be in your group?… That’s what retains me going, to say, ‘Ebony, you continue to haven’t accomplished sufficient. Ebony, you bought to maintain going. Ebony, you gotta see what’s subsequent. How do you get there? How do you assist? We assist 50 individuals this yr. How can we assist 300 individuals subsequent yr?’”
This mindset drove her to dedicate a major a part of her mission to uplifting and financially supporting Black students at HBCUs. As a pupil at Langston College, Austin struggled financially and knew she wished to assist different college students keep away from the challenges she confronted.
Based on the Thurgood Marshall School Fund, 94% of all HBCU college students are awarded some sort of monetary help, but HBCUs have one-eighth the typical endowments of predominantly white establishments.
This actuality is what led to Nouveau Creations, a line of stone-ground grits Austin launched in 2023, on March 12, her grandmother’s birthday.
“That’s who truly raised me as a little bit lady,” Austin shares. “She died after I was 9, and I lived together with her. In order that was our factor was grits. And in order that’s why that’s the one signature merchandise that we now have on our menu [at Nouveau Bar and Grill].”
She knew {that a} product centered on issues that actually mattered—household and training—would give her the successful method for achievement.
The significance of giving again
“I went to an HBCU,” she says. “I understood the wrestle. I understood the dearth of monetary help. And, so, I simply form of mixed the 2 issues. It was the beginning of the person who raised me. After which it was additionally the most effective years of my life… if I may assist college students get to the place they’re attempting to undergo training, for me, that was enormous. And in order that’s why 100% of these [grits] proceeds [go] to HBCU college students. After which I match no matter that appears like on the top. So if we elevate $150,000, then personally, I’ll match the $150,000. And, due to that, we haven’t been capable of inform a pupil no.”
Since she began promoting the grits in 2021—obtainable on-line and in 180 Publix and 45 Meals Lion areas throughout Georgia—Austin has given greater than $1 million in scholarships to HBCU college students. She additionally conducts an HBCU tour yearly and has been identified to point out up on campuses with a DJ and 18-wheeler stocked with groceries so college students can fill their pantries.
With a lot cash already given away, you’d suppose there could be a stopping level, however Austin has no off swap for her generosity.
In her newest philanthropic endeavor, the actual property investments that allowed her to purchase her first restaurant are going to permit others to purchase their first house. And the complete circle cherry on high? Her restaurant crew will get first dibs.
“It’s a lovely factor when individuals can pour into their crew,” Austin says, sharing, “we’ve helped quite a lot of them construct their credit score. We’ve helped them have the ability to go and purchase vehicles. We’ve helped a few of them now have their very own home… so now we’re preparing to enter a section the place we’re on the point of truly construct houses. And I’m enthusiastic about that.”
She says she goals to create reasonably priced housing for her crew in addition to law enforcement officials, educators and different important members of the group.
The purpose, she says, is to set the individuals she cares about up for achievement.
Austin discovered way back that being part of your group is extra than simply lip service. It’s greater than only a restaurant in a neighborhood. It’s displaying up. It’s doing the work. It’s making profound connections that affect issues in highly effective methods. It’s believing within the individuals round you and alluring them to hitch you at your desk.
“I get pleasure from making individuals comfortable,” she says, all the time staying true to that voice inside that advised her, “Ebony, you continue to haven’t accomplished sufficient. Ebony, you bought to maintain going.”
Photograph by Mel B. Images
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