As a student, Nyla Choates, C’2025, balanced being a two-time business owner, an author and an activist while studying English at Spelman College.
Choates sharpened her ability to lead and use her voice to create change in high school when she led one of the largest Black Lives Matter protests in her hometown of Milpitas, California. Her experience as a youth activist sparked her passion for advocacy and confirmed her choice to attend Spelman.
“I knew Spelman was the perfect place to make the choice to change the world,” said Choates. “At Spelman, I’ve continued that mission through entrepreneurship, education and advocacy, showing that activism can happen in the streets, in schools and in the spaces we build for our communities.”
In 2022, Choates became an author after publishing My Roots Are Rich, a children’s book that empowers, inspires and educates Black children about their rich, diverse history. In 2024, she won $7,000 through Amazon’s Black is Entrepreneurial Pitch Competition to scale her My Roots Are Rich brand into a business that now offers dolls, books and pajamas rooted in Black history. She received recognition for her brand from Walmart when they invited her to deliver a product line review.
Later, Choates launched Better Op, a technology platform that helps students and creatives discover pitch competitions, accelerators and entrepreneurship opportunities with ease. Over the course of her collegiate career, she has won over $80,000 in pitch competitions, including first place in the Center for Black Entrepreneurship Pitch Lab and second in the New Venture Competition.
Choates endured the difficulties of balancing her different passions and her schoolwork. Despite the obstacles that came with traveling to over 100 schools to read to children, preparing for 5 a.m. pitch competitions, traveling cross-country to speak on panels and meeting with investors, she said the work was always deeply fulfilling, and that Spelman’s sisterhood helped carry her through.
On campus, Choates continued to be an active student immersed in her work and extra curriculars. As president of the Spelman Entrepreneurship Club, Choates transformed the organization and helped to grow its membership from 10 to 60 members. She also served as a CBE Scholar, a Collegiate 100 Member, a McDonald’s Black and Positively Golden Change Leader and a Spelpreneur Competition winner.
Following graduation, Choates plans to pursue her master’s in entrepreneurship and innovation with the goal of disrupting the education and venture capital industries and empowering the next generation of young Black founders.
Spelman changed my life in every way. It gave me a space to challenge myself, grow beyond my comfort zone, and become the woman I was destined to be,” said Choates. “From the classrooms to the community, Spelman felt like home—safe enough to dream, but bold enough to demand my best. I am who I am because of all that Spelman has poured into me, and I will carry that legacy with pride for the rest of my life.