Tracy Williams

Microbusiness Specialist, Akron-Summit County Public Library

Tracy Williams is the Microbusiness Specialist for Akron-Summit County Public Library and a member of their Staff Association. In her role, she oversees the MicroBusiness Center, a shared co-working space. She also assists entrepreneurs/aspiring entrepreneurs, and small business owners start, grow, and maintain their businesses. Tracy has a total of 15 years in the business consulting industry and 15 years working in the nonprofit sector. She has a passion for helping people from various lifestyles accomplish their goals of owning their very own business by assisting them with overcoming barriers that they may face. She is a certified Ice House Entrepreneurship Training Program facilitator; she mentors for The University of Akron’s I-Corps program and Bounces MORTAR program.

Tracy earned her Associates of Office Administration from the University of Akron and her Masters of Business Administration in Human Resources from Herzing University.

Tracy was born and raised in Akron, Ohio; she is the proud mother of one adult son, Demetrius, and a teenage daughter, Alanaya, and the grandmother of four. While not working, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading a good book, shopping, and watching a good scary/mystery movie.

Tracy joined JOG in December of 2019 and served as the president of JOG during her senior year at Garfield High School. She joined the board because she has a passion for working with the youth and nonprofits. Tracy feels privileged to be able to contribute to an organization that helped her as a youth. Her favorite JOG anecdote is when she attended a JOG-sponsored fundraising workshop “In the donor’s Mind: The Science of Giving.” As she was signing in Chris Canova asked her if she was Tracy Williams from the Library.

She said, “In my mind, I was thinking oh boy I do not know if I should answer this question or plead the fifth.

What have I done wrong?” She decided to answer the question and then Chris said, “we need to talk let’s schedule a meeting.” She followed up with him and scheduled the meeting and they sat down and talked about her role at the Library, his role at JOG, and the possibility of her joining JOG’s board. From that moment on, a great bond was formed.