Certifications
Gain skills that open doors.
Workforce development for the AI economy, rooted in North Carolina
Skills meet capital. Communities build wealth.
We train small business owners and entrepreneurs to compete — and win — in an economy that's changing faster than most training programs can keep up with. Through industry-recognized certifications, high-touch coaching, and a community that doesn't quit on you, we turn credentials into careers and careers into ventures.
This is what workforce development looks like when it's built around the people in front of you.
~95% completion rate
Industry benchmark for online certifications is 5–10%. We meet people where they are. Every week. Until they finish.
Why we exist.
The small businesses that anchor our neighborhoods — the marketers, the contractors, the consultants, the doulas, the coaches, the creators — are too often the last to benefit from the tools reshaping their industries. Not because they lack talent. Because they lack access.
Knox St. Studios was built to close that gap. We deliver Google and industry-standard certifications in artificial intelligence, digital marketing, cybersecurity, and workplace safety — designed around the way small business owners actually live and work. Weekend intensives. Free to participants. Stipends for completion. A peer community that lasts well beyond the final session.
Our thesis is simple: a skill pipeline disconnected from a capital pipeline is a dead end. Certifications open doors. Coaching, peer support, and access to opportunity are what move people through them.
Three commitments shape everything we do:
High-touch participant care. We meet every owner on their timeline. Our recurring question — "What can I do to help you finish?" — is the difference between a 10% completion rate and a 95% one.
Practical, applied learning. Every concept has to be something a participant can implement in their business by Monday morning. We teach AI as a tool, not an abstraction.
Infrastructure that outlives the program. Alumni networks, mastermind groups, a weekly newsletter, and ongoing training keep our graduates connected to each other — and to opportunity — long after the certificate is signed.
The work, and what it builds.
Knox St. Studios delivers a stackable set of industry-recognized credentials — selected because they translate directly into competitive advantage for small businesses navigating digital transformation.
Our certifications include:
​
Google AI Essentials & Prompt Engineering
for owners and operators learning to use AI as a daily working tool.
​
Google Digital Marketing & E-Commerce
for businesses building or expanding their online presence and reach.
​
Google Cybersecurity
for owners safeguarding their operations, their data, and their customers.
OSHA-10 Construction Safety
delivered in partnership with Access Center, credentialing workers in the Triad's construction and manufacturing sectors.
Our delivery formats meet people where they are:
Weekend Intensives
Two days. Immersive. Designed for owners who can't pause their businesses for ten weeks. Our format of choice, validated by completion rates that consistently exceed 90%.
Cohort Programs
Multi-week, deeper-runway training for participants who want extended community and accountability.
The Mastermind
A continuing-education and venture-building community where graduates become collaborators, co-builders, and peer instructors.
Weekly Alumni Newsletter
A continuing-education engine reaching graduates every week, surfacing new tools, integration practices, and member spotlights. This is how our community keeps learning — and how the next cohort finds us.
75+ trainees served
98 certifications delivered
68 small businesses transformed
The 5-Layer AI Business Stack
Visibility · Engagement · Operational · Intelligence · Decision A Knox St. Studios framework for how small businesses integrate AI — not as a gadget, but as a strategy
IMPACT
Proof in people. Power in partnership.
The strongest evidence of this work is in the people who came through it.
Nandrea Ward, an alumna of our Digital Marketing cohort, was awarded the $10,000 M&F Bank Empowering Growth Grant — one of five distributed across North Carolina to spur economic development. She credited the curriculum as instrumental in reshaping her business.
Rich Gilliam reached NC IDEA Seed semi-finalist status. Cashem Holland is building an AI-powered financial literacy platform for kids. Yolanda Brown developed an AI-driven board governance application. Diesha Banner of A Glass Above is using AI for brand strategy, investor pitches, and supply chain research.
Across our mastermind, three high-potential ventures are in active development: an Emergency Preparedness Data Platform, a Digital Health Records Analysis System, and an Apprenticeship & Workforce Pipeline aligned with Apprenticeship NC.
This is what happens when credentials meet community.
PARTNERSHIP
Partner with us.
The Knox St. Studios model is built to travel. The components are repeatable: a documented curriculum, a high-touch outreach methodology, three proprietary teaching frameworks, a proven community-anchored partnership model, and an alumni infrastructure that scales at near-zero marginal cost.
We're seeking partners across five lanes:
Community anchors
trusted local institutions (community development corporations, faith-based organizations, main street nonprofits) ready to host intensives in their neighborhoods, the way Goler* CDC did in Winston-Salem.
.jpg)
Funders
public and private investors aligned with workforce equity, AI access, and small business resilience.
Employers
Businesses ready to hire, contract with, or mentor newly credentialed Triad talent.
Educators
colleges, HBCUs, and training providers interested in licensing or co-delivering our frameworks.
Alumni and ambassadors
graduates and supporters who want to grow what they helped build.
*The Goler Model A trusted community anchor. A proven curriculum. A high-completion intensive. Replicable in any community ready to host one.
Let's build what's next.
The Triad showed us what's possible when training is built around the people who need it most. North Carolina has dozens more communities ready for the same opportunity — eastern counties, western counties recovering from Helene, the Sandhills, the northeast, and beyond. The model is proven. The demand is documented. The infrastructure is built.
​
We're ready to expand. The question is who's ready to build with us.
If you're a community leader, a funder, a public official, an employer, or an alumnus who wants to deepen the work — we want to talk.
Three ways to engage:
Host an intensive.
If your community has a trusted institution ready to anchor a weekend training, we'll bring the curriculum, the coaching, and the alumni infrastructure.
Invest in expansion.
Fund the replication of this model into additional underserved North Carolina counties — and help us reach 500+ new participants over the next three years.
Refer a small business owner.
The next cohort fills through word of mouth. If you know an owner ready to level up, send them our way.
