Keyeriah Miles walked away from a career in fintech to empower women golfers.
Inception
Keyeriah currently leads Ladies Who Golf, a company created alongside her mother, Lashonda. An interest in sports had always been ingrained in the family. In fact, Keyeriah had been playing golf for the past four years, and her brother was involved in golf, track, and football, while Lashonda had launched an adult softball team in the early 2000s alongside her sister, called Lady Majestics.
“We had that team probably for about maybe about six years… but the other funny thing was our colors. My initial colors for that softball team was green, navy blue and white, which is now the exact same colors for Ladies Who Golf,” Lashonda told AFROTECH™ in an interview.
Keyeriah added, “And we didn’t realize that until after we implemented the blue, and she was like, ‘These are Lady Majestics’ colors.’ I completely forgot that she even had that team, and it didn’t ring a bell until we implemented the blue… I’m like ‘Look at like the full circle of that.'”
Ladies Who Golf
Ladies Who Golf would ultimately materialize through Keyeriah’s career as a fintech consultant at Cox Enterprises. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she attended a company team meeting, which led to a question by its director concerning employees’ well-being. It was revealed by co-workers that they had been meeting and cementing deals with clients at a golf course since it allowed for social distance.
Keyeriah was inspired to pick up golfing from that experience, and it has turned into a hobby for not only herself but thousands of women through Ladies Who Golf.
“I started golfing not too long after. I actually ended up meeting this instructor who just wanted to see more women out on the golf course,” she recalled. “So I started taking weekly lessons with him and started to become consistent by myself. I then started to invite my friends out on the course, and eventually they either weren’t consistent or they didn’t have the patience to learn. Then it got to the point where it’s like, ‘OK, well how can we meet more women, get more women involved, actually see them on the course?’ And that’s when I came up with the idea of Ladies Who Golf.”
Growing Community
The company launched on Sept. 16, 2023, in Atlanta, GA, as a golf clinic with 12 women. Thanks to the power of social media marketing, their reach quickly scaled from one to two golf clinics to hosting 200 women monthly.
“We’re a prestigious golf club for women and for all women, not just women of color, although the majority of us are women of color naturally because our founders are Black,” Keyeriah said. “We wanna ensure that we do not do what was done to us, and that was to exclude us from golf itself, not just as women but as Black women. So we wanna ensure that we are being inclusive and inviting as well.”
@ladieswhogolfatl It’s no secret that women have been driving golf’s growth since the pandemic. Whether it’s for business or pleasure, women want to play just as much as men do but the intimidation & sometimes lack of resources have always made it hard to do so. LWG has created a space for women, especially WOC, to feel comfortable on the course by providing guidance from start to finish! Golf course, golf clubs, PGA certified instructors, and 100% beginner friendly lessons are all provided We would love to welcome you with open arms as we navigate the course together! Link in our bio to sign up for Atlanta and Miami chapters 💚
Membership
The company’s formula for success can be credited to its myriad of offerings, which includes allowing members to benefit from its partnership with Five Iron Golf, marketed as the leading urban golf destination. Per the company website, membership benefits through Five Iron Golf include hitting in the simulators, club and shoe storage, and breakfast, as well as a swing evaluation with Ladies Who Golf instructors, free of charge.
Atlanta members can also look to Golf House of Atlanta and Intown Golf Club as they are also partnered with Ladies Who Golf. For chapters that don’t have a Five Iron Golf nearby, the company has also partnered with Top Golf.
To foster a greater sense of community and allow women to network with likeminded individuals, Ladies Who Golf has added workspace hours too. For those in Atlanta, they can attend a Breakfast Club on two Wednesdays out of the month while Top Golf members have a similar experience with Monday Mimosa.
Additional activations include the LWG Golf Club, launched in March 2024, which includes monthly golf lessons and signature social hours.
“So after each lesson, well we first started to realize the demographic of women we were attracting were professional career women,” Keyeriah mentioned. “So we just pretty much like rode with that niche, and we created the social hours so that they actually had a chance to network and mix and mingle after the golf lesson instead of just going home, but actually getting to know other women in the area, possibly within the same fields as them, but overall just broadening their network.”
@ladieswhogolfatl You see the material, on and off the course 🫶🏾🏌🏽♀️ #LadiesWhoGolf #ladieswhogolfatl
Crossing Half A Million In Revenue
Through its membership model today, the company has impacted at least 3,000 women and has 15 chapters in states such as Illinois, Florida, Texas, and New York. Ladies Who Golf is now regarded as the “largest golf community for women throughout the United States.”
What’s more, the company reached over $507,000 in revenue as of its one-year anniversary, according to information shared with AFROTECH™.
“When you can sell almost anything, you can definitely make a business run,” Lashonda said. “I think with her background and her will to succeed, that made a big difference in what we’ve grown here in this last year.”
Keyeriah added: “And everybody loves an experience. That’s one thing that we’ve learned that is very true, because anyone can do what you’re doing or especially if it’s a trend or anything of that such, but if you’re creating or tailoring an experience that people absolutely love, they feel welcome, it’s giving a sense of purpose.”
Giving Back To The Community
Ladies Who Golf also has giving back in its DNA and hosts a quarterly series of charitable events intended to encourage members and their families to give to the community. In June 2024, the company partnered with Meals On Wheels Atlanta and provided the opportunity for members to make donations to help combat hunger.
That same month, the company made its way to Spelman College to be involved in the Science of Beauty STEM Program Camp created by Sakeya Donaldson. It went on to donate proceeds from its Garden Cocktail Soirée towards the program.
New Program And First Tournament On The Way
The event opened Keyeriah’s eyes to the amount of young women who were also paying attention to Ladies Who Golf and its impact.
“After months of focusing on adult women, it never occurred to me the amount of young ladies that were watching us,” she said in an Instagram post.
Soon, a Girls Who Golf nonprofit program will be rolling out, and it will focus on engaging the youth in Atlanta who are looking to immerse themselves in golf but are typically unable to due to financial barriers.
The program will be supported by its tournaments, with the first rolling out in spring 2025.
