Brit Fitzpatrick

Executive Director
Blue North

Brit launched her first business at seven years old during a summer spent at her Granny's house. Her big idea? Sell ice cream to neighborhood kids who'd missed the ice-cream truck. The quickly growing business came to a screeching halt after she was found guilty (admittedly) of selling her products at unreasonable markups and sold a bomb pop to a neighborhood kid for $20. Lesson learned: parents want their change.

In 2013, Brit founded MentorMe, one of the first SaaS mentoring startups, which provided mentoring program management software for more than 100 K-12 mentoring programs throughout the United States. She currently serves as Executive Director of Blue North, which connects, equips, grows, and invests in entrepreneurs throughout the 8-county Northern Kentucky region (part of Greater Cincinnati).

Previously, Brit launched communities for underrepresented entrepreneurs in Tennessee and led the founding team at 1804 Entrepreneur Center in her hometown of Louisville, KY. She's a proud honors graduate of Howard University (B.A.) and the University of Memphis (M.A.).

Brit's been invited to speak on entrepreneurship, mentoring, and social innovation at more than 30 events and conferences across the U.S. — including Dreamforce, TEDx, and White House Demo Day. She's also been profiled as an entrepreneur and startup ecosystem builder in national media outlets — including GOOD Magazine, Essence, Inc., Business Insider, and FastCompany.

Brit serves on the Future's Board of the Cincinnati Squash Academy, serves on the Board of the Wild Accelerator for women-led companies, and serves on the Digital Health & Care Delivery Review Committee for the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) Innovation Fund. She's also a judge and mentor for Startup of the Year.

She enjoys writing about tech and entrepreneurship, listening to podcasts on long drives, collecting quirky mugs, and boxing. Her favorite quote for other entrepreneurs comes from her hometown hero, Muhammad Ali: "Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”