Born and raised in Huntsville, HopeE Notary founder LaTasha Allison provides an example of the blending of enterprise and community-mindedness found in the local community.

Allison found herself at a low point in her life following the death of her mother from kidney disease. “When you’re going through that type of grief you need something to take your mind off of it. That was one of the things…I decided this was the perfect opportunity to start something in memory, in honor of her.”

Allison’s ultimate goal was to earn a real estate license, but she explained that it wasn’t an option at the time due to the day job she had and everything else she had going on.

While continuing to work at her day job, Allison began a part-time business in the form of HopeE Notary, a 24-hour mobile notary service. “Hope is my middle name and the extra E is for ‘enterprise,’ which will eventually be my parent company,” she explained.

“I threw myself into this venture in 2021 knowing I always wanted to have my own business that could be passed down to future generations as well as [to] contribute to the local community,” Allison added.

LaTasha Allison of HopeE Notary. Contributed photo.

Although she offers around-the-clock services, Allison rarely gets calls at night. However, she does frequently take calls from nursing homes, hospitals, and private residences.

Allison has added additional services over the past year, including advanced health care directives, fingerprinting, last wills and testaments, titles and bills of sales, and numerous other offerings. “When you’re a notary public there’s so much more stuff you can do,” she noted.

“In addition to notary services I also officiate weddings and perform mortgage field inspections. Future endeavors are being pursued and will be added later as I continue to grow my current client base and get my name out in the community,” Allison said. “This year it’s really taken off, probably because I’m marketing more. Eventually I want to quit my day job so I can do this full time.”

In addition to her paid services, Allison provides pop-up shops, primarily on the north side of Huntsville, where she offers notary services for free on a monthly basis.

“One thing I would absolutely like to make aware, especially in the African American community, is the importance of having Wills, Living Trusts, Advanced Care Directives, Power of Attorneys, etcetera in the event something were to happen to them, and let them know HopeE Notary is available to assist with the notarizations of those documents,” Allison said.

“Once a month I’ll just hang out somewhere for a couple of hours and just have people come get documents notarized for free, just giving back to the community and volunteering time and things like that,” she said. “Eventually, everyone’s going to need a notary for something.”

With her notary business taking off, Allison has now begun working toward earning her real estate license. She also continues to boost HopeE Notary’s visibility through social media, networking at events such as LinkedIn Local, and her first vendor booth for an upcoming event in March. “A lot of firsts in 2022–I’m very excited to see what this year holds,” she said with a smile.