Rikki “Auntee Rik” Payne is a trusted operations and systems specialist who has a knack for taking her clients’ businesses to the next level. Her no-nonsense, get-you-together approach is refreshing and reassuring to her clients and everyone she comes in contact with. With experience in graphic and web design, operations, teaching and radio, she’s able to take a client’s goals and needs and translate them into successful and running systems. 

With an extensive and rich work history, Rikki actually began her career at a very early age. From working within family businesses, to securing retail and customer service jobs in high school and college, she started her career off taking initiative and making room for her and her skills. While working at the Bermuda Department of Tourism, she began to sharpen her skills in design and cultivate her passion for the industry. After leaving there, she started work at Bacardi International Limited, then moved up to Bacardi Limited. It was there she developed an affinity for all things operations and systems, while helping the company to improve their processes and serving as co-chair for their International Product Code project implementation that is still in use today. 

Upon moving to Atlanta, Rikki received a partial scholarship to the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, winning a video editing award at graduation, then moving on to V-103 Atlanta and WAOK in programming. During this time she also served as an electives teacher at KIPP South Fulton Academy and started on her current path as a freelance graphic and web designer, eventually transitioning that into a full-time business. 

Affectionately dubbed by a former client as “the Fairy Gawdmother of Hustle,” Rikki started down the lane of securing this title at the age of 12 when she started her first business by taking a recipe from her cooking class and operating a pizza delivery service during the summer. As a full-time entrepreneur for over 13 years, she has been able to work with a diverse roster of clients. She doesn’t play when it comes to getting results for her clients and helping them level-up – she’s transformed bland brands into works of art, made unworkable websites translate to cash and has implemented systems and processes that had her clients running to the bank. After putting her Auntee touch on the businesses she works with, some of her clients have gotten visibility and opportunities such as working with Rolls Royce, the Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation, being featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, Mashable and Black Enterprise, and an invitation or two to Shark Tank, all while increasing their bottom line. 

After graduating high school at 15, Rikki obtained an associates degree in business management, and returned to school 17 years later as a single mom for her bachelor’s degree in project management (cum laude). She also holds a master’s degree in human resources management with a marketing concentration. 

Rikki currently resides in the Atlanta Metro area. When she’s not snatching the back end of your business (or your edges), she can be found enjoying a decadent dessert with a side of organic tea blends, checking out cool design and trying her hand at candle-making.