"Harlem" is a geographic and cultural anchor, not a marketing play.
The company launched in Harlem in 2013 because that is where Waziri Garuba was living and building. The name pays homage to those origins while embodying the spirit of a laboratory — a place where strategic solutions are developed and tested. A community-rooted firm that brings analytical rigor to clients at every level. From the street corner to the boardroom. The fundamentals are the same.
Nearly a decade at Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Deep exposure to financial strategy, operational efficiency, and the mechanics of how large organizations actually move. This is where the analytical rigor was built — the ability to look at a business like a portfolio and separate signal from noise.
MBA from Columbia — not just a credential, a community. Led as a student leader. Served on the board of the African American Alumni Association. Built relationships with peers who went on to lead startups, civil rights organizations, and institutional investors. The credential mattered less than the room.
After Wall Street, an operator's education. Consulting on the ground in two very different markets built a cross-cultural, cross-industry lens that Wall Street alone could never give: not just theory, but pattern recognition from real operational environments where the frameworks either worked or they didn't.
The company launched in Harlem — not accidentally. Harlem is where Waz was living and building. The client base at this stage was deliberately broad: street merchants, barber shop owners, and local entrepreneurs alongside Ivy League startup founders and early-stage ventures. The same frameworks applied across the spectrum. The lab metaphor was intentional: this is where you test, iterate, and build solutions.
Over seven years, 40+ engagements across e-commerce, professional services, CPG, education, government, and community organizations. 250+ business owners touched. The practice developed a repeatable methodology — not a template, but a discipline: map the operation, identify the leverage points, build the system, transfer the capability.
Waz recognized the wave before most of his clients did. He began building AI infrastructure — custom GPTs, automation workflows, agent architecture — and repositioned Harlem Labs as a Strategic AI advisory firm. 77+ custom GPTs built. 100+ automations deployed. Clients now include Final Draft, the NAACP, MEST Africa (30 founders across 7 countries), and Harvard Business Publishing.
Headquartered in Austin, primarily serving Texas and the Southeastern United States while maintaining national reach. The mandate is unchanged: help owners and decision-makers move from manual, reactive operations to intelligent, automated systems that compound over time.
Years in practice
Engagements completed
Estimated client benefits
Business owners supported
Custom GPTs built
Automations deployed
Selected Clients & Partners
"Mr. Garuba has worked with Açaí of America since the company's inception in 2014. His role with us is as a management consultant. Mr. Garuba is multi-talented and I can give him any of the tasks that I execute as CEO. His experience on Wall St. and training at Columbia Business School is evident in his work."
Willie
CEO, Açaí of America
Client since 2014 — 12-year engagement
"I'm likely saving at least 8 hours a week, maybe even as much as 15 hours a week. The time I'm saving is easily $58,000 a year worth of time. That's huge. I can breathe a little bit better knowing that — I don't need to just hire out every problem. I can actually automate them."
Grace Ostiguy
Founder, Glo-ing Profit Bookkeeping
11.6x ROI · $5K investment
"Harlem Labs was an invaluable ally during Final Draft's critical digital transformation. Their unique blend of financial modeling, business intelligence, and AI systems architecture expertise enabled them to work seamlessly with our senior leadership team."
Shelly
Final Draft
Hollywood's industry-standard screenwriting software
"I've known Waziri for over a decade, and our work together has always been rooted in action. He's sharp, forward-thinking, and focused on results — especially when it comes to using AI and automation to help small and mid-sized businesses grow."
Archel
Business Leader
10+ year professional relationship
The origin story, the Sherpa philosophy, how AI actually works for real businesses, and what 13 years in practice has taught about building things that last. Videos coming in the next iteration.
~2 min
The founding moment. Why the name. What the lab metaphor means.
~90 sec
What advisory actually looks like — and why the 12-year relationship is the proof.
~2 min
How we build, and why we leave. The target outcome of every engagement.
~2 min
The strategic argument for why Harlem Labs exists in the AI era.
A 30-minute strategy call to map your operations, find the leverage points, and determine whether we are the right partner for what you are building. No commitment. No pressure. Just clarity.