Innovator, accountant, therapist, receptionist, sales rep--Black women entrepreneurs wear many hats. All the Hats acknowledges, supports, and hopes to inspire, as explained by entrepreneur and founding editor Teneshia Carr, who'll tell you about it when you click play.
"I am convinced that the women of the world, united without any regard for national or racial dimensions, can become a most powerful force for international peace and brotherhood." -Coretta Scott King
Coretta Scott King was an activist and civil rights leader.
A Yale Expert’s 3 Tips for Better Negotiations
Whether you realize it or not, you are negotiating every day as an entrepreneur. Here are three tips from Yale School of Management professor Barry Nalebuff, an expert with 30 years of experience teaching negotiation, strategy, innovation, and game theory that could help you better master these much-needed skills. Read more.
Almost five million Black Americans struggle with mental illness, yet only 30 percent get the treatment they need. Because fewer than 2 percent of American Psychological Association members are Black or African American, some worry that mental health care practitioners are not culturally competent enough to treat their specific issues.
"My Blackness does not inhibit me from being beautiful and intelligent. In fact, it is the reason I am beautiful and intelligent. And you can not stop me." -Amandla Stenberg
Amandla Stenberg is an American actor and singer.
4 Steps to Successfully Manage Fear in the Workplace
While feeling moments of fear is a normal part of life, the trauma of the past two years has been exceptionally tough for many business leaders. With the increasing disparities minority women leaders face, remaining beacons of light for our team is the only path forward. Here are tips for managing fear and dealing with it head-on.
"The only safe ship in a storm is leadership." -Faye Wattleton
Faye Wattleton was the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood from 1978 to 1992. She is the youngest person, the first woman, and the first African American to have held the position.
How a Strong Creative Industry Helps Economies Thrive
Filmmaker Mehret Mandefro says the creative sector has the power to grow economies while also helping safeguard democracy. In this talk, she shares examples of how bringing culture to the forefront can change things in Ethiopia and explains why other countries would benefit from doing the same.
Women Leaders Provide Additional Support
Women senior leaders do more than their male peers to help their employees navigate work-life challenges. They spend that additional time helping manage workloads, and they're 60 percent more likely to focus on emotional support.
Trauma-Care
Deserts
Deserts
Black Americans in large U.S. cities are 2.5 times more likely to be in trauma-care deserts, areas greater than five miles from a facility that offers emergency medical services and specialists such as neurosurgeons, cardiac doctors, and respiratory therapists.
"If I hadn't been told I was garbage, I wouldn't have learned how to show people I'm talented. And if everyone had always laughed at my jokes, I wouldn't have figured out how to be so funny. If they hadn't told me I was ugly, I never would have searched for my beauty. And if they hadn't tried to break me down, I wouldn't know that I'm unbreakable."
-Gabourey Sidibe
-Gabourey Sidibe
Gabourey Sidibe is an American actress. Her role in Precious earned her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead and nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Actress.
"Our hope is that people will leave the theater and have difficult conversations about race, race in this country, criminal justice, and social justice." Award-winning producers Nikki Silver and Tonya Lewis Lee's company, ToniK Productions, creates entertainment focused on the stories of young adults, women, and minorities. Read more.
$220 Billion
More in Wages
More in Wages
If Black Americans received their fair share of wages every year, the amount would be $220 billion higher annually than it is now. If Black representation matched the percentage of the Black population across occupations and racial pay gaps were eliminated, it would boost total Black wages by 30 percent and draw approximately one million additional Black workers into employment.
Female CEOs Are Not Paying Themselves Enough
On average, female startup CEOs have cut their pay by 30 percent during the pandemic, while male CEOs have given themselves a raise. While it's hard to determine how much to pay yourself, this article is a good place to start.
"You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right." -Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was an activist in the U.S. civil rights movement known for her important role in the Montgomery bus boycott..
"My tea ritual factored into my recovery when I was 28. It started out with bags of night tea that you get from the grocery store, and then it grew into this obsession with loose leaf tea. Making myself a cup of tea was very meditative, it was something that really could help me to separate myself from whatever my reality was at the time. And it taught me how to be present." After battling a two-year addiction to his anxiety medication and multiple suicide attempts when he was 29, Quentin Vennie co-founded the Baltimore-based tea company Equitea with his wife, Erin, in 2020. Read more.
"How can you expect the world to believe in you and respect your preaching of democracy when you yourself treat your colored brothers as you do?"
-Josephine Baker
-Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. She was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture in 1927.
Psyche Terry and her husband, Vontoba Terry, started skin care company Urban Hydration in 2009 after years of dealing with eczema. The couple bootstrapped for six years while building their business until finding outside investment in 2016. Learn more about how Urban Hydration landed on the Inc. 5000 list three years in a row. Read more.
Black and Latino patients are five times and three times, respectively, more likely than White patients to report that their race negatively impacts the quality of health care they receive.
5 Books All Great Leaders Should Read for Juneteenth
Business leaders should focus on developing a long-overdue culture of understanding, and antiracist attitudes should be at the top of their to-do list. For Black women founders, these books can also be a way to contextualize your journey. Read more.
"Every year we must remind successive generations that this event triggered a series of events that one by one defines the challenges and responsibilities of successive generations. That's why we need this holiday." -Albert Edwards
Albert Edwards was an American politician known as the leading advocate for making Juneteenth a Texas state holiday, which was approved in 2007.
Black Beauty
Black beauty brands raise a median of $13 million in venture capital, much less than the $20 million that non-Black brands raise. Yet today, the median revenue of those Black brands is 89 times higher than what non-Black beauty brands return.
The holiday is a reminder of what it took to get here, and the opportunities ahead.
"Every Black person you meet is a miracle ... We are valuable because of our humanity and declared valuable because our ancestors declared our worth when they fought for us to live." -Brittany Packnett Cunningham
Brittany Packnett Cunningham is an American activist who was a member of President Barack Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
"As a chocolatey, thick girl, I grew up with the projection of other people's insecurities onto me, which then became my insecurities, and I didn't feel like I was enough in my natural state." SW&G Essentials founder Lydia Evans didn't let a Shark Tank rejection weaken her resolve. Read how she found success on her own terms.
"You wanna know what scares people? Success. When you don't make moves and when you don't climb up the ladder, everybody loves you because you're not competition." -Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj is a Trinidadian-born American rapper, singer, and songwriter.
Michelle Dalzon launched theBOM, a pop-up shop and e-commerce website, in 2016 to help Black business owners succeed by giving them a platform that shares their stories and connects them to consumers. The mission is to increase the circulation of the Black dollar by creating a destination where people can shop conveniently for Black brands they love.
Finding the Leverage Point in Any Business Decision
If you struggle with making significant decisions when it comes to your business, trying this 10-minute trick could help you clear your head and find the right path forward. Read more.
"The thought of someone believing you deserve fewer rights because of who you are is depressing. But then you realize that, by doing what you do every day, you prove to them you are unstoppable. They can spend their time trying to pass laws to take away your rights and silence your voice, but all you have to do is live your lives right in their faces, and it proves you simply cannot be stopped." -Amber Ruffin
Amber Ruffin is a host, producer, and the first Black woman writer at a network late night show.
Why You Should Focus Every Meeting on Helping the Other Person Win
Most entrepreneurs head into every meeting with a list of what they want to accomplish, which could sometimes lead to less meaningful interactions. Here are five reasons why shifting focus to the needs of your meeting partner could build a meaningful connection. Read more.
Your Next Move: Bringing Your Most Authentic Self to the Workplace
Join Angelica Ross, founder, and CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises, and our small-business host, Beatrice Dixon of The Honey Pot Company, in a candid discussion about entrepreneurs bringing their most authentic selves to the workplace and how to create a more welcoming environment for your employees. Register here for the event, which takes place Thursday, June 30, 2022, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET
"The next step beyond failure could be your biggest success in life." -Debbie Allen
Debbie Allen is a multifaceted artist and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
How 3 Black Women Entrepreneurs Achieved Industry Firsts
"I remember going to a seed capital group and showing how successful my business was, and a woman said, 'I don't know any brands like yours--I'm not trying to be racist or anything.' I said, 'I can't really unzip myself and become something I'm not.' So I was out." Robin Wilson, the first Black American female founder of a global, licensed hypoallergenic textile brand, knows the struggles of being a "first." Read her story and the stories of two other founders who share their strategies on how to succeed against all odds.
"I learned early on the magic of life is having a vision, having faith, and then going for it.”
-Elaine Welteroth
-Elaine Welteroth
Elaine Welteroth is an editor, author, and television host.
"We've been the valet parkers, people cooking in the kitchen and housekeeping. This is what I grew up with." Singer and actress Jennifer Lopez is teaming up with Grameen America, a New York City-based microfinance organization, with the goal of expanding access to capital for 600,000 Latina entrepreneurs. Read more.
In 2018, households headed by Black women constituted 41.2 percent of Black family households, and households headed by Hispanic women constituted 24.4 percent of Hispanic family households. In contrast, White women headed only 12.7 percent of White family households.
VC Theresia Gouw's 7 Key Ingredients of a Successful Company
Two decades after becoming one of the first women to break into venture capital, Theresia Gouw identifies the characteristics that all successful companies share. Read more.
"We all have the power to choose how we are going to handle every situation we are faced with throughout our lives. We are in control of the decision we make whether it's about work, relationships, parenting, or our health." -Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Hudson is a singer and actress who achieved an EGOT with her 2022 Tony awards win.
The Emotions Behind Your Money Habits
Accountant Robert A. Belle explains how taking stock of your transaction history can unlock surprisingly valuable insights about what drives you to spend and save. He also provides practical tips on how to perform an "emotional audit" of your personal or business expenses.
"When my brothers try to draw a circle to exclude me, I shall draw a larger circle to include them. Where they speak out for the privileges of a puny group, I shall shout for the rights of all mankind." -Pauli Murray
Pauli Murray was a lawyer and activist widely known for building the legal frameworks that paved the way for the civil and women's rights movements.
How to Share Sensitive Information With New Hires
When working with new hires, it's important to be comfortable with sharing sensitive information so they have the access to do their jobs correctly. Read more for things to consider when planning the onboarding of a new team member. Read more.
"Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it's a good place to start." -Jason Collins
Jason Collins is a former professional basketball player.
How Businesses Can Survive Inflation and Recession
Inflation is worrying many entrepreneurs who are being impacted in different ways. With the global supply chain nowhere near pre-pandemic levels, it’s time to start thinking about preparing your company to combat longer-lasting inflation. These three strategies can help you weather the storm. Read more.
In March 2022, the labor force participation rate for Black women went from 61.7 to 61.8 percent, with a net total of about 32,000 Black women entering the workforce. After the Great Recession, it took Black women years to regain ground lost instead of months, showing that women are starting to return to work.
"If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I'm shortchanging myself." -Zanele Muholi
Zanele Muholi is a South African artist and visual activist working in various mediums, including photography and installation.
Why These Founders Say Running a Company Together Is Just Like a Marriage
Whitney Headen Madikane and Tahira White are co-founders of New York City-based creative agency 19th & Park. Before joining forces, they had worked with many global media brands and celebrity talents, including Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Walmart, Samsung, and Frank Ocean. While their backgrounds prepared them for international campaigns, the biggest lesson they had to learn was how to merge their talents into a successful partnership.
"History isn't something you look back at and say it was inevitable. It happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities."
-Marsha P. Johnson
-Marsha P. Johnson
Marsha P. Johnson was an American gay liberation activist and one of the essential figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969.
6 Keys to Becoming a Recognized Leader in Business
While striving for success, I make every effort to be a better leader. If my team believes in our cause and our company ethos and feels heard and fulfilled, their motivation will come from within. This intrinsic motivation fosters cooperation and an uplifting work environment. If you are like me and not a natural-born leader, you can still develop the leadership skills you need to succeed. Read how here.
-Teneshia
-Teneshia
"I think women want freedom. They want to be empowered. They want hope. They want love; they want all the things that I want, and I'm not afraid to say those things and act on them, and I think that's why they identify with me."
-Rihanna
-Rihanna
Rihanna is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman.
Tony Willis is the chief equity development officer of Lansing Economic Area Partnership's (LEAP) newly created Equitable Economic Planning department. Read more about his mission to help Black business owners in Lansing, Michigan, level up their businesses through a new accelerator, called Elevate. Read more.
"The political apparatus has woken up to see the real value of Black women. We just want you to hire us, give us resources, let us lead, and get out of our way."
-Symone D. Sanders
-Symone D. Sanders
Symone D. Sanders is an American political strategist and commentator on MSNBC.
My business and my team have always been remote, so looking for new ways to keep on task is very important. Read here to find out how recording key metrics in a weekly scorecard can give your team a way to stay focused on results. -Teneshia
Forty-two percent of Black women surveyed have had people touch or comment about their hair in a professional setting.
"Never, never rest contented with any circle of ideas, but always be certain that a wider one is still possible."
-Pearl Mae Bailey
-Pearl Mae Bailey
Pearl Mae Bailey was an American actress and author.
Want to Expand Your Network?
Apply to showcase your business at Black Founders Demo Day. The two-day event will bring 16 winning companies to Miami to meet with potential investors and customers. I'm looking forward to seeing you all in August! Read more. -Teneshia
Why It's So Hard To Talk About the N-Word
Historian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor has a thoughtful and history-backed discussion of one of the most divisive words in the English language: the N-word. She explains her personal experiences coming face to face with the word and how we can create a framework that reshapes education around the complicated history of racism in the U.S.
Make Your Customers Part of Your Business Narrative
Too many times, I have heard and ignored that I am my business. Even with one of the best salesmen in fashion on my team, we began to feel success only when I learned how to tell my story as a founder. The story of my company consists of my personal struggles, my passions, and the journey that led me here. Finding that narrative helped me build a connection with both my audience and my clients. What's your narrative? I think this article could help you discover a new way to share your vision. Read more.
"There's a saying in Africa, if you give a woman empowerment, you empower a community, you empower men, you empower man. When women become empowered and live in their strength, it's beneficial to others, and I think as young women today we sometimes forget that we are standing on the struggle of other women. Those women had to stand up to make a change, and they were not popular, and now we're making them unpopular again." -Danai Gurira
Danai Gurira is an American actress and playwright.
"I never had a dream to start a health and beauty products company, but I leaned into my lived experience to do something that I felt I was the best person in the world to do. I feel that if everyone can activate around that principle of lived experience--of what makes them uniquely positioned and the best person in the world at that specific thing--not only will the world be made a better place, but the folks who are working on those things will be happier, more fulfilled." When Tristan Walker launched Walker & Company in 2013, he created a product he needed. Read more of what inspires him.
"I am a strong, Black, lesbian woman. Every time I say it, I feel so much better." -Brittney Griner
Brittney Griner is an American basketball player for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury who has been detained in Russia for more than 100 days.
5 Processes You Should Go Over With Every New Assistant
It's never easy to onboard a new employee, especially when that person could become vital to how successfully you can run your business. When you hire a new personal assistant, keep these things in mind so that they can hit the ground running. Read More
2 Questions to Uncover Your Passion--And Turn It Into a Career
"What is passion? How do I even find it?" Noeline Kirabo, a family therapist and social entrepreneur from Uganda, shares two reflective questions for getting to the root of your passions and helping you find the perfect career or build your own enterprise.
"Like in a river, currents of power and opportunity flow through organizations and industries. The key is to find the current and then jump in and work intentionally, allowing it to propel you farther, faster." Shellye Archambeau is one of Silicon Valley's first female African American CEOs. Here she recounts her story and some incredible lessons from her book Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms.
"When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is."
From A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, the first play written by a Black woman to be performed on Broadway.
5 Destructive Management Behaviors That Are Ruining Your Business
The type of leader you are will determine your company's success in the long run. These five destructive behaviors shouldn't have a place in your business, but author David Finkel shares what the effects of these behaviors are. Read more.
Creative Problem-Solving in the Face of Extreme Limits
Navi Radjou, an innovation and leadership adviser based in Silicon Valley, has spent years studying jugaad, also known as frugal innovation. Created by entrepreneurs in new and emerging markets who had to discover how to get value from limited resources, the practice has caught on globally. In this passionate talk, Radjou shares real-life examples and three principles for how we can all do more with less.
"America is all about second chances." Calvin Buari is the founder of Ryderz Van Service, which he describes as the "Uber of prison visits." Buari was convicted of a double murder and spent 22 years in prison for a crime he has always maintained he didn't commit. Now free after a judge vacated his conviction, his company serves the family members of incarcerated people, allowing more accessible transportation for visits. Read his story.
66%
of LGBTQ+ Women of Color Experience Onlyness
For LGBTQ+ women, who are workplace minorities in both gender and sexual orientation, the experience of "onlyness" is common--and particularly challenging--in corporate environments. LGBTQ+ women of color are eight times more likely than straight White men to report onlyness.
Shilla Kim-Parker launched Thrilling in 2018 as an online marketplace of vintage and luxury secondhand items from the best boutiques across the United States. Thrilling is the host to more than 1,300 stores in 200 cities, with 95 percent of its stores women- and POC-owned. It also has specially curated collections with top brands like Banana Republic and by celebrity stylist Zerina Akers.
"Some of us wear the symbols and badges of our nonconformity. Others, seeking to avoid the censure of society, hide behind respectable fronts, haunted always by the fear of exposure and ostracism. ... All about us, we hear the condemnation of our kind. We hear the scornful word labels used in referring to us. We wince at the many harsh suggestions of what should be done to rid the world of the abnormalcy to which we cling. ... To the great majority of us, at some time or other, has come the feeling that the world would be better off without us."
-Gladys Bentley
-Gladys Bentley
Gladys Bentley was an American lesbian and blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance and one of the most well-known and financially successful Black women in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s.
"Being a sole proprietor was like a journey of a thousand years. My store was in a pretty desolate area in Compton that was troubled with crime and poverty. As I reflect on it, I wasn't really in business; I was in the school of nothing but hard knocks." Vincent Williams has been making fried chicken for 40 years. His restaurant, Honey's Kettle, has survived a lack of funding, a devastating fire, the Great Recession, and the pandemic. Read more.
23 Things These Successful Executives Do Every Day, No Matter What
Most ambitious and goal-focused people persevere with hard work and access to opportunities and resources to achieve success. These people can also track some of the things attributed to their success down to their daily habits. While it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit, these tips from successful executives may be worth the time investment. Read more.
"When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him." -Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin was the first openly gay Black civil rights leader, and notably served as an adviser to Martin Luther King Jr.
How Love Can Help Repair Social Inequality
Writer and educator Chloé Valdary shares how she uses pop culture to help people develop resilience and advance social change, and explains why cultivating love is the key to connection, healing, and moving forward together.
"As a founder, your success is tied to your energy. It dawned on me only then that if I'm off, energy-wise, everything else around me starts to dim. And I wasn't about to let the lights go out because of someone else's negative energy. This could have broken me if I had let it. So I decided, instead, to let it go." Charis Jones, the founder of Sassy Jones, shares the story of forgiving her mother, who walked out on her business, and the lessons she learned that helped her move on. Read more.
"For me, life is about being positive and hopeful, choosing to be joyful, choosing to be encouraging, choosing to be empowering."
-Billy Porter
-Billy Porter
Billy Porter is an actor and singer. He won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
"It's professionally unsettling (and not a confidence boost) for someone of color to look around and not see anyone else who looks like them. There's often a discounting of ability that happens either consciously or subconsciously." Ryan Williams (right) and Porter Braswell co-founded Jopwell to connect Black, Hispanic, and Native American job candidates to top-tier employers. Read more about this staffing startup and why basketball great Magic Johnson is one of its investors. Read more.
According to a recent study from the National LGBTQ Task Force, Black transgender people have an extremely high unemployment rate of 26 percent, twice the rate of the overall transgender sample and four times the rate of the general population.
Feb 1, 2022
