Women entrepreneurship is becoming less white. As of 2019, women of color own 50% of all women-owned businesses. Many of these business owners start their companies without venture capital funding. Despite these odds, these women are succeeding.
Here's a list of 5 black women entrepreneurs changing the game.
Kathryn Finney of Digitalundivided
Kathryn Finney is the founder of Simply Good Media, a media company that strives to teach the world how to live great, for less. Kathryn is one of the most respected social media experts. She built the Budget FashionistaTM into a global brand that stretches across several platforms, including television, radio, internet, publishing, mobile, and merchandise. Additionally, Kathryn also operates the successful website, The Budget Fashionista and is the bestselling author of the book, How to Be A Budget Fashionista.
Kathryn has been profiled in The New York Times, O Magazine, Instyle, People, Wall Street Journal, Essence, Redbook, Sister 2 Sister, and over 500 other print publications. She's also a frequent contributor to television shows such as NBC's TODAY Show, CNN Headline News, E! News, and ABC's Good Morning America. She's also served as a spokesperson for top brands including Febreze, PayPal, Rightfit, Marshalls/TJ Maxx, and Sears.
She gives over 30 presentations per year on topics such as entrepreneurship, new media, and challenges facing women leaders. She's been a keynote speaker at top conferences such as SXSW Interactive, Black Enterprise Small Business Conference, Blogher Business, Women Funding Network, and Professional Business Women's Conference.
Nancy Twine of Briogeo
Nancy Twine started Briogeo after her mother tragically died in a car accident. She was working for Goldman Sachs at the commodities desk at the time, and her mother's death pushed her to change her career path. Her mother was a chemist, who created a natural face cream, and her grandmother taught her how to make products with natural ingredients.
She spent nights and weekends researching the beauty industry. In 2014, she launched her natural hair care line Briogeo. Briogeo targets consumers by hair texture (wavy, oily, dry, or thin), rather than ethnicity.
Briogeo was profitable from the start. By 2018, it earned $10 million. The company was also launched internationally in 2018. Furthermore, Briogeo is sold on Sephora shelves around the world and through UK online retailer CultBeauty.
Twine sold a minority stake in the company to Drunk Elephant investor VMG a few years ago for an undisclosed sum.
Asmau Ahmed Founder of Plum Perfect
Plum Perfect is an app that scans your selfie to find the best makeup shades for your skin tone. It also works on various skin tones of women of color. Asmau Ahmed was a chemical engineer who transformed her passion to start Plum Perfect. Ahmed is listed as one of five "Top Women in Digital." Ahmed focuses on extracting business value from innovation.
Angela Benton, Founder of Streamlytics
Angela Benton founded NewME Accelerator, the first accelerator for minority founders. She was featured in CNN's documentary Black in America. Streamlytics uses data science to measure what people are watching and listening to across streaming platforms.
Cashmere Nicole of Beauty Bakerie Cosmetics Brand
Cashmere Nicole founded Beauty Bakerie in 2011 as a vegan, non-toxic, and cruelty-free lipstick brand. Bakerie is a cosmetics firm that creates long-lasting, smudge-free makeup for a wide variety of skin tones. Beyonce featured the lipstick on her website, and Nicole began marketing it on Instagram, where she now has over 1.2 million followers. Cashmere was inspired to work hard because she became a young mother at 16 years old. She vowed to work hard to give her daughter the best life possible.
