As of 2018, there were 2.6 million black-owned businesses in the U.S. According to Black Enterprise, within the next 45 years, black America may make up almost 20 percent of the U.S. population and own more than 2.5 million rapidly-growing enterprises.
With #BlackGirlMagic as a real thang, we’ve been starting communities, launching product lines, and changing the narrative on not only our power as women, but also the power of our melanin. An estimated 5.8 million women of color owned businesses, employ 2.2 million people, and generate $387 billion in revenues. Did someone say….. Money…. in our Cardi B voice.
But the true tea Women of color start businesses out of necessity and the need to survive. To sum in up: We hustle because we have to. And we have been getting money for a while now. We ain’t new to this.
In fact, we’re walking in the footsteps of many brave, risk-taking necessity entrepreneurs in history. In the 1850s, Clara Brown established a laundry business during the gold rush and used her money to invest in real estate developing properties that allowed black communities to live safely. Annie Turnbo Malone paved the way for black female cosmetologists and created jobs for over 75,000 women worldwide with her beauty entreprises. Maggie Lena Walker was the first black woman to charter a bank and help our people protect our coins. The list goes on and on.
Below we’re sharing ten black women whose businesses you can support and celebrate this #BlackHistoryMonth. Go ahead, fill your IG timelines with some more #BlackGirlMagic—you deserve it!
- Melissa Butler
- Tia Mowry
- Issa Raye
- Julee Wilson
- Bozoma Saint John
- Necole Kane
- Kela Walker
- Ayesha Curry
- Morgan DeBaun
- Destiney Greene
