Highlighting 6 Black Entrepreneurs - Among Many

Posted on February 15, 2021

Compilation of 6 headshots of Black entrepreneurs, some old and some current.

How often have we read about entrepreneurs in history books, listened to lectures about inventions conceived of and made by Americans? 这些有创造力的人有多少是黑人？虽然我们没有从历史书中了解到许多黑人企业家和发明家，但这并不意味着他们不存在或不存在。In fact, many items we use on regular basis were conceived of and created by Black entrepreneurs, such as the refrigerated truck, caller ID, automatic elevator doors, the mailbox, and the three-way stop light – to name a select few. 在本周的博客中，我将重点介绍六位黑人企业家，他们非常恰当地展示了拥抱一个人的创新精神、抓住机会、接受失败和成功所需要的东西。

詹姆斯十出生在费城,1766年他的自由黑人父母。八,他曾与他的父亲罗伯特桥梁帆阁楼。After the death of his father, at the mere age of eight, Forten continued to work to support his family while also attending a Quaker School. 在他的船被英国人抓住后，他几乎被卖为奴隶，但他却成了船长儿子的同伴。He eventually made his way back to Philadelphia and returned to work at Robert Bridge’s sail loft. 1798年，布里奇斯决定退休，请福尔顿来经营他的公司，并最终借钱给福尔顿收购了这家公司。Forten paid off his loan and then in the early 1800s, he developed a sail that allowed ships to be nimbler. 詹姆斯·福顿开始积累财富，过着奢侈的生活。他还用他新获得的财务自由（大约他财富的一半）为奴隶购买自由，并在他位于伦巴第街的家的地下室经营一个地下火车站。Not only was he vocal about ending slavery, he also heralded other causes such as women’s rights and temperance. 直到1842年去世，他一直是黑人社区和整个费城公民参与的缩影。

莎拉·布里德洛夫于1867年出生在路易斯安那州的一个佃农家庭，他们曾经是奴隶。虽然莎拉是他们的第五个孩子，但她是《解放奴隶宣言》之后出生的第一个孩子。但是悲剧发生在她六岁的时候，她突然成了孤儿。14岁时，她嫁给了摩西·威廉姆斯。20岁时，悲剧再次降临，她成了寡妇，带着一个两岁的女儿。两人搬到了圣路易斯，在那里她遇到了查尔斯·沃克。由于头皮疾病，她失去了很多头发，她的丈夫查尔斯鼓励她开始收藏自己的护发品。这个集合被称为沃克系统。It involved scalp preparation, lotions, and iron combs. She was the first Black woman to create hair care products for Black women. 她有效地创建了一个以家庭为基础的销售系统，越来越多的黑人女性被称为“美容文化家”，挨家挨户地销售产品。1905年，她搬到了丹佛，1906年，查尔斯也搬到了丹佛，他最初帮助她做市场营销和邮购。但他们很快就离婚了。她把她的生产搬到了JDB电子的匹兹堡，最后在印第安纳波利斯定居下来，那里的C.J.沃克公司雇佣了三千多名员工，其中大部分是黑人妇女，他们挨家挨户地推销她的项目，她被称为C.J.沃克夫人。

Morgan DeBaun is a GenZ entrepreneur who in 2014 successfully launched Blavity, a leading media company focused on Black culture for the millennial generation. Blavity was conceived at WashU in St. Louis with three of her friends. The name is the “fusion” of Black and Gravity. Since 2014, she has led this multi-million-dollar company to acquire Travel Noire – a digital travel platform for Black millennials and Shadow And Act – a Black entertainment news platform. But DeBaun has not stopped there, she has also launched M. Roze Essentials, a natural skin care line designed to help diverse skin types and tones find their glow. Her line offers gluten free, paraben free and vegan options. 她还推出了Worksmart，这是一个商业咨询项目，建立在成功的五大支柱上：自我管理、高效的团队成长、数据驱动的决策、多样化的收入来源，以及快速失败以快速增长。Finally, she has created a “Growth Notebook” designed to help users create their vision.

凯齐亚·威廉姆斯年仅38岁，已经被“根”乐队评为100位最具影响力的黑人之一。她是“黑人新贵”（Black Upstart）的首席执行官，该组织旨在通过培训项目、训练营和“弹出式”JDB电子，赋予黑人企业家权力，并为下一代创造财富。她也开始# MyBlackReceipt。This initiative seeks to highlight Black-owned businesses that have been “disproportionately affected” by the pandemic. 作为这项倡议的一部分，消费者被要求上传他们从黑人拥有的企业购买的收据。这在7月7日的# 2020年停电日达到高潮，在这一天，支出突然停止，以展示黑人经济力量在我们经济中的重要性。

Daymond John is someone you may be familiar with as he is one of the sharks on the popular ABC Television show, Shark Tank, where he funds the entrepreneurial endeavors of some of the show participants. He has also created a step-by-step guide known as “Daymond on Demand” to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams. 作为一名企业家，他仅用40美元创立了FUBU (For Us By Us)，并将这笔微薄的投资变成了一个价值60亿美元的时尚品牌。In addition to using his marketing and influencing skills to grow FUBU, he is a New York Times best-selling author and a motivational speaker. He also sits on the board of PetCo, the UTSA Foundation, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship and is a Global Citizen for the Global Poverty Project. 戴蒙德·约翰在皇后区长大，他是一名优秀的STEM学生，但在写作和阅读方面挣扎，后来被诊断出患有阅读障碍。他没有让学习上的差异阻止他，开始了他制作领带礼帽的职业生涯。He gained needed exposure when friend LL Cool J wore one during a GAP commercial. He has received numerous awards and distinctions, including being labeled as the “Godfather of Urban Fashion.”

最后我以德雷克塞尔大学的一位学生——费城居民珍妮·a·库克（Jeannine A. Cook）结束我的名单。她在弗吉尼亚州长大，来到费城读大学，在艺术大学学习媒体艺术和传播。在一次采访中，当被问及费城为什么吸引她时，她谈到了这座城市对黑人的欣赏。当她在大二怀孕时，生活几乎打乱了她的计划。然而，艺术大学并没有让怀孕影响她的学业，允许她带着刚出生的儿子去上课。Along with fellow art students, she started a program to help people in her neighborhood use equipment they were provided. 正是通过“积极心态”，她意识到有必要做更多的事情。She opened a bookstore but suffered a setback when the building burned down. Then last year, just before the pandemic hit, she opened another bookstore in the Fishtown neighborhood. 哈里特书店，以哈里特·塔布曼命名，因为库克本人具有叛逆精神。哈里特的特色作品来自各种各样的作者，每天向公众开放。

每一位企业家都向我们展示了生活是断断续续的，生活是不公平的，但他们也向我们展示了勇气、决心、敏捷和创造力对企业家精神至关重要。Some of the older entrepreneurs shared in this post, may not have been celebrated in my history books, but I have no doubt the newer ones will become, if they have not already, household names associated with innovation, tenacity and the epitome of an entrepreneurial spirit. 他们是真正的灵感的模型,向我们展示如何成功。

最好的，

Anne Converse Willkomm副院长，JDB电子研究生院助理临床教授兼系主任，Goodwin College Drexel University

Harriettsbookshop.com