During Day 2 of the Essence + New Voices Voices Entrepreneur Summit and Target Holiday Market held in mid-December in Atlanta, ESSENCE UnBossed ESSENCE Podcast host Marquita Harris moderated a panel discussion with several successful women entrepreneurs. During the discussion, these women shared accomplishments and lessons learned. Click here to read the article.
Most entrepreneurs don’t begin their professional life that way. Most people who launch their own business have actually spent some time working in a professional setting for someone else. How do you know if you are ready to take the leap and start your own endeavor? This 2017 article from Forbes has some good tips to consider.
Guy Raz from the NPR’s “How I Built This” podcast sat down with Tristan Walker for an interview in front of a live audience. Walker was looking for an idea for a company and his answer ended up being in the mirror. Like him, many men of color were frustrated with the lack of shaving and beauty products for coarse or curly hair.
This led him to launch Bevel, a subscription shaving system built around a single-blade razor. His company grew to include 36 different hair and beauty products and was sold to Proctor & Gamble in 2018. Tristan Walker became P&G’s first black CEO. Check out the podcast here.
After losing most of their 401K retirement savings during the 2008 financial crisis, the Doans needed to figure out a way to recover. Jenny Doan, who had been a stay-at-home mom to her 7 children, found herself looking to enter the workforce at the age of 50 with little external work experience. With help from the kids and some creative thinking, Jenny launched Missouri Star Quilt Company which ended up saving the family and the town of Hamilton, Missouri. Listen to Jenny share her story in the “Without Fail” podcast here
Jenny mentions in the podcast how her YouTube tutorials (her first being from a wheelchair!) rapidly increased her company’s exposure. Read more about how YouTube made a difference for the Missouri Star Quilt Company in a January 2019 Forbes article.
This August 13, 2019 article in Glamour shares Cashmere Nicole’s journey from entrepreneur-minded child to single mom to CEO. Along the way, she has been a breast cancer survivor and has shaken up the cosmetics industry by focusing on all the shades of skin color that women can have!
The documentary “Maiden” is a retelling of the sailing adventures of the 1989-90 first all-woman crew to compete in the Whitbread Round the World Race. While the film contains plenty of footage of building-size waves, icebergs and treacherous sailing conditions, it also shares the equally treacherous conditions that skipper Tracy Edwards faced in finding funding and dealing with the sexist attitudes the Maiden crew was up against before, during and after the race.
Sounds a little like what many women are still facing today when launching a business! Check out the trailer here and a review of the film here.
This link is an interview with Tracy Edwards and Alex Holmes (film director) that has some fabulous Q&A with Tracy at the end.
The cofounders of Sorbabes are teaching consumers that sorbet can be plant based but also taste more like ice cream with the use of nut butters. Sorbabes earned almost $2 million in revenues last year and expects to bring in $5 million this year. To read more, see this piece in Entrepreneur.
It all began with a simple problem – a broken suitcase….which led to the question “Why is good luggage so expensive?” Founders Rubio and Korey are listed on Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list and share some thought about entrepreneurship, launching their company and must-haves for work and life in this article in Fortune from July 10, 2019
Looking for something to listen to while commuting, exercising or just taking a break from running your business? Check out this May 14, 2019 piece in Entrepreneur which suggests ten standout podcasts to add to your playlist!