6 Black Female Founders You Should Know About
As the new Marketing Coordinator at Lunar Startups, I want to make sure I’m doing my part to get our message and name out there. And as a young black woman, I want to make sure I’m not only uplifting other women but other BIPOC as well. Given that last month was Black History Month, it was especially important to me that I use our platform to broadcast the work of inspirational Black female founders.
My only problem was where do I start to look for them? I could easily name three white male founders. Gates, Zuckerburg, Musk — see, easy. But why couldn’t I do the same for women who looked like me? That was a rhetorical question. I know why. And actually, there are several whys:
Even though we make up approximately 50% of the population, only 40% of the total small business in the U.S. are owned by women. Less than half of those women are WOC (American Express).
Only 2% of women founders get capital and People of Color get even less than that. “Of all VC funding over the past decade… black women have raised only .0006%.” (GirlBoss)
Nearly 40% of men say that investing in women-owned businesses is not a priority at all… Similarly, 31% of white investors say they do not prioritize investing in minority-owned businesses. (Morgan Stanley)
Mindsets like this are what creates barriers for entrepreneurs especially minorities, in fact, the Kauffman Foundation reports 65% of all entrepreneurs rely on personal and family savings for start-up capital.
With all this being said, it's clear that Black female entrepreneurs are pretty damn resilient and they deserve all the hype.
Here are some Black female founders we highlighted during Black History Month:
Kheris Rogers
Arlan Hamilton
@ArlanWasHere is mentioned at least once a week here in the @LunarStartups office. In her own words, here is why we think she is an #InspiringBlackWomen 👊🏾 Talk about #goals 🙌🏾https://t.co/G9Z0DDHa0z
— Lunar Startups (@LunarStartups) February 6, 2019
Ms. Barbara Gardner Proctor
#InspiringBlackWomen Trivia: Who was the first Black woman to start an Ad agency in the US, received praise from Pres. Reagen & had a hand in bringing The Beatles to America? Answer: Barbara Gardner Proctor of Proctor & Gardner. She saw advertising as a way to lead #socialchange pic.twitter.com/aoV52hlvUs
— Lunar Startups (@LunarStartups) February 11, 2019
Bryanda Law
@Bryanda_co is a cytogenetic technologist turned media tech company founder & @digundiv alumni. After not getting into medical school due to late letters of recommendation, she used her year off to start a community/retail platform now known as @quirktastic pic.twitter.com/J7X3WDHvZZ
— Lunar Startups (@LunarStartups) February 18, 2019
Angel Rich
Called the black Steve Jobs, Angel Rich is in a league of her own and that is why she's an #InspirationalBlackWomen 👏🏾 Rich developed an app, Credit Stacker, to teach youth about financial literacy, in hopes of tackling the American financial education gap https://t.co/How7NaBCLx pic.twitter.com/57MhnJQp02
— Lunar Startups (@LunarStartups) February 22, 2019
Chelsea Hayes
#BlackHistoryMonth is a year-round event, but here is @ChelseaCHayes the final #InspirationalBlackWomen we'll be highlighting in February. Chelsea is the CEO & Principal Consultant of The Coaching Factory LLC. She has worked alongside companies such as General Mills and NBC 👩🏽💼 pic.twitter.com/xxovFUkcaT
— Lunar Startups (@LunarStartups) February 28, 2019
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