Black Women Entrepreneurs On The Rise

by: April D. Byrd

We suppose the reports are just catching up with the facts because, Black Women have been taking charge for a while now. Over the last 17 years to be exact, according to a report by KTHV. An increasing number of minority women are starting businesses 6 times more than the national average. There are more than one million African-American female business owners in the U.S.

At this time the rise may be becoming too phenomenal to ignore. According to Bruce James Dean of Business at Philander Smith College: "As more and more African-American women obtain higher degree levels they are more likely to start their own business because they feel that they are better prepared to do so."

James issued that "one of the greater issues with not being successful for minorities and women in general is being under-capitalized when they start their business ventures". However, thanks in part to social online tools crowdfunding, millennials and minorities are overcoming the gap. One recent example is Demajali West, a young women who greatly exceeded a $17,000 Kickstarter campaign goal, for her original "hookie-do" trademark.  Many women still face obstacles in the work place dealing with double-standards, office politics, etc and have decided to take matters into their own hands.

A recent report released on the State of Black Women in 2014 revealed that black women led in labor participation rates, and were overwhelmingly likely to work, even as mothers of small children. Little Rock's KTHV, interviewed entrepreneur Cushina Scott  for a recent women's week segment,  Scott stated: " at the end of the day I'm all about women empowerment, she has everything, she can have everything. She can be what she wants to be."

We concur.

check out Scott's KTHV Interview below:



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Remembering Karyn: For Brown Girls Everywhere

by April D. Byrd

The blog titles on tumblr, can range from edgy and flamboyant to outright explicit, and the content is sure to follow. When I found For Brown Girls on tumblr I knew I had came across something special, not just on a natural level, but on some deeply cosmic, spiritual wave that transcended the confines of the internet. For Brown Girls was a movement living in my soul and Karyn Washington had manifested it into everything I could have ever dreamed. It didn't matter that it was after 1'o clock in the morning. I didn't hesitate to track For Brown Girls down on every social media account that it was active and let them know what it meant to me to have that kind of space and encouragement on the web.  As I followed, "them" turned out to be Karyn...and we connected.

Correspondence and digital smiley faces transferred like nothing through E-mails, Facebook and Twitter, We we're "friends". It was easy. We got each other. I fell in line with regularly posting for FBG. Our genius seemed to be in synch, because the topics Karyn conceived for FBG were exactly what I wanted to write about. I raved about the brilliance of Tika Sumpter in the "Chocolate Spotted" series, and reflected on the depth of lyrics from artists like Keke Palmer, Lauryn Hill, and Erykah Badu in "Motivational Melody" pieces. Karyn was the first to publish my rant about black women no longer being aliens before Blogher picked it up. The Gabrielle Impact highlighted the positive support for Gabby Douglas in the "hair" nonsense and celebrated the rise of Black women in American Society. Karyn reblogged a similar post of mine on tumblr through FBG and it became a hit! Even though I won a contest with it, I never will forget what it felt like, to feel like my voice was getting out to the masses. Karyn...through FBG, made me feel celebrated on so many levels.

Karyn not only helped me, she helped a community of women, by providing a community for women...Brown women. In the beginning when the For Brown Girls movement was catching on and gaining more notoriety, FBG re-tweeted appreciation tweets from women and girls alike, there were a lot! For so many women it was a source of hope and motivation, and in the end, courage. The thought that Karyn took her life to me is so unthinkable, that honestly I still don't believe it. She was MY friend, so full of inspiration and intellect. I find it hard to believe that she did it, but for the same reason I can't believe, I consider the culprit: Intellect. Somewhere in the entanglement of the internet and the wealth of information, geniuses are susceptible to madness. I avoided reading all posts about Karyn until I could fully express how I felt, but in the process thought back to Newsweek's cover story that covered the fate of Jason Russell and the effects of the internet on our brain.

The risk of  i-Disorder is especially high for bloggers and content creators. Working in new media can give us a sense of having to stay "connected" all the time, running the risk of real mental health issues. Seems the world wide web is now buzzing about the importance of mental health, but, my main concern is: How was her support system? That was a goal, and a value that Karyn truly expressed through FBG. The nature of For Brown Girls was to truly build a support system. To quote Dr. Maya Angelou: "Nobody, but nobody can make it out here alone.", a truth that knows no race, no color. In the very sense that Karyn was just a social media acquaintance, I didn't know exactly how to feel when I heard the news. For a few seconds I cried real tears, and wanted to bury myself in pain, but something in the great impact that Karyn's life made wouldn't let me. Karyn had determination, and she had grit, the things I most admired about her. I just knew that one day we would meet in person and become the best of friends, but I'm all the more grateful our souls got to meet, even if it was through the web.

The very last e-mail I got to share with Karyn was a piece I wrote wanting to share with Brown Girls that the play "Da Kink In My Hair" by Trey Anthony had made it's U.S. debut. I got a chance to see the play and thought it was phenomenal. Karyn was excited with me, her last text in the e-mail was a smiley face. I knew we had a spiritual connection from the jump. Within the supernatural that I discovered as I wrote this, was that Karyn sent me a connection request on LinkedIn, before she passed. I was dismayed at first that maybe it was something I could have done to, but in a new light the omen is good because I can. It's a sign to continue to carry the torch. #ForBrownGirls will forever live on! I could feel Karyn's spirit through our interactions, but I could feel Karyn's spirit mostly because of the spirit of her creativity. All in one word Karyn's short autobiography exclaims that "Creativity fueled her being". A few words from my genius friend that exclaims the key of life for all the races and sexes of the world: Stay Creative! Stay Innovative, Stay Cutting edge! and For the sake of  Brown Girls everywhere, be bold, be fierce, and be fearless.