African American Women In Business

"It would have been cool to have a book like Lumberjanes when I was younger. A group of girls having supernatural adventures at scout camp? Yes please!"

"Honestly, I didn’t think about it too much when I was younger. I think Black people in particular are used to NOT being seen in media. It’s been that way for so long, you don’t really think about it. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment when I realized just how important it was. Maybe it was a slow, natural progression, I don’t know. I just started getting tired of not seeing myself. I’m surrounded by Black women who put in real work and make things happen. Black women are my super heroes everyday, so why do I need to look so hard to find them in comics, TV, and movies? It doesn’t make sense to me, and it shouldn’t make sense to anyone in my opinion. Everyone has a right to be seen, the right to have their story told, the right to have the spotlight on them from time to time."

"Yes! Of course! I’m loyal, lol. Storm is my first love when it comes to comics. I love everything about her, she is such a robust character. She of course piqued my interest when I first encountered her because she was the first Black woman superhero that I’d ever come across…the first superhero that looked like me. She made me feel that I was no longer on the sidelines watching the action unfold, I was a part of it. She’s strong, powerful, smart, beautiful and a leader. What’s not to love?"

"I had a girl tell me I had an excellent book selection and she was 7 or 8. I don’t know how welcome she might feel in some other spaces,Women exist in this space! We’ve always been reading comic books, we just may not have been as open about it. I definitely get very positive feedback from not just little girls, but grown women too."

"The goal is to be an inclusive geek space So it’s not just comics; it’s gaming, it’s sci-fi, it’s horror, whatever you geek about, we want to make room for you!""

"To think I made it a decade-plus and I had never seen a black, woman superhero is crazy because little white boys have so many [with whom they identify]: 'I want to be Iron Man!' 'I want to be Batman!' 'I want to be Superman.' 'I want to be Han Solo!' When you are a person of color, you're scraping the bottom of the barrel to find someone you can identify with. I always felt like I was watching other people's adventures Being introduced to Storm was a pivotal moment for me because had I not come across her, I might have grown out of my love for [comics]."

"When the email went out about potential variants for stores, he was really excited and took it upon himself to work out the [details]. It was really his hard work I knew what it was supposed to look like, but having the actual art in front of you is so much different. It's really exciting.""

"I think together we can create change."

"“Everyone's voice is important. You need to talk to every culture you possibly can, just so that you can be aware of anything.”"

""It’s important as leaders of brands to identify whose needs aren't being met. It doesn't matter how 'small' that need may seem to you. It's a true need, even if only one of them sells off of the shelf.”"

"At one point, it was all fun and games. I thought, 'I'll start a makeup brand, and I'm just going to have fun. But later, after going through breast cancer, things got real."

"My goal is to make sure I get every voice at the table."

"when the whole world and all of your friends might tell you that the easiest thing is to turn around and go back, you should do the exact opposite. You should keep going forward, because in that walk and in that journey of staying, you do become powerful, and you become stronger. And you will fall, and you will hurt yourself, and you will cry. But as long as you get back up and keep going, that is where you’ll be made."

"You have to have a delicate balance of knowing when to be sugar and when to be shit, a little. I’m still learning how to balance both of them; and [that’s] the tough part about being a CEO."

"It’s just better to focus on the things that are working for you—the things that you know you can do for sure—and do away with things that you can’t change."

"Encouraging someone, hearing their story, supporting them are all acts of love that they may need to keep going and if we can all just LOVE, I think we are on the right path for a brighter and better future."

"People need to be motivated, encouraged, and supported. Not shamed."

"In overcoming the greatest trials of my life, it was my perspective that had to change in order for me to heal and help those around me."

"Our children are our message to the world and if I could change the life of just one person and that be my own daughter, then I am very capable of promoting change and inspiring others."

"The common denominator for many beauty brands is to empower its consumer, to make he or she feel confident in their appearance."

"When you miss death, you value life in a way that would be really difficult for someone who's never been through that to understand."

"All of us contribute to that beauty of the world, and there is no one standard for beauty."

"I just hope to continue to spread the mission of being sweet and sweeting the lives of others."

"Be prepared to get roughed up a little, but if you can stand it, you can do great things and change the world."

"But there's nothing like creating a business yourself. When things go wrong, there's no one to blame; when things go right, you just smile, do what you do and continue to give back."

"I tell people all the time that I'm living in my afterlife."

"“I never operated with a complex—as a woman, as a black woman, as a black. But instead, as a person in business. We knew there were problems, but I could not let that be a deterrent to me.”"

"“We're not selling potatoes or onions. We're selling service.”"

"The industry does nothing to attract young people to the business."

"“I don't give up.""

"They didn't know that Bedford-Stuyvesant had substantial, middle-class homeowners, blacks and whites, who needed and deserved coverage."

"It's been a constant battle to open doors and get a chance to show what we can do."

"Here was a black company from Bedford-Stuyvesant coming to Wall Street–that was significant. It showed that we had entered the mainstream of the American economy, And it opened doors for other blacks."

"This wasn't a neighborhood at risk. These were well-built, owner-occupied brownstones."

"We have continued to insure and service the people in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community."

"There remain vestiges of racism and sexism that continue to make our job more difficult than it should be. But significant progress has been made over the last 50 years. We look forward to an America where people are only judged by their abilities and talents and willingness to work."

"It’s how do we use technology to help us become even better humans, to help us be able to give feedback across differences, to navigate difficult conversations, to provide performance feedback and expectations with accountability and care in a way that actually serves us all better, that creates more value for everyone, doesn’t cause harm."

"You can't play basketball by just watching a video in theory about passing and shooting—you have to do it. Learning these critical human skills is very similar. You have to do it in a simulated, experiential way that will truly translate to your ability in the moment when it matters."

"We have to connect at a real, personal level, beyond the transactional trust that I think we so often find in workplaces. We are so divided, and yet we have to learn to work with people who think differently than us and believe in different things than us, to achieve outcomes that hopefully better all of us."

"I’ve learned so much about leadership and how I show up as a leader. My most important work is to build stronger self-skills – to manage my emotions, be adaptive, and take accountability."

"I believe luck shouldn’t be the main contributing factor in one’s outcomes. I also believe that learning and development can be a tool to help everyone lead more inclusively, support more equitable outcomes, and drive more value for us all."

"It’s incredibly hard to be a people leader right now. The expectations of what leaders must navigate are higher–from navigating the socio-political conversations entering the workplace to the technological advances transforming how we work–it can feel like the goalposts keep changing and there are fewer resources to achieve more aggressive goals."

"You don’t become a successful entrepreneur without weathering difficult times. So, suffer well and keep your mind."

"“I think that it’s important that you put people in positions because life is a roller coaster…Hopefully, whenever that time comes for life to drop for you, you put enough people in a position that they’re able to pull you right back up.""

"“Get to the gatekeepers. It’s not about the number of followers. People that have influence is what matters.""

"“We understand that not only having a seat but creating the seats is w here the power is, and the power is what changes the world.""

"“I do believe in doing things unorthodox, but I’m a very old school type of person, and there’s a reason tradition is tradition. When you stay true to what you’re doing, you can only grow stronger. Doing every viral trend is a terrible idea. Some of them work, but they don’t last that long and everyone’s attention is so short.""

"“I am my audience. I’m still that little Black girl from Compton that is trying to figure it out. I’m still that girl, just on a different scale.""

"“It’s not about inclusive, so to speak,” Miss Diddy told BLACK ENTERPRISE. “It’s about the Black dollar, the Black person, the Black community. And that’s what we want to scream right now.”"

"as long as you’re being who you are to the best of your ability, and also figuring out who that is! Figuring out who you are."