4 minute read
SHE RO Business Trendsetters: Blazing Trails
by Felicia Brown, AARP
According to the Small Business Administration, there are over 12 million female business owners. Among them, Black women have become the fastest growing demographic, reaching nearly 2.7 million among new businesses. This trend is a testament to the need and desire to bet on ourselves and take control of our future.
It’s not by accident that Black women have become leaders in the business arena and have been excelling for years, oftentimes toiling unrecognized. These women are SHEROs in our communities. We often hear about the founders who dominate the media cycle, but there are others equally worthy of our attention.
Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some phenomenal female founders who are trendsetters, building their enterprises brick by brick and expanding how we view women in business. The women I highlight here are just a few examples of SHEROs who are blazing their own trails in the small business world.
Beauty industry trendsetter Kim Roxie, founder of LAMIK Beauty, a vegan makeup line made with natural and organic ingredients for multicultural women. Prior to launching her beauty brand, she owned a successful makeup shop that gave her the skills, knowledge, and insights into the needs and wants of women of color, which led her to launch her own line of cosmetics. Kim recognized that vegan Black beauty brands were woefully underrepresented. She connected with a retired Estée Lauder chemist who bought into her vision and helped her become what she is today.
Beauty industry trendsetter Kim Roxie, founder of LAMIK Beauty, a vegan makeup line made with natural and organic ingredients for multicultural women. Prior to launching her beauty brand, she owned a successful makeup shop that gave her the skills, knowledge, and insights into the needs and wants of women of color, which led her to launch her own line of cosmetics. Kim recognized that vegan Black beauty brands were woefully underrepresented. She connected with a retired Estée Lauder chemist who bought into her vision and helped her become what she is today.
College friends Tracy Green and Nancey Flowers-Harris, founders of fashion forward luxury brand Vontélle Eyewear. This dynamic duo creates eyewear that pays homage to their African, Caribbean, and Latin heritages. They recognized a cultural void in the eyewear industry, and it inspired them to travel abroad and meet with manufacturers to bring their business to life. These ladies bring not only their corporate experiences to the business but also their passion. They’ve secured major deals with the likes of Nickelodeon and have garnered several celebrity endorsements.
Nude is the new Black. Jeneba Barrie, a woman on the move, could not find a stylish nude pump shoe that matched her skin tone. What she didn’t know was that other women of color were experiencing the same problem. So she created Jeneba Barrie Nude Footwear, LLC to fill a gap in the market. Not long after, she realized that non-minority women were experiencing the same problem, so she began to create shoes that had crossover appeal to reach a wider audience, catapulting her to success.
Uplifting, elevating, and aiding students to channel their creativity through writing is what Terri Whitmire does as founder of the Writers Tablet Publishing Agency. She is a five-time author and the recipient of the 2021 Innovators Award from the Georgia After School and Youth Development Initiative. Her passion for students was a key driver for launching her business. Her nonprofit has been recognized across the state of Georgia for the incredible work she is doing to help students realize the joy of writing and help them get their works published. She believes writing can be a tool to help students blossom.
Perhaps when these women started their businesses, they didn’t know they were trailblazers, let alone trendsetters. No question, they are leading and making an impact within their industries and their communities broadly. To learn more about women founders, visit the Small Business Resource Center for the 50+ at smallbizrc.org
And if you want to be a small business trendsetter, here are some key takeaways from these trailblazers:
1. Believe in yourself.
2. Be creative and innovative.
3. Learn and watch other trendsetters.
4. Think like a customer. What products or services would you like to see?
5. Know and incorporate your own style.
