1. Shanté Elliot
Stemming from her own experience in the American foster system, Shanté Elliot founded TasselTurn to ensure that young people in the foster care system were included in conversations on college admissions.
TasselTurn is an EdTech and impact organization that unites unhoused youth and youth in foster care with learning counselors, empowering these youths to graduate high school and get accepted in college.
With graduates from colleges like Colombia college, the University of Michigan, and North Carolina State University, Shanté strives to empower endangered youth to map out their journey with education.
2. Sandra Velasquez
Sandra Velasquez is the founder of Napolera, a Mexican bath and body care line.
She founded Napolera as a high-end brand that would disrupt this Eurocentrism-conditioned society, after noticing the lack of Latina brands on the beauty industry. Napolera won the Latina Startup of 2022 at the L’attitude awards.
3. Isoken Igbinedon
Isoken Igbinedon is the Co-founder and CEO of MyParfait, a technology company that uses AI technology to facilitate an easy process of purchasing wigs for black women.
With investors like Kelly Rowland and Serena Williams, MyParfait’s technology matches users to wigs that suit their skin tone and style, discarding the exasperation that comes with getting wigs, especially for Black women
4. Hitha Palepu
Hitha Palepu is the founder of Rhoshan Pharmaceuticals, a company developing safe and injectible aspirin.
Hitha hopes her product will help deliver faster and more stable care to anyone suspected of having a stroke or heart attack. She is also working to ensure that her product is as affordable as can be.
5. Elise Smith
Using her experience in the workplace as inspiration, Elise Smith co-founded Praxis an immersive learning platform that encourages workplace diversity, inclusion, and equity.
With clients like Google, Uber, Amazon, Merck, and Etsy, Elise has led Praxis to leverage the combination of virtual reality and true reality to solve these diversity issues in corporate America.
6. Jaclyn Fu
Jaclyn Fu, co-founder, and CEO of Pepper a bra company for smaller-chested women(AA- to B-) started her brand to solve the problem of ill-fitting bras she faced as a woman with a smaller chest.
She has sold one million bras to date, with Pepper becoming an eight-figure business with about 30 employees. She aims to expand her product line to create any product that would make a smaller-chested woman feel confident.
7. Farah Allen
With her company, The Labz starting as an app that protects music and film content, the Covid-19 pandemic made Farah Allen switch gears to creating an interactive online experience for events and conferences.
Farah Allen, CEO, and Founder of The Labz says she likes being creative and fast-paced in an industry that is constantly evolving. Her vision is for women to be the norm in the technology industry.
8. Autumn Adeigbo
Autumn Adeigbo is the founder of Autumn Adeigbo, a lifestyle and fashion brand highly inspired by the creativity, color, and whimsicality of African art.
Autumn was the first black woman to raise $1 million for a fashion brand and her motivation is the lack of black and African representation in the fashion industry. She became a fashion designer amidst doubt and demotivation.
9. Kimberely Wilson
Kimberly Wilson is the founder of Hued, a digital health platform that was initially created to match black doctors to black patients.
Kimberly was motivated to start her company when she was diagnosed with uterine fibroids in 2017. Her experience in the healthcare system is something she describes as being disregarded. She works hard now to ensure no black woman goes through what she did.
Recently, Hued released a new digital platform, See My Skin, which is an online inventory of skin conditions, especially for darker skin.
10. Natasha Bansgopaul
Natasha Bangospaul is the co-founder and chief operating officer of VegaX Holdings, the first-ever, Black female-led fintech company with backing from global VC firms, SOSV and Artesian.
Natasha started VegaX, with her partner in 2019 motivated to use technology to make things easier for people like her in a highly inaccessible industry. A significant focus for her is creating opportunities for women in tech.
Culled from Cosmopolitan
