Emily Adeyanju

On March 20, SpringHill Entertainment and Wonder Street, in conjunction with Warner Bros. Television, will release a Netflix original, entitled “Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker .” The four-part miniseries, starring Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer, will chronicle the life and times of Madam C.J. Walker, heralded as the top-earning African American businesswoman of her time. The miniseries is based on the book , “ On Her Own Ground: the Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker ,” by Walker’s great-great-granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles . In addition to featuring Spencer, who is also a producer of the miniseries, the production will include famed actors Blair Underwood and Tiffany Haddish, among others. Sports icon LeBron James is one of the program’s executive producers as well. Amanda Matlovich, Netflix / Octavia Spencer as Madam C.J. Walker. The miniseries comes some months following the 100-year anniversary of Madam C.J. Walker’s death in 1919, a pivotal year...

Content creator and director Jourdan Guyton does not believe in the word “no.” Throughout her career as an actress and content creator for network television, she longed to see programs that reflected the stories and the faces of women who looked like her. Tired of waiting, she decided to take the reins. Guyton and a former colleague from her television past joined forces to explore programming beyond network television. In 2017, the pair launched “Two Grown,” a web series that explores the hijinks of two young women of color experiencing the personal and professional highs and lows of life in New York. “The web series space leaves room for full and vast credibility. You can tell stories that aren’t limited the way they are in mainstream media. It’s a powerful platform for people of color, because it’s not limited in space or duration,” according to Guyton. When “Two Grown” began, the two co-creators took on multiple roles in front of and behind the camera, along with a small crew....

Augustine Diji is no stranger to real estate. He grew up the son of a proud psychiatrist who practiced in Buffalo, New York. Early on, his father planted the seeds of ownership and strategic action. The memory cemented his understanding of property acquisition as a tool for wealth building that would change his own life trajectory. While Diji became an adult and went on to practice law, his understanding of real estate and related issues enabled him to easily acquire several properties to build wealth. However, the economic downturn of the late 2000s found him in danger of losing his very foundation. Over a two-year period, Diji fought desperately to retain all that he had worked so hard to acquire. The battle to maintain his property represented a personal and professional tug of war in other areas of his life. Diji emerged, but not unscathed. Grateful for having overcome his situation, he turned his experience into opportunities to give back. He began coaching friends and...

Pilotly Founder and CEO James Norman aptly describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur.” From an early age, Norman’s involvement in various projects led him to chart a bold path in the technology space. Already adept at technology in his teens, the Michigan native and a friend founded MJH Sound, one of the first e-commerce sites for home and audio. Norman leveraged that creation to work with car audio and build cars in his hometown, at the heart of the auto industry. Gaining traction in his understanding of engineering and technology prompted a move to southern California, where he built cars for more high-profile clients in the film industry, such as for the “The Fast and the Furious” film franchise. Norman moved from business to business using his tremendous insight, talent, and pioneering work to solve relevant problems with unique solutions. His career arc reflected tremendous versatility; he demonstrated a unique ability to pivot from a chosen path and to be resilient when the...

CloudTrucks , lauded by many as the industry’s first virtual trucking system, recently raised $6.1 million in a funding round led by Craft Ventures. The startup aims to help truck drivers maximize earnings and minimize frustrations. The funding comes at a pivotal time for truckers, who have been facing bankruptcy at increasing levels. According to the American Trucking Associations, “ The trucking industry is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy .” Its vital role in product delivery led it to generate more than $796 billion in revenue in 2018 . However, truckers, especially small business owners, face myriad obstacles to success. As owners and operators of their own businesses, truckers are focused not only on coordinating deliveries, but also on negotiating new business deals, seeking costly insurance, and payment processing. While smaller trucking companies may turn to large carriers to offload major projects, outsourcing comes at a steep price. The resulting drain on time and...

Netta Jenkins , vice president of Global Inclusion for Mosaic Group and Ask Applications, an IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IAC) company and author , has long worked to address issues of diversity in the workplace. Now, along with Jacinta Mathis, senior growth director of KeyMe, Jenkins is seeking to address empowerment as well. The two tech innovators are the proud founders of Dipper , a digital solutions platform that connects people of color and helps employers and employees navigate diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace. Dipper enables employees of color to express workplace issues, concerns, or feedback in a safe digital space. The experiences, whether positive or negative, are recorded and then translated into meaningful data for both expectant employers and potential employees. The end result is a two-way street: a means for employees to be heard without fear of ramifications, and a way for employers to receive and address concerns from a neutral...

Esusu CEO and co-founder Abbey Wemimo understands firsthand the importance of community savings. The paucity of financial resources available during his youth led him to turn to the power of the sou-sou, an informal, African-based community savings pool that provides fund-building alternatives to those without access to banks. Witnessing the transformative power of pooled resources led Wemimo and Esusu co-founder Samir Goel to develop that concept into a credit-building platform. Established in 2016, Esusu is a digital platform that enables low- and middle-income individuals to build their credit and savings. It works by reporting timely rent payments to credit bureaus, so that consumers can gradually build solid credit profiles. Esusu offers a mutually advantageous solution for customers seeking to build on their credit and landlords seeking to place and retain reliable tenants. Wemimo cites the company’s ability to solve critical access issues faced by minorities. “Esusu is at the...

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, has recently proposed regulations for the use of artificial intelligence. In 2018, Pichai pledged Google’s promise to use AI responsibly , citing its own internal guidelines for use. Now, as noted by a recent report from Forbes , Pichai is advocating for setting a global standard for AI that could prevent companies and others from using it without restrictions or accountability. Google has long been a proponent of AI, including the use of software for diagnostic purposes in cancer detection and blindness prevention , project facilitation in Google Assistant support, teaching tools, and forecast prediction , among other purposes. Used for good, AI can be a critical resource to promote health, safety, education, and social change . “ It can’t solve every problem, but its potential to improve our lives is profound, ” Pichai wrote in a blog post. However, the misuse of AI is what Pichai finds particularly disturbing,...

The U.S. consumer technology industry generates hundreds of billions in revenue each year. From Silicon Alley to Silicon Valley, the tech industry represents the pinnacle of success. Yet minorities remain critically underrepresented in the field, drastically cutting billions in potential tech revenue. Studies conducted by TechRepublic between 2014 and 2018 revealed the low percentages of non-Asian, minority workers at major tech companies, such as Google, Twitter, Pinterest, and eBay. A more recent study by Statista shows minority representation in the tech industry increasing slowly and steadily, but not enough to match the number of youth exploring the field. Nathan Dudley, an alumnus of The Hidden Genius Project, convinces a Bank of America employee to invest in the pivotal program. That is where programs such as The Hidden Genius Project have stepped in and made their mark. The Oakland-based program is the brainchild of Executive Director Brandon Nicholson and several other...

Diversity has a new name, and it is called Pinterest . The popular social media company is reconfirming its commitment to diversity and inclusion. Pinterest’s latest annual report underscores that commitment, highlighting ways that the company is recruiting, retaining, and promoting talent across various backgrounds. The report illustrates ways in which Pinterest is not only meeting, but also exceeding, target goals. For example, the company aimed to increase the percentage of historically underrepresented minority engineers to eight percent; it exceeded that goal, reaching a figure of nine percent. It also managed to steer hiring rates for minority employees up to 14 percent. The area in which Pinterest made the most significant progress is in the recruitment of women. Overall, it brought the rate at which it hires women for full-time engineering positions to 27 percent. While the annual report paints a great picture of Pinterest’s considerable effort, the company acknowledges that...

ACE Petroleum , a certified Minority Business Enterprise founded by Moses Shepherd, has just found its way into the annals of Detroit’s history. The supplier that offers fueling solutions to government-run businesses and other entities has just secured a multimillion-dollar deal to operate as the fuel carrier of choice for the Detroit transportation system. The founder and CEO shared his perspective on the achievement with Black Business, referring to it as “a major milestone.” “ We’ve worked hard for two years to grow our competencies, quality metrics and infrastructure to service large municipalities and compete on a national level ,” Shepherd said. “ The city’s confidence in our abilities to deliver the comprehensive fuel services needed to support, protect and serve Detroiters is rewarding and validates our efforts. ” Shepherd has entered a niche in which there is limited competition among minority competitors. According to a 2017 report by the U.S. Labor Department , less than...

According to a comprehensive study entitled Women and Girls of Color in Computing , U.S. women obtain less than 20 percent of college degrees in computer science, and minority women make up less than 10 percent of women earning undergraduate degrees in the field. While the numbers tell one story, they fail to showcase a more troublesome tale of the barriers to access that lurk behind them. Barriers like these are precisely what Wonder Women Tech Founder Lisa Mae Brunson is seeking to deconstruct. During her childhood, Brunson, who is Black and Latina, observed barriers to opportunity firsthand. “I knew I was capable of great things, but not having that support meant that I lacked access to opportunity,” said Brunson. Seeing the inequities in her own world made Brunson want to make a difference in adulthood. “My mom told me that as a child, I walked around saying, ‘I want to change the world,’” she said. When she grew up, Brunson went about doing just that. In 2014, Brunson...

Flutterwave , the San Francisco-based payment processing platform that has enriched the transaction infrastructure of businesses worldwide, has just made a giant leap into the investment ecosystem. The pioneering company recently closed its Series B funding round having raised a whopping $35 million . Flutterwave, led by CEO and co-founder Olugbenga Agboola , was established in 2016.  Former bankers, engineers, and innovators created the company with the goal of assisting Africans in establishing global businesses by devising payment technology to link Africa to the global economy . Its payment technology was designed to facilitate seamless integration with international and domestic payment systems. The closing of the funding round and the announcement of a new partnership represents the dawn of a new day for Flutterwave. The company is now joining forces with Worldpay in Africa, broadening payment solutions across the continent. The deal sets the stage for a lucrative partnership,...

Last week, entrepreneur Jewel Burks Solomon was able to add a new title to her long list of accomplishments. Solomon was named the head of the new Google for Startups . The appointment represents a seminal moment for both Solomon and Google. The African American, Nashville native will be the first person to serve in the newly created leadership position at Google. The Atlanta-based appointment represents a return to Google for the highly accomplished tech entrepreneur and advocate for increased representation in the industry. Solomon previously managed Google events, before serving as an entrepreneur in residence for diversity markets at the top tech company, where she matched underrepresented companies with Google tools and resources. Prior to the position, however, Solomon was no stranger to entrepreneurship.  In 2013, she received significant seed funding for Partpic , which uses technology to provide imaging of equipment parts to facilitate maintenance and repair. As its...

A new report issued by Bloomberg shows promise for hedge funds not governed by White males. The analysis, which was conducted over a three-year and a five-year period, showed that hedge funds managed by minority or women outperformed those managed by their White counterparts. The statistics were calculated as 6.6 percent vs. 3.9 percent over a three-year period for multiple types of hedge funds, and as 41 percent in a five-year period, for macro funds, which reflect broader trends. The Bloomberg data represents an improvement from the 2018 Diverse Asset Management Firm Assessment report , which also showed enhanced performance by women and minority-led funds, but reflected a more dismal outlook regarding management. According to Philanthropy News Digest , the 2018 report, which assesses not only hedge fund performance, but also that of mutual funds, real estate, and private equity, revealed in part, that “ firms owned by women and/or minorities manage just 1.3 percent of the $69...