Spelman College graduates who were friends first and then founders seconds are taking their nail bar to new heights. Kelli M. Coleman and Anika J. Odegbo are the founders of The TEN, marketed as Detroit, MI’s first modern nail bar. The two shared a common goal of embarking on an entrepreneurial journey to build wealth, which they brought to life in 2016. “So, Anika and I are friends and Spelman sisters. We ultimately met when we found out that both of us intended to attend. We decided to room together, and the rest is history, as they say. Both Detroit natives, I grew up in Southfield, and Anika grew up in Detroit proper. We come from entrepreneurial families; we really understand the power of entrepreneurship to create generational wealth. It was always our respective goals to own businesses of our own in addition to carrying on our family’s entrepreneurial legacy. That’s sort of the origin of how we know each other, and that’s how The TEN came to be,” Coleman told the Michigan...

Tyrre Burks has raised new funding that will benefit younger athletes. The Chicago, IL, native is the founder of Players Health , a platform providing support solutions for sports organizations, teams, leagues, and clubs. These solutions include insurance offerings and an athlete safety suite that encompasses education and training, injury management forms, incident reporting, compliance forms, and tools to support name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals, its website mentions. As a former college athlete who went pro in the Canadian Football League, Burks understands firsthand the importance of athlete safety. During his playing career, he endured multiple injuries, including an experience during his college freshman year when he was paralyzed on the field for 45 minutes. “My freshman year of college I was catching a low ball with my head down, and I get hit. I’m paralyzed on the turf, could not move. This happened… It’s probably the most bizarre feeling you could ever have where you...

Maryland’s first Black family-owned wine company is expanding! As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Boyd Cru Wines is led by married couple Matthew and Jon’ll Boyd, who pursued separate career paths for over a decade before collaborating on a shared business venture in the wine industry. For over a decade, Jon’ll worked in the event planning industry, while Matthew built his career in the pharmaceutical and chemistry sectors. In the wake of COVID-19 in 2020, Jon’ll’s industry came to a standstill, leading to a greater focus on what became Boyd Cru Wines in April 2023. “I think the pivotal point for us came right about during the pandemic because that, of course for me, brought my event planning business to a very quick and fast halt as you can imagine with people not being able to gather,” Jon’ll told the Washington Business Journal. “It afforded us an opportunity to delve deeper into the wine industry, and simultaneously, I think at that time, I was seeing that there was some shifting...

A TikTok ban could result in the loss of substantial earnings for small businesses and social media creators. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the China-based platform, with over 1 billion users globally and 170 million in the U.S., is at risk of being banned as a result of the intention to “protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications.” The ban is expected to go into effect on Jan. 19, 2025, depending on whether the platform is unwilling to sell the application, per ABC News. On Dec. 6, 2024, the federal appeals court denied TikTok’s push to overturn the ban. Within days, TikTok doubled down and requested an emergency injunction to allow the Supreme Court to review the decision to ban the application at the start of the upcoming year. “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional...

Goodr has opened a new grocery store in Atlanta, GA. The Atlanta-based company, which combines technology and logistics to combat food waste and fight food insecurity, is the brainchild of Jasmine Crowe-Houston. “[Goodr] uses technology to solve hunger — that’s our big focus. I think we are taking a radically different approach to how this country solves hunger and food waste,” Crowe-Houston told AFROTECH™ in a 2021 interview. “A lot of times people say to me, ‘How is this a business? How can this be profitable?’ But, the main thing is people have to understand that billions of dollars get spent every year on food insecurity and trying to make sure people have access to food. But, it typically only goes to the same organizations.” She added, “And what we’re trying to do is come in and kind of disrupt that and say, ‘Listen, we’re getting a lot wrong about solving hunger if we’re always going to give money to the same people. We’re going to keep on having the same results.’ Give Goodr...

Founder Craig J. Lewis is revamping his mission to empower the gig economy. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Lewis leads Gig Wage, a fintech platform aimed at improving payroll for 1099 employees. With his background in payroll sales at Payroll Plus Inc. from 2009 to 2010 and a two-year stint as a payroll technology consultant at CyberPay, Lewis has a deep understanding of the industry, as mentioned on his LinkedIn profile. “I helped to sell ADP’s [the largest payroll company in the world] first cloud-based product called ADP Run, and that’s where it all started for me,” he told AFROTECH™ in a 2021 interview. “I’ve seen the impact that technology has on the payroll space. After reading an article about the global independent workforce, aka the gig economy, I realized that there wasn’t a payroll space for that group, meaning, people who do work for a company but the companies aren’t really designed or don’t have access to the technology to pay these type of people. These are your...

A startup dedicated to preserving African languages has secured new funding. Founded in 2022 and backed by Techstars, Lingawa was established by siblings Frank Akinwande Williams (CEO) and Yvonne Williams (COO), along with third co-founder Uche Azinge (CTO). Previously operating under the name TopSet, its inception was driven by Frank’s and Yvonne’s difficulties in learning their native language, Yoruba. “As Nigerians growing up in the UK, my sister Yvonne W and I always felt a deep connection to our heritage—but also an uncomfortable distance. We struggled to speak our native tongue, Yoruba, fluently, and with that came a sense of loss and even shame,” Williams said on LinkedIn. “There’s an unspoken belief that understanding your language is tied to understanding yourself, your culture, and your place in the world. It was a feeling we carried with us for years.” He continued, “As we grew older, we realized that this experience wasn’t unique to us. Millions of Africans, Asians, and...

Mielle Organics will be providing scholarships and more to Hampton University’s female athletes. According to a news release, Mielle Organics, led by Monique Rodriguez (founder and CEO), and Hampton Athletics have cemented a multi-year partnership with the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) for its women’s basketball team. “We are honored to partner with Mielle,” Tamisha Augustin, Hampton women’s basketball head coach, expressed in a news release . “Mielle is an innovator in textured hair products and care. We value our relationship and appreciate their efforts in proudly contributing to the success of our program.” What’s more, the partnership will include an initial $200,000 donation, with another $100,000 being allocated to scholarships for the student-athletes through Rodriguez’s philanthropic initiative, Mielle Cares, which she co-founded with her husband, Melvin Rodriguez. Already serving as the WNBA’s first textured hair care partner, Mielle’s business...