Black Women: Three Success Stories From The Fastest-Growing Group of Entrepreneurs In The US

Black women, who constitute less than 10% of the US population, have emerged as the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs, according to research from GoDaddy.

Recent reports from the Brookings Institution reveal a notable surge in the number of Black women-owned businesses in the US even before the COVID-19 pandemic, with a nearly 20% increase between 2017 and 2020, surpassing the growth rates of both women and Black-owned businesses nationwide.

Joy Ofodu, who left her position at Instagram in 2022 to pursue full-time content creation and voice acting, sees the increasing number of Black women entrepreneurs as a sign of growing self-belief and recognition of their limitless potential. This mirrors a broader movement among Black women who are leaving corporate roles to pursue greater freedom, fulfillment, and flexibility in their careers, CNBC writes.

Escaping The Corporate World's Burnout

Brianna Doe, 30, decided to venture into business last summer after feeling deeply dissatisfied with her role as a marketing director at a fintech startup. She was stuck in a cycle of burnout, switching jobs frequently without finding lasting satisfaction until she started working with a career coach in July 2023 and realized corporate work was not the right fit for her. Despite fears of failure and losing financial stability, she pursued entrepreneurship, encouraged by her career coach. Shortly after being laid off from the startup in September, Doe and her co-founder Alexis Rivera Scott launched their marketing agency, Verbatim, in October 2023. Doe operates remotely from her home in Phoenix, while Rivera Scott works from Boise. Transitioning to entrepreneurship has been a healing experience for Doe, allowing her to create a more fulfilling and supportive work environment and confront workplace trauma she had not addressed while working in corporate settings.

Building A Supportive Ecosystem for Black-Woman Talent

Three years ago, Leslie Frelow embarked on a full-time entrepreneurial journey inspired by her passion for wine. While working as a senior director at the Universal Service Administrative Company in Washington, D.C., she nurtured her hobby of leading virtual wine tastings and tours to Maryland wineries. Despite her love for her job, Frelow found greater fulfillment in her wine-related endeavors and identified an opportunity to support sommeliers, farmers, and winemakers of color in the predominantly white, male-dominated wine industry. In December 2020, she launched The Wine Concierge, an online wine store and subscription-based wine club, before leaving her job to focus on her business full-time in October 2021. Despite facing challenges as a Black woman in the industry, including being marginalized at industry events, Frelow values entrepreneurship's flexibility and fulfillment and cherishes the ability to support her aging parents while sharing her passion for discovering new wines with others.

Finding Success While Pursuing Passion

Ofodu, a content creator and voice actor, harbored aspirations of performing from childhood, but it was not until the pandemic lockdowns of 2020 that she pursued these dreams. Balancing her corporate job as an integrated marketing manager at Instagram with her growing business on social media platforms, she finally found the time to explore voice acting, fueled by her passion for animated films. After posting her first voice-acting demo reel on Instagram in June 2021, she swiftly received offers for voiceover work, prompting her to quit her job in October 2022 to pursue voice acting and content creation full-time. Despite recognizing the opportunity cost of leaving her tech job, she felt compelled to follow her childhood dream. Her career quickly took off, with notable projects including video games, podcasts, TV series, and collaborations with figures like Whoopi Goldberg on an upcoming animated short. Ofodu is also committed to fostering inclusivity in the voice acting and film industry, recognizing its male-dominated nature and paving the way to create opportunities for more Black women to enter these fields.

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