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Yesterday, I published a piece about a new accelerator and incubator for Black-owned beauty brands, the BrainTrust Founders Studio, from entrepreneur (and Halle Berry’s business partner) Kendra Bracken-Ferguson. The Studio is launching with $100 million in soft capital and services from JPMorgan Chase, Salesforce, Shopify, and more, and 25 entrepreneurs are already on the platform.
For Bracken-Ferguson, the Studio is a chance to give marginalized founders resources they might otherwise not have access to. “Whenever you couple mentorship, education, capital and a community of like-minded founders who want to move their brands forward, you can change the economy,” she says. “Collectively, we can create results, and it’s all supporting the overall good of the economy.”
Crucially, it also offers an opportunity to push retailers to take their diversity and inclusion initiatives beyond signing the 15% Pledge. “It’s not enough for a brand to be on a shelf for one year,” Bracken-Ferguson told me. “The true success is when we can look five years later and we can see that a brand has tripled in revenue dollars and in their retail footprint.”
Cheers to that!
Maggie
Forbes Exclusive: These Two Founders In Recovery Raised $118 Million For Their Virtual Addiction Treatment Startup
Workit Health cofounders and co-CEOs Lisa McLaughlin (L) and Robin McIntosh (R).
FRANCES MARRON
Robin McIntosh and Lisa McLaughlin met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in 2009. They bonded over their recovery journeys, and their desire to help others with their recoveries. Today, they are the cofounders of WorkIt Health, a virtual addiction treatment startup worth around $500 million.
ICYMI: News Of The Week
Sara Blakely photographed for Forbes in May 2016. Jamel Toppin/The Forbes Collection
Jamel Toppin/The Forbes Collection
Spanx founder Sara Blakely is a billionaire once again, Forbes estimates, after private equity giant Blackstone announced Wednesday that it has agreed to buy a majority stake in the shapewear pioneer in a deal that values the company at $1.2 billion.
Oura—which helps people track sleep and other biometric data—has hired Karina Kogan, previously one of Peloton’s top marketers, to become its first chief marketing officer.
Another first for Dr. Rachel Levine, the Biden administration’s assistant secretary for health: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that the nation’s first openly transgender American to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate is now also the first trans four-star officer across any of the eight uniformed services of the United States.
A decade after a Forbes investigation, ‘Diva Of Distressed’ Lynn Tilton has been hit with a fresh $38 million fine. The latest legal judgment against the founder of New York private equity firm Patriarch Partners caps off a tumultuous decade during which Tilton and Patriarch have been involved in at least 50 lawsuits.
Nikki Haley launched a political action committee in January, after years of speculation about a possible 2024 presidential run. Within six months, Forbes can report, 16 billionaires and 7 spouses of billionaires have donated to her group, Stand For America.
The Checklist
#1: Consider (offering) a sabbatical. A growing number of companies are offering sabbaticals to their burnt out employees. Whether these leaves of absence actually improve worker wellbeing remains to be seen, but companies like Synchrony Financial are hoping it will help increase retention.
#2: Save ghosting for the dating apps. A new survey shows a growing number of workers are quitting their jobs without notifying HR or management. Resist the urge to do this: not only could you miss out on a lucrative counteroffer, you also risk burning some bridges.
#3: Get your confidence back. Feeling like you’ve lost some of the swagger in your step? Focus on one task at a time. Even the smallest of achievements are achievements, and watching them add up will do wonders for your mindset.
Across Forbes
On Latina Equal Pay Day: Let’s Get More Latinas Into Tech
A Third Of Newly Added Corporate Directors Were Black Last Year, Up From 11%
How Two Chefs Became Farmers And Advocates For Social Justice In The Midwest
