Black women leaders of all backgrounds have laid the groundwork for collective success, yet companies are still behind in supporting their career trajectories. According to a 2023 Women in the Workplace study, 54 Black women are promoted for every 100 men. Additionally, they earn 63.7 cents for every dollar that a white man makes.
We see a rising urgency for equity all across the board. It’s frustrating to see the snail’s pace at which we’re going, especially when Black women-owned businesses employ more than half a million people and generate $98.3 billion in revenue.
February is Black History Month, which calls for reflection, awareness, and action. At CCWomen, we want to spotlight those who use their voice to empower their communities and drive long-lasting change.
In this post, we recognize four Black women trailblazers in business, politics, and other fields, uplifting their stories and celebrating their achievements. Let’s take a look.
Glynda C. Carr is the CEO of Higher Heights, a political action committee (PAC) that strives to elect more Black women into office. She helped found the organization after recognizing a lack of resources for Black female politicians and has since led numerous campaigns to elevate them across all levels of government so that their voices are heard and actively involved in equitable policies.
Carr is also a co-creator of #BlackWomenLead and #BlackWomenVote, two initiatives that empower Black women leaders and boost awareness of their most dire needs. So far, she has helped 11 Black women enter Congress and hold other key leadership roles, including New York State attorney general. With all her ongoing efforts, Carr continues to be a significant influence in shaping U.S. politics, enabling more Black women to stand for their communities.
Nikole Hannah-Jones is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with numerous awards and honors. She started her reporting career diving into various topics, including race, class, and equity. Best known for creating the 1619 Project, a series of essays, fiction, and poetry that highlighted African-American history, Hannah-Jones shone a light on anti-Blackness and how it permeates our society today—but also gave readers a glimpse of hope by illustrating resilience in the face of great injustice.
Hannah-Jones also founded the 1619 Freedom School to further literacy and provide a rich, culturally responsive program to close students’ learning gaps and help them thrive. Access to education is a pivotal form of advocacy, and through her work with various institutions, she ensures that future generations will rise with the tools to transform.
In her 2019 Ted Talk that now surpasses seven million views, Brittany Packnett Cunningham states:
“Permission, community, curiosity: all of these are the things that we will need to breed the confidence that we'll absolutely need to solve our greatest challenges and to build the world we dream, a world where inequity is ended and where justice is real, a world where we can be free on the outside and free on the inside because we know that none of us are free until all of us are free. A world that isn't intimidated by confidence when it shows up as a woman or in black skin or in anything other than our preferred archetypes of leadership. A world that knows that that kind of confidence is exactly the key we need to unlock the future that we want.”
Vice President of Social Impact at BET, political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, and founder of Love & Power Works, Cunningham boasts a rich, multifaceted career. From educator to writer to podcast host, she leans on her many passions to fight for collective liberation and foster a culture of equitable belonging.
To put it lightly, Cunningham is a force of nature making a long-lasting impact on female leadership and how it’s defined. What makes her activism so powerful is that it’s driven by love and power, and how one fuels the other to bring freedom to fruition. She quotes Martin Luther King Jr. in this: “power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice.”
Arlan Hamilton, Founder and Managing Partner of Backstar Capital, presents a solution to a very prevalent problem. Her website states that less than 10% of venture capital deals go to women, people of color, or LGBTQ+ founders. It not only prevents leaders from innovation but also keeps the underrepresented from breaking societal barriers that keep so many from success. Backstar Capital addresses this gap by funding entrepreneurs who fall into this category.
In her 2023 Mashable article, Why are underrepresented founders still not getting venture capital funding, Hamilton notes, “If you’re looking for resilient, smart founders who know their customers and know how to bootstrap, invest in Black founders. Invest in underestimated founders. Invest any decent amount of capital and resources in us, sit back, and let us do our thing: outperform.”
So far, Hamilton has raised millions of dollars and helped over 200 founders achieve their goals.
As allies, it’s our responsibility to self-educate and find tangible ways to support the Black community. If you’re looking for additional reads or resources to supplement your learning, check out the following: