Women’s History: Madam C.J Walker

Hair care as a means for Madame C.J Walker to become not only the first African American female millionaire, but the first self-made WOMAN millionaire period, isn’t surprising. African people, specifically women, pioneered the beauty industry in Egypt (read Reality Check: The Hair Is Korean). We still use the same products, accessories, and styling tools. Sorry not sorry Bassem Youssef, to break you out of your delusion. Imagine putting raw shea butter in that 1c hair (trust he doesn’t know what that means, because it isn’t meant for his porosity). Unless Bassem Youssef is Greek, no one is stealing your culture by claiming Cleopatra. Furthermore, you can have her. She’s the one who ruined Egypt’s 3,000 year rule, including the Ptolemaic’s 300 year dynastic reign, starting with Alexander the Great. She’s birthed from, and escalated the geopolitical shift that leads people like him to fallaciously believe they’re the original ethnic group of that region, the architect of all these great innovations. Let me know when he needs an Afro pick for that “coiled” hair (also created in Egypt). Clown.

Stop stereotyping black people. Especially black women as offensive caricatures created by the white imagination, subsequently using systemic racism to pigeonhole us into your dehumanizing stereotypes. We’re the blueprint for entrepreneurship, beauty and style. The Victorian bustle dress was modeled after Saartjie Baartman’s body. We’re entire era’s of fashion, still, to this day. Stop whitewashing and falsifying history, be grateful we elevate everything instead of disparaging us. Do you think Madame Walker was having an epigenetic moment when creating the ‘Hair Grower’? Via: African American Collection

Entrepreneurs Accept The Good & Bad

If you choose to be an entrepreneur know that it’s a tumultuous path. Keep going. Don’t let anyone or anything deter you, more importantly be flexible. This means being open to change, going in new directions if something isn’t working and learning from your mistakes. Don’t forget guidance from the people you find aspirational. For instance going into restaurants is something a majority of entrepreneurs and artists do, flexible schedules, good money, networking opportunities. Following suit I maintained faith I’d accomplish my dreams, over listening to someone who clocks in everyday and doesn’t run anything. Those people don’t have the same mentors as me, or they’d have known better. Furthermore I landed an investor by myself. When he turned out to be a racist usurper I learned from it. Now look. After a series of unfortunate and fortunate events I’ve accomplished feats beyond my wildest dreams. Business isn’t for the weak, but the thick skinned. Via: Bllaklabel

Updated: 9/19/2024 12:01am

Things I learned From…

Spiritual Goddess

…Being screwed by my investor when I started a business last year:

  1. LLC vs. LLC: if going to court and the contract was signed between two LLC’s you must have a lawyer represent you.
  2. Loans: when applying for a business loan they look at how long you’ve lived at your current address/ previous residence. They also look at how long you’ve held you current/previous job. So hopping around from job to job or apartment to apartment looks unstable and most likely you’ll be denied.
  3. Logos: even if you created your logo from scratch, if you do not file for proof of use within a certain time frame it becomes public domain.
  4. Reviews: can be your best friend. When our investor tried to screw us over, we wanted our money back. He refused so I wrote reviews on Yelp about his company (with photos of the emails to boot), BBB (Better Business Bureau) and his facebook page. The only person who can remove those reviews are me. In the end he gave us back than more then half our money.
  5. Public relations: is a deadly weapon. I told our shady investor that if he didn’t give us back our money, I was going to start a Go Fund Me explaining what he’d done to us. Which would stain his image forever.
  6. Create an LLC or some kind of corporation: to separate your personal assets from your business ones. That way if someone sues you they cannot touch your personal assets. So transfer everything from domain names, to copyrights, company cars and trademarks to whatever corporation structure you’ve chosen.
  7. Parting ways: with the investor make sure you get explicit written proof that they are giving up whatever equity you gave them. If you don’t they can come back when your business makes money and take their share.
  8. Settlement: make sure in the settlement contract they are not allowed to work on any projects similar to yours for X amount of years, and do not divulge any aspect of your business to new clients.
  9. Court: make sure in your original contract you state the venue of your choice to be the state you’re in. Each state handles these matters differently, but you don’t want to acquire the traveling fees let them do that.

In the end it was failing that taught me so many things. This is why being setback can make you rich in knowledge.