Clockwise from left: Alisa Carmichael, Diarrha N'Diaye-Mbaye, Jackie Aina, Kendra Bracken-Ferguson, Nyakio Grieco, Denis Asamoah, Devin McGhee Kirkland, Danessa Myricks and Camille Bell.
Carmichael also oversees VMG’s Parity Collective in partnership with the Fifteen Percent Pledge’s Aurora James, an investment initiative for “BIPOC-founded businesses that are on a journey to become iconic consumer brands,” per its website. Its current beauty portfolio includes Melanin Haircare, BeautyStat and Danessa Myricks Beauty.
Black founders echo the stats put forth by investors, and say that there is waning interest in their brands from the financial community despite the viability of their businesses., I heard rumblings of what it actually means to be a Black founder getting outside investment,” said Jackie Aina, beauty content creator and the brand’s cofounder, who is currently seeking funding for her brand. “It’s been really, really challenging.
In other cases, the financial community doesn’t always recognize a brand’s broad appeal or viability. “Investors are looking at a very one-dimensional profits-and-losses perspective, that 15 percent of the population doesn’t equal 10-times revenue growth, which is so not true,” said Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye, founder and CEO of Ami Colé.