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I want to learn about black business woman & what they had to go through to achieve their goals.

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I want to learn about black business woman & what they had to go through to achieve their goals.

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The first black female millionaire: Madam C.J. Walker.She invented the Hot Comb and turned it into a million dollar idea but she took a huge step for black women's hair and their hair journey.

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The first black female millionaire: Madam C.J. Walker.She invented the Hot Comb and turned it into a million dollar idea but she took a huge step for black women's hair and their hair journey.

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The world of business is not for the faint of heart, and statistics show almost four in ten businesses in major countries have no women in senior management positions. Despite the odds, history gives us a full account of African-American women who have taken the world of business by storm and risen straight to the top. Here are five astute queens of industry who built empires out of their dreams and embodied the BBB's: Beauty, Business, and Brains.

1. The first black female millionaire: Madam C.J. Walker

The crown for "inspiring black businesswoman" would definitely go to Madam C.J. Walker, the queen herself. Born to former slaves, she went against the grain to become the first self-made female African-American millionaire by revolutionizing the way we style textured hair.
Walker Facts:

Walker suffered from a scalp disorder, which led her to invent her own pomade and use hot combs.

She turned her innovative idea into a $1 million company.

She hired and trained up to 40,000 "Walker Agents" to expand her ideas to other women throughout the country.

She founded hair-culture colleges through already established black institutions and even taught women the ropes of business and budgeting.

Walker Quotes:

"I am not merely satisfied in making money for myself."

"I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don't sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them."

2. The first black woman to take a company public: Cathy Hughes

This ultimate media mogul went from teen mom to founding one of the biggest media companies in the world.

Hughes Facts:

She is a TV personality and founder of Radio One, which includes 56 radios stations in the United States, and the premiere cable network TV One.

She also holds the title of the first African-American woman to chair a publicly held corporation and continues her family's work and legacy at The Piney Woods School.

She is a champion for the hungry and homeless, a mentor to countless women and an advocate dedicated to empowering minority communities.

Hughes Quotes:

"Don't let anyone convince you that your dream, your vision to be an entrepreneur is something that you shouldn't do.

3. First black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company: Ursula Burns

Burns' story is a true "rags to riches" tale. She was raised in the tumble public housing projects in the Lower East side of Manhattan and eventually found her way to the top of Xerox.

Burns Facts:

She started by publicly disagreeing with a company vice president and challenging his ideas, all as an intern!

That risky move would later pay off and move her into an executive assistant role that led to a position as Chairwoman of the Fortune 500 paper company Xerox.

Her best piece of advice? Use your "disadvantages to your advantage." Burns was poor, black and a woman, but found she could use the latter two categories to her advantage.

Burns Quotes:

" I realized I was more convincing to myself and to the people who were listening when I actually said what I thought, versus what I thought people wanted to hear me say."

"Dreams do come true, but not without the help of others, a good education, a strong work ethic and the courage to lean in,"

4. First black female billionaire: Oprah Winfrey

This list would not be complete without acknowledging this jack of all trades and number three on the list of the richest self-made woman in America. Talk show host, actress, philanthropist, businesswoman and overall queen of media is ranked most successful African-American philanthropist in American History. Despite her rough childhood living in poverty and suffering abuse, Oprah was able to revolutionize daytime TV and create her own empire.
Oprah Facts:

Her wit and charm landed her a win in an oratory contest in high school and a full scholarship to Tennessee State University where she studied communications.

She got her start at a local black radio station WVOL, which hired her as a part-time news anchor while she was still in high school.

Working in local media, she was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV.

Oprah Quotes:

"Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don't fight them. Just find a new way to stand."

These are the women who paved the way, click here to read about 5 women who walked the path to greatness.

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4 powerful black businesswomen 'firsts' who paved the way

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These bold women dominated their fields and changed the game for years to come.The world of business is not for the faint of heart and statistics show almost four in tenbusinesses in major countries have no women in senior management positions.

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In the past 20 years, the number of women-owned businesses has risen 114 percent. But female entrepreneurship isn't just a hallmark of the modern era: Since as early as the 17th century, women have been forging their own paths in a variety of trades. From merchants to ironmasters to dressmakers, these historic women shattered glass ceilings and broke stereotypes to rise to the top of their industries.

1. Margaret Hardenbroeck

When 22-year-old Margaret Hardenbroeck arrived in New Amsterdam (later New York) from the Netherlands in 1659, she was ambitious and ready to work. She already had a job lined up-collecting debts for a cousin's business. She continued to work even after she married the wealthy merchant Pieter de Vries, this time as a business agent for several Dutch merchants. She sold small goods like cooking oil to the colonists, and bought furs to send to Holland.

When Peter died in 1661, Hardenbroeck inherited his estate and took over his business. She expanded her fur shipping operations in Holland, trading the furs for merchandise to sell back in the colonies. For the Dutch, it was not wholly unusual for women to run businesses on equal footing with men; in New Amsterdam, they sometimes called themselves she-merchants. Hardenbroeck would become the most successful and wealthiest she-merchant in the colony.

Eventually, she was able to purchase her own ship, the King Charles, and accumulated real estate holdings throughout the colonies. Ever the savvy businesswoman, Hardenbroeck ensured that her wealth, properties, and independence were protected when she married her second husband, Frederick Philipse, by choosing an marriage under Dutch law. That meant she rejected marital guardianship of her husband and communal property, retaining all that was hers prior to marriage. When Hardenbroeck died in 1691, she was the wealthiest woman in New York.

2. Rebecca Lukens

In 1825, 31-year-old Rebecca Lukens found herself a widow and the new owner of Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory. The Pennsylvania-based company had been started by Lukens's father Isaac Pennock in 1810, leased to her husband Charles, and ultimately left to her after both men died only a year apart. As uncommon as it was at the time for a women to be an ironmaster, and despite objections from her own family, Lukens took over and led the company into a new era of innovation and industry.

Under her husband's leadership, Brandywine Iron Works had harnessed the demand for steam power by producing rolled iron plate for steam engines. Lukens continued this line of production and propelled Brandywine to become the leading producer of boilerplate. But she saw another opportunity for iron when the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad, one of the first commercial railways in the U.S., launched in the mid-1830s, and she began seeking out commissions to produce iron for locomotives.

Even in the midst of the financial crisis of the Great Panic of 1837, Brandywine continued to roll out iron, and when business was stagnant, she sustained her employees by putting them to work maintaining and updating the mill. When she couldn't pay them with money, she paid them with food. Her foresight and willingness to seek out new opportunities kept Brandywine afloat when other ironworks failed, and her business emerged from the Panic as the most prominent ironworks company. Lukens herself is remembered as the first woman CEO of an industrial company, and one of the first female ironmasters in the US.

3. Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley was one of Washington, D.C.'s most popular 19th century dressmakers-but it was a long and difficult road to financial independence and recognition. Born into slavery in Virginia in 1818, Keckley was moved from plantation to plantation. Taught sewing by her seamstress mother Agnes Hobbs, Keckley used this skill while still a teenager to build a clientele, making dresses for both white women and freed black women. While much of the money that she made from her dresses went to the family who owned her, some of her loyal clients loaned her the $1200 she needed to buy her and her son's freedom. Keckley worked to pay back all the patrons who helped her buy her freedom before moving to Washington, D.C.

In D.C., word of her talents reached Mary Todd Lincoln. The first lady took Keckley on as her personal designer-and close personal friend. Keckley designed nearly all of Mary's gowns during her time in the White House, including the dress she wore at Lincoln's second inauguration, now on display at the Smithsonian. As a visible and well-respected free black woman, Keckley also founded the Contraband Relief Association (later the Ladies' Freedmen and Soldiers' Relief Association), an organization that raised money and provided food and clothing for black people and wounded Union soldiers.

Keckley's success in D.C. ended, however, shortly after she published an 1868 autobiography-Behind the Scenes, Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. Mary saw the sections about her and the White House as a betrayal of confidence, and ended their friendship. The ripple effects ruined Keckley's reputation in D.C. In the aftermath, she was offered a position at Wilberforce University in Ohio as head of the Department of Sewing and Domestic Science Arts, which she accepted. Keckley also organized the dress exhibit at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. She died in 1907.

4. Lydia Estes Pinkham

Lydia Pinkham reputedly came into possession of a secret medicinal recipe when her husband Isaac accepted the formula in lieu of money owed to him. The recipe contained five main herbs-pleurisy root, life root, fenugreek, unicorn root, and black cohosh-and alcohol. Pinkhman brewed her first batch of the soon-to-be-famous Vegetable Compound on her stove, and just three years later, she launched the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Co., a home remedy business run by and for women.

Pinkham claimed that her Vegetable Compound could cure a spectrum of female-specific ailments, from menstrual problems to a prolapsed uterus. She started out small, first distributing her compound to neighbors and friends, but in the midst of the financial crisis of 1873-when her husband was ruined-she began selling it and writing female health pamphlets to go alongside it. Her three sons helped her package, market, and sell the compound, and the strategic advertising campaign they implemented was key to the business's success. She was the first woman to put her own likeness on her product, which helped create brand loyalty and spoke to her target audience: women. Eventually, she was able to expand her business beyond the U.S. and into Canada and Mexico.

There is little evidence proving the medical efficacy of Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, and she is often lumped into the quackery category along with hundreds of other 19th century patent medicine producers. But she was also addressing a need for women-centered health care, which was often inadequate at the time. To find alternative methods of care, and avoid dangerous, expensive doctor visits, women often turned to home remedies-like Pinkham's compound.

5. Madam C.J. Walker

Born Sarah Breedlove on a Louisiana plantation on December 23, 1867, Walker was the daughter of Owen and Minerva Anderson, freed blacks who both died by the time she was 7. She was married at 14, and soon gave birth to one daughter, Lelia. After her husband died only six years into their marriage, Walker moved to St. Louis, where she worked hard as a laundress and cook, hoping to provide a life free from poverty for Lelia.

In 1904, Walker began working as a sales agent for Annie Turnbo Malone's hair care company-and soon came into some inspiration of her own. As the story goes, she had a dream in which a man told her the ingredients for a hair-growing tonic. Walker re-created the tonic and began selling it door-to-door. After she married Charles Joseph Walker in 1906 and renamed herself Madam C.J. Walker, she launched Madam Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower, a line of hair care for black women.

Walker built a business that was earning $500,000 a year by the time she died, while her individual financial worth reached $1 million. Yet it isn't the wealth alone that earned Walker a lasting legacy-it was how she used that wealth for a larger social good. Within her company, she trained over 40,000 black women and men and advocated for the economic independence of black people, particularly black women. She financially supported black students at the Tuskegee Institute, and contributed the largest recorded single donation, of $5000, to the NAACP, to support anti-lynching initiatives.

6. Annie Turnbo Malone

Though Madam C.J. Walker is often recognized as the first black woman millionaire, some historians say that credit belongs to Annie Turnbo Malone, the woman who hired Walker to sell her Wonderful Hair Grower in St. Louis before Walker started her own company. Like Walker, Malone's parents were former slaves who died when Malone was young. Her older sister Peoria raised her, and together, they began experimenting with hairdressing.

Hair care products for black women were not widely produced, and the chemical solutions that were used often damaged hair. Malone developed her own chemical straightener around the turn of the century, and soon had created an entire line of other products for black women's hair. In 1902 later, she moved to St. Louis and, along with three assistants, sold her hair care line door-to-door. She expanded the company rapidly, advertising in newspapers, traveling to give demonstrations at black churches, and even selling her line at the 1904 World's Fair. In 1906, Malone trademarked her products under the name Poro, and in 1918, she built Poro College, a multi-story building that housed her business offices, training offices, operations, and a variety of public gathering spaces for the local black community. Malone even franchised retail outlets throughout North and South America, Africa, and the Philippines, employing over 75,000 women worldwide.

Malone's company was worth millions, and she continuously used her money to improve the lives of those around her, either by hiring women or donating to colleges and organizations around the country. She made $25,000 donations to both Howard University Medical School and the St. Louis Colored YMCA. She donated the land for the St. Louis Colored Orphans' Home and raised most of their construction costs, then served on their board from 1919 to 1943. In 1946, the orphanage was renamed in her honor, and it is still operational today as the Annie Malone Children and Family Service Center.

7. Mary Ellen Pleasant

When Mary Ellen Pleasant moved to San Francisco in 1852 she was fleeing the South, where she had been accused of violating the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Pleasant had, in fact, broken the law-which punished anyone who aided people escaping slavery-as a member of the Underground Railroad, along with her first husband James Smith. For four years, Pleasant and Smith helped escaped slaves find new homes in free states and Canada, and when Smith died only four years after their marriage, Pleasant continued the work with a considerable inheritance from him.

When Pleasant moved to San Francisco in 1852 amid Gold Rush fever, she initially worked as a cook and housekeeper, but also began investing in stock and money markets, and lending money to miners and other businessmen in California's surging economy (at interest, of course). Pleasant was successful enough that she became a philanthropist, and continued her abolitionist work by housing escaped slaves and finding them jobs.

In 1866, Pleasant brought a civil rights case against the North Beach Mission Railroad Company, which refused to pick up black passengers. She won. Her success in court, as well as in continuing the Underground Railroad through her businesses, have earned her the title the mother of California's civil rights movement.

By this time, Pleasant had amassed a sizable fortune and was considered one of the wealthiest women in America. But many people in white society saw her only as a black stereotype, and dubbed her Mammy Pleasant-a title she hated. She ended up being dragged into a series of scandals and court cases connected to wealthy men, accused of being both a thief and murderer. Financially drained and emotionally exhausted, she was forced to give up her home. The smear campaigns also greatly diminished her fortune and reputation in her time, but the legacy of her radical life has not been lost. In 2005, the city of San Francisco proclaimed February 10 Mary Ellen Pleasant Day in her honor.

8. Olive Ann Beech

From an early age, Beech knew how to manage finances. Born in 1903, she had her own bank account by the age of 7, and by 11 she had taken on the unusual childhood responsibility of keeping track of her family's accounts. Already with a mind for business and finance, Beech enrolled in a business college in her home state of Kansas, where she studied stenography and bookkeeping. After college, she took a position in 1924 as a bookkeeper for Travel Air Manufacturing Company, a new commercial and passenger aviation company.

Beech was fundamental to the company's growth, managing its correspondence, records, and financial dealings, and the organization quickly became the world's largest commercial aircraft manufacturer. In a short time, she was promoted to office manager, and eventually became personal secretary to Walter Beech, one of Travel Air's co-founders. Their working relationship became much more, and they married in 1930. As partners, they formed Beech Aircraft Company, and when Walter fell sick for a few months, Beech took over. With the onset of the U.S.'s entry into World War II, Beech Aircraft boomed, building over 7400 military aircraft over the course of the war.

When Walter died in 1950, Beech became president-the first woman president of a major aircraft company. She then took the company into the Space Age, establishing a research and development facility that supplied NASA with cryogenic systems, cabin pressurizing equipment for the Gemini program, and parts for the Apollo moon flights and Orbiter shuttle. Under Beech's leadership, the company's sales tripled.

In 1980, Beech Aircraft merged with Raytheon; Beech stayed on as chair of Beech Aircraft and was elected to Raytheon's board of directors. Though Beech never piloted an aircraft herself, she was awarded the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy that same year-the first woman to receive the award- for "five decades of outstanding leadership in the development of general aviation."

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8 Daring Female Entrepreneurs From History

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In the past 20 years, the number of women-owned businesses has risen 114 percent. But female entrepreneurship isn't just a hallmark of the modern era: Since as early as the 17th century, women have been forging their own paths in a variety of trades.

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Feature Image by @erinondemand

Black History Month is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of black leaders throughout American history. If you need a female leader to celebrate, then look no further than Madame C.J. Walker, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, activist and self-made millionaire. Yet, not all trailblazers are in the past.

Today, according to the 2018 State of Women-Owned Business report , the percentage of firms owned by black women grew by 164 percent, which is nearly three times the rate of all women-owned businesses. There are African American women in every realm of the business world writing checks and taking names. Here are a few, some new to the business and others who are experts, that you should know about:

Cathy Hughes, founder and chairperson of Urban One, Inc.

This media maven knows a thing or two about trailblazing. She is the founder and chairperson of Urban One, Inc (formerly known as Radio One, Inc.), the largest African-American owned and operated broadcast company in the nation. The company's doors have been open for 40 years.

Janice Bryant Howroyd, founder and CEO of ActOne Group

This 65-year-old business lady is an expert in workforce management. Operating in 19 countries worldwide with more than 17,000 clients, ActOne Group is the largest privately-held, woman and minority-owned workforce management company in the country.

Jessica Nabongo, founder of Jet Black and The Catch

The first black woman to ever travel to every country, this Detroit native is the founder and CEO of two companies. The first is Jet Black, a luxury travel firm, and The Catch, a socially conscious, luxury lifestyle brand inspired by 195 countries Nabongo has visited.

Jacque Aye, founder of Adorned by Chi

This entrepreneur catapulted to the public eye in 2015 when she launched Adorned by Chi, an anime and manga-inspired lifestyle brand. Since its inception, the brand has been featured in Essence, Buzzfeed, Revelist and Nylon. The brand even offers adorable apparel to match.

Kyra Young, Founder of Kyra Shea Medleys

Young broke into the beauty industry, alongside business partners John Moore and Michael Moore, by creating a natural hair and skin care company that has since gained mass appeal. Their story is one of hard work and persistence - three African-American entrepreneurs from South Central Los Angeles who have gone on to being featured on Good Morning America, Essence and Blavity.

Erin Winters, Founder of Erin on Demand and Co-founder of Black & GOALD

Another Detroit native, Winters specializes in helping other entrepreneurs build their online presence through video storytelling and strategic brand marketing. She launched her digital marketing and video production company Erin On Demand in 2018. Her YouTube channel , named after her business, has since grown to more than 112,000 subscribers. She also is the co-founder of an empowerment clothing line with her fiance called Black & GOALD .

Sheena D. Franklin, Founder of Well-Kept Beauty

Well-Kept Beauty should be every woman's new best mobile friend. The dermatology and skin care app helps you maintain healthy and glowing skin throughout your day. She launched the company initially just by asking questions. Franklin would survey customers in Sephora and outside of dermatology offices.

xx, The FabFitFun Team

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7 Black Female Entrepreneurs to Know This Black History Month - FabFitFun

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Feature Image by @erinondemand Black History Month is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of black leaders throughout American history. If you need a female leader to celebrate, then look no further than Madame C.J. Walker, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, activist and self-made millionaire. Yet, not all trailblazers are in the past.

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"When I think of African Americans in this country who have succeeded, it is a story of people who have achieved, in spite of and not because of- We Are Overcomers." - Sterling K. Brown

Brown who just made history himself having become the first African American man ever to win Best Actor in a TV Series in the Golden Globes' 75-year history, as well as the first African American to win the award for outstanding male actor in a drama series at the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, does not stand alone with this profound sentiment. It is indeed true that African Americans have bravely persevered throughout history, and have advanced myriad billion-dollar business verticals such as technology, agriculture, fashion, music, etc.

As it relates to entrepreneurship, many African American women can be counted among the ranks of legendary founders that have substantially contributed to this nations' success in the global economy. The Center for American Progress notates, African American women operate 1.3 million businesses that have generated $44.9 Billion in annual revenue and employed almost 272,000 people.

But entrepreneurship is not new for African American women, as we have historically had to create additional income streams to provide for the well-being of our families, due to pay inequities, under employment, and lack of professional advancement in the workplace.

Here are just four African American women that have charted their course for all entrepreneurs in this country.
Clara Brown
(c. 1800-1885)

Though born a slave in Virginia, Clara Brown established a successful laundry business in the late 1850s during the American gold rush. As with many horrific stories during slavery, in 1835, Brown's family (which included four children) was broken apart when they were all sold to different slave owners; Clara was sold to a plantation owner in Kentucky. Years later at age 56, she received her freedom and was required by law to leave the state. Using her additional skills as a midwife, cook, and nursemaid, Brown pooled her money to invest in various real estate, eventually owning a substantive portfolio comprised of 16 lots in Denver, 7 houses in Central City, and other property and mines around Colorado.

Reportedly, at the end of the Civil War, Brown could freely travel and liquidated all of her investments to go to Kentucky to find one of her children. Although she was unsuccessful, Clara Brown paid the way for 16 or more relatives and others who were former slaves to move to Colorado. In 1885, the last year of her life, Clara Brown was voted into the Society of Colorado Pioneers for her role in Colorado's early history.
Maggie Lena Walker
Maggie Lena Walker of Richmond, Virginia, was the first African American woman to charter a bank in the United States. Having been quoted in the St. Luke Herald, as newspaper she founded in 1902, Ms. Walker said "Let us put our money together; let us use our money; Let us put our money out at usury among ourselves, and reap the benefit ourselves," Maggie Lena Walker had a vision to make tangible improvements in the way of life for African Americans and women. Disabled by paralysis and limited to a wheelchair later in life, Walker also became an example for people with disabilities. In 1903, she chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank for which Mrs. Walker also served as the bank's first president. Later she agreed to serve as chairman of the board of directors when the bank merged with two other Richmond banks to become The Consolidated Bank and Trust Company, which grew to serve generations of Richmonders as an African-American owned institution.
Sheila Johnson
(born January 25, 1949)

Sheila Johnson, is the co-founder of BET (Black Entertainment Television), and currently serves as Founder and CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts. Ms. Johnson is the first African-American woman to attain a net worth of at least one billion dollars. Black Entertainment Television (BET) focused on African American audiences and was sold to Viacom for $3 billion in 2002. Johnson is also part-owner of the three sports teams in the NHL (Washington Capitals), NBA (Washington Wizards) and the WNBA (Washington Mystics). Sheila Johnson is also the first African-American woman to be an owner or partner in three professional sports franchises.
Janice Bryant Howroyd
(born September 1, 1952)

As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The ACT-1 Group, the largest privately held, woman owned workforce solutions company founded in the U.S. Janice Bryant Howroyd is the first Black woman to own a billion-dollar company. The Act-1 Group, which provides temporary staffing, HR services and consulting, also holds a Minority ownership status, and is a multibillion-dollar (USD) award-winning international Talent and Talent Technology enterprise with multiple divisions operating in 19 countries with over 17,000 clients and 2,600 employees worldwide.

Sources: Wikipedia, Forbes, Biography.com

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American History and the Black Woman Entrepreneur

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Brown who just made history himself having become the first African American man ever to win Best Actor in a TV Series in the Golden Globes' 75-year history, as well as the first African American to win the award for outstanding male actor in a drama series at the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, does not stand alone with this profound sentiment.

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It is perhaps unremarkable to say that African American women's participation in business developed slowly since Africans first began arriving in North America in the sixteenth century. However, when one considers the terrible legacy of slavery, the travesty of the Jim Crow era, and the continuing struggle for women's rights, it is striking to note that even before the civil rights movement of the 1960s a number of black women had become successful businesswomen, despite the fact that for centuries the United States had been frustratingly pro-male and pro-white. The earliest African American female entrepreneurs based their businesses around domestic services such as sewing, cooking, or cleaning. In time, though, the possibilities grew to encompass sales of health and beauty aids, investment in real estate, ownership of restaurants and boarding houses, the foundation of banks and other financial institutions, and a host of other endeavors. Today African American women are found serving as the CEOs of multimillion dollar corporations, controlling companies that pioneer new exciting technologies, and commanding media empires whose influence spans the globe. These women have reached the heights of success in the business world through hard work and focus, a willingness to innovate and embrace change, and a determination not to be cowed by the obstacles in their path. To honor their achievements, this month the editors of the African American Studies Center present profiles of some women who succeeded in business by really trying
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Featured Articles

The following articles have been selected to help guide readers who want to learn more about African American participation in business, female entrepreneurship in American history, and the growing presence of black women in the business world. ( Access to the following articles is available only to subscribers.)

Subject Entries

Biographies

Primary Documents

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It is perhaps unremarkable to say that African American women's participation in business developed slowly since Africans first began arriving in North America in the sixteenth century.

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The first black woman to take a company public: Cathy Hughes. She started in a small town in Omaha, Nebraska.

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The first black woman to take a company public: Cathy Hughes. She started in a small town in Omaha, Nebraska.

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First black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company: Ursula Burns. Ursula is a business executive who served as chairman (2010–17) and CEO (2009–16) of the Xerox Corporation. She was the first African American woman to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company. She succeeded Anne M. Mulcahy becoming the first female CEO to follow another in that role. 

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First black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company: Ursula Burns. Ursula is a business executive who served as chairman (2010–17) and CEO (2009–16) of the Xerox Corporation. She was the first African American woman to serve as CEO of a Fortune 500 company. She succeeded Anne M. Mulcahy becoming the first female CEO to follow another in that role. 

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Cathy Hughes
Founder and Chairperson
Urban One, Inc.

Cathy Hughes is a dynamic, media pioneer who demonstrates the power of one - one woman, one vision, one company - Urban One, formerly known as Radio One. As Founder and Chairperson of Urban One, Inc., the largest African-American owned and operated, broadcast company in the nation, Hughes' unprecedented career has spawned a multi-media conglomerate that generates original content across the spectrum of radio, television and digital media. Her humble beginnings in Omaha, Nebraska, were not a deterrent to her success but rather part of the catalyst that fueled her ambition to empower African Americans with information and to tell stories from their perspective.

Hughes began her radio career in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, at KOWH (AM), a station owned by a group of African-American professionals. In 1971, she moved to Washington, D.C., and became a lecturer in the newly established School of Communications at Howard University. During her tenure, she served as General Sales Manager at WHUR, Howard University Radio, increasing the station's revenue from $250,000 to $3 million in her first year. She also became the first woman Vice President and General Manager of a station in the nation's capital and created the format known as the "Quiet Storm," which revolutionized urban radio and was aired on over 480 stations nationwide. In 1980, Hughes purchased her flagship station WOL-AM, in Washington D.C., and pioneered yet another innovative format - "24-Hour Talk from a Black Perspective." With the theme, "Information is Power," she served as the station's morning show host for 11 years.

In 1999, Cathy Hughes became the first African-American woman to chair a publicly held corporation, following the sale of more than seven million shares of common stock to the public. Along with her son and business partner Alfred Liggins, III, she grew what was then Radio One into a multi-media company that became an urban radio market leader with more than 60 stations across the country comprised of hip hop, R&B, gospel and talk radio formats. It became the first African-American company in radio history to dominate several major markets simultaneously, and Hughes became the first woman to own a radio station that was ranked number one in a major market. Radio One also diversified and launched the television network TV One in 2004 and entered the digital space with Interactive One, now iOne Digital, in 2007.

As a result of her success, Hughes has earned hundreds of prestigious awards and recognitions. They include: the naming of Cathy Hughes Boulevard in her hometown of Omaha, Nebraska; the 2018 Lowry Mays Excellence in Broadcasting Award; the naming of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications at Howard University in 2016; the ADColor Lifetime Achievement Award; the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Chair's Phoenix Award; the NAACP Chairman's Award; the Giant of Broadcasting Award; the Uncommon Height of Excellence Award; the Essence Women Shaping the World Award; the Ida B. Wells Living Legacy Award; and induction into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame.

In May 2017, Radio One's name was changed to Urban One, to reflect the market it serves. Urban One, Inc. is now the parent corporation of several subsidiaries: TV One, the largest African-American owned, cable television network in the country and current home of the hit shows UnSung and Uncensored; Reach Media, which presents syndicated radio programs like the Rickey Smiley Morning Show and the Tom Joyner Morning Show; iOne Digital, home of several popular websites including Hello Beautiful and Cassius; and One Solution, a marketing firm that allows advertisers to take advantage of all of the assets under the Urban One brand.

Cathy Hughes' philanthropic work is on par with her success in the business arena as well. Her passion for education is evident in her efforts to continue her family's work and legacy at The Piney Woods School in Piney Woods, Mississippi. She is a staunch supporter of the school, which was established by her grandfather in 1909 and is the largest of only four African-American boarding schools in the country. In addition, she is a champion for the hungry and homeless, a mentor to countless women, and an advocate dedicated to empowering minority communities.

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Cathy Hughes is a dynamic, media pioneer who demonstrates the power of one - one woman, one vision, one company - Urban One, formerly known as Radio One. As Founder and Chairperson of Urban One, Inc., the largest African-American owned and operated, broadcast company in the nation, Hughes' unprecedented career has spawned a multi-media conglomerate that generates original content across the spectrum of radio, television and digital media.

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Make sure you have 5 resources.
Resources from .gov , .org and .net are really good resources to use.

Complete your 5 facts and make sure you they are specific. The facts should be a summarization of the information you found. Do not copy and paste from a source. To assist with making sure your facts are specific, include dates, years, names and locations. If you're using a quote make sure you have used quotation marks

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Madam C.J Walker invented the hot comb and took the first step for black women's hair and turned the idea into a million dollar idea.

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Madam C.J Walker invented the hot comb and took the first step for black women's hair and turned the idea into a million dollar idea.

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Cathy Hughes was the first black women to own a successful radio station and she started it all in a town called Omaha, Nebraska.

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Cathy Hughes was the first black women to own a successful radio station and she started it all in a town called Omaha, Nebraska.

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Sheila Johnson, is the co-founder of BET (Black Entertainment Television), and currently serves as Founder and CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts. Ms. Johnson is the first African-American woman to attain a net worth of at least one billion dollars. Black Entertainment Television (BET) focused on African American audiences and was sold to Viacom for $3 billion in 2002.  Johnson is also part-owner of the three sports teams in the NHL (Washington Capitals), NBA (Washington Wizards) and the WNBA (Washington Mystics). Sheila Johnson is also the first African-American woman to be an owner or partner in three professional sports franchises.

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Sheila Johnson, is the co-founder of BET (Black Entertainment Television), and currently serves as Founder and CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts. Ms. Johnson is the first African-American woman to attain a net worth of at least one billion dollars. Black Entertainment Television (BET) focused on African American audiences and was sold to Viacom for $3 billion in 2002.  Johnson is also part-owner of the three sports teams in the NHL (Washington Capitals), NBA (Washington Wizards) and the WNBA (Washington Mystics). Sheila Johnson is also the first African-American woman to be an owner or partner in three professional sports franchises.

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As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The ACT-1 Group, the largest privately held, woman owned workforce solutions company founded in the U.S. Janice Bryant Howroyd is the first Black woman to own a billion-dollar company. The Act-1 Group, which provides temporary staffing, HR services and consulting, also holds a Minority ownership status, and is a multibillion-dollar (USD) award-winning international Talent and Talent Technology enterprise with multiple divisions operating in 19 countries with over 17,000 clients and 2,600 employees worldwide.

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As Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The ACT-1 Group, the largest privately held, woman owned workforce solutions company founded in the U.S. Janice Bryant Howroyd is the first Black woman to own a billion-dollar company. The Act-1 Group, which provides temporary staffing, HR services and consulting, also holds a Minority ownership status, and is a multibillion-dollar (USD) award-winning international Talent and Talent Technology enterprise with multiple divisions operating in 19 countries with over 17,000 clients and 2,600 employees worldwide.

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Maggie Lena Walker of Richmond, Virginia, was the first African American woman to charter a bank in the United States. Having been quoted in the St. Luke Herald, as newspaper she founded in 1902, Ms. Walker said “Let us put our money together; let us use our money; Let us put our money out at usury among ourselves, and reap the benefit ourselves,” Maggie Lena Walker had a vision to make tangible improvements in the way of life for African Americans and women. Disabled by paralysis and limited to a wheelchair later in life, Walker also became an example for people with disabilities. In 1903, she chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank for which Mrs. Walker also served as the bank’s first president. Later she agreed to serve as chairman of the board of directors when the bank merged with two other Richmond banks to become The Consolidated Bank and Trust Company, which grew to serve generations of Richmonders as an African-American owned institution.

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Maggie Lena Walker of Richmond, Virginia, was the first African American woman to charter a bank in the United States. Having been quoted in the St. Luke Herald, as newspaper she founded in 1902, Ms. Walker said “Let us put our money together; let us use our money; Let us put our money out at usury among ourselves, and reap the benefit ourselves,” Maggie Lena Walker had a vision to make tangible improvements in the way of life for African Americans and women. Disabled by paralysis and limited to a wheelchair later in life, Walker also became an example for people with disabilities. In 1903, she chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank for which Mrs. Walker also served as the bank’s first president. Later she agreed to serve as chairman of the board of directors when the bank merged with two other Richmond banks to become The Consolidated Bank and Trust Company, which grew to serve generations of Richmonders as an African-American owned institution.

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Shelia Johnson was the Co-founder of BET and the first woman to have a net worth of one billion dollars

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Shelia Johnson was the Co-founder of BET and the first woman to have a net worth of one billion dollars

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Janice Bryant Howard is the first black women to own a billion dollar company the Act-1 Group.

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Janice Bryant Howard is the first black women to own a billion dollar company the Act-1 Group.

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Maggie Lena Walker was the first black women to charter a bank in the US. 

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Maggie Lena Walker was the first black women to charter a bank in the US. 

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Mae C. Jemison was the first female astronaut and physician who traveled into space and women to be admitted into NASA astronaut program.  

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Mae C. Jemison was the first female astronaut and physician who traveled into space and women to be admitted into NASA astronaut program.  

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Mae C. Jemison is an American astronaut and physician who, on June 4, 1987, became the first African American woman to be admitted into NASA’s astronaut training program. On September 12, 1992, Jemison finally flew into space with six other astronauts aboard the Endeavour on mission STS47, becoming the first African American woman in space. In recognition of her accomplishments, Jemison has received several awards and honorary doctorates.

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Mae C. Jemison is an American astronaut and physician who, on June 4, 1987, became the first African American woman to be admitted into NASA’s astronaut training program. On September 12, 1992, Jemison finally flew into space with six other astronauts aboard the Endeavour on mission STS47, becoming the first African American woman in space. In recognition of her accomplishments, Jemison has received several awards and honorary doctorates.

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Ursula Burns is the first black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company. She is the 

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Ursula Burns is the first black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company. She is the 