The lawsuit preventing Fearless Fund from allocating funding to Black women entrepreneurs has been settled. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Fearless Fund, currently led by founding partner Arian Simone, was sued by legal activist Edward Blum and his American Alliance for Equal Rights group. In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, GA, in August 2023, the investment firm had been accused of “explicit racial exclusion” for creating a grant program that was “open only to Black females,” with the lawsuit alleging that it went against the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Blum and the group flagged Fearless Fund’s efforts of providing $20,000 in grants and mentorship directed to Black women due to a violation of “race neutrality,” The Washington Post reports. Initially, U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash was in favor of the Fearless Fund, which at the time had been guided by Simone and COO Ayana Parsons, who later stepped down from her role in April 2024. View this post...

Starting a business and becoming an entrepreneur is an option for anyone regardless of their education level, socioeconomic status and more. It may be hard for some to believe, but there is legitimacy to becoming successful with just a dollar and a dream . There are many testimonials out there of people who have gone from rags to riches, sharing stories on how they turned their ideas into a real business with hard work and determination. The best business books are the ones that not only share a success story, but also teach the reader how they can write a success story of their own. Many of the books below are also written by Black authors who specifically highlight the past and present struggles of Black Americans leading successful businesses. Discover which of these books is the most inspiring or resonates the most or combine the knowledge from them all to put to good use in the industry. Here are 10 of the best business books that tell these stories and help inspire anyone to...

A budding entrepreneur is defying all odds while running his own business.

Since launching 1863 Ventures in 2016, Founder and Managing Partner Melissa Bradley has learned all about what it means to make changes to create an even greater impact. As previously reported by AfroTech, the D.C. -based company is on a mission to create $100 billion in new wealth by 2030 through its nonprofit programming and venture fund. Following her session titled, “Owning your Growth Trajectory in Today’ s Economy,” at Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Summit, Bradley spoke about her own company’s shift in its course in an exclusive interview with AfroTech.

Terzel Ron understands that if nothing else, the entertainment industry is volatile. So, after he graduated from New York University in 2018, he spent nine months looking for a job — only to finally land a job as a production assistant at ViacomCBS. Thanks to that job, he was able to pay off $5,000 in student loans — but according to CNBC, he wanted more. In 2021, he got a job at a “large television network” where he makes $110,000 per year. Terzel Ron subsequently got a second part-time job, where he makes an additional $40,000 per year, for a grand total of $150,000 per year. And, he says, it was imperative to save — and invest — as much of it as he could. “I invest most of what I make and try to forget the amount of money in my accounts. Jobs come and go, and when they go, the only thing left to show for it is the amount of money you have saved and invested from it,” he said to the outlet. What’s more, Terzel Ron said he works a lot, too. He told CNBC that he works seven days a...

About a week ago, Antonio Brown had a rather infamous meltdown. As fans of football already know, the meltdown ended with the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer stripping down to his pants and stomping off the field. Now, this infamous meltdown is being made into a non-fungible token (NFT). TMZ is reporting that the so-called “Antonio Brown meltdown” is going up for auction on Jan. 13, on the ViralHeir website, and could go for a reported $1.5 million. Plus, the site is already boasting the NFT as something that “will change” the face of “sports memorabilia.” “On January 2, during an NFL game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets, wide receiver Antonio Brown removed his jersey, tossed his uniform into the crowd, and abruptly left the field,” reports the site. “The moment, captured by a Jets fan, has now been shared millions of times in one of the most viral moments in recent sports history. You can now own that viral moment in an NFT auction that will forever change the...

Ciearra Baker probably never thought she’d become known as the “Vending Machine Mom” when she made a Christmas Eve post on Facebook. The single mother from St. Louis, MO, quickly went viral when she posted a photo of her children with a rather unconventional “present.” “Let’s not handicap these kids making their lives easy,” wrote the woman who would become known as the Vending Machine Mom. “I’m not buying toys my kids most definitely will understand. Life is not easy and making the right choices with money & etc… So I came up with the idea to invest in a vending machine for the kids as Christmas gift #Young bosses in the making 👌💪🏽👏🏽🤑 MERRY XMAS!” Some commenters thought the idea was a good one. “I love this so much! I started selling candy at school when I was little to make my money and now I’m 24 and have a small business and I love it!” wrote one woman. Others, however, weren’t as welcoming to the idea. “Not you shaming other parents for getting their kids gifts instead of...