How 8 Successful Black Women Taught Us to Dream Big
Dreams are soul food. Dreams are things that give us trust. Dreams are significant for us to clutch, and to pursue. Even more, when dreams come true, they give us delight and bliss.
Unfortunately for many, dreams are simply a fantasy and for many reasons, people fail to purse them. Sometimes our own self doubt prevent us from making our dreams a reality. We let go of our dreams because of this and as a result, we let go of a part of ourselves.
Luckily, there are those who dared to dream despite the odds against them. Their bravery to pursue their dreams and achieve great success along the way has given many hope to follow their dreams.
Here are 8 successful black women who chose to make their dreams a reality:
1) Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey was the second African American woman to start her own network - Oprah Winfrey Network. A feat which only a few still dream of. She also founded Harpo Productions in the late 80s. Today, Forbes puts her worth at over $2.7 billion.
2) Madame C.J. Walker
Madame C.J. Walker is best known as America’s first Black female self-made millionaire. A daughter of former slaves, Walker worked in a barbershop for only $1.50 a day before she created a homemade remedy that helped her hair regrow after suffering a scalp condition.
3) Lisa Price
In 1993, Lisa Price started making hair products in her Brooklyn kitchen with just $100. She sold her concoctions at church flea markets and street fairs. Today, her homemade line Carol’s Daughter is a multimillion-dollar line of must-have beauty treats.
4) Mae Jemison
In 1992, African American's were still fighting for equality and human rights via the LA riot after the brutal beating of Rodney King. No one imagined, a black women would ever have the chance of taking a trip to space. Mae Jemison showed us anything was possible when she earned a degree in chemical engineering a doctorate in 1981 and was chosen for NASA's astronaut program in 1987. She became the first black woman to travel in space in 1992 after launching with the Space Shuttle Endeavour crew.
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5) Sheila Johnson
Johnson made her fortune when she co-founded the BET cable network with her then husband, Bob Johnson. In 2005 she became the first African-American female owner of a WNBA team when she bought into the Washington Mystics basketball team.
6) Cathy Hughes
From teenage mother to media power player, Hughes is the founder of Radio One, which includes 53 radio stations in the U.S., and TVOne, a cable network. At one point during the early stages of her career, she lost her home and was forced to live with relatives as she rebuilt her company into what is now one of the biggest media companies in the world.
7) Janice Bryant Howroyd
Bryant Howroyd founded her employment staffing firm, ACT-1, in 1978 with just $1,500, a small office and a telephone. 34 years later, ACT-1 is the largest American company of its kind owned by a woman of color, with over 70 branches nationwide.
8) Condoleezza Rice
Currently a professor at Stanford University, from 2005 to 2009, Rice held the post of Secretary of State under George W. Bush's presidency. She was the second woman and first Black woman to do so.
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