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Being an entrepreneur is hard enough, but when you’re a member of a minority group the challenges of launching and maintaining a successful business are even greater. As a means to assist this overlooked community of creatives in overcoming these hurdles, Complex decided to launch the B.O.S.S. mentorship program. The 12-week initiative was created with the goal of connecting BIPOC, women and LGBTQI small business owners with industry experts and allies in an effort to help these entrepreneurs and side hustlers thrive. The B.O.S.S. program includes weekly one-on-one meetings with in-house thought leaders, talks with C-suite executives, potential inclusion in the Complex SHOP spotlight, and an estimated $250,000 worth of media and promotional value within the Complex ecosystem as well as amplification across the Complex platform.
The submission process for the B.O.S.S. program began in December 2020, which resulted in 270+ impressive and worthy applicants. After going through the painstaking process of reviewing them all, we’ve narrowed the pool down to four applicants that we’ll be working with over the course of the next year: Black People Will Swim, Claima Stories, Wing Zero Apps and Swatchcandy. Read on to learn more about the stories behind these amazing small businesses, as well as a group of honorable mentions below. Click here for more information and updates on Complex’s B.O.S.S. initiative.
BLACK PEOPLE WILL SWIM
Founder: Paulana Lamonier
Base of Operations: New York, NY
Website: BlackPeopleWillSwim.com
The mission of Black People Will Swim [BPWS] is simple yet radical. Founded in 2019, the start-up aims to teach 2,020 Black people to swim, reversing the effects of decades-old stereotypes and discriminatory norms that have kept Black folks out of public pools since the height of the Jim Crow era. BPWS’s initial goal was to accomplish this by Dec. 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic altered those plans. Delayed but not derailed, the organization’s founder, Paulana Lamonier, is continuing her pursuit throughout 2021 and beyond.
Driven by a staggering statistic that suggests six out of every 10 Black kids don’t know how to swim, Lamonier’s short and long term goals are to raise enough capital to hire a staff of instructors and eventually own a private swimming facility. Though her initiative started with an end-date in mind, it’s now become a lifelong commitment to an urgent cause. No matter how long it takes, Black people—young or old, big or small, poor or privileged—will swim.
CLAIMA STORIES
Founder: Bimma Williams
Base of Operations: Portland, OR
Website: ClaimaStories.com
Claima Stories is a podcast dedicated to highlighting BIPOC creatives in the footwear and apparel industry. Launched in 2019 and hosted by Bimma Williams, the pod has featured Black and Brown guests from Nike, Reebok, New Balance, and other footwear giants.
Claima Stories’ net benefit for its audience is awareness. While career paths in music, sports and filmmaking have largely been demystified in recent years, many Black and Brown sneakerheads are still unaware of all the ways they can turn their passion into a profession. In short, Claima Stories is more than just a sneaker show. It’s an educational platform that, if amplified, could help change the status quo of representation in an industry that regularly borrows from Black and Brown tastemakers, yet rarely empowers them.
WING ZERO APPS
Founder: Bruce Hamilton
Base of Operations: Los Angeles, CA
Website: WingZeroApps.com
Founded in 2018, Wing Zero Apps is simplifying mobile app development for non-coders by providing intuitive and easy to use templates. The service could be thought of as Squarespace for first-time app developers, although the barriers it aims to topple tend to tower a lot higher over marginalized communities than simple website development. Since venture capital investment in Silicon Valley surged in the mid-2010s, it’s become increasingly clear how underfunded Black and Brown tech start-ups are compared to their white counterparts. Given that disparity in seed money, the typical five to six-figure price tag on app development often shatters the dreams of aspirant BIPOC tech founders.
Wing Zero’s Bruce Hamilton originally set out to create what he called a “social music marketplace app.” But he quickly pivoted his idea after witnessing so many of his fellow founders abandon their projects upon realizing the obstructive cost of app development. Now, Hamilton offers start-ups comprehensive templates for just a few hundred bucks a month. Should Wing Zero Apps continue to grow, it could potentially even the playing field in tech hubs throughout the world.
SWATCHCANDY
Founders: Anisha Matharu & Sabrina Moin
Base of Operations: Atlanta, GA
Website: Swatchcandy.com
A persistent problem in the beauty industry is how often people with melanin are overlooked for fairer-toned complexions. Not only does this lack of inclusion manifest in the way makeup is traditionally marketed, it also directly harms BIPOC people who purchase makeup online, as they often wind up wasting money on products that don’t suit them. Swatchcandy, a beauty tech start-up founded in 2019 by Anisha Matharu and Sabrina Moin, aims to remedy this disparity by creating visualization solutions for cosmetic brands that can help personalize a customer’s online shopping experience.
Swatchcandy offers two distinct services: Custom photography for brand partners, and an iOS and web app for consumers. As part of a three-tier partnership plan, the start-up photographs diverse lipstick swatches for brands’ websites and social media channels, in addition to offering web integration technology that compares the photography to the complexion of the buyer. Swatchcandy’s current brand partners include Lip Revolt, Bee Cosmetics, and City Beauty. As Matharu and Moin continue to grow their business, they could eventually partner with larger brands that have the power to end the beauty industry’s inclusivity problem altogether.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
WOMEN OF COLOR THERAPY
Founder: Tamika Lewis, LCSW
Base of Operations: Los Angeles, CA
Website: WOCtherapy.com
Women of Color Therapy is an agency devoted to providing Black and Brown women access to mental health services and culturally-aware therapists. Founded in 2020, the agency is composed of four WOC therapists, including founder and CEO Tamika Lewis. Together, these dedicated therapists work to provide their services across the greater Los Angeles area, but plan to scale their agency nationwide in the years to come.
MY HOME PATHWAY
Founder: Cathleigh Johnson
Base of Operations: New York, NY
Website: MyHomePathway.com
My Home Pathway is a financial platform founded by Cathleigh Johson in 2020. With homeownership at the crux of the racial wealth gap in America, My Home Pathway aims to connect those who are disproportionately considered “high-risk” applicants to some of the largest mortgage lenders in the country. Upon signing up on the My Home Pathway app, users are given a “home readiness report,” followed by customized recommendations meant to improve their chances at getting a loan from one of the platform’s participating partners.
LEGACY HISTORY PRIDE
Founder: Tahir Murray
Base of Operations: Atlanta, GA
Website: ShopLHP.com
Legacy History Pride [LHP] is an HBCU apparel brand founded by Howard University graduating senior Tahir Murray. Since its launch in 2019, LHP’s collegiate designs have been worn by celebrities the likes of Power 105.1’s DJ Envy and 10x NBA All-Star Chris Paul, with the latter leading to the brand appearing in a GQ feature. Inspired by the richness of HBCU culture, the brand pours back into the academic community from whence it came, having helped raise over $100,000 in scholarships and grants for prospective and current HBCU students as of last year.
CAMP YOSHI
Founders: Ron & Rashad Frazier
Base of Operations: Portland, OR
Website: CampYoshi.com
Founded by brothers Ron and Rashad Frazier in 2020, Camp Yoshi is an all-inclusive adventure guide company devoted to curating unique experiences for Black travelers. Historically, the travel and adventure industry (like most other industries) has either overlooked Black people, or outright discouraged them from traveling. This, in addition to more practical barriers (i.e. the cost of outdoor equipment that won’t get much year-round use, anxieties about the safety hazards associated with traveling while Black, etc.) have kept Black folks from experiencing all that nature has to offer. For just a one-time fee, the Frazier brothers remove those obstacles by providing equipment, food and shelter; a five-day itinerary from start to finish; and guiding groups of 6-12 Black travelers at a time across the most remote regions of the Pacific Northwest.
KINDRED PAPER CO.
Founder: Savannah Stephens
Base of Operations: Atlanta, GA
Website: OurKindredPaper.com
Kindred Paper Co. is a greeting card company founded in May 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the growing anxieties of people across the country (and the world), founder Savannah Stephens embarked on a mission to spark joy the old fashioned way—through beautifully and thoughtfully crafted greeting cards. While folks may be more entrenched in technology than they’ve ever been, hosting events ranging from weddings to birthday parties via Zoom, Stephens is revving the emotional tradition of sending and receiving physical messages that are able to be treasured for a lifetime.
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