WASHINGTON (HUNS) — “The future belongs to creators who are bold,” Everette Taylor, CEO of crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, told students at Howard University during a recent visit.

As Taylor discussed his journey, he tested the boldness of students by inviting them to share their ideas during an impromptu pitch session at the Cathy Hughes School of Communications’ new speaker series in the Browsing Room of Founders Library. The inaugural speaker then shocked one group of students by pledging to invest in their thesis film, paying forward the opportunities that have lifted him as he struggled to pursue his dreams.

Taylor grew up in a low-income neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia, where he frequently encountered gang violence and drug dealing amid periods of homelessness.

Not feeling as if he conformed to conventional ideas of success, he eventually found inspiration in Jay-Z who balanced being an artist and an entrepreneur. Similarly, Taylor carved his own route, launching and growing various businesses.

He gained enough recognition to land on the 2018 Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in marketing and advertising. In 2022, Forbes also named him as one of the top 50 most entrepreneurial CMOs when he was chief marketing officer of Artsy, an online art gallery and marketplace. That same year he took over Kickstarter, and the company reported a year-over-year revenue increase of 50% in the first quarter of 2026.

Taylor encouraged the audience through his story, but he also gave practical advice to help students who share his zeal to create and grow their business.

He explained that his mentor, Artsy CEO Mike Steib, helped him make the transition from being a CMO to becoming CEO at Kickstarter.

“These opportunities I don’t take for granted,” Taylor said, adding that Steib was “the first leader I had to take me under his wing.”

When he began his position at Kickstarter, Taylor said, “I had zero imposter syndrome, because I felt like I was ready for it, and it was because this person invested in me over the past few years.”

“A lot of my journey was me just hustling and being bold enough to ask for what I want, but I also need people to give me an opportunity.”

This idea of giving people opportunity impacts his business philosophy, as Taylor estimates that the number of African American employees grew exponentially since he’s been in leadership.

“Kickstarter was I think less than 2% Black, and at our peak I had gotten it to 20-something percent Black,” Taylor said.

Even then, Taylor also saw a need for representing other perspectives. “We still serve people globally, so we need people from different countries and cultures,” he said. “If you’re building a global company, it’s important to build a diverse base of people.”

With the success Taylor had after becoming CEO of Kickstarter, he also found a need to prioritize his health.

“This is the first year that I’ve started the year with zero business goals,” he said. “For the first time, my goals have been centered around my health.”

He cites the illness of a friend who appeared to be healthy. Seeing his friend, who is also a successful entrepreneur, endure illness pushed him to prioritize his health.

“Business, I can do that in my sleep, but for me right now I’m so much more focused on setting goals for myself, and I know that’s going to impact the work that I do by feeling healthier and being a better version of myself.”

Samantha Housen, a sophomore public relations major and interior design minor from Harlem, attended the event to gain knowledge to grow her non-profit and for-profit businesses.

“I’m here because I want to explore more of the details of entrepreneurship from an actual professional,” Housen said, and to “see how his mindset could help me in my entrepreneurship.”

“My biggest takeaway is that I’m bold, and it’s OK to be bold,” she said. “I very much have the authority to do whatever I seek to do.”

Kimberly Moffitt, Ph.D., dean of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications and host of the event, said she was excited about the speaker series.

“It’s because of students,” Moffitt said. “They felt like they weren’t hearing enough from people who are already post-graduation and successful. They wanted to hear those voices. So, this is an opportunity for me to bring folks to campus so they could reach out, talk and interact with folks that they aspire to be like or will be inspired by.”

Moffitt was excited for students to see someone who looked like them and carried themselves authentically in a position of high acclaim.

“He is showing you a different path, and letting you know that it’s OK to be who you are and show up in that space and not have to apologize,” Moffitt said of Taylor.

Moffitt also wants to encourage students to make the most of the speaker series. She gives details on upcoming speakers and the importance of hearing these people tell their stories.

“Those of you who want to be in TV and film, those jobs are different now,” she said. “You have to hustle in a different way.”

“I need our students to think about entrepreneurship in all that they do,” Moffitt added. “I want students to leave with that so that they have it in their back pocket should they need to draw on it.”

After the event. Taylor explained why boldness is essential to his success at Kickstarter.

“It’s for the grind and the ambition — not settling for status quo and mediocrity, and really going for it,” he said. “I always want to impact more lives, and that always leads to more results.”

Solomon Goins is a reporter for HUNewsService.com.

Based on reporting by Howard University News Service.

For Jamika Phillips, getting your nails done should feel like more than another appointment squeezed onto an already crowded calendar.

She wanted a place where the person doing your nails knows your name, remembers what you drink, what colors you like, and maybe even what was happening in your life the last time you sat in their chair.

“I kind of wanted to be the ‘Cheers’ of nail salons,” Phillips said. “I wanted clients to be able to have a community where they could come and know their nail techs, know that they were getting quality care with their nails, and know that we would give them education.”

That vision became Shades The Nail Bar, the Sienna-area salon Phillips opened in January 2022 after leaving a career that had nothing to do with the beauty industry.

A dream decades in the making

Phillips spent more than 20 years in corporate America, working in software engineering and global process management. Her background is in computer science, but the idea of owning a nail salon wouldn’t go away.

“I have notes back from probably 2000 where I would think about the names of the salons that I wanted,” Phillips said. “I still have these pages, and I look back at them and thank God for them every day.”

While still working full time, Phillips enrolled in manicurist school, working her corporate job during the day and attending classes at night and on Saturdays until she earned her license.

“I would work from 9 to 5. I would go to school from 5 to 9 Monday through Friday, on Saturdays from like 8 to 2,” she recalled.

After moving to Houston with her husband, Phillips prepared to open a salon in the city. She had signed a letter of intent and was about a week away from signing a lease when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I thank God I did not sign the lease,” Phillips said.

The setback redirected her closer to home. While driving through Sienna, where her family lives, Phillips spotted an available space, pulled over, and called the number. The space was available. Shades The Nail Bar was on its way.

Creating a different kind of nail salon

Phillips knew she was entering a crowded industry, but she also saw an opportunity as a Black woman entering a business where few salon owners looked like her.

“There were a lot of people that said, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’” she said. “There’s a lot of competition. There are nail salons every two miles from each other. Typically, not a lot of Black people own nail salons.”

Instead of discouraging her, Phillips said the skepticism became “ammunition” to keep going.

“Black women spend tons of money in the nail care industry,” Phillips said. “So it was something that I said, we got to do this.”

Even the name Shades was intentional.

“I wanted shades to represent not just the nail polish colors, but I wanted it to represent different shades of nail technicians as well as clientele,” she said.

Today, her staff includes Black, Hispanic, and Asian nail technicians, reflecting the diverse community the business serves.

The salon is also acrylic-free, offering alternatives including builder gel, polygel, and Gel-X. Phillips researches products and often tries them herself before introducing them to clients.

“I’m always looking at new ways to make Shades different.”

Those differences extend beyond nail services. Shades offers complimentary beverages, cleans clients’ rings during appointments, and emphasizes sanitation and nail health.

@shadesthenailbar 50 looks GOOD on you, Lolita! 🥂✨💅🏾 We had the pleasure of being part of Lolita’s 50th birthday celebration, and hearing her share her experience at Shades made it even sweeter. ❤️ There’s something special about celebrating a milestone with a little self-care, beautiful nails, and GOOD energy. Thank you, Lolita, for choosing Shades to be part of such a special birthday. Here’s to 50 and FABULOUS! 🎂✨ Celebrating something special? Come celebrate with us. Book now at ShadesTheNailBar.com 📍 9101 Sienna Crossing Dr., Suite 160 Missouri City, TX 77459 #ShadesTheNailBar#50thBirthday#BirthdayNails#MissouriCityNails#SiennaTX#HoustonNails#BirthdayCelebration♬ original sound – Shades The Nail Bar

But Phillips said its biggest distinction is the relationships.

“We’ve seen them have babies. We’ve seen them lose their babies. We’ve seen them lose their parents. We’ve seen marriages, divorces,” Phillips said. “I mean, we are there for them.”

Staff members send cards and cookies during important moments and often know a regular client’s preferred drink before the client asks.

“We really do try to build and bond a relationship with our clientele so that they know that, hey, we are here for them,” Phillips said.

Shades also supports local schools, churches, and Fort Bend-area charitable efforts.

Corporate lessons meet entrepreneurship

Phillips may have traded software engineering for nail polish, but she didn’t leave her corporate experience behind. She said the leadership, teamwork, and organizational skills she developed during more than two decades in corporate America became the foundation for running Shades.

“I can’t say that I was an entrepreneur by trade,” she said. “A lot of those things — the leadership, the teamwork, the organizational skills — all those things were built over my corporate career.”

Entrepreneurship brought its own lessons, from finding vendors who understood her vision to keeping detailed financial records, building the right team, and maintaining strong customer service.

Phillips credits her husband and children with supporting her through missed family dinners and soccer games. She also credits mentor LeeVera Smith, a business adviser with the Small Business Development Center, with helping her develop the business plan that became Shades’ foundation.

“Jamika is one of those people who wants to learn everything to bring her customers the best experience,” Smith said. “I’m supposed to be her mentor, but I learn so much from her.”

Phillips’ girlfriends also pitched in, proofreading her website, organizing supplies, offering feedback, and talking her through the inevitable difficult days.

Because Phillips knows better than most that dreams don’t always arrive on schedule. Sometimes they sit quietly in notebooks for 20 years before you finally decide it’s time to bet on yourself.

Based on reporting by Houston Defender.

A new photography book is giving readers a rare look inside one of the most important buildings in Black media history.

820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon, published Tuesday by MW Editions, features photographs by Chicago photographer Barbara Karant documenting the former Johnson Publishing Company headquarters at 820 S. Michigan Ave., the longtime home of Ebony and Jet magazines. Pasted markdown

The 240-page book preserves the building’s striking interiors, many of which no longer exist in their original form, while also examining the larger cultural legacy of Johnson Publishing Company and its influence on Black media, design, photography and American culture.

Designed by architect John W. Moutoussamy and completed in 1972, the building was the first, and remains the only, high-rise in downtown Chicago designed by an African American architect. Built for publisher John H. Johnson, the headquarters became a physical expression of the ambition and influence of one of the nation’s most important Black-owned media companies.

While the building’s exterior reflected Moutoussamy’s restrained modernist style, the inside told a very different story.

Designers Arthur Elrod and William Raiser filled the headquarters with bold colors, geometric patterns, mirrored surfaces, rich textures and dramatic materials across 11 floors. The result was a workplace that looked unlike the traditional corporate offices of its era. Pasted markdown

Karant began photographing the building after Johnson Publishing sold the property in 2010 and relocated in 2012. Between 2013 and 2015, and again in 2018, she documented the largely vacant interiors after employees and much of the furniture had been removed.

What remained were the colors, patterns and architectural details that had helped define the company’s visual identity.

Her photographs capture spaces ranging from the cafeteria’s orange, purple and gold designs to Eunice Johnson’s cream-and-honey office, mirrored dressing rooms and the executive floor’s expansive views of Lake Michigan and Grant Park. Pasted markdown

Among the building’s most memorable spaces was the famed Ebony Test Kitchen.

Known for its vivid colors, psychedelic patterns and distinctive cabinetry, the kitchen became a visual reflection of Ebony magazine’s influence on food, lifestyle and Black culture. Karant photographed the kitchen as part of the larger architectural story of the headquarters. Pasted markdown

“The building was almost like a portrait of Johnson Publishing Company itself,” Karant said. “Even after the people and furnishings were gone, the colors, patterns, textures and spaces still conveyed the creativity, confidence and extraordinary cultural presence of the company.”

The photographs have taken on even greater significance because much of what Karant documented has since disappeared.

Following the building’s conversion, substantial portions of the original interiors were removed. The Ebony Test Kitchen was dismantled and preserved separately, making Karant’s images one of the most extensive visual records of how the headquarters looked during Johnson Publishing Company’s decades on Michigan Avenue. Pasted markdown

The book also includes photographs of sculptor Richard Hunt’s Expansive Construction, a work commissioned for the building’s lobby, as well as images of the company’s in-house photography studio and archival views of the original interiors.

But 820 Ebony/Jet goes beyond architecture.

The book includes a foreword by photography historian Deborah Willis, six scholarly essays and personal reflections from former Johnson Publishing Company employees. Together, the contributions explore the company’s role in Black visual representation, media, photography, art and design, while offering firsthand accounts of what it was like to work inside the building. Pasted markdown

For generations, Ebony and Jet helped shape how Black America saw itself and how the country saw Black America.

The magazines documented everything from politics and the civil rights movement to fashion, entertainment, family life and culture. Johnson Publishing Company also became an influential force in photography, beauty, design and popular culture.

That legacy extended well beyond the pages of its magazines.

The new book examines Johnson Publishing Company’s continuing influence on artists including Theaster Gates, Hank Willis Thomas, Kwame Brathwaite, Lorna Simpson, Martine Syms and David Hartt. Pasted markdown

For Chicago, the book serves as both an architectural record and a cultural archive. It preserves a place where Black entrepreneurship, media, art and design converged at a scale rarely seen before or since.

820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon is available now from MW Editions. The hardcover volume includes 150 photographs and is priced at $65. Pasted markdown

Karant is also scheduled to present the book during Modernism Week at the Palm Springs Art Museum on Feb. 15, 2027, where she will discuss the connection between the Johnson Publishing Company headquarters and the design legacy of Arthur Elrod and William Raiser.

The post Inside 820 S. Michigan: New Book Captures the Lost World of Ebony and Jet appeared first on Chicago Defender.

Based on reporting by Chicago Defender.

Families across the country are opening their monthly utility bills with a growing sense of dread. Groceries cost more. Rent costs more. Now electricity has become one more expense pushing household budgets to the breaking point, and for many in the Black community – as usual – the squeeze is being felt hardest of all.

Residential electricity prices are expected to average more than 18 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2026, about 5 percent higher than last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. At the same time, demand for power is climbing fast as the nation adds data centers, factories, and other large energy users. And consumers remain exposed to a market rattled by global conflict and swings in fuel prices.

These costs do not land on everyone equally. For a family with little left over at the end of the month, even a modest jump in the light bill means less for food, transportation or medicine. Low-income households spend three times more of their income on energy than other households, and Black households spend 43 percent more than white households, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

The question every public official should be asking, then, is simple: How does America add the reliable electricity it needs while keeping costs down for the families least able to absorb them?

Instead, a group of state attorneys general has chosen a very different fight.

In November 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued three of the nation’s largest asset managers, BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard, and was joined by a coalition of other states. The lawsuit claims the firms bought up large stakes in major coal producers and then used their influence as shareholders to pressure those companies to cut production in pursuit of climate goals. The attorneys general argue this restricted coal supply, raised coal prices and, in the end, raised electricity prices for consumers.

Paxton and his colleagues have presented the case as a way to bring down power bills. But when Paxton’s office announced its settlement with Vanguard, it billed the deal as an agreement “to protect the coal industry.” That wording tells us a great deal about whose interests are really at the center of this case.

Attorneys general have only so much time, staff, and money. Every hour spent on litigation against investment firms is an hour not spent on the problems that actually drive up household energy costs: transmission bottlenecks, permitting delays, an aging grid, energy efficiency and the shortage of new power generation.

There is actually an even deeper problem with making coal the centerpiece of an affordability strategy. Coal has been losing ground in the marketplace for decades.

Around 1990, coal supplied more than half of the nation’s electricity. By 2025, its share had fallen to about 17 percent. Most of that decline came from competition, chiefly cheaper natural gas, along with the growth of renewable energy and tougher environmental rules. In the first three months of 2026 alone, coal plant output fell 11 percent from a year earlier, while renewable generation grew. And this summer, Lazard’s annual analysis found renewables remain the lowest-cost option for new power plants, even as existing plants have become more competitive and continue to provide real value to the grid.

Coal’s decline did not begin with Wall Street, investment policies or the climate movement. It is the result of decades of change in America’s energy economy. Where a coal plant remains affordable and necessary to keep the lights on, utilities should keep running it. But keeping a useful plant open is very different from treating the survival of an entire industry as public policy. If other sources can provide power more cheaply, government has no business shielding coal from that competition.

For Black communities, the cost of coal does not stop at the utility bill. Burning coal produces air pollution and coal ash that must be managed, and the Environmental Protection Agency notes that coal ash contains contaminants like mercury, cadmium, and arsenic. A landmark NAACP study found that the roughly 6 million people living near coal plants had lower average incomes than the nation as a whole, and that people of color made up a majority of those living near the worst polluters. Too many of our neighborhoods carry both burdens at once: high energy bills and a greater share of the pollution. Any policy that claims to help consumers should account for both sides of that ledger.

The truth is that families do not much care whether the power running their refrigerator comes from a coal plant, a natural gas facility, or a wind farm. They care that it is there when they need it and that they can afford to pay for it.

Critics of environmental policy often complain that government should not pick winners and losers in energy markets. That principle should apply evenly. Financial firms should not be allowed to break antitrust laws in pursuit of climate goals. But government should be just as cautious about using its power to guarantee coal a permanent place in the market. Coal, natural gas, nuclear, wind, solar, battery storage, and new technologies should all compete on cost, reliability, and what the grid needs.

The real challenge before the nation is building enough reliable power, and building it quickly. Clinging to coal’s past, especially through the courts, does nothing to solve that.

At a time when so many Americans are struggling just to pay bills, it is fair to ask why state officials are pouring so much energy into protecting one industry. Attorneys general should be working to make power more plentiful and more affordable. Families facing economic hardships deserve more than to be invoked as props in a political fight between government officials and some of the world’s largest financial institutions.

Based on reporting by Our Weekly Los Angeles / Our Weekly Antelope Valley.

For Black women across the Washington metropolitan region, the changing employment landscape is about more than a paycheck. It can mean reassessing a career, redefining success and deciding what comes next.

The numbers underscore the challenge. Revised employment data show that approximately 251,000 Black women lost jobs between January and August 2025, accounting for more than half of the employment losses among women during that period, despite Black women representing just 14.1% of the female workforce. By the end of 2025, there were 113,000 fewer Black women employed than at the beginning of the year.

The impact has been particularly significant in the DMV, where federal employment has long provided economic stability and career opportunities for Black professionals. Maryland alone lost approximately 25,000 federal jobs in 2025, according to state employment data.

For DC Black MBA, those realities call for support that extends beyond helping women find their next job.

“I am focused on doing more and providing as many opportunities as possible for Black women to invest in themselves both professionally and personally,” said Dr. Carletta S. Hurt, president of the DC Black MBA. “We know that when Black women proceed and prosper, everyone benefits.”

That commitment is behind Leading with Intention by Investing in Self, a three-part, in-person workshop series hosted by DC Black MBA in partnership with Blu Topaz Inc. Educational Consulting.

The series builds on the chapter’s August Women’s Symposium, MastHERpiece: Designing a Life with Intention, which challenged women to see themselves as architects of their careers, wealth, wellness and impact. The new workshops take that conversation a step further, asking women to consider where they can work next and who they want to become next.

The series opens Oct. 22 with “Recalibrating Your Compass,” led by Geraldine P. White, Founder and CEO of Identity & Impact. White will guide participants through questions of identity, direction and purpose.

“You can be proud of what you’ve built and ready for something different. Both can be true,” White said. “Investing in yourself includes giving yourself permission to revisit an earlier definition of success and consider what you want your next chapter to make possible.”

On Oct. 29, Tonya Camille, creator of Me in the Making and Unstuck & Inspired, will lead “Successful, But Stuck: How High-Achieving Professionals Reconnect, Realign & Move Forward.”

Her interactive workshop will help women identify fears, limiting beliefs and recurring patterns that may prevent them from moving forward, while developing a concrete next step. “You can’t change what you won’t acknowledge, and you can’t transform what you’re unwilling to confront,” Camille said.

The series concludes Nov. 5 with nonprofit leader, author and consultant Tokiwa T. Smith leading “Rest is Revolutionary.”Her session challenges a familiar expectation placed upon Black women: that achievement and service to others must come at the expense of themselves.

Smith said Black women must recognize that prioritizing themselves, setting boundaries and making room for joy are not signs of diminished ambition. “I believe we thrive when we engage in self-care and community care,” Smith said.

For Hurt, the goal is to create space for Black women to move beyond reacting to an uncertain economy and begin intentionally determining what comes next.

A job loss can require a new résumé. A changing workplace may demand new skills. However, a life transition can also become an invitation to reconsider purpose, boundaries, entrepreneurship, leadership, rest and the meaning of success itself.

For more information, visit the DC Black MBA website (www.dcblackmbaa.org)/.

Based on reporting by Washington Informer.

For years, technology has been one of America’s fastest-growing economic sectors—and one where Black professionals remain significantly underrepresented.

In 2025, Black workers made up 12.7% of the U.S. workforce, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but only 7.4% of the high-tech workforce, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Their share of high-tech employment had remained essentially stagnant since 2005. Black workers also represented just 5.7% of high-tech managers.

For Black women, the gap is even wider. A 2023 Kapor Foundation report found Black women represented less than 3% of the tech workforce, with even fewer in decision-making and ownership roles.

So, instead of waiting for the broader technology industry to solve its representation problem, could Black Houston build something of its own?

The answer: Yes—but not simply by drawing a line on a map.

Houston has the pieces

Dr. Reagan Flowers, founder of C-STEM and Education Consulting Services, believes Houston already possesses many of the building blocks needed for a Black Tech Corridor.

“What I have not seen is the intentionality to connect, capitalize, and organize assets into an ecosystem where Black Houstonians can create, own, and scale technology companies and participate meaningfully in the wealth those companies generate,” said Flowers.

She contends Houston already offers examples of what a technology ecosystem can look like.

The Texas Medical Center’s innovation infrastructure demonstrates the power of institutional partnerships, specialized facilities, and venture funding. The Ion District demonstrates how universities, corporations, entrepreneurs, real estate, and capital can converge. TXRX Labs shows the value of community-accessible maker and technical-skills infrastructure.

Flowers argues Black Houston can learn from all three without simply copying them. The goal, she said, should be a hybrid public-private-community ownership model.

Third Ward makes sense

If there is a geographic spine for such an ecosystem, Flowers points to Third Ward—particularly Emancipation Avenue. Its location is difficult to ignore.

Third Ward sits near Texas Southern University, the University of Houston, and Houston Community College, and connects to Midtown, the Ion District, and the Texas Medical Center.

UH already has a commercialization platform that takes innovations through invention, prototyping, licensing, venture creation, investor connections, and market expansion. Its Technology Bridge provides a large innovation park with laboratories, offices, and space for technology companies.

“To the west is Rice’s Ion District,” shared Flowers. “To the southwest is the Texas Medical Center and its health-tech commercialization engine.”

In other words, Black Houston would not have to build an ecosystem from scratch.

“The pieces are already on the board,” said Flowers. “They have not been organized around Black technology ownership and wealth creation.”

Is there already one?

Parts of a Black tech ecosystem clearly exist. Houston has Black technology professionals, Black-owned startups, STEM nonprofits, workforce development programs, minority business organizations, Black founders and investors, universities that produce diverse talent, and historically Black fraternities and sororities that support innovation.

But Kara Branch, founder and CEO of Black Girls Do Engineer, cautions against defining success by geography alone.

“I think the conversation needs to be bigger than creating a physical ‘corridor,’” said Branch. “A successful technology ecosystem should be measured by what it produces for the community—not simply where it is located or who occupies the space.”

Loretta Williams Gurnell, founder and CEO of SUPERGirls SHINE Foundation, agrees.

“I believe we have one, yet a successful Black tech corridor cannot simply be viewed as a geographic location. It must function as an ecosystem,” offered Gurnell.

That ecosystem would connect K-12 STEM education, colleges and universities, workforce development, entrepreneurs, startups, corporations, investors, innovation hubs, government, faith communities, and civic organizations.

The objective: Create a seamless pathway from classroom to career to entrepreneurship.

Ownership is the point

Why does Black Houston need a Black-centered technology ecosystem? Because access doesn’t automatically equal ownership.

“As AI, automation, cybersecurity, data analytics, robotics, and emerging technologies continue reshaping the economy, we must ask: Who is building the technology? Who owns the companies? Who owns the intellectual property? Who receives the investment capital? Who benefits economically?” pondered Gurnell.

Those questions matter because technology increasingly drives wealth creation.

Laolu Davies-Yemitan, founding principal of Five Woods Realty, similarly argues that participation alone is insufficient.

“If the Black community is going to capture a meaningful share of the wealth generated by the next generation of technological innovation, the pathway must increasingly include ownership—ownership of companies, intellectual property, real estate, investment capital, and the institutions that support entrepreneurial growth,”

– Laolu Davies-Yemitan, founding principal of Five Woods Realty

“If the Black community is going to capture a meaningful share of the wealth generated by the next generation of technological innovation, the pathway must increasingly include ownership—ownership of companies, intellectual property, real estate, investment capital, and the institutions that support entrepreneurial growth,” shared Davies-Yemitan.

Real barriers

Building the corridor—or innovation district—will not be easy. Capital is perhaps the biggest obstacle. Black founders receive a disproportionately small share of venture funding, making it harder to scale companies, hire workers, and conduct research.

Then there is fragmentation. Houston has organizations doing valuable work in STEM education, entrepreneurship, workforce development, and innovation, but many operate independently rather than as parts of a coordinated ecosystem.

Talent pipelines also require attention. Young people in underserved communities can face limited exposure to STEM, limited access to technology resources, mentorship, and professional networks, and limited knowledge of technology careers. Gurnell’s philosophy is straightforward: Exposure creates aspiration; information drives preparation; preparation creates access.

Digital inequity remains another challenge, including disparities in broadband access, devices, digital literacy, and training in advanced technology. And then there’s social capital.

“Deals are made through trusted relationships,” Gurnell said. “Therefore, those relationships have to be exposed, nurtured, and strengthened.”

Branch adds another warning: Houston cannot confuse activity with impact.

“There can be a lot of panels, events, programs, announcements, and conversations,” she said. “But doing the work means consistently showing up after the spotlight is gone.”

Build talent before buildings

That may be the most important lesson.

“The conversation should not begin with buildings,” said Gurnell. “It should begin with talent.”

That means investing in early STEM exposure, workforce readiness, mentorship, entrepreneurship, capital access, and collaboration among nonprofits, corporations, universities, philanthropies, government, and industry.

Branch points to Black Girls Do Engineer’s STEMXUS EdTech infrastructure as an example of building rather than merely discussing solutions.

“We don’t want a young person to simply hear that engineering, technology, or innovation are possible careers,” Branch said. “We want them to build something, solve a problem, use the technology, meet professionals, develop skills, and understand what their next step can be.”

Branch’s litmus test asks, did someone gain a skill, get a job, launch a business, discover a career, or secure capital or customers? Did a family gain access to opportunity?

From corridor to economy

Flowers suggests thinking beyond a traditional corridor and toward a Black Innovation District; one that connects Third Ward, TSU, UH, and HCC with the Ion, TMC, and Houston’s manufacturing and maker infrastructure.

Rather than competing with Houston’s existing innovation centers, it could become connective tissue between those institutions and Black Houston.

Gurnell envisions additional benefits.

“The greatest opportunity before us is not simply creating a Black tech corridor,” Gurnell said. “It is creating a Black innovation economy.”

The infrastructure for such a corridor/economy exists. The question is whether Black Houston can summon the intentionality, investment, collaboration, and ownership required to make it happen.

Based on reporting by Houston Defender.