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Carol’s Daughter has been sold to an independent entrepreneur in the beauty industry. Born in her Brooklyn, NY, kitchen with just $100 in cash, Lisa Price began selling her hair and body products in 1993 from the comfort of her living room and at flea markets and craft fairs. Her brand attracted the attention of notable names such as Jada Pinkett-Smith, Erykah Badu, and Halle Berry. Carol’s Daughter gained further momentum after Price appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which led to the company’s website crashing due to 17,000 interested buyers, Inc. reports . Two years later, Steve Stoute, CEO of UnitedMasters, joined the company as a partner, and the first Carol’s Daughter flagship store debuted in Harlem after receiving an investment from Jay-Z, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Will Smith, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. By 2011, Price was leading a top haircare brand, and three years later, she sold the company to L’Oréal USA. Carol’s Daughter had a $27 million valuation at the time....
Jaden Smith, the son of Hollywood icons Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith , has built his own legacy as an actor, musician, and entrepreneur. While he balked at the idea of public schooling previously, that hasn’t stopped him from making a name for himself both in his family’s industry of entertainment, and in his own business ventures. Currently, he’s using his entrepreneur’s spirit to improve the world as he sees it, painting himself as a philanthropist as well. However, as a businessman, philanthropist and actor at the young age of 26 (and while having famous parents and a just-as-famous sister ), what is Jaden Smith’s net worth? Acting Career Smith made his acting debut alongside his father in the critically acclaimed film, The Pursuit of Happyness in 2006. His role as Christopher Gardner Jr., the son of a struggling salesman, garnered widespread recognition for his acting abilities at a young age. This performance opened doors to other significant acting roles, such as the...
Duane Martin is one of those actors who disappears and reappears like a Maxwell album. You know he’s “ in the lab cookin ” and will pop out when he feels like it. On Election Day, he asked men to fight for women’s rights. Then, after not-so-subtly hinting at his presidential pick, he stepped out of the limelight again. Still, when his fans want to see him, it’s not hard to find him in Bel-Air , The New Edition Story , The Seat Filler with co-star Kelly Rowland , Deliver Us from Eva, Out All Night , Any Given Sunday and his longest-standing project as Robert James Sr. on All of Us . But while he’s playing the background right now, his fans may still wonder what is Duane Martin’s net worth? Kevin Winter/Getty Images Martin’s Ties To Will Smith Martin and rapper-actor Will Smith have been seen together on more than a few occasions. They’re not just co-stars or business partners. They’re also friends. Even in Jada Pinkett Smith ‘s book Worthy , the actress told a comical story about a...
Taraji P. Henson, Mo’Nique, Gabrielle Union, and Octavia Spencer. Many Black actresses have been vocal about pay disparity in Hollywood with these women being some of the latest to address the issue. As previously reported by AFROTECH™, Henson was transparent about her debating on whether to quit acting. “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do, getting paid a fraction of the costs,” Henson said in a Sirius XM interview with Gayle King. “I’m tired of hearing my sisters say the same thing over and over. You get tired. I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ I have to. The math ain’t mathin’.” Henson isn’t the only one who has faced the unfortunate reality of stepping back from being an actress due to Hollywood’s pay gap. During an appearance on NPR’s “It’s Been a Minute,” Jada Pinkett Smith shared that while her “heart broke” for Henson, she was also happy that she was courageous enough to speak up. In addition, she related to her fellow actress’ sentiments, but in...
There’s no doubt that “Girls Trip” was a box office hit during the summer of 2017. Starring Jada Pinkett-Smith, Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, and Tiffany Haddish, it became the first film with “an all-black creative team in front of and behind the camera to earn $100 million at the box office,” per The New York Times. What’s more, Tracy Oliver became the first African-American writer to cross off that milestone.
Despite his recent hiatus from the public eye, Will Smith is still doing work in the background that continues to cement him as one of the best actors ever to do it. According to Variety, the 53-year-old actor is preparing to cash in on his latest project, “Emancipation.” The AppleTV+ movie is an escaped-slave thriller that Smith agreed to after years of avoiding making films centered around the subject. “This was one that was about love and the power of Black love,” Smith explained in a previous interview. “And that was something I could rock with. We were going to make a story about how Black love makes us invincible.”
Snap is looking to support Black talent on their journey toward securing the bag. During VidCon 2022, the social platform announced a new accelerator program for emerging Black creators, TechCrunch reports. Under Snap’s 523 initiative, 25 program selectees will be paid $10,000 monthly for a year — totaling $120,000. The $3 million funding is intended to help Black creators thrive on social media through their platform. In addition, Google Pixel, UNCMMN, and Westbrook Media have hopped on board to partner with the new program. “Black creators face unique systemic barriers across the creator industry — from disparities in compensation and attribution, to toxic experiences and more,” the company wrote in a press release, according to the outlet. “We believe one of the ways we can help remove some of those barriers is to provide mentorship and financial resources to emerging Black creators in the early stages of their professional career.” 523 launched in December 2021 as a move to...
Over the past three days, reports have continued to fly about the 94th Academy Awards. On March 28, Shadow and Act reported about Will Smith and Chris Rock getting into a physical altercation following the presenter making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair. While the Oscar winner has since apologized for what went down, the aftermath has yet to let up on how it sent the news and social media into a frenzy. Cryptocurrency has been a growing trend over the past year, so its community joining the recent viral Academy Awards moment was quite expected. According to Fortune, a digital coin of Smith slapping Rock was minted less than 24 hours of it airing live on the Oscars stage. At the time of March 29, the Will Smith Inu coin’s value hit a record high of 469% over the span of 24 hours. “The Will Smith Inu coin has seen its value soar 469% in the past 24 hours. And that’s 35% lower than the highs it hit at 7:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday,” the outlet then reported. And of course, there are...
During his acceptance speech for his SAG Awards win for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor” in “King Richard,” Will Smith took a moment to thank Serena and Venus Williams for the opportunity to embody the role as their father in the critically acclaimed biopic film. As previously reported by Blavity News, the award-winning actor also showed love to his fellow cast members Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, and Demi Singleton. “Aunjanue you pushed every single day. You demanded authenticity and you did it in such a beautiful and quiet, powerful way,” he said, according to Blavity News. “Saniyya and Demi these two young ladies…you guys are actors, so you know how sometimes your on-screen characters kind of bleed into real life. To walk you around this room tonight, to parent you on this film, to deliver you into this business has been one of the greatest pleasures of my life.” Smith’s heartfelt speech moved both viewers at the SAG Awards and at home, but Ellis has recently revealed...
Forbes has just released its list of highest TikTok earners. And in the news that should shock no one (though by no means does it make it any less annoying), exactly zero of the top earners on the platform are Black. Even worse, the top earners on the platform are getting opportunities that aren’t available to their Black counterparts. For example, Variety reports that Charli and Dixie D’Amelio — sisters who have made more than $20 million, combined, on the popular social media platform — have secured their own show courtesy of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Media. They also had their own Hulu reality show, and have secured countless endorsement deals. What’s more, TikTok’s top influencers can charge a pretty penny for a sponsored post. According to Variety, most of the top influencers charge an average of $100,000 to $250,000 per post, with a top influencer charging $500,000 for just one sponsored post. Yet, Black TikTok stars are just as formidable as their white...
Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have announced the sale of a minority stake in their production company. Variety reports that the Smiths have closed a deal that sells the minority stake of Westbrook, Inc., a production company, to the as-yet-unnamed media venture that is run by Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, the former executives from Disney. Staggs and Mayer previously made headlines when they purchased Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company for a gobsmacking $900 million. The former Disney executives were represented by mega-financiers The Blackstone Group in the deal. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith were previously in talks to sell the production company outright until that deal fell through. The minority stake in Westbrook, Inc., was purchased by the pair for $60 million, for a 10 percent ownership stake. And, Variety reports the deal values Westbrook, Inc. “at just under $600 million.” As AfroTech previously reported, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith...
Legendary actor and rapper, Will Smith, has definitely left his mark on the world of acting as well as in the music industry. However, his entrepreneurial and investing efforts are noteworthy as well. At 51-years-old, Will Smith’s estimated net worth is $350 million making him one of the highest-paid actors in the last 20 years according to Celebrity Net Worth . Over the years Smith has invested in several startups and launched his own business ventures. Here is a look at some of Smith’s entrepreneurial and investment endeavors. 1. Westbrook Inc. In 2019, Deadline announced Smith alongside his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, launched Westbrook Inc., a cross-platform multimedia company that will be home to the Smith family’s original content. Westbrook Inc. will serve as a holding company for Pinkett-Smith’s Emmy-nominated series, “Red Table Talk,” Overbrook Entertainment, Westbrook Studios, Westbrook Media, and Good Goods. 2. Just Water In 2015, The Chicago Tribune announced Will and...