Michelle Y. Lee has remained faithful to Wells Fargo for 39 years, and now even holds the title of executive vice president of regional banking. Lee oversees over 4,000 branches with more than 42,500 employees across 36 states and the District of Columbia. Prior to these responsibilities, Lee worked her way toward the top of the corporate ladder as a teller. While stepping into her entry-level position, Lee found her footing and knew she wanted to advance her career with the bank giant. At this time, Lee only saw those who looked like her in positions as branch managers. Therefore, she aimed to become one, too. “After a couple of years, I decided to pursue a career in banking. I didn’t know what I wanted to be. At the time, the only person I saw that looked like me was a couple who were branch managers. So, that’s where I saw the possibility for me because that’s where I saw people who looked like me. And that’s what I set out to do to become, a branch manager,” Lee told AfroTech.

Founder April Showers started June with a bang as she became one of the first Black female-owned brands to partner with Walmart’s celebrations party category.

Students attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) can expect an inside scoop on the rap game, thanks to Lupe Fiasco. According to Complex, the rapper will soon become a visiting professor at the institution. In excitement, Fiasco took to Twitter to share the news.

A Black developer has crafted a project intended for the culture! Keenan Kelley is the founder of For The Culture, created to encourage the Black community to take root in the ever-growing world of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and take back ownership of their traditions. Kelley was compelled to release the collection after recognizing there were very few Black pioneers in the Web3 space. “When I came into the space last year, I did not see a lot of representation from us. Not only do we not have as many artists and developers building out these projects, [but I also] noticed that there was a lot of cultural appropriation and undertones of racism in some of these projects that were coming out because there was a lack of Black representation,” Kelley told AfroTech. Kelley is now creating a pathway to diversify the NFT space and the founder encourages more Black creators to control their narratives on the blockchain. For The Culture honors Kelley’s stance through its 2,021 unique profile...

To combat the racial gap in professional athlete representation, Diverse Representation and Southern University Law Center will host a two-day immersive Sports Agent Bootcamp for Historically Black College and University (HBCU) students. The event — which takes place Feb. 4-5, 2022 — and will be hosted at Southern University’s campus in Baton Rouge, LA. Students can look forward to featured panels and sessions hosted by industry leaders and top companies including Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Vanguard Sports Group, Independent Sports & Entertainment, and more who will cover a variety of topics such as “Recruiting and Managing Clients,” “Representing the Peak Professional Athlete,” and “Maintaining Integrity as an Agent.” “Our inaugural Sports Agent Bootcamp will allow students to engage and network with highly trained and experienced sports agents that will offer the inside scoop on the industry and its emerging trends,” said Marla Dickerson, Associate Vice Chancellor of...

As Black girls, the color of our skin and hair is where we learn to find our liberation in a world that has attempted to ostracize its beauty. This harsh reality was true for baby boss, Esi Orijin. As AfroTech previously reported, during her time at private school she felt like a needle in a haystack as the only Black girl in her class. The lack of representation led her to fall into a season where she lacked confidence — subsequently leading her to dislike her features such as her skin tone and hair texture. Her mother, Melissa Orijin — aiming to combat self-confidence issues Black women encounter — launched Orijin Bees (“Our Representation Is Just Inclusion Normalized Beautifully Empowering Every Soul”) alongside her daughter. The doll line aims to validate the beauty of Black girls’ culture and identity while celebrating the variations in skin tones, hair textures and sizes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Orijin Bees ™️ – Black Dolls (@orijinbees) “A]s a purpose...

Toy company Healthy Roots Dolls established itself as a brand creating representation for all children with their line of products. Now it’s raised a $1 million seed round to expand on its offerings and continue to spread the beauty of diversity. The seed funding round was led by Backstage Capital, and accompanied by other investment groups such as Lightship Capital, Broadway Angels, Alpha Bridge, The Community Fund, Sequoia Scout as well as a group of individuals, including Sahil Lavingia. To date, Healthy Roots Dolls has raised a total of $1.5 million, which includes funds from grants, pitch competitions, accelerator programs and crowdfunding, according to founder Yelitsa Jean-Charles. During an interview with Crunchbase News, Brittany Davis — a principal at Backstage Capital — shared that she initially met Jean-Charles during her firm’s Backstage Accelerator program and was one of Healthy Roots Dolls’ first investors. “We’ve seen her since Day One be heads down and focused on the...

As a Black woman going to the hair salon is a part of self-care. Whether you go once a week, month or year, it is an experience that has probably been ingrained into your routine since a child. For Natanya Montgomery, the first time she remembers visiting the hair salon was at seven-years-old and according to TechCrunch , she’s been going once a month for 18 years. Now, she’s the founder and CEO of Naza Beauty , what Megan Rose Dickey referred to as a “Drybar but for women of color.” The salon — which recently secured $1 million in funding backed by Alexis Ohanian’s Initialized Capital —  offers 25 variations of five different protective styles including crotchet, sew-ins, twists, blowouts, and braids. Although the salon does not offer any coloring services, chemical treatments or hair cuts, they do promise to have you out of the chair in either four hours or less. Naza Beauty “More and more people are seeing that these styles are valid, real and beautiful,” she said. “A lot of...