WHERE’S THE FUNDING?

Scaling Black Beauty with Leslie Roberson S7 Ep. 4

The US beauty industry is worth about $60 billion and spending on beauty is robust among Black Americans, a diverse and growing group of 41 million people with increasing spending power. In 2021, they spent $6.6 billion on beauty. However, Black brands make up only 2.5 percent of revenue in the beauty industry and Black consumers are responsible for 11.1 percent of total beauty spending according to a 2022 McKinsey & Company report titled Black Representation in the Beauty Industry. Leslie is on a mission to fix that by creating opportunities for Black women to thrive in the beauty space. Stick around to find out how.

Leslie Roberson is the Founder of the Black Beauty Collective with a dynamic past that lead her to create an initiative that fills a gap in the beauty industry. Leslie is a military veteran and has a background in corporate talent acquisition and business development. She is an expert at leading human resource functions, acquiring and training senior staff, and having an eye for unique talent.

In this episode we discuss:

  • How she is creating place and space for Black women in the beauty business to feel valued, seen and heard
  • Providing a sense of community with built in business development resources to help founders in the collective thrive through community and collaboration.

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Learn more about Leslie:
Instagram
LinkedIn

Learn more about the Black Beauty Collective:
Instagram
Website

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What is WHERE’S THE FUNDING??

The WHERE’S THE FUNDING? podcast demystifies entrepreneurship and the fog around funding. Black and other underserved entrepreneurs share their entrepreneurship journeys, fundraising experiences, and success connecting to capital to inform, motivate, and inspire other entrepreneurs on a similar journey. I also interview investors and others on the funding side to share valuable knowledge about investing and fundraising.