Black Innovators Who Are Creating A Better Tomorrow

In 2016, Bozoma Saint John was appointed as a head of global consumer marketing for iTunes and Apple Music. Since she got the role, the Ghana-born executive has made waves at the company. She became the first black womanto present at an Apple event in June 2016 and she’s the brains behind thegreatest Apple Music ad ever starring Taraji P. Henson, Mary J. Blige and Kerry Washington.

Season after season, fearless fashion designer Kerby Jean-Raymond delivers powerful messages through his ready-to-wear mens collection, Pyer Moss. Jean-Raymond was taking a walk one night after he broke his arm in a jet-ski accident. New York police officers stopped him and mistook his cast as a weapon andpulled their guns on him. The following year, Jean-Raymond used his creations as symbols of protest.

He took a stance against police brutality with his entire spring/summer 2016 collection featuring faux bloodstained shoes and jackets with the word “breathe” written three times on the back. The fall collection Jean-Raymond featured later that year tackled mental health and depression.

Evita Robinson is the founder of Nomadness Travel Tribe , a group dedicated to building a community of travelers and making world travel more accessible to people of color. The group has amassed more than 14,000 members since it was founded in 2011.

Laura Weidman Powers co-founded CODE2040, a non-profit that aims to ensure people of color are proportionately represented in tech by year 2040. In July 2016, Obama’s White House named Powers senior policy adviser for their office of science and technology.

Tiffany Aliche, also known as “The Budgetnisa,” is a financial educator whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Essence, Time and more. Through her Facebook group, bestselling books and her online school,Live Richer Academy, Aliche has helped hundreds of thousands of women worldwide become more financially savvy.

Maverick Carter is the mastermind behind LeBron James’ pivot into successful business ventures. Carter helped Bron secure his lifetime billion-dollar deal with Nike, making it the largest celebrity apparel deal in history. He also partnered with James to run his media production company, SpringHill Entertainment, which currently produces the trivia show “The Wall” on NBC.

Lindsey Day is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the world’s first natural hair magazine, CRWN.  The quarterly publication, which debuted in print last year, uplifts and empowers women of color with curls and celebrates them like true queens.