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Yandy Smith-Harris strengthens melanin-rich skin with YELLE

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Yandy Smith-Harris is not any stranger to breaking barriers, making a seamless transition from entertainment mogul to beauty entrepreneur. Her latest enterprise, YELLE Skin careis greater than only a cosmetics brand; is an organization with a mission, specializing in meeting the unique needs of melanin-rich skin. In this exclusive interview with BLACK ENTERPRISESYandy shared her skincare journey, the vision behind YELLE, and her empowering advice for girls of color pursuing entrepreneurship.

Like a lot of probably the most successful entrepreneurs, Yandy’s entry into the sweetness industry was inspired by her personal struggles. She revealed TO BE“During a difficult period in my life, I struggled with depression, which clearly affected my skin.”

In search of solutions, she visited Sephora and located several reasonably priced options for dark skin using clean ingredients. This gap out there and her need for effective, reasonably priced skin care solutions motivated her to create YELLE Skincare.

“I wanted to build a brand that not only met these unmet needs, but also promoted holistic well-being,” she explained. “My previous experiences in branding and entrepreneurship have been invaluable in shaping YELLE, allowing me to create products that truly resonate with and serve our community.”

Yandy’s vision for YELLE was clear from the start: to create a brand that really understands the precise needs of melanin-rich skin.

“I wanted to create a skin care line that addressed issues like discoloration and sensitivity to harsh ingredients,” she said. “My goal was to use plant-based ingredients to create safe, effective and nutritious products.”

Representation can be crucial element of YELLE’s mission. “I wanted YELLE to be a brand that speaks to our community – those whose beauty is usually ignored by the mainstream. We offer solutions tailored to darker skin tones while promoting self-love and self-confidence.

Entering the sweetness industry was not without its challenges. While Yandy’s entertainment profession gave her a platform, she needed to prove herself in a brand new field.

“Coming from the entertainment industry, I had to gain knowledge about skin care, formulas and the beauty industry as a whole,” she said.

“The next challenge was constructing credibility in an industry I used to be recent to. However, I overcame this problem by working with experts and dealing closely with my team to make sure the prime quality of YELLE products.

Her persistence paid off.

“Leveraging my existing platform to build brand awareness was key,” notes Yandy. “Staying true to my vision and creating something that fills a gap in the market has kept me focused.”

One of the standout elements of YELLE Skincare is its holistic approach, combining topical products with ingestible supplements. Yandy explains that this decision got here from her belief that skin care should transcend surface solutions.

“Skin care is not just what you put on your skin, but also what you put in your body,” she says. “Healthy, glowing skin often starts from the inside, so including supplements made sense.”

YELLE supplements work with topical products to comprehensively address skin concerns.

“It’s about the well-being of the whole body, which is the basis of the YELLE philosophy,” adds Yandy.

As a successful entrepreneur, Yandy offers worthwhile advice to other women, especially women of color, who wish to enter industries through which they could haven’t any prior experience.

“First, believe in yourself and your vision, even if others don’t,” he emphasizes. “It’s incredibly important to be confident in your ideas and the value you bring.”

Yandy also emphasizes the importance of education and networking. “Take time to learn the ins and outs of your industry, connect with individuals who can make it easier to, and do not be afraid to ask questions. Finally, be patient and chronic. Success won’t occur overnight, but stay focused in your goals and be willing to alter when needed.

Looking ahead, Yandy is happy about what’s next for YELLE. “We are constantly improving YELLE to meet the changing needs of our customers,” he reveals. “Right now I’m particularly excited concerning the recent product rebrand, keeping the identical formula and refreshed look – and the fun 5vol– an anniversary event that you’ll should follow to seek out out more.

YELLE also focuses on accessibility. “We are working to increase access to YELLE by entering more retail spaces and expanding our digital presence,” he says. “The goal is for more women to experience the benefits of our products.”

Combining her roles as mother, entrepreneur and tv personality, Yandy admits that maintaining the balance is at all times a challenge. “I try to focus on what is most important — my family and health,” she shares. “For me, the most important thing is self-care and I take time for myself to recharge.”

Her advice to other women balancing multiple roles is to hunt support. “Don’t be afraid to ask for help, delegate tasks when you can and take time for yourself without feeling guilty. You can’t pour from an empty cup.”

Yandy’s approach to constructing YELLE is predicated on maintaining authenticity and understanding the audience. “One of the most important strategies was to build a strong brand that would resonate with our target group,” he explains. “Understanding the needs of my community and creating products that serve them has been critical to YELLE’s success.”

She also emphasizes the importance of influencer marketing and partnerships in the event of her brand. “These strategies have been a game changer in terms of spreading the word and building trust with our customers,” he says.

As Yandy continues to construct YELLE Skincare and empower women of color through her brand, her story serves as a robust reminder that with perseverance, passion and a transparent vision, success is within sight – even in recent and competitive industries.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Crypto surges after Trump’s election – but is it a good ethical investment?

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Estimated 18 million Americans are invested cryptocurrency– says the Federal Reserve. And the United States has just chosen pro-crypto-president.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have change into trendy digital resource. Supporters say crypto undermines capitalism because it bypasses traditional bankers. Crypto perhaps offer quick riches together with an environment of high-tech sophistication.

Early adopters reaped enormous advantages, and plenty of of them became millionaires and billionaires.

Currently, there are approx 100,000 cryptocurrency millionaires. Moreover, cryptocurrency wealth has been built Fairshake, the most important political lobbying group within the US During the last election, it helped elect 253 pro-crypto candidates.

But is cryptocurrency a good ethical investment?

as business professor who studies the technology and its implications, I even have identified three ethical harms related to cryptocurrency which will give investors pause.

Three wrongs

The first harm is excessive energy consumptionparticularly Bitcoin, the primary decentralized cryptocurrency.

Bitcoins are created or “mined” by tens of hundreds of computers in huge data centers, which contributes significantly to carbon emissions and environmental degradation. Bitcoin mining, which accounts for the lion’s share of cryptocurrency’s energy consumption, uses as much as 0.9% of worldwide electricity demand – near Australia’s annual energy demand.

Secondly, unregulated and anonymous cryptocurrencies are the payment system of alternative for criminals fraud, tax evasion, human trafficking AND ransomware – the latter cost victims an estimated $1 billion in fraudulent cryptocurrency payments.

Until about a decade ago, these bad actors generally moved and laundered money through money and shell corporations. However, around 2015, many individuals switched to cryptocurrency, which is a much less cumbersome type of service dirty money anonymously.

The bank cannot store or transfer money anonymously. By law it is a bank passively complicit in money laundering if not enforced get to know your customer measures to curb bad actors resembling money launderers.

However, within the case of cryptocurrency, legal and ethical responsibility can’t be transferred to the bank – the bank doesn’t exist. So who is complicit? Any member of the cryptocurrency ecosystem will be seen as ethically complicit in enabling illegal activities.

Enegix employees work at a data center in Ekibastus, Kazakhstan, certainly one of the world’s largest Bitcoin mines, January 3, 2023.
Meiramgul Kussainova/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

I find these first two harms to be probably the most ethically troubling. The first harms the Earth, the second undermines global systems of trust – the interplay of institutions that underpin economic activity and social order.

The third problem of cryptocurrency is its predatory culture.

A predatory system, especially without regulatory oversight, exploits small investors. And some cryptocurrencies have enriched their founders by reaping the advantages lack of investor knowledge about virtual currency.

Some cryptocurrencies, especially smaller coins and initial coin offerings, do Characteristics of Ponzi schemes.

For example, the now defunct Bitconnect promised investors big profits who exchanged their Bitcoins for Bitconnect tokens. New investors’ money paid out “profits” to the primary layer of investors with later investors’ money.

Ultimately, Satish Kumbhani, founding father of Bitconnect, decided to achieve this indicted by a federal grand juryand from 2024 his whereabouts are unknown.

A pernicious myth

In addition to the ethical harms of cryptocurrency, there is a pernicious myth surrounding digital coin. The myth of inclusion is the idea that cryptocurrency has the facility to profit especially socially disadvantaged people without a checking account.

The world’s poor who wouldn’t have bank accounts and who could use cryptocurrency for international money transfers to family back home don’t necessarily enjoy the advantages of cryptocurrencies. It’s for this reason need pay conversion and transfer feessay, dollars to cryptocurrency, after which from cryptocurrency to the local currency of the person receiving the cash transfer.

In fact, the distribution of crypto assets is largely concentrated among the many wealthy. A 2021 study found that simply 0.01% of Bitcoin owners controls 27% of its value.

The democratization of finance is often presented as a move geared toward breaking the dominance of traditional financial institutions – private banks and government central banks. However, this narrative didn’t prove true.

Instead, a latest elite emerged: cryptocurrency creatorsearly supporters of i conservatorswho modify the cryptocurrency’s software code and influence its future direction. This group exercises disproportionate control, including over cryptocurrency management. All of this reflects the concentration of power that cryptocurrency was intended to dismantle.

Just a little more ethical?

To be fair, the cryptocurrency community has not ignored the criticism, including calls for greater environmental awareness.

In early 2021, community members founded Cryptocurrency Agreement. The group has recruited around 250 crypto corporations to cut back environmental damage.

The following 12 months, Ethereum took its most important step with its Ether coin. It has reduced its size energy consumption by over 99% by migrating to a coin mining mechanism called “proof of stake”, which doesn’t require miners to unravel complex, energy-intensive puzzles to validate transactions.

It was a daring move. However, Bitcoin, the most important cryptocurrency, has not followed in Ethereum’s footsteps. Bitcoin stands out in that its energy consumption exceeds that of another cryptocurrency.

A worker stands between two rows of bitcoin mining machines along a wall.
A employee installs a latest row of bitcoin mining machines on the Whinstone US bitcoin mining facility in Rockdale, Texas, October 9, 2021.
Mark Felix/AFP/AFP via Getty Images

To address other harms of cryptocurrency, some Regulatory authorities began to regulate the cryptocurrency market in 2023, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States have launched efforts to curb criminality and protect investors.

In January 2024, US regulators listed funds allowedthat are popular investment funds for investing in cryptocurrencies. The move was intended to assist small investors trade in a safer market.

However, normalizing cryptocurrency trading could have perverse ethical consequences.

For example, probably the most successful ‘ethical’ fund in 2023, Nikko Ark Positive Change Innovation Fundwas successful with a 68% return because he bet on cryptocurrencies. Its manager rationalized this investment by repeating the parable that cryptocurrency allows “providing financial services to underbanked people

Where does all this leave the ethical investor?

I consider that investors have two clear ethical options regarding cryptocurrencies: they will abandon Bitcoin or no less than put money into other cryptocurrencies that minimize harm, especially environmental harm.

However, even so-called ethical investments raise hidden ethical issues.

Many ethical investors put money into the so-called ESG funds that emphasize social or environmental impact. Some of those ESG funds may avoid holdings in oil corporations by investing directly or not directly in cryptocurrencies.

This doesn’t seem ethically coherent.

While cryptocurrency offers exciting opportunities and the potential for prime returns, its environmental impact, links to criminality and predatory nature pose significant ethical challenges.

This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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Daymond John celebrates the fifth annual Black Entrepreneurs Day

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shark tank, Black Entrepreneurs Day, Daymond, John, deal, stalker, grants, Black entrepreneurs


Daymond John will have a good time the fifth anniversary of Black Entrepreneurs Day in Atlanta for the first time.

November 22, John’s signature Black Entrepreneur Day (BED) will take over Atlanta’s historic Fox Theater to have a good time Black Excellence and Opportunity. This 12 months’s event is free for all to attend and includes brand activations that enable participants to reinforce their business and brand for the foreseeable future.

From insightful discussions with inspiring guests to the NAACP Small Business Powershift Grant Program, which can award over $1 million in grants to over 40 Black-owned businesses, Black Entrepreneurs Day offers the whole lot a Black business owner needs to raise take your corporation to the next level the next level. This 12 months’s event is special for John; In addition to hosting BED in Atlanta for the first time, the event shall be streamed live for all to enjoy.

“We’re doing it live this year and we’re always trying to improve what we have,” John says BLACK ENTERPRISES.

“I think we added another element to it called ‘Entrepreneur Square,’ where if you want to come early, you can come in and a company like Constant Contact takes photos. Hilton for Business, Chase, Chase Wealth Management is there, US Navy. You add a lot of different things to it.”

It shall be a star-studded event featuring Grammy-winning artist and philanthropist Kelly Rowland, iconic artist Flavor Flav, influential media personality Charlamagne tha God, Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles (presented by JP Morgan Wealth Management), financial educators Rashad Bilal and Troy Millings with “Earn Your Leisure” and a live performance by multi-platinum Atlanta rapper 2Chainz presented by Raising Cane’s.

Through the NAACP small business Powershift grant program, entrepreneurs can do exactly that use to the Powershift Grant program and grow to be one in every of 40 firms awarded a share of grants value over $1 million. This 12 months, partners including JPMorgan Chase, Hilton, T-Mobile for Business and Constant Contact will contribute a complete of $100,000 in grants, with each grant valued at $25,000.

“We are very passionate about what we do,” John says of the Black community. “I think we can now gain more power by democratizing the retail space with solutions like artificial intelligence and social media. Let’s support each other and support each other.”

Given the strong sponsorship support for BED 2024, John sees it as clear evidence that giant corporations recognize the value of investing in the Black community, even in the face of opposition from anti-DEI efforts.

“There are many other cultures that love to support us as well. They love our music, they love our food, they love everything about us and they just want to know how they can support us,” notes John.

“I think if we look at it this way, it means we can never gain or thrive on our shortcomings, but we can always find those gems and ways to grow from what we are. We are a resilient nation loved by all.”

Launched in 2020 to handle the challenges facing the community in the wake of the events surrounding George Floyd, Black Entrepreneurs Day was established to shift the focus from hardship to empowerment. Designed to uplift Black entrepreneurs, the event goals to teach and encourage through conversations with iconic Black leaders and celebrity guests, features celebrity musical performances and offers key financial support through the NAACP Powershift Grant program.

Tickets for Black Entrepreneurs Day 2024 are free and may be purchased at: BlackEntrepreneursDay.com Now. Press play to learn more about this 12 months’s event.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Black Girl Digital on a mission to empower diverse creators

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Black girl digital, LaToya bond, LaToya shambo


Meet Black Girl Digital (BGD Media), one among the fastest-growing multicultural, independent marketing agencies within the makerspace, is led by two dynamic Black women entrepreneurs.

Founded and led by CEO LaToya Shambo and CMO Latoya Bond, Digital black girl goals to deliver revolutionary, data-driven marketing solutions tailored to the brands and creators who’re shaping the longer term of promoting and commerce. With a long time of combined experience, these two business leaders have come together to create an agency uniquely equipped to navigate the complexities of multicultural marketing.

“The mission of Black Girl Digital is really about how to bring brand and creators together to go beyond partnerships and build a deeper relationship,” says Shambo BLACK ENTERPRISES.

The pair first met while collaborating on the 2023 Black Girl Digital Awards. While many individuals discuss women competing in business, Shambo and Bond saw a chance to mix their strengths and platforms.

“We went through the process of working together and I saw her talent and she saw my talent. We noticed that we both had these unique skills that worked really well together,” Shambo says.

Combining Black Girl Digital’s expertise in influencer marketing with the BBM Agency’s strength in celebrity business management, BGD Media is uniquely equipped to handle the intricacies of multicultural marketing.

“Because her company was more involved in paid marketing, brand management and communications strategy, it really complemented what we did on the Black Girl Digital side, through partnerships with corporate brands and diverse creators,” Shambo explains.

“Together, we have been able to join forces and offer our brands and creators a full range of media and marketing services, thanks to which the partnership goes deeper rather than superficial.”

Shambo attributes BGD Media’s success to its multimarketing service offering that “brings the customer closer to the creator and the creator closer to the customer.” One of the newest initiatives is the inaugural Black Influencer Weekend, which goals to showcase to major brands and corporations how Black creators are usually not only setting trends, but additionally driving significant cultural and economic change across industries.

During the three-day event, over 1,500 participants engaged in vigorous discussions and activations focused on community, connection and variety amongst creators. Highlights included the VIP Creator Games Night featuring bowling competitions and life-size Connect 4 video games, creating what Shambo describes as a “creator playland.”

On October 2, participants took part in a day stuffed with inspiring and influential discussions in the course of the Influencer Summit. Speakers included media personality Yandy Smith; creative director of beauty and lifestyle Tiarra Monet; and NCAA champion and ladies’s basketball coach Sydney Carter. Conversations covered topics equivalent to balancing a profession outside of social media, maintaining mental health, and constructing meaningful partnerships.

The weekend concluded with the third annual Black Girl Digital Awards, where content creators equivalent to Druski, Monet McMichael and Kai Cenat were honored for his or her power, position and recognition across various platforms. Additionally, business leaders equivalent to Yandy Smith, Marvet Britto and Mona Scott-Young have been recognized as pioneers of influence and visionaries redefining the digital landscape.

At its core, Black Girl Digital is about tackling the complexities of multicultural marketing, demonstrating that representation matters and that success comes when brands connect with communities on a human and private level.

“It’s not a monolith. This is not just one group of Black people. There are many people and many cultures in the Black community,” Shambo says. “Being able to express it. But that’s really why brands work with us. Because we are able to accommodate the different cultures found in each community.”

“We also mainly focus on the passion points and interests of audiences in these communities,” she added.

What’s next for Black Girl Digital? Shambo seeks global domination.

“These will be the Global Influencer Awards,” he says.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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