I live to see empowered Black women. Empowerment can take the form of sexual expression, financial freedom, social progress, fulfilling one's purpose, career advancement, having a family, etc.

In this particular post I feature three visual accounts of Black women pursuing prosperity via their entrepreneurial ventures.

According to J.P. Morgan Wealth Management: “Black women are the fastest growing demographic of entrepreneurs in the U.S., with nearly 2.7 million businesses nationwide. The number of businesses owned by Black women grew 50% from 2014 to 2019, representing the highest growth rate of any female demographic.”

Celebrate this International Women's Day by watching some Black women bosses in action.

She Did That.

Executive produced by PR maven Renae Bluitt, She Did That. chronicles the journeys of four Black women entrepreneurs. We mainly hear from Luvvie Ajayi (New York Times best-selling author, speaker and digital strategist), Lisa Price (Founder, Carol’s Daughter), Melissa Butler (founder, The Lip Bar) and Tonya Rapley (founder, My Fab Finance), while also getting commentary from other entrepreneurs. The film is an inspiring glimpse into the lives of self-employed Black women that captures both the highs and lows they experience.

Black women are the United States' fastest growing group of entrepreneurs, starting their own business ventures at six times the national average. One of the distinct challenges discussed in the film is the funding gap that impacts Black woman-owned businesses. “The banks are not as excited to give us money,” says one of the featured entrepreneurs.

Renae Bluitt is also an entrepreneur who started the In Her Shoes blog in 2009, then produced the She Did That. film which premiered in 2019, and now hosts the She Did That. podcast; all platforms are dedicated to telling Black women entrepreneurs' stories. Bluitt also created an annual Holiday Shopping Guide that lists 75 Black women-owned brands. The multi-hyphenate has stated that she feels like spotlighting and championing enterprising Black women is her purpose and calling.

The She Did That. film is available for purchase on YouTube, Vimeo, Prime Video, Vudu, Google Play and iTunes. At the time of this posting, it is not currently available on Netflix.

Biz Bestie Showdown

Created by entrepreneurial executive producer and director Diamonde Williamson, this web series follows four competing teams of entrepreneurs who are best friends turned business partners. The 'entrepreneu-hers' are taken through various challenges such as creating a business plan presentation in sixty minutes. The show is hosted by Anisa Breneé (who absolutely shines in her role).

The series is beautifully produced with lots of pops of color and a seamless integration of photos to tell the participants' stories. The women are all very relatable and their dynamics as well as the high-pressure challenges create more than enough entertainment value. It was utterly enchanting to hear how brilliant and innovative each of the women were.

The show kind of reminded me of something like Celebrity Apprentice without the cheap drama and gratuitous toxicity; I absolutely loved the competition aspect of it but what made it even sweeter was the fact that the contestants weren't encouraged by production to take nasty shots at each other to create conflict.

I remember someone telling me that a reality show about Black women that is positive couldn't be entertaining – I was infuriated to hear something so ignorant, negative and short-sighted – but this series proves that person and anyone else who thinks that way dead wrong.

That said, isn’t it questionable that people can find white-led reality shows that aren’t rooted in toxicity and negativity entertaining, but when it comes to Black women, if they’re not being exploited and at each other’s throats, it’s somehow just too boring? What’s that double standard about? Why are people so invested in seeing Black women in turmoil and pain? Stop normalizing and craving that s*&%.

I understand that explosive drama is enthralling but I believe there is a line when it comes to trash and also a balance to strike in our consumerism diets. Why can’t positive images of Black women co-exist with (mostly) negative ones? Why can’t we derive enjoyment from positivity? We need to ask ourselves that question.

Season one of Biz Bestie Showdown is available to stream on YouTube.

Selling Tampa

Selling Tampa chronicles the women of Allure Realty, a Black woman-owned agency operating in the booming Tampa, FL real estate market. Sharelle Rosado is the owner and employs other Black and Latinx women to seize growing opportunities to sell high-priced, luxurious properties. The realtors share close bonds but also have a sense of competitiveness amongst one another.

Now I have personally only seen two episodes so far, but I'm going to keep watching based on the show's premise. I loved seeing how ambitious and confident the women were. My favorite is Tennille because she's laidback and hilarious. I also love Colony who is drop dead gorgeous and very charismatic.

I heard there was some criticism that deemed the show to be embarrassing based upon sales of homes not being shown. As someone who has worked on docu-series production I understand how the scripting of the show happens. Situations are set up to film — the cast and crew need to receive call times and meeting locations; receive instruction on what topics to discuss; be mic-ed; and, sign media release forms before the cameras start rolling, so four women meeting at a restaurant doesn’t just happen organically. I believe there may have been a focus on introducing the women and their dynamics as opposed to showing a closing that might not have been as entertaining to watch. In addition, Sharelle Rosado addressed the backlash by confirming that the agency is still breaking into the luxury market and sold plenty of homes during filming that weren't as high-priced as those shown on-screen.

I found the show to be a bit slow but it's hard to make character-driven reality shows pop when they're not mired in toxicity and dysfunction (which I actually dislike). I think I found Selling Tampa to be dry because I'm still learning about the ladies and have not yet become invested in their stories.

I will say that the scripted portions of Selling Tampa seemed a little forced and the transitions between scenes weren’t necessarily smooth but it’s just their first season. The women and the crew need to become more comfortable with taping the show to make it flow more easily and they will. The women were likely a bit self-conscious and aware of themselves when it comes to being filmed and having to wait on the public’s perception of them.

I know a handful of other people who thoroughly enjoyed the show, so I'll stay tuned and I encourage you to check it out if you have not yet done so.

Season one is available to stream on Netflix; a second season has yet to be confirmed at the time of this posting.