Dr. D’Wayne Edwards, a legendary footwear designer, has been designing shoes for almost 40 years, and now he is making history as the founder and CEO of JEMS, the country's first ever Black-owned footwear and shoe factory. Edwards is also the President of Pensole Lewis College of Business & Design (PLC), a Detroit, Michigan-based HBCU formally known as Lewis College of Business.Read more.
A group of Black investors led by Dr. Bernice A. King and Ashley D. Bell are purchasing Holladay Bank & Trust located near Salt Lake City, Utah. They are making history as the first Black American investors to ever buy a bank that was formally white-owned. Even more, once the sale is finalized, it will be the only Black-owned bank west of Texas, and the only one in the entire Mountain West region of the country.Read more.
Teasha Chestnut, the founder and CEO of Sugarholic Desserts, is shaking things up in her business starting with her infamous alcohol-infused caketinis (cake-martinis). She plans to do small batch collection drops of specialty dessert boxes with a limited-time order window. The collections will feature the brand's popular selection of individual-sized treats stuffed in reusable shakers with a shot glass. Read more.