You mentor many other Black founders, is there a common problem or challenge that you hear from them?

I think a lot of it is access, you know, founders will automatically go to “I need capital, I need capital”. But some of it is operational. It's organizational, it's making sure that your business is set up for that capital, that you have the right resources, and that you have the right business model. And so I always start from, what type of business are you building? And why? What is the outcome that you want for that business? And how do you build from there? I will say to founders, here's $2M, how does that change your business, and they're not quite sure how they're going to use those funds, what the outcomes are going to look like, what the ROI is. And so while I understand the challenge of funding, which is why we started BrainTrust Fund, I also think that there is understanding the operational, foundational elements of that business so that you can solve the challenges that you need outside of the blanketing of I just need capital because we know that we're all bootstrapping founders.

You recently published a book, The Beauty of Success: Start, Grow and Accelerate Your Brand– what inspired you to write it?

At one of the first stops, my mom reminded me that when I was in high school, I said “I want to write a book, I want to write a book.” And she told me to get a job, get a career, have experience, and write a book. So it was always something I wanted to do. My book is inspired by my story as a three-time founder, growing up as an intrapreneur, and becoming an entrepreneur. It also includes 18 stories from my ‘Business of the Beat’ podcast of other entrepreneurs who were talking about starting, growing, and accelerating their businesses, their path to raising money to wooing their first hire, to how you even exit your company. There's a lot of action, there are worksheets in there. So I encourage readers to fill out the prompts, discover their pillars, and create their paths. And so it's inspired by my journey and the journey of others.

What can entrepreneurs learn from your book?

There are many things to learn from the book. It is a blueprint. How do you define your pillars? How do you claim your non-negotiables? How do you stand in your power? What does your power even look like? So learning, yes, about business, but also yourself? Chapter one is, are you an intrapreneur, or an entrepreneur? We all may have visions of creating and building new things, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we were all meant to do that. So even fundamentally understanding where you sit, what you're excited about. And I think that it does come into play as you determine the type of business that you want. So learning deeply about who you are, where you see yourself in the world as a business leader, intrapreneurship vs entrepreneurship. And then what are the guiding principles as you're building your business? How do you go from point A to point B, what does that look like and what do you need to know in between?

In the aftermath of the unrest following the murder of George Floyd, we saw a lot of brands aligning themselves with POC professionals and launching initiatives to support Black-owned brands, especially in the beauty space. From your perspective, how much that those efforts lift these brands and get them on a footing for long-term growth?

So I think that this is an interesting time because you saw DEI programs, you saw Chief Diversity officers being hired, you saw the 15% Pledge coming and basically, helping brands get onto retail shelves. It was a moment of heightened emotion, but it also created pathways for recognition for brands that might have not otherwise had that representation or that opportunity. And so I think that we're living in kind of a double-edged sword of yes, it gave us the awareness, and some brands are doing exceedingly well. Other brands have been left behind. And it goes back to regardless of building a brand, having operational support, understanding your brand, your trajectory, your growth, not going into retail too soon, and not taking on too much capital too soon. All of those things are also part of the long-term growth.

DBA (Digital Brand Architects) became a well-known agency that connected influencers with brands in the early days of brand influencers, what are your thoughts about the current landscape for influencers, considering the younger generations are increasingly wary of being sold to?

The art of influence will never go away. Everyone is an influencer within their sphere of influence. When you think about the definition of influence, it's really about influencing someone to take an action to do something whether that's like a purchase, a click, or a recommendation. So we all have our spheres of influence. When we started DBA back in 2010, we were one of the first agencies to represent bloggers. Instagram had just started. There was no Pinterest. There was no YouTube, you had all of these different channels that didn't exist. I remember when we started representing ‘Power Pinners’. And so it's the evolution in the same way that fashion, has fashion stylists, makeup artists, and estheticians. Now there's a whole buzz with being a celebrity chemist. There will always be some form of influence that is happening. I think that the key is authenticity. And I know we talk about authenticity all the time, but that's the reason TikTok is doing so well. So people don’t even realize that they're being sold to. So I think that it's not that the art of being an influencer or influencing someone else to take an action will go away. It's really about this notion of authenticity, trust, originality, and uniqueness. And once you can get that trust and connectivity with your audience, they essentially will believe you.

The beauty space has grown much more crowded recently, especially in the DTC category. What advice would you give to an aspiring Black founder who wants to enter the beauty space?

Know your ‘Why’. Why do you exist? Why do we need another brand in this category? How will you make it different? How will you make it special? How will you make it unique? And one of the reasons that I love working with founders specifically is because they've created something generally out of their needs. They've had eczema, they have alopecia. They can't find anything for their hair, they can't find a red lipstick that works for them. I have found that it's exciting because it's created out of need. And so it is what is your why, why do you exist? Why do people need you? What is your unique value proposition? Is it an ingredient? Are you sourcing something from somewhere? Why are you uniquely positioned to run this business? Also, know your numbers– what is your goal? What's your outcome? Surround yourself with a brain trust of people who will know more than you in other categories. As the business owner you still have to understand ‘What are my numbers? What is my burn rate, what does profitability look like?’ Have people around who will help you with that, and have the right team with the right resources. One of the things that someone told me was don't leave to start a business until you can pay your salary and someone else's. So really thinking about whether this is a viable business I want to grow and scale to an exit. There are plenty of brands that haven't sold and are creating for themselves by themselves. And it's a different business. But once you know what you want you want your outcome to be, then it will help you understand where you can go, how you can excel, and how you can truly build a profitable sustainable brand.

You are one of the first 100 Black women who have raised over $1M in investment for your first company. Can you talk about what closed those deals for you, and what you have seen as the major obstacles Black women have had in securing capital to launch or scaling their companies?

I think it's interesting because when we raised the money for my first company, I had a different perception of what that was going to be like. I learned a lot about how our deal was structured, and the loss of power that we had in terms of our board controls. But we also had a great product. We were truly one of the first agencies to manage bloggers as talent. So we saw it, we proved it, we were still ahead of the market. And many of our early founders are now seven and eight-figure household names, because of what we were able to accomplish. It also led me to want to start BrainTrust Founders Studio and then ultimately BrainTrust Fund, I wanted to be the investor that I didn't have, I wanted to have more access to capital from people who look like me. If you can identify the right investors who understand what you're doing, have your numbers in place, be operationally sound, and show growth in your business, those are some of the obstacles that I think we can overcome. And that's why I'm constantly so proud of our limited partners in BrainTrust Fund. 72 percent of our investors are women, and the majority are women of color. And so the more we can create access to spaces so we can have diverse investors sitting at the table making these decisions, I think that will also help us with the obstacles that we face.

In your work with Black founders, what has surprised you the most?

I don't know if it surprised me as much as it made me sad– here's why I had to keep doing this work, even whenever it's hard. I had a founder who had a brand. And it wasn't until after the murder of George Floyd that she even felt comfortable putting her picture on her website. And that's because she had brands for eczema and psoriasis and these things, and she was concerned, and rightfully so, that if people saw a Black founder they would only think that that product was for Black people. And that is something that I hear and see time and time again. And in our 2024 Economic Advancement report, we have shown that Black founders are creating companies and brands for the majority of consumers. But then when you're experiencing it when you see the pain, because you know that you'll be stereotyped. It's surprising, it's alarming. It's sad. It's not shocking because of the industry that we're in and we see the numbers. I think the other thing with Black founders that I distinctly know, as women is our ingenuity, our tenacity, and our ability to find a way to bootstrap. We're all bootstrapping– the majority of us are bootstrapping founders. And so our ability to create a way out of no way, and our ability to navigate get to the end, has been encouraging to see. We are such a community; we pride ourselves on being in a community, helping each other, and sharing information.

What role can business leaders play in building bridges between schools and exposing students to the world of business beyond just “Career Day”?

It's full programs with the schools. It's bringing in entrepreneurs. I was very fortunate to participate at Spelman in their Capstone Entrepreneurship class. I shared my experience, and I judged a pitch competition. It's making sure that it's not just a one-off. You have to constantly be educating students and giving them opportunities. The other really exciting thing, and I see this in my daughter– is the careers that didn't exist when we were growing up. I think educating students on what is your passion, what is your purpose, and what do you love to do, and knowing that there is a bridge to that in terms of entrepreneurship. Seeing is believing is becoming– I truly believe that line. If we can make sure that we are giving our time, our resources, and our talents by going into the schools, that is such a gift because this is the next generation to drive economic advancement and lead the future of entrepreneurship.

Generally, Black founders often lack the generational wealth other entrepreneurs can tap into. For these founders who have to rely on outside funding, what should they keep in mind when seeking capital?

Know your numbers, know what you want your income to be, and be able to articulate your ‘why’. A lot of it comes down to ‘Is this founder coachable so that we can get them to the next side?’ What's your business model? What's your plan? What's the outcome? Do you have the right resources? Are you coachable? Can you tell us exactly what the business is, what the landscape is, and what the solution is?

Many of us have a hard time getting our brains to click in on certain days, what do you do to jumpstart productivity on a slow brain day?

I love to wake up early. It is like my time before the family, work, and other demands on my time. I love to see the sun coming up for a new day of possibilities and experiences. My mantra is “Carpe Diem” - Seize the day! I make sure every morning I get up, and get in the direct sunlight within an hour, at the max two hours of waking up. I do a prayer and meditation every morning so that I can make sure that I'm centered and ready to go for that day. And then if I'm traveling or even just a regular day and I get tired, I'll force myself to get up to stretch to walk outside. To take a deep breath, pray, and reground my spirit.

Kendra Bracken-Ferguson: Beauty & Success Insights

You mentor many other Black founders, is there a common problem or challenge that you hear from them?
I think a lot of it is access, you know, founders will automatically go to “I need capital, I need capital”. But some of it is operational. It’s organizational, it’s making sure that your business is set up for that capital, that you have the right resources, and that you have the right business model. And so I always start from, what type of business are you building? And why? What is the outcome that you want for that business? And how do you build from there?

I will say to founders, here’s $2M, how does that change your business, and they’re not quite sure how they’re going to use those funds, what the outcomes are going to look like, what the ROI is. And so while I understand the challenge of funding, which is why we started BrainTrust Fund, I also think that there is understanding the operational, foundational elements of that business so that you can solve the challenges that you need outside of the blanketing of I just need capital because we know that we’re all bootstrapping founders.
You recently published a book, The Beauty of Success: Start, Grow and Accelerate Your Brand– what inspired you to write it?
At one of the first stops, my mom reminded me that when I was in high school, I said “I want to write a book, I want to write a book.” And she told me to get a job, get a career, have experience, and write a book. So it was always something I wanted to do.

My book is inspired by my story as a three-time founder, growing up as an intrapreneur, and becoming an entrepreneur. It also includes 18 stories from my ‘Business of the Beat’ podcast of other entrepreneurs who were talking about starting, growing, and accelerating their businesses, their path to raising money to wooing their first hire, to how you even exit your company. There’s a lot of action, there are worksheets in there. So I encourage readers to fill out the prompts, discover their pillars, and create their paths. And so it’s inspired by my journey and the journey of others.
What can entrepreneurs learn from your book?
There are many things to learn from the book. It is a blueprint. How do you define your pillars? How do you claim your non-negotiables? How do you stand in your power? What does your power even look like? So learning, yes, about business, but also yourself? Chapter one is, are you an intrapreneur, or an entrepreneur? We all may have visions of creating and building new things, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we were all meant to do that.

So even fundamentally understanding where you sit, what you’re excited about. And I think that it does come into play as you determine the type of business that you want. So learning deeply about who you are, where you see yourself in the world as a business leader, intrapreneurship vs entrepreneurship. And then what are the guiding principles as you’re building your business? How do you go from point A to point B, what does that look like and what do you need to know in between?
In the aftermath of the unrest following the murder of George Floyd, we saw a lot of brands aligning themselves with POC professionals and launching initiatives to support Black-owned brands, especially in the beauty space. From your perspective, how much that those efforts lift these brands and get them on a footing for long-term growth?
So I think that this is an interesting time because you saw DEI programs, you saw Chief Diversity officers being hired, you saw the 15% Pledge coming and basically, helping brands get onto retail shelves. It was a moment of heightened emotion, but it also created pathways for recognition for brands that might have not otherwise had that representation or that opportunity.

And so I think that we’re living in kind of a double-edged sword of yes, it gave us the awareness, and some brands are doing exceedingly well. Other brands have been left behind. And it goes back to regardless of building a brand, having operational support, understanding your brand, your trajectory, your growth, not going into retail too soon, and not taking on too much capital too soon. All of those things are also part of the long-term growth.
DBA (Digital Brand Architects) became a well-known agency that connected influencers with brands in the early days of brand influencers, what are your thoughts about the current landscape for influencers, considering the younger generations are increasingly wary of being sold to?
The art of influence will never go away. Everyone is an influencer within their sphere of influence. When you think about the definition of influence, it’s really about influencing someone to take an action to do something whether that’s like a purchase, a click, or a recommendation. So we all have our spheres of influence.

When we started DBA back in 2010, we were one of the first agencies to represent bloggers. Instagram had just started. There was no Pinterest. There was no YouTube, you had all of these different channels that didn’t exist. I remember when we started representing ‘Power Pinners’. And so it’s the evolution in the same way that fashion, has fashion stylists, makeup artists, and estheticians. Now there’s a whole buzz with being a celebrity chemist. There will always be some form of influence that is happening.

I think that the key is authenticity. And I know we talk about authenticity all the time, but that’s the reason TikTok is doing so well. So people don’t even realize that they’re being sold to. So I think that it’s not that the art of being an influencer or influencing someone else to take an action will go away. It’s really about this notion of authenticity, trust, originality, and uniqueness. And once you can get that trust and connectivity with your audience, they essentially will believe you.
The beauty space has grown much more crowded recently, especially in the DTC category. What advice would you give to an aspiring Black founder who wants to enter the beauty space?
Know your ‘Why’. Why do you exist? Why do we need another brand in this category? How will you make it different? How will you make it special? How will you make it unique? And one of the reasons that I love working with founders specifically is because they’ve created something generally out of their needs. They’ve had eczema, they have alopecia. They can’t find anything for their hair, they can’t find a red lipstick that works for them.

I have found that it’s exciting because it’s created out of need. And so it is what is your why, why do you exist? Why do people need you? What is your unique value proposition? Is it an ingredient? Are you sourcing something from somewhere? Why are you uniquely positioned to run this business? Also, know your numbers– what is your goal? What’s your outcome?

Surround yourself with a brain trust of people who will know more than you in other categories. As the business owner you still have to understand ‘What are my numbers? What is my burn rate, what does profitability look like?’ Have people around who will help you with that, and have the right team with the right resources.

One of the things that someone told me was don’t leave to start a business until you can pay your salary and someone else’s. So really thinking about whether this is a viable business I want to grow and scale to an exit. There are plenty of brands that haven’t sold and are creating for themselves by themselves. And it’s a different business. But once you know what you want you want your outcome to be, then it will help you understand where you can go, how you can excel, and how you can truly build a profitable sustainable brand.
You are one of the first 100 Black women who have raised over $1M in investment for your first company. Can you talk about what closed those deals for you, and what you have seen as the major obstacles Black women have had in securing capital to launch or scaling their companies?
I think it’s interesting because when we raised the money for my first company, I had a different perception of what that was going to be like. I learned a lot about how our deal was structured, and the loss of power that we had in terms of our board controls. But we also had a great product. We were truly one of the first agencies to manage bloggers as talent. So we saw it, we proved it, we were still ahead of the market. And many of our early founders are now seven and eight-figure household names, because of what we were able to accomplish.

It also led me to want to start BrainTrust Founders Studio and then ultimately BrainTrust Fund, I wanted to be the investor that I didn’t have, I wanted to have more access to capital from people who look like me. If you can identify the right investors who understand what you’re doing, have your numbers in place, be operationally sound, and show growth in your business, those are some of the obstacles that I think we can overcome.

And that’s why I’m constantly so proud of our limited partners in BrainTrust Fund. 72 percent of our investors are women, and the majority are women of color. And so the more we can create access to spaces so we can have diverse investors sitting at the table making these decisions, I think that will also help us with the obstacles that we face.
In your work with Black founders, what has surprised you the most?
I don’t know if it surprised me as much as it made me sad– here’s why I had to keep doing this work, even whenever it’s hard. I had a founder who had a brand. And it wasn’t until after the murder of George Floyd that she even felt comfortable putting her picture on her website. And that’s because she had brands for eczema and psoriasis and these things, and she was concerned, and rightfully so, that if people saw a Black founder they would only think that that product was for Black people. And that is something that I hear and see time and time again.

And in our 2024 Economic Advancement report, we have shown that Black founders are creating companies and brands for the majority of consumers. But then when you’re experiencing it when you see the pain, because you know that you’ll be stereotyped. It’s surprising, it’s alarming. It’s sad. It’s not shocking because of the industry that we’re in and we see the numbers.

I think the other thing with Black founders that I distinctly know, as women is our ingenuity, our tenacity, and our ability to find a way to bootstrap. We’re all bootstrapping– the majority of us are bootstrapping founders. And so our ability to create a way out of no way, and our ability to navigate get to the end, has been encouraging to see. We are such a community; we pride ourselves on being in a community, helping each other, and sharing information.
What role can business leaders play in building bridges between schools and exposing students to the world of business beyond just “Career Day”?
It’s full programs with the schools. It’s bringing in entrepreneurs. I was very fortunate to participate at Spelman in their Capstone Entrepreneurship class. I shared my experience, and I judged a pitch competition. It’s making sure that it’s not just a one-off. You have to constantly be educating students and giving them opportunities. The other really exciting thing, and I see this in my daughter– is the careers that didn’t exist when we were growing up. I think educating students on what is your passion, what is your purpose, and what do you love to do, and knowing that there is a bridge to that in terms of entrepreneurship.

Seeing is believing is becoming– I truly believe that line. If we can make sure that we are giving our time, our resources, and our talents by going into the schools, that is such a gift because this is the next generation to drive economic advancement and lead the future of entrepreneurship.
Generally, Black founders often lack the generational wealth other entrepreneurs can tap into. For these founders who have to rely on outside funding, what should they keep in mind when seeking capital?
Know your numbers, know what you want your income to be, and be able to articulate your ‘why’. A lot of it comes down to ‘Is this founder coachable so that we can get them to the next side?’ What’s your business model? What’s your plan? What’s the outcome? Do you have the right resources? Are you coachable? Can you tell us exactly what the business is, what the landscape is, and what the solution is?
Many of us have a hard time getting our brains to click in on certain days, what do you do to jumpstart productivity on a slow brain day?
I love to wake up early. It is like my time before the family, work, and other demands on my time. I love to see the sun coming up for a new day of possibilities and experiences. My mantra is “Carpe Diem” – Seize the day!

I make sure every morning I get up, and get in the direct sunlight within an hour, at the max two hours of waking up. I do a prayer and meditation every morning so that I can make sure that I’m centered and ready to go for that day. And then if I’m traveling or even just a regular day and I get tired, I’ll force myself to get up to stretch to walk outside. To take a deep breath, pray, and reground my spirit.