Black Elites

Founders. Visionaries. Industry Leaders.

Discover the people building enduring companies and shaping the future of business. Through in-depth interviews, founder stories, business playbooks, and behind-the-scenes insights, Black Elites Profiles explores the journeys, strategies, and lessons of entrepreneurs and executives creating the next generation of category-defining brands.

In Profile

Alton Mason Figured Out the One Thing Most Models Never Do

The scene includes Rome. A room, no music. Alessandro Michele sitting there, presumably deciding whether this kid from New York is worth a contract. And Alton Mason — broke, tired of castings...

Lupita Nyong’o Stopped Trying to Fit Hollywood’s Idea of an Actress

Right before Lupita Nyong’o’s big press tour for 12 Years a Slave, she almost torpedoed her own moment. On purpose. She’d spent years at Yale training herself to sound American. Two accent...

Damson Idris Had the Talent. What He Needed Was Market Access.

Here’s the thing about Damson Idris that nobody really says out loud: he wasn’t waiting to get good enough. He was already good. Stage work, British TV, the whole résumé. What he...

Keke Palmer Turned Career Setbacks into New Businesses

Keke Palmer’s whole career gets flattened into one word all the time: “range.” She acts, she sings, she hosts, she writes, she’s funny on the internet. Fine, sure. But...

Druski Got Rejected by Hollywood. He Turned Attention into Ownership

Druski could have kept pitching. That would have been the normal move. Netflix says no? Fine. Try again. Amazon passes? Rework the deck. Call another executive. Find an agent with better...

Aaron Pierre is Proof You don’t Need to Shout to be Heard

There’s a scene early in Rebel Ridge where Aaron Pierre says almost nothing, and somehow that’s the whole point. In an industry that rewards loud — green screens, rapid dialogue, constant...

Maya Boyd’s Unusual Career Strategy: Say Yes, then Learn Fast 

Maya Boyd was a ballet kid. Never done a musical in her life. Then she jumped into musical theatre almost on a dare, landed on Broadway before she even graduated, took over a title role a few months...

Meet Laila Edwards: The First Black Woman to Ever Skate for Team USA at the Olympics

Clock ticking. Two minutes, four seconds left on the arena board in Milan, and gold was walking right out the door. Down 1–0 against Canada in the championship round, Team USA pulled their goalie...

Rihanna’s Fenty Strategy Was Simple: Fix the Product, Not the Marketing

Here’s the thing about Fenty Beauty: it’s not really a celebrity-brand story, even though everyone wants to file it under that. Sure, celebrity got people to look. But looking...