Black Elites

Founders. Startups. The making of enduring companies.

Playbooks, teardowns and interviews from the operators building the next generation of category-defining brands.

In Entrepreneurship

David Jonsson Is the New Black Panther — And the Internet Isn’t Ready

He barely moved up on that Hall H stage. No fist pump, no big wave to the crowd. Just a guy in his early thirties, born and raised in London, trained at RADA, standing there while two thousand people...

The Ayo Edebiri Playbook: Build Skills before You Need Them

Ayo Edebiri’s most revealing career move didn’t happen in front of a camera. During “Fishes” — the season two episode of The Bear where Sydney Adamu doesn’t even show up...

Tanzyn Crawford Stopped Chasing Acting Roles. She Did this Instead.

Here’s the thing everyone kind of glosses over: six months into auditioning, Crawford figured out something most actors take years to accept. Sometimes the problem isn’t you. It’s...

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...

10 Boring Businesses Making Black Entrepreneurs Wealthy in America

The businesses that dominate social media are easy to picture: restaurants, fashion labels, beauty brands and apps. The businesses that quietly create the conditions for durable wealth look different...

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...