{"id":29739,"date":"2018-02-07T12:20:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T17:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/creator\/?p=29739"},"modified":"2020-02-26T14:28:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T19:28:42","slug":"black-history-month-entrepreneurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/black-history-month-entrepreneurs","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate Black History Month with these five entrepreneurs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A shaving company geared toward women. A movement to get more black men leading classrooms. A mentor program opening up opportunities in the media industry for people of color. We\u2019re celebrating Black History Month this year by acknowledging influential African-American entrepreneurs in the WeWork community. See someone missing from the list? Tag them with #BlackHistoryMonth and #weworkBHM on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.  Where Langston Hughes meets Cardi B<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Langston<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Erica Buddington, a teacher in New York City, turned Cardi B into a teaching moment<\/a>, then a teaching moment into a viral video sensation. Buddington rewrote the lyrics to Cardi B\u2019s summer hit \u201cBodak Yellow\u201d to teach geography after she heard her sixth graders singing the song. Now she\u2019s using the publicity she received from the video (including mentions on Huffington Post<\/em><\/a> and Forbes<\/em><\/a>) to take her company ideas for culturally relevant curriculum to the next level with her company, Langston League<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe kids push me to be creative. They\u2019re my lab,\u201d she says. \u201cI take the kids\u2019 comments every day and rework it. They\u2019re so open when they know you love them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How you can support them: <\/b>Hire them<\/a> for workshops and curriculum design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The perfect shave\u2014for women<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Karen<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Karen Young bootstrapped her business from day one. Her line of<\/span> shaving products, <\/span>Oui Shave<\/span><\/a>, replaces flimsy plastic razors with a sturdy safety razor that can last a lifetime and reduce razor burn. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re reimagining what the razor would look like if it was made with the best intentions for women,\u201d Young says. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Brooklyn-based entrepreneur has received nods from <\/span>Vogue<\/em><\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Refinery 29<\/em><\/span><\/a>, and in November, she took home $180,000 at the <\/span>New York City Creator Awards<\/span><\/a>, which she\u2019ll use to scale her product further.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How you can support them: <\/b>Buy a razor set<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Changing hearts, minds, and teachers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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