Our Inspiration

Madam CJ Walker is known throughout the world as one of this country’s first African American millionaires.

Born to sharecropper and former slave parents, and orphaned at the age of six, Sarah Breedlove rose to success with sheer determination and grit. Sarah built a hair care empire and transformed herself into the iconic Madam CJ Walker. She employed over 3000 workers and trained an additional 20,000 “Walker’s Agents” creating sales jobs and a pathway to the middle class for many Black women. It is in that spirit that we launch our center – a business eco-system designed to support and empower women of color to “open their own shops,” grow their own empires, and endow the next generation of Madam CJ Walkers!