Uplifting our Sisters: 10 Amazing Black Women and Their Contributions to Our Community
Tarana Burke
Tarana Burke is an activist from New York City who started the #MeToo movement, a social awareness campaign and movement that addressed sexual abuse and harassment by encouraging women to tell their own stories. Particularly focused on young women of color, Burke created a safe space for young women dealing with trauma. Starting as a MySpace page in 2006, the movement became mainstream and gained global support in 2017. Burke helped create a community where women can feel safe, heard, and supported, and brought awareness to a worldwide issue that we are unfortunately still facing today. Tarana Burke changed the narrative and helped encourage those who were silenced.
Tamron Hall
Tamron Hall became the first Black woman to co-anchor the Today Show in 2014. She won a Daytime Emmy for her show in the Outstanding Informative Talk Show Host category. She is an advocate for victims of domestic violence through The Tamron Renate Fund. She has advocated for issues such as homelessness and works with organizations that focus on supporting the well being of the Black community.
Alicia Garza
A civil rights activist and author famous for cofounding the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2013. She advocates for racial equality and focuses on issues that particularly affect marginalized communities.
Leymah Gbowee
Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian activist and a Nobel Peace Prize winner who co-led the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. This non-profit movement contributed to the effort to end the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Her work involves inspiring women to advocate for peace and human dignity. Now she promotes girls’ education and women’s leadership. In 2012, Gbowee established the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, a foundation that provides educational and leadership opportunities to girls, women, and youth in Liberia.
Marsai Martin
Marsai Martin focuses on empowering young women through teaching financial literacy and entrepreneurship. She advocates for diverse representation in television. She raises awareness for gynecologic cancer and mental health. She works with the Obama Foundation’s Get Her There initiative and the Social Connection Project, helping combat isolation in the Gen-Z community.
Haile Thomas
At the age of twelve, Haile Thomas founded HAPPY (Healthy, Active, Positive, Purposeful, Youth), a youth-led nonprofit that works on empowering youth. Her goal is to address the need for free and affordable nutrition options and strong education in underprivileged communities. In 2021, she and her family opened a wellness teahouse in New York named Matcha Thomas.
Vimbayi Kajese
Vimbayi Kajese, a Zimbabwean journalist, was one of CCTV-9’s early morning news presenters in Beijing, China. She left CCTV in October 2011 and began organizing conferences and events about promoting international friendships, particularly in African and Chinese communities. She is the founder of #Adtags, an African marketplace that helps business owners of color advertise their businesses. Her activism has created new narratives for women and people of color. She has been featured in many publications, invited to present on the TEDGlobal and TEDx stage, was recognized as a “Young Group Leader” by the World Economic Forum, and a “New Generational Leader” by the African Leadership network, she was also declared as one of the “Most Influential Under 40” and was appointed as a “Special Friendship Envoy and Cultural Ambassador” by the Chinese government.
Nathalie Walton
Nathalie Walton is the CEO of Expectful, a meditation and sleep app for new mothers. She understands the reality of the struggle of black mothers. Walton helped raise millions of venture capital, one of the first black women to do so. She advocates for mental health for women throughout the journey of maternity. She encourages meditation to help Black women feel validated in the community.
Toya Nash Randall
Toya Nash Randall is the founder of the platform Voice. Vision. Value. Black Women Leading Philanthropy. She advocates for community health and safety, child wellbeing, and nourishing families. She was named one of ten black inaugural Black Women Give Back honorees by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute and Black Philanthropy Month.
Hadiyah Mujhid
Hadiyah Mujhid is the founder and CEO of HBCUvc, a nonprofit dedicated to investing in historically underrepresented groups. She has helped HBCUvc launch the 1 Million Fund that offers first-hand investing experiences to POC founders. She is an advocate for using technology and entrepreneurship and addresses economic inequalities.
