Pharrell and Chanel Join Forces To Champion Black and Latinx Entrepreneurs
Launching a new mentorship program.
Black Ambition, Pharrell Williams’ equity-focused initiative, has teamed up with Chanel to launch a two-part mentorship program for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs.
In a YouTube video announcing the launch, Pharrell revealed that the first leg of the program will feature a panel with Tracee Ellis Ross, Medley co-founder Edith Cooper, Good American CEO and co-founder Emma Grede as well as Imaginary Ventures co-founder and partner Natalie Massenet. Named “Women Who Lead,” the virtual discussion will explore leadership through a woman’s lens, with topics ranging from community to determination and resilience, and will be moderated by Samira Nasr, editor-in-chief at Harper’s BAZAAR. Pharrell told Vanity Fair, “It’s important to have recognizable faces, and faces that represent brands that they build.”
For the second part of the initiative, a series of interactive mentorship workshops will be offered to the Black Ambition prize finalists in a “comprehensive mentorship program.” This group of entrepreneurs will also have “unprecedented access to the Chanel leadership community, as well as the brand’s network of experts that will help teach them the essentials of brand building skills for 21st century business,” in order to develop key business skills, which can sometimes be challenging for prize winners, according to Pharrell. “Even when you have a great business plan you might not find the right operators,” he explained. “[The mentorship program] teaches you all of those things. Success really does have a lot of authors. Usually when you say ‘success has a lot of authors’ it’s a dig at people who didn’t do something but are taking the credit. In this particular sense when it comes to running a business, success does have a lot of authors – there are a lot of signatures needed to cosign to get a brand new idea off the ground.”
“I am incredibly honored by Chanel’s support of Black Ambition. Mentorship is a cornerstone of Black Ambition’s mission and is vital to the success of the next generation of Black and Latinx entrepreneurs,” Pharrell added.
View the announcement video in the gallery above. In other news, Nike has broken down its $140 million USD investment in the Black community.
