This past weekend, Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition, the non-profit organization funding and fueling underrepresented Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs, awarded more than $2.7 million to 30 trailblazing founders. Among the awards announced, the $1 Million grand prize was awarded to Dr. Monica Williams and Dana Roberts, Co-Founders of RedDrop, a brand of period kits for tweens with the mission of empowering, educating and supporting young girls.
Demo Day is the annual event celebrating the months-long journey that three thousand entrepreneurs embarked on this year in an attempt to win not only monetary prizes, but mentorship and educational opportunities with Pharrell and other top entrepreneurship experts and founders. The day was emceed by renowned actor and advocate, Hill Harper, and included pitches from 8 top finalists in the categories of AI, Consumer Products and Services, Healthcare, Media & Entertainment and Tech. The panel of four judges, which included, Lisa Price, Founder of Carol’s Daughter; Pinky Cole, Founder of Slutty Vegan; Matt Story, Vice President, Global Brand Integrated Marketing at Visa; and Erik Moore, Founder & Managing Director, Base Ventures determined the top winners to an enthusiastic audience.
“I’m so inspired by what the future holds for these talented innovators and business leaders, and the role that Black Ambition will play in getting them to new heights of success – new corporate partnerships, retail opportunities, network building and more,” said Black Ambition Founder, Pharrell Williams. “Hearing the stories and seeing their products as they pitched on Demo Day reaffirmed that Black Ambition is needed to create more opportunity and wealth for Black and Brown communities.
Thomas Fields, Founder and CEO of GRIND, a sports technology brand building products for children with the mission of pushing young inner-city kids to consider careers in engineering and technology, won the second place prize of $250,000. In sum, 30 dynamic founders received awards between $25,000 and $1,000,000. In addition to monetary prizes, founders will receive the following support over the next 6 months:
- Town hall meetings with Pharrell and senior brand partners
- Access to office hours with investors and leaders in marketing, operations, brand management and more
- Exclusive invitations to retail partner meetings
- Wellness and executive coaching
- Access to premier network cultivation and training events
“We’re beyond thrilled to be the grand prize winners of this year’s Black Ambition Prize Competition! Having $1 million to invest in our business is life changing and will give us opportunities to grow and continue to impact our community,” said Dr. Monica Williams of RedDrop. “And while the prize money is great, the mentorship and network provided by Black Ambition is priceless and will allow us to open doors that were previously closed and to start building our own table so we can invite others to have a seat.”
Prior to the winner announcements, Founder Pharrell Williams and Black Ambition CEO Felecia Hatcher were joined by Co-Founder of investment firm Recognize and Former CEO of Infor, Charles Phillips, for a compelling onstage discussion. The three discussed community, entrepreneurship and the goals, future and importance of Black Ambition. At the end of the night, guests and winners were invited to attend an exclusive celebratory networking reception of VIPs and Black Ambition Founders complete with cocktails, small bites and music. Participating brand partners for the 2024 Black Ambition Prize Demo Day included Visa, Comcast, Louis Vuitton, Adidas and the Lennar Foundation. The night ended with gift bags curated full of founders and sponsors swag, including: a custom luggage tag from Louis Vuitton, CBD bath salts from Homebody, specialty chocolate from Luiji’s Chocolates, a tote bag from Joopiter, and a water bottle from Adidas.
“Since launching four years ago, Black Ambition has been successful in our mission to support and empower Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs. With amazing pitches from the next generation of successful businesses in AI, Tech, Consumer Products, Entertainment and Media companies,this year’s Demo Day was another shining example of that,” said Black Ambition CEO Felecia Hatcher. “With the conclusion of the 2024 Demo Day, we’re excited to work along our next group of leaders as we plan to expand on the over $265 million in revenue generated by Black Ambition’s network of companies, so far.”
Black Ambition is dedicated to closing the opportunity and wealth gap by empowering Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs. Through its extensive virtual training initiatives and events, the organization has provided invaluable mentorship and support to over 1,000 founders since launching in 2020 and awarded approximately $13M in capital to 131 entrepreneurs. In four years, Black Ambition network founders have gone on to generate more than $265M in revenue.
Black Ambition has been recognized by Forbes, Essence, Bloomberg, and many more top media outlets for driving meaningful change. The nonprofit was the winner of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas award for Impact Investing. To watch the full event, see here. To connect and learn more about Black Ambition, please visit www.blackambitionprize.com. Follow us on Facebook (@blackambitionprize), X (@blackambitionpz) and Instagram (@blackambitionprize) to stay up to date with the Black Ambition community.
A list of the 30 Prize winners can be found below –
National Prize Winners
AskSAMIE
Black Paper Party LLC
CPRWrap, Inc.
Farm to Flame Energy
GloveScaler
GRIND
Hire Ground
Homebody World
JustAir
Knowlej
LASARRUS Clinic and Research Center
Mela Vitamins Inc.
Purpose Connect
PUZZLES OF COLOR
RedDrop
SMARTCharts
Sparen
Spoonful – Functional Vegan Breakfast and Snacks
Springrose
TANTV
HBCU Winners
Beebz
Forefront
Gamenite
LegacyHistoryPride
Mecca Made
Norn
Pluff
Recall Aid (Memory AI LLC)
The Felix Experience
Trameter
ABOUT BLACK AMBITION
Founded by Pharrell Williams in 2020, Black Ambition empowers Black and Hispanic innovators and communities to excel, uninterrupted. To date, Black Ambition has awarded approximately $13M to 131 innovative entrepreneurs. Black Ambition network founders have gone on to raise more than $280M collectively.
This endeavor has been recognized by Forbes, Essence, Complex, Real Leaders and many more for driving meaningful change. It also was the winner of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas award for Impact Investing.
