BrainTrust has launched its new Founders Studio—a tech-enabled community platform designed for the specific needs of Black beauty and wellness founders.
 
The Founders Studio’s transformative ecosystem will create inclusive economic opportunities for Black beauty and wellness founders, increase business performance, build sustainable pathways for growth, and unleash millions of dollars in untapped revenue from diverse consumers.
 
Founders Studio has secured over $100 million in soft value from corporate partners that will help solve critical business needs, provide marketing resources, and supply financial growth tools to support the founders. Corporate partners include JPMorgan Chase, Salesforce, Afterpay, BeautyUnited, Clearco, and SHE Media.
 
Kendra Bracken-Ferguson, founder of BrainTrust and Founders Studio and a three-time founder herself, has seen firsthand how a lack of access to formal resources creates roadblocks to success for Black founders. Serving as a mentor and advisor to countless founders led her to develop Founders Studio as a more scalable way to help thousands of Black founders change the paradigm within the $500 billion global beauty and wellness industry.
 
“BrainTrust Founders Studio will forever alter the industry through its support of today’s Black beauty and wellness leaders with the vital resources and collaborations they need to propel their brands to the next level—and beyond,” said Bracken-Ferguson. “Whether I am building a brand with Halle Berry, Super Dope Q, or Micha Brown, the same capital, resources, support, and knowledge are needed. It is the braintrust of advisors, coaches, and mentors that will ultimately be the catalyst for sustained success. This community is built on the ideas that collaboration breeds creativity and that success for one leads to success for all.”
 
As part of this ecosystem, the tech-enabled platform will match participating founders with supporting resources and relevant partners and advisors to create high-value branded product companies. Corporate launch partners will offer everything from mentorship and expertise to access to capital.
 
Gloria Chang Yip, executive director, J.P. Morgan Private Bank Los Angeles, said, “We are thrilled to partner with BrainTrust Founders Studio to support minority-owned, diverse businesses as they grow and create an even greater impact on the fabric of our economy. Whether the company is at an early stage venture, raising its first round of capital, or a unicorn about to go public, JPMorgan Chase supports companies and their founders at every stage of growth.”
 
The platform will launch with 25 inaugural beauty and wellness founders, with new founders invited to join in January. Launch founders include Brown Girl Jane’s Tai Beauchamp, CurlMix’s Kim Lewis, Lauren Napier Beauty’s Lauren Napier, and Charbon Plus’s Lucien Aymerick Eloundou.