These 5 Young Black Women Entrepreneurs Need Your Support This Saturday!

Tune in to see these ladies between the ages of 18 and 25 pitch their businesses for a chance to win $10,000 in funding!

By Rachaell Davis · Updated December 6, 2020

This Saturday, October 10, we’ll be kicking off the first-ever ESSENCE Girls United Summit with the McDonald’s Making Moves Now Pitch Competition.

Click HERE to register for the ESSENCE Girls United Virtual Summit, going down Saturday, October 10. Don’t miss it!

Brought to you by McDonald’s Black & Positively Golden, the competition will introduce you to five phenomenal young Black women entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 25 who are working to take their businesses to the next level.

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You can tune in beginning at 6:00PM EST on essence.com, essencestudios.com, Twitter & TikTok.

After all five ladies share a little about their companies with our judges, two winners will take home a total $10,000 each, plus receive business coaching from the New Voices Foundation to support them on the exciting journey ahead.

Keep scrolling to learn a little about each of our 5 young entrepreneurs and their businesses and then be sure you join us to cheer them on as they bring their A-game to compete in the McDonald’s Making Moves Now Pitch Competition at the Girls United Summit.

The 2020 Girls United Summit is sponsored by ULTA Beauty, McDonald’s and STARZ.

Sasha Robbs, Co-Founder, III Athletics

Join our fight as III ATHLETICS strives to create awareness on the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Our performance wear provides high quality, affordable workout wear/gear to the everyday family. For every order, we have partnered with HELLO JUICY to provide a healthy meal beverage, and also our III-for-III card that gives you three workouts to jump start you day. Move with us as we stand together in the fight to a healthier lifestyle.

Brandy Merriweather, Founder, BStarPR

BStarPR provides premiere public relations & marketing services for late millennial and GenZ. We are a college student run public relations company which houses a variety of clients who market to the college demographic. Specializing in B2B events, activations, influencer marketing, and media relations, BStarPR help leverage young voices and accomplishments. We at BStarPR are young innovative intellectuals. Our insight and perspective of the target market, business, and entertainment industry makes us best in class.

La Shay Green, Founder, SoulBites

SoulBites is a gourmet food truck concept answering the call to change the lack of soul food options in the Bronx, NY community. Soulbites will have a product line that features soul food with a modern-day twist, which includes a contemporary interpretation of classic African-American comfort food as well as versions of soul food dishes for those with dietary restrictions served in smaller bite sized portions. Desserts, non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks will also be featured.

Janice Newson, Co-Founder, Lillian Augusta

Lillian Augusta is a company that reimagines the possibilities for Black hair care. Emanating from the founders’ ongoing complaints of synthetic braiding hair, the idea for plant-based hair was born. Synthetic braiding hair is made from plastic, and it causes irritation for Black women who wear it as well as plastic pollution in our environment. Plant-based braiding hair is an environmentally friendly alternative that makes for a much more comfortable experience when wearing braids.

Maya Cain, Co-Founder, MIVE

For many Gen Z and Millennial women, online clothing shopping is a risky and frustrating process. Website models don’t reflect the general population, sizing charts are inconsistent, and trustworthy product reviews are few and far between. MIVE takes the frustration out of online shopping and gives women all the tools to make a confident purchase. MIVE is a data driven fashion marketplace that personalizes shopping in the absence of a fitting room.

TOPICS: #GUSummit pitch competition