Entrepreneurship can be incredibly fulfilling.
Having the freedom to construct your professional destiny and curate your schedule are key reasons people take the leap from worker to entrepreneur. Some Black women, however, are forgetting to take care of themselves while taking care of business.
Intuit recently hosted a roundtable discussion led by Soledad O’Brien and Tracee Ellis Ross to unpack mental health in the Black woman entrepreneur community. Also joined by mental health experts, and entrepreneurs, the conversation focused on the importance of health and wellness for small businesses owners, particularly Black-owned businesses and provided insights and practical advice on how to do that. Additionally, the roundtable featured data from a recent QuickBooks survey on the mental, physical, social and financial well-being of Black small business owners in the U.S. and Canada.
“Holistic health and financial conversation are not just important for black women — they are mission-critical, essential, urgent,” Soledad O’Brien shared with Essence.
“We face so many challenges because of our race, our gender, and now COVID, and the economy, not to mention all the challenges we share with the broader population — COVID, corruption, voting rights. We need as much information as possible on how to keep our minds and bodies and finances ready for the next challenge. Life moves quickly in our community, things change, responsibilities grow and subside. Having a healthy, productive life and a strong financial strategy and pictures keeps us prepared for anything that comes along. Conversations about these give us an opportunity to gather data, explore options, learn from experts and the experiences of people in the same situation. They let us talk through our concerns and express our aspirations.”
The idea for the roundtable discussion stemmed from Intuit’s recent study around Black owned businesses and financial health. Some of its key findings show that Black-owned businesses are more than twice as likely as others to be financially stressed right now and 1 in 5 Black business owners (27%) describe the current financial health of their business as “poor” or “terrible”—compared to one in ten (11%) of other business owners. 41% of Black workers say their personal finances got worse during the pandemic and 1 in 4 Black workers (24%) have no health insurance—compared to only one in seven (13%) of other respondents. 41% are also in financial debt due to healthcare costs.
