Gabrielle Union, actor, producer, author, entrepreneur and advocate says each success starts with your honesty to yourself.

“If you can’t be honest about yourself, you will go through life as a lie,” said Gabrielle Union, entrepreneur, award-winning actress, producer and author in a recent conversation at Pride Summit 2023 with B. Pagels-Minor, podcast host and founder of DVRGNT Ventures.

The no-nonsense assertion from Union is part of her identity as an actress and vision for her entrepreneurial ventures that include a haircare product line launched in 2017, Flawless; a plus size clothing line, Love & Blessings; a wine called Vanilla Puddin; a line of watches through Invicta Watch Group and an allergen-friendly school-safe snack line, Bitsy, that she co-founded.

““If you can’t be honest about yourself, you will go through life as a lie,” said @Itsgabrielleu, #entrepreneur, award-winning actress, producer and author in a recent conversation at #PrideSummit2023 with @Bpagelsminor, podcast host and founder of @Dvrgntventures. ”

Her claim of honesty about yourself aligns perfectly with the Leadership Intentioning Tool #1 of 9 created by Gloria Feldt, author of Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take the Lead for (Everyone’s) Good, and co-founder and president of Take The Lead, “Uncover Yourself.”

Feldt explains, “Great leaders know themselves and show themselves. It’s challenging to uncover the parts of ourselves that are painful or cause us to feel shame. But until we do that, we can’t free ourselves to achieve highest and best intentions in life and leadership.”

“I found out who I was every time I hit rock bottom,” says Union, married to Dwayne Wade since 2014, and author of four books including two memoirs, We're Going to Need More Wine (2017) and You Got Anything Stronger? (2021), plus the children's books, Welcome to the Party (2020) and Shady Baby (2021).

“I wish I had one big story and one tale of triumph, but it’s daily, suffering daily indignities to your very being,” says Union, who has been consistently starring in television shows since 1993 and 45 films since 1999, as well as music videos. “This makes up my advocacy and struggle in the business since day 1.” But because of it, she says, “My boldness has expanded.”

“It’s important to differentiate between being nice—lying on the ground and saying, ‘Please run all over me,’ and being kind and considerate, which is basic human decency.”

Union supports Black entrepreneurs directly. Through her company, Flawless, she recently “awarded $75,000 in grants and mentorship sessions to three Black, female-owned businesses through its Lift As We Climb initiative. The initiative seeks to support Black businesses which have historically seen a barrier to access in capital, expertise, and opportunities,” according to Face2FaceAfrica.

The funding gap and lack of support for Black entrepreneurs is very real.

“The funding gap and lack of support for Black entrepreneurs is very real. #blackbusiness #equalopportunity”

According to a recent McKinsey & Co. report, “Healthy Black-owned businesses could be a critical component for closing the United States’ Black–white wealth gap, which we project will cost the economy $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion (in 2018 dollars) per year by 2028. The COVID-19 crisis, however, has further stressed Black-owned businesses and may cause the racial wealth gap to widen. This gap includes a $290 billion—and growing—opportunity to grow overall wealth by achieving revenue parity between Black- and white-owned businesses in addition to providing aid to small and medium-size businesses (SMBs)—those with up to 500 employees—with nonwhite owners.”

The report also shows that the pandemic more severely harmed Black-owned businesses.

“Indeed, about 58 percent of Black-owned businesses were at risk of financial distress before the pandemic, compared with about 27 percent of white-owned businesses. The pandemic contributed to tipping 41 percent of Black-owned US businesses into closure from February to April 2020. More than 50 percent of the owners of surviving Black businesses surveyed in May reported being very or extremely concerned about the viability of their businesses,” McKinsey reports.

Efforts such as Roadmap To Billions, founded by Esosa Ighodaro, that recently held its seventh annual conference for Black women in tech, acknowledge and offer solutions for Black women entrepreneurs in technology.

“Efforts such as @BWTalkTech, founded by @Sosaspeaks, that recently held its seventh annual conference for #Blackwomen in tech, acknowledge and offer solutions for Black women #entrepreneurs in technology. ”

Ighodaro tells Shoppe Black, “The biggest challenges facing Black women in the tech industry today are underrepresentation, bias and discrimination, lack of support networks, and limited access to funding. Roadmap to Billions tackles those challenges by creating a supportive community, amplifying visibility, providing mentorship and guidance, sharing knowledge and skill building, and most importantly providing access to funding and investors.”

To address these challenges, Take The Lead will launch two cohorts of 50 Women Can Change The World in Entrepreneurship in September 2023. Similar to the successful cohorts of 50 Women in healthcare, law, journalism, nonprofit, and media & entertainment, Take The Lead’s program is designed for women who have their own businesses and are ready to grow.

“@Takeleadwomen will launch two cohorts of #50WomenCan Change The World in September 2023, designed for women who have their own businesses and are ready to grow. #femaleentrepreneur #careergrowth”

According to Feldt, “50 Women Can Change the World is a transformational leadership program that gives participants the exact mindset, intention, skills, networks, and strategic leadership action plans to propel their own success while making fundamental systems change to propel all women in entrepreneurship. We are grateful to AZ Congressman Rep. Greg Stanton for facilitating Small Business Administration funding for this proven effective program. ”

With a commitment for cohort participants to include at least 50% women of color, Feldt says the program will be delivered in Arizona with Vidhi Data and Shalini Sardana, co-founders and co-CEOs of She Raises Capital, serving as lead trainers. Maggie Sanchez, global tech entrepreneur, entrepreneur in residence at the Arizona Commerce Authority, and Harvard Business School project director of race, gender, equity & entrepreneurship, will serve as the strategic advisor for the program.

The program outcomes confirm the research that affirms connection with other entrepreneurs is essential, particularly for women entrepreneurs of color, with many interested in social justice issues.

“The @Takeleadwomen #50WomenCan program outcomes confirm the research that affirms connection with other entrepreneurs is essential, particularly for #womenentrepreneurs of color, with many interested in social justice issues.”

A new poll recently published by Small Business Majority showed that women entrepreneurs and small business owners also involved in social justice issues, including reproductive justice, as a key to economic security.

“The recent poll of 500 women small business owners nationwide, including additional oversamples of 100 Black women and 100 Latina small business owners, finds that women entrepreneurs are concerned about the impact of the overturning of Roe v. Wade on their business, their employees and their community,” Small Business Majority reports.

Social justice and humanitarian causes are a priority for Union. A public advocate for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, Union says she was a victim of rape at 19. “It stripped me of all semblance of self and personal power.”

Because of her work for social justice, she was awarded the President's Award from the NAACP Image Awards, and was included on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.

In her own production company, Union says, “We can take big swings and we are not bound by someone else’s imagination. We are now creating exactly the kind of art we dreamed of in films. We are centering the narratives of creators who have been marginalized.” She adds, “It’s hard, but so glorious.”

“In her own production company, @Itsgabrielleu says, “We can take big swings and we are not bound by someone else’s imagination. We are now creating exactly the kind of art we dreamed of in films. We are centering the narratives of creators who have been marginalized.” #womenleaders”

In addition to her abundant work in films and television, Union says her haircare and more recent children’s skincare line, Flawless, were built on a need.

“I was sick of paying dumb amounts of money to make it work. So I create companies that recenter Blackness,” Union says.

Her efforts are part of a trend of increased investment in businesses created by Black entrepreneurs to benefit Black communities.

Black Enterprise reports, “ Wall Street veteran and finance coach Shareef “Ross Mac” McDonald has a unique name for this renewed interest for Black men and women.

““I was sick of paying dumb amounts of money to make it work. So I create companies that recenter Blackness,” @Itsgabrielleu says. Her efforts are part of a trend of increased investment in businesses created by Black entrepreneurs to benefit Black communities. #blackwomenlead”

“I love it, we call it the Digital Civil Rights Movement. Post and during COVID we as a people were more intentional and saying no one’s going to give us anything, we need to get it and take it for ourselves whether it’s knowledge or wealth and so I’m excited that people are now doing the things that our ancestors didn’t necessarily have access to even understand or comprehend.”

For Union, her portfolio of successful projects across business, the arts, film and entertainment, speak to her tenacity and her drive.

“I want to see how high I can fly on my own, without the b---s---.”

Leadership Takeaway:

“We can take big swings and we are not bound by someone else’s imagination. It’s hard, but so glorious.”

Gabrielle Union, actor, producer, entrepreneur, author, advocate

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com