There’s a concept of the Matthew Effect which uses math to illustrate what folks have lamented about for thousands of years – the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Take tech for example – the rich and poor often have different problems, but because it’s more profitable to solve problems for the wealthy a disproportionate share of tech innovation focuses on solving problems for the affluent. However, it doesn’t have to be this way – and we have been blown away by the thousands of members of our community who have devoted their lives through their businesses, organizations and art to serve the underserved.

Kera Asberry

I serve a lot of people of color. A lot of people of color do not always have the resources or the know how on things. If I can serve my community by providing services to help them elevate, then that’s what I would like to keep doing. My life purpose is to serve others and pass any knowledge I know to assist in others dreams. Read more>>

Nanekia Ansari

I have a desire to serve African American mothers in obtaining the life they desire and leaving a legacy of awesome motherhood experiences with their family. Read more>>

Navigate Maternity

The U.S has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. We currently rank 55th in the world for maternal mortality. A maternal death is defined by the World Health Organization as, “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes”. Read more>>

Mimi McCarley

I’ma Go Giver. At my core, I believe in helping people because no matter who you are, what you do, or what level you occupy, we all need help. Heck, I need help! I’m thankful because I am in the business of helping people, particularly independent music creators and creative entrepreneurs who may not have the resources, network, access, and knowledge to launch a career in the sync industry. Read more>>

Akua Opoku

The whole focus of my business model is elevating BIPOCs (Black Indigenous People of Color) in sustainability spaces, often times the underserved. Many times people of color face many challenges in sustainability, like being written out or left out completely in their contributions to the movement, often the community most severely impacted by the downsides of the climate crisis, and disproportionally not financially supported in sustainability efforts. Read more>>

Amanda Ray

With the explosion of science fiction entertainment, we’re finally seeing more diversity in front of and behind the camera. However, no matter how great a movie is, far too many indie filmmakers of color don’t receive effective marketing and promotion services that’s vital to the success of their film. Read more>>

Melissa Poloncarz

My whole life I have had a love for serving where I can. In high school, I was a part of an organization called FLOOD which was a Christian-based club centered around serving the community. We went out and served in No Longer Bound, a Christian-centered rehab facility, where we would connect with the guys, hear their stories, and provide worship. We served Meals by Grace which provides meals and practical home items for low-income families. Read more>>

Caroline Horste

I started my business back in 2020 as a 1:1 service provider working project management contracts on a freelance basis. I loved the time freedom and flexibility that contract work offered me, and I loved getting to work across industries with project teams that were wildly different from each other. Read more>>

Edward Wilson

While I believe gay men are generally more privileged than other minority groups, we have our unique struggles and difficulties too. When I grew up I didn’t see “me” in movies, TV shows, comic books. Only in gaudy, unrepresentative sex magazines or breifly (pun intended!) bombastic queer pride style party scenes. Read more>>

Lewis George Walker

The Black Family Technology Awareness Association (BFTAA) was created in 2004 to support the national Black Family Technology Awareness campaign created by Career Communications Group and IBM. In Kansas City as a member on Community NETwork African American Telecommunications Professionals of AT&T I was offered the opportunity to lead the Black Family Technology Awareness Week in Kansas City, Mo. Read more>>

Jedadiah Baker

This is one of the greatest privileges we have in this world. So, after a few years of consistently feeding our friends in the homeless community and in low-income settings, around 2014 or 2015 we had a new group come out to volunteer. It was during one our annual Thanksgiving events. The leader who organized this group was a local business owner, and most of their group either worked for him, or were part of his family. Read more>>

NIKITA TERRY

I was raised by two amazing grand-parents that were unable to read or write. They instilled great values in me, through them I was taught to live a life with honesty and integrity. Growing up we didn’t have much but we had genuine love. I remember going to school and only having one or two fairy decent pieces of clothing which included only one pair of shoes. We usually started school with only a few sheets of paper and one pencil. Read more>>

Brittanie Richardson

The greatest accomplish of my life has been raising my girls. I met them ten years ago when I arrived in Kenya as a volunteer. I had heard about the rampant child sexual exploitation going on in the coast of Kenya, so I came to see for myself and see what I could do to help. Almost as soon as I landed I began to meet girls who were having to endure sexual violence just to survive; to be raped or otherwise sexually exploited just to get the equivalent of 50 American cents to buy food or clean water or pay the cost of going to school. Read more>>