The Power Of The Pivot: How These Black Women Entrepreneurs Transformed Setbacks Into Empire-Building Opportunities – Essence
Career changes are rarely linear. I know that especially as a communication professional, turned lawyer, turned entrepreneur, turned editor.
What I, and so many women like myself, have experienced has been messy, uncertain, and has often been triggered by circumstances beyond our control. But if there’s one thing that Black women prove time and time again, is our remarkable ability to not just weather professional storms, but to harness that energy to redirect our paths toward even greater heights.
We’ve seen the stories in the media, and probably know many people personally. The entrepreneurial landscape is littered with stories of overnight successes that weren’t overnight at all. Behind most breakthroughs lie years of false starts, redirections, and moments where everything seemed to fall apart before coming together. For Black women entrepreneurs in particular, these pivots aren’t just professional strategy, but survival mechanisms that have been refined across generations.
As Women’s History Month concludes, ESSENCE spotlights five women who embody this tradition of resilience and reinvention. Each faced a moment when their carefully laid plans collapsed. Each stood at a crossroads. And each chose to forge an entirely new path forward, one that would eventually lead to industry disruption and community transformation.
Their stories reveal a common thread: what’s coming is always greater than what has gone.
Zakia Blain
City: Philadelphia, PA
Once a teacher, always a teacher. At least, of course, that rings true for Zakia Blain. She loved her classroom, her students, and the stability of her career. But sometimes life forces your hand.
After being diagnosed with a brain disorder, Blain had to make difficult choices about her future. The condition, which caused debilitating headaches and vision problems, made continuing in the classroom impossible.
The answer came through her own health journey. As Blain focused on wellness and fitness to manage her condition, she created FBF (F*ck Being Fat) Body, a fitness and lifestyle brand designed to help women embrace health at every size. And now, she’s still teaching — just in a different classroom. Zain has been at the forefront of the “body positive” movement — before it was trendy — empowering women to show up as their best self, at any size.
What started as a fitness challenge grew into a comprehensive brand offering fitness programs, apparel, and community support. Her education background proved invaluable as she developed programs (like walking and prayer challenges) that made fitness accessible and enjoyable for women who often felt excluded from traditional fitness spaces.
“At the core of it all, our mission statement 10 years ago still rings true today,” Blain told ESSENCE back in 2023. “I want people to live their best, most healthy lives, whatever that looks like to them. And, does that mean you have to be a size two? No. Does that mean you have to be on a weight loss journey? No. Whatever your best, most healthy life is for you. And I think because of that, and because I don’t shame people or make people feel bad about themselves, they know that they’re included into this community no matter where they are on their journey.”
Today, FBF Body (through Blain’s leadership), has helped thousands of women change their lives — while looking good doing it — and amassed a devoted following of women who appreciate Blain’s no-nonsense approach to health and her emphasis on finding joy in movement rather than fixating on weight loss.
Lisa Skeete Tatum
City: New York, NY
Lisa Skeete Tatum‘s career began in the rarified world of venture capital, where she built a reputation as a savvy investor with an eye for promising startups (at Cardinal Partners, a $350 million early-stage healthcare venture capital firm, to be exact). But after years of success, she noticed a troubling pattern: women, particularly women of color, were consistently struggling to navigate career transitions and advancement opportunities.
This observation hit home when Tatum herself reached a career crossroads. Despite her impressive credentials—Cornell undergrad with a BS in chemical engineering and Harvard MBA, successful venture capital career—she found herself uncertain about her next move and lacking the personalized guidance she needed.
Tatum recognized that if she, with all her privilege and connections, was struggling, countless other women must be facing even greater challenges. That revelation sparked the idea for Landit, a personalized career development platform specifically designed to help women and diverse professionals build successful careers.
Launched in 2015, Landit provides women and diverse groups in the workplace with personalized playbooks that include career coaching, resume reviews, networking opportunities, and skill-building resources. The platform has since attracted major corporate clients who use it for talent development and retention.
Rosezena J. Pierce, ESQ
Chicago, IL
The journey from styling hair to filing trademarks might seem unlikely, but for Rosezena J. Pierce, it was simply following her ambition to its natural conclusion.
Before she became one of the most sought-after trademark attorneys in the world, Pierce worked as a cosmetologist on Chicago’s West Side, building relationships with clients while dreaming of something bigger. The intimate conversations at her styling chair revealed something profound: small business owners, especially minorities, often lost everything they built because they didn’t know how to legally protect their ideas. “It’s extremely important to me that I protect the brands my clients have worked so hard to build,” Pierce told ESSENCE back in 2022.
That realization propelled her to law school, where she specialized in intellectual property—a field where Black women are dramatically underrepresented. Today, her firm, R.J. Pierce Law Group, helps minority entrepreneurs, creatives, and small business owners secure their intellectual property through trademarks and copyright protection.
What makes Pierce’s story particularly compelling is how she maintained her connection to the community that inspired her career change. Her client roster features numerous beauty industry entrepreneurs whose journeys mirror her own beginnings.
Shontay Lundy
City: Los Angeles, CA
For years, Shontay Lundy had a frustrating routine before heading outside: applying sunscreen that left an ashy, white cast on her dark skin. The corporate executive grew increasingly annoyed by the beauty industry’s neglect of melanated skin needs.
Then came her turning point. During a vacation in 2016, Lundy found herself once again struggling with sunscreen options. Instead of just complaining, she saw an opportunity.
Without any previous beauty industry experience, Lundy created Black Girl Sunscreen, the first suncare brand specifically formulated for darker skin tones. The clear-drying SPF 30 moisturizer became an instant hit, proving the market had been severely underserved.
What began as a solution to her personal frustration evolved into a multimillion-dollar brand now carried in major retailers like Target and Ulta Beauty. But beyond the commercial success, Lundy’s pivot has saved lives by addressing the dangerous myth that Black people don’t need sun protection.
Kahlilah Wright
City: Baltimore, MD
Kalilah Wright‘s path to entrepreneurship began ironically, at work. Working in corporate America (at Under Armour as a store planner and architect), Wright heard a speech from Kevin Plank (CEO, Under Armour) during a company town hall about how proud he was to have started his own company from the ground up in a city that he loves, Baltimore.
That frustration from her personal life, and Baltimore’s uprising in the wake of Freddy Gray’s murder, sparked an idea: what if she could create a way for women like her to express themselves boldly and unapologetically? In 2016, Wright launched Mess in a Bottle, an apparel company featuring t-shirts with thought-provoking messages packaged in reusable bottles.
What started as a side hustle quickly gained momentum as the shirts struck a chord with women who felt similarly silenced. Through clever designs and powerful messaging, Wright created more than just a fashion brand, built a platform for expression and community.
Wright’s pivot from corporate employee to founder transformed her relationship with work, allowing her to set her own terms and create space for authentic communication. Her business has since expanded beyond apparel to include various merchandise and collaborations, all centered around amplifying voices that often go unheard.
