Let me tell you about Paul Mitchell. Columbia, South Carolina is home to Optus Bank — the only African American-owned bank in the state — and Mitchell has spent years as its chairman determined to give it a platform bigger than it could ever build alone. The Work Mitchell is chairman of Optus Financial Corporation…

Let me tell you about James H. Sills III. The bank he leads opened in 1907, making it the second-oldest African American-owned financial institution in the country — and by the end of 2026, Sills will be steering it through a merger that creates the largest Black-owned financial institution in the United States. The Work…

Let me tell you about Keely Gideon-Taylor. In a county where income can swing dramatically from one ZIP code to the next, she chairs the board of the organization working to make sure Black-owned businesses get their share of the economy. Gideon-Taylor is president of the Board of Directors of the Black Chamber of Commerce…

Let me tell you about Leon Howard. New Orleans raised him; the stock market remade him. Today, millions know him as Wall Street Trapper — the self-taught investor teaching everyday people how money actually works. The Work Howard is a self-taught investor, financial educator and entrepreneur. He launched *From the Trap to Wall Street* to…

Let me tell you about Tabitha Donnell. In Savannah, they have a name for what happens when the community decides to back a business: they flood it. Donnell is living proof. She says the Greater Savannah Black Chamber of Commerce helped her grow her customer base and her clientele — and she has become one…

Let me tell you about Kimberly Moore. In electrical engineering, the corner office is still a rare sight for a Black woman. Moore didn’t wait for that door to open — she drew up her own blueprints and built one of the largest Black woman-owned electrical engineering firms in the country. The Work Moore is…

Let me tell you about Daryn Dodson. Less than 1% — that’s the share of U.S. venture capital that went to Black founders in a recent year, and Dodson has built an entire firm around the evidence that closing that gap is worth real money. The Work Dodson is founder and managing director of Illumen…

Let me tell you about Jacob Walthour Jr. The phrase he handed New Jersey in 2019 still does the work: “Two New Jerseys.” It came during testimony before the state Senate — a cleareyed accounting of the communities riding the state’s growth and the communities locked out of it. Walthour has spent his career since…

Let me tell you about Sean Green. His job is to make sure the check a Black founder gets at seed stage isn’t the last one they can raise — and he’s built a firm around making that true. The Work Green is co-founder and general partner of Black Operator Ventures (Black Ops VC), the…

Let me tell you about Charles O’Neal. When more than 30 Black chambers of commerce from across Texas gathered in Fort Worth for three days this fall, he was the one who called them to the table. The coalition he leads is one of the largest Black business networks in the country — and its…