Remember Jay-Z’s “So Ambitious”? That bouncy track, produced by The Neptunes for “The Blueprint 3,” extolled the virtues of the goal-oriented mindset. Pharrell Williams — one-half of The Neptunes, currently the newly designated men’s creative director of the French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton — co-produced the song, rhyming its motivational chorus (“If you believe it, then you could conceive it…”). How fitting then that Pharrell recently took time away from brainstorming what’s next in menswear to help judge the third annual Black Ambition “Demo Day” competition in downtown Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood.
Decked out in a forest green Louis Vuitton suit, a blond Caesar and tinted glasses, Pharrell held court onstage last week at Spring Studios, conversing about entrepreneurialism with Black Ambition CEO Felecia Hatcher and Dave Gilboa, co-founder of the popular eyeglass retailer Warby Parker. A rapt audience of hundreds of smartly dressed young Black and brown budding business execs visually reflected Black Ambition’s overall mission. Launched by Pharrell in 2020, “Black Ambition is a nonprofit initiative working to close the opportunity and wealth gap through entrepreneurship,” according to its vision statement. “We invest capital and resources in high-growth startups founded by Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs.”
The preamble of conversation about the summits and pitfalls of new businesses eventually segued into major monetary awards for Demo Day winners. From an initial pool of over 2,000 applicants, Black Ambition whittled competitors down to 36 finalists, who all received between $20K and $250K to develop their young companies. Eight frontrunners advanced to the Demo Day 2023 competition, where they pitched their businesses live at Spring Studios for a chance at the grand prize: one million dollars.
Judges assembled to choose the winners included…
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