Stores pledge to stock Black-owned brands.
Following the murder of George Floyd, many businesses pledged to bring more minority-owned products into stores and online.
Twenty-five companies including Macy’s and Gap signed the 15 Percent Pledge, one effort to make companies dedicate more shelf space to Black entrepreneurs.
When Cora Miller had her son, she discovered the baby had a full head of hair — and found few products on the market to style it.
A lot of gels, mousses and creams smelled like fruit and flowers or came in pink bottles. That search inspired Cora Miller and her husband, Stefan, to start their own company, Young King Hair Care. They designed the line of plant-based, natural hair products with little Black boys like their son in mind, and launched the product just before his third birthday.
“I really wanted my son to see himself in the products he uses,” said Cora Miller, the company’s co-founder and CEO. “It was a bugging, nagging feeling about this that wouldn’t go away.”
Young King is now on the shelves of two of the country’s largest retailers, Walmart and Target. It is among the growing number of Black-owned brands that national retailers have begun to sell over the past year in a push to better reflect diverse customers and a commitment to advancing racial equity after the murder of George Floyd.
