What does an entrepreneur look like?
- Kristi Love
- Apr 12, 2017
- 2 min read
Growing up, the only entrepreneurs I knew were folks selling Noni Juice, Mary Kay, and Avon. They were talking fast and inviting me to their "life changing" meetings.
The word or the thought of an entrepreneur was not used regularly in my household. I grew up knowing the word “work”. That’s what people did- they go to school, get that good education, and go to work. Make sure it is a good company where you can stay for 10 years or more and get that “good retirement plan." Other than multi-level marketing there were people who were small business owners and entrepreneurs such as corner store owners, barbers or hair stylist.
I didn’t grow up wanting to be an entrepreneur. It wasn't on my mind and the idea of it didn't "look" like something that was for me. I now see "The look" of entrepreneurship as building wealth and being able to leave a financial legacy for your family.
However, I still find myself asking "what does an entrepreneur look like?" Who is this person? What is their style, their race, age, and educational background? People in the media have shown us their version of an Entrepreneur. Just Google “Top Richest Entrepreneurs." The same group of people will show up on any list. Wanna guess who’s on that list?
Yes, you guessed it- Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, the co-founders of Google, and the list goes on? The common thread- they are all men…white men. Literally a list full of white males.
Funny thing is, as an adult, I am surrounded by African American men and women entrepreneurs more than any other race/ethnicity. That is my reality. We [African Americans] are all capable of creating the images of what an entrepreneur looks like. We are the look. There is no one look of an entrepreneur. We all come in different sizes, shades, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The look is not the most important factor. It's the qualities and characteristics of an entrepreneur that lead to success.
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