Gabrielle Union is creating a table and Black-owned businesses are the centerpiece.
As a part of a new partnership with LinkedIn, which includes an exclusive new content series, “Getting Real with Gabrielle Union,” the star opens up about being a Black woman in the industry, business, and how fear drove her decisions, plus more.
Now Gabrielle Union has adopted a new mindset to land the right opportunities and she has since racked in many wins. As AfroTech previously reported, Gabrielle Union recently became an investor in Angel City Football Club alongside her daughter Kaavia James Union Wade.
“If it does not positively impact my peace, my joy and my grace, I don’t wanna have anything to do with it. When I look at investments, businesses, I look at who else is involved? Are these people that I would trust with my child or trust with my life? No. Okay. Well that’s okay. That’s not for me,” Gabrielle Union said in an interview with LinkedIn News Editor in Chief Dan Roth.
Gabrielle Union also shared how vital it is for business ventures to adopt the for us by us model. After landing the Flawless deal, the actress felt her name, image, and likeness were being used as a “Black shield” rather than helping to create real change for the Black community. She later took control of the company and put new provisions in place to benefit customers. Although it was uncomfortable, the experience led to a successful relaunch and has propelled Union to become a better businesswoman.
“I think it’s easy when things go wrong to blame everyone else, it’s easy to point out where somebody else dropped the ball, but it made me look inward and knowing that I made that initial deal out of fear that no one would ever want me to do anything. And I had to take the deal as it’s presented. I don’t fight back too much because they’ll take it away and I’ll lose everything. But I can’t move through the world with that kind of fear. And I have to approach business differently. I’ve never slept better. I feel good about what we’re doing,” Union said.
Gabrielle Union Believes Transparency Will Propel Black-Owned Businesses
As Gabrielle Union reflects on her entrepreneurial journey, she has reached an era of gratitude and is compelled to help others “Lift As We Climb.” The initiative works to make the road to success easier for Black-owned brands.
“It’s just taking the time and saying, ‘Look this is where we messed up. These are some of the challenges that we had with this warehouse or this distributor, or ‘who did you talk to over there, Cause I’m running into some problems.’ ‘How did you troubleshoot with Amazon or who did you use for your website?’ All of these things help,” Gabrielle Union said.
She continued: “It doesn’t matter if you’re Apple or you’re a mom and pop shop, there are opportunities to lift as you climb.”
