Kendra Bracken-Ferguson knows that Black beauty brands and their founders need capital and community to circumvent systemic racism at the heart of venture capital funding. As the Founder and CEO of Braintrust Founders Studio Kendra uses her experience identifying talent and innovation to provide companies the support they require to succeed. In this episode, Karen and I explore how her legacy of building digital communities guided her toward her professional “North Star” and how we might do the same. Tune in to learn what Kendra thinks about: How working in corporate provided her vital training for entrepreneurshipWhy creating a product is not the same as building a brandHow to select pillars and non-negotiables that will guide us toward our North StarAccelerating your business without venture capital funding How an attempt to erase her contributions to the Digital Brand Architects (DBA) impacted her approach to business Rate, Subscribe & Review the Podcast on Apple , Shop Kendra's Favorite Products Mentioned in the episode here Join the Naked Beauty Community on IG: @nakedbeautyplanet  Thanks for all the love and support. Tag me while you’re listening @nakedbeautyplanet & as always love to hear your thoughts :)  Check out nakedbeautypodcast.com for all previous episodes & search episodes by topic Shop My Favorite Products & Pod Discounts on my ShopMyShelf Stay in touch with me: @brookedevard Follow Karen: @kendrabrackenferguson  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.