Entrepreneurship runs deep in Felecia Hatcher’s family history—from her Jamaican grandfather’s sugar and yam farm to her father’s roots in construction and development. Following suit in her personal business dreams, she co-founded ventures in food and tech to provide vegan-friendly desserts and educational experiences that included social impact.
Today, she carries her family legacy forward as CEO of Black Ambition, where she empowers and inspires up-and-coming Black creators and entrepreneurs to do the same.
Lighting the path
Hatcher’s first foray into entrepreneurship, which she engaged in while she was in college, began with an educational consulting company that helped adolescents enroll in college and secure tuition funding. Then, after leaving college to pursue entrepreneurship full-time, she led product launches and social media campaigns for major brands like Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Walgreens and more.
However, she soon faced a setback that almost crushed her spirit as a budding entrepreneur. “My very first business had a lot of really bumpy roads, including an employee [who] stole my biggest contract from me,” Hatcher says. “I had sworn off ever, ever, ever being an entrepreneur again in my entire life.”
Yet resilience won out. She soon reignited her entrepreneurial spirit and was inspired to launch a gourmet popsicle manufacturing company with her husband. Thanks to her strong background in brand management marketing, she knew how to get vegan popsicles onto the market for events and private-label production.
After building a Fortune 500 client list that expanded her business and venture capital backing, Hatcher and her husband opened their brick-and-mortar shop and committed to operating under sustainable practices. They also founded a youth entrepreneurship program where they coached kids in the community on entrepreneurship and tech.
Spearheading innovation
Later, she and her husband started their nonprofit organization, Code Fever, now known as the Center for Black Innovation. Driven by her passion to promote and create spaces for Black innovation, Hatcher also co-founded Black Tech Week.
Her efforts to create accessible learning spaces for Black communities and contribute to STEM were recognized when she was named a 2014 Obama White House Champion of Change for STEM access and diversity. Her work has also been acknowledged by Harvard University and various business publications, and she’s received numerous awards for championing change.
After all this, she caught the attention of Pharrell Williams, whose team invited her to join the Black Ambition Opportunity Fund as CEO. But at the time, Hatcher says, the project was still in development. “It did not have a CEO prior to that, and it was initially just a dream that [Williams] had of wanting to close the wealth and opportunity gap for diverse entrepreneurs and then go build and scale the [business],” she explains.
Still, the opportunity was one she couldn’t pass up. “That’s where we first started—wanting to make sure that entrepreneurs that need the support [and] resources to grow and scale significantly had exactly what they needed, when they needed [it] and how they needed it,” she says. “And that was really Pharrell’s vision around that… really being able to create uninterrupted pathways to entrepreneurship and through entrepreneurship.”
Pioneering movements
Today, Black Ambition is a vibrant virtual platform, and its reach extends beyond North America to countries in Africa, South America and Europe. It also offers an annual competition that attracts thousands of applications. Out of the entries, anywhere from 150–250 semifinalists are selected and offered a three-month mentorship program, along with capital and networking connections. This hands-on approach allows Black Ambition to foster diverse, uninterrupted pathways for young entrepreneurs.
After investing in the contestants’ companies, Hatcher says, the foundation works closely with the finalists for six to eight months, laying the groundwork for what their businesses truly need to thrive.
“Oftentimes, my team asks them, ‘What’s your Christmas list of three to five things that will really drastically scale [your] company?’” Hatcher says. “And then it’s my team’s [job] to help them get to those…. [We also help] them get world-class contacts that will drastically grow and scale their company.”
According to Hatcher, the organization’s mission is to help young Black entrepreneurs maximize their potential. “We want the budget to match their imagination [so that] there is nothing that stands in the way of their greatness,” she says. “Because not only are they going to be amazing entrepreneurs, but they are going to figure out some world-bending, world-changing way to be radically impactful back to their communities.”
Leaving a mark
Hatcher hopes to leave her legacy through the people and communities she’s helped grow. By dedicating her work and energy toward spreading positivity, she aims to make a meaningful impact through entrepreneurship.
“I hope to live to 100,” she says. “If I look back and I can say, ‘Job well done around that,’ that means [I’ve had] the impact that I want to have on the world.”
Photo by GaudiLab/Shutterstock.com
