A judge has granted two Black women permission to proceed with their lawsuit against McDonald’s, Reuters reported. In the lawsuit, Victoria Guster-Hines and Domineca, two former McDonald’s VPs, claim that they faced discrimination because they were Black women and forced to leave after speaking up. The lawsuit is filed against McDonald’s USA, LLC; McDonald’s Corp.; Steven Easterbrook; Christopher Kempczinski; and Charles Strong. In a 2020 lawsuit, a regional president critiqued “Black woman attitude” and said that one of the plaintiffs and other McDonald’s employees were “angry Black women,” according to
Farm Credit is accusing Uncle Nearest of fraud, which includes an attempt to conceal a $20 million loan from Jay-Z, as stated by the Lexington Herald Leader. Nearest Green Distillery and the flagship Uncle Nearest whiskey brand have been under the management of a receiver since September, after lender Farm Credit Mid-America claimed the Weavers defaulted on more than $108 million in loans. Farm Credit Mid-America claims that Fawn and Keith Weaver have “egregiously mischaracterized” a $20 million loan from Jay-Z’s venture capital firm, MarcyPen. Jay-Z loan to Uncle Nearest being questioned
Anifa Mvuemba, founder of the fashion brand Hanifa, has announced that the brand will pause production. “I don’t want to rush just to prove resilience. I don’t want to pretend everything is fine just to keep momentum,” Mvuemba said in an interview with The Cut. “Right now, I’m reflecting. I’m protecting what matters to me in this season. And I’m allowing myself to be human in the process. I don’t know exactly what the future of Hanifa looks like at this very moment. And for the first time in 14
Pat McGrath Labs is being marketed to prospective buyers through bankruptcy proceedings, only days after GDA Luma said it had secured a controlling stake, The Business of Beauty reports. A bankruptcy judge chose Gordian Group as Pat McGrath Labs’ investment bank, which is seeking an “investment and acquisition opportunity” for the brand, as stated in a presentation viewed by BoF. Pat Mcgrath looking for a new investment During the presentation, prospective buyers were told that any transaction must repay debtor-in-possession claims totalling over $60 million, with an additional estimated $70 to
Makeup artist label Pat McGrath Labs has secured a $30 million financing package from the financial firm GDA Luma, according to Business of Fashion. The company filed for bankruptcy in a Miami court earlier this year to restructure its debts. The debt came from a loan obtained in April 2025 from GDA, according to the filings. The package was approved by a Miami, Florida bankruptcy court, which approved $10 million in new debtor-in-possession financing for the makeup brand, plus an additional $20 million in post-emergence working capital, according to a
Black-owned investment firm Fearless Fund is launching a microfinance fund in Ghana. This, after, comes the American Alliance (AAER), which sued Fearless Fund, claiming that the Strivers Grant, sponsored by Mastercard, violated the Civil Rights Act of 1866 by excluding white founders. The Fearless Fund launched a new initiative one year after settling a lawsuit with the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER). Now the venture capital firm has set its sights on Africa. It’s launching a microfinance fund in Ghana on March 21 and awarding GHS 100,000 to female entrepreneurs, according to
Sarah Bond, the first Black female president of Xbox, has stepped down. Bond was promoted to Xbos president in October 2023, shortly after Microsoft closed its $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard, according to The Verge. “Over the past four years, we’ve navigated that moment together and positioned the business for what comes next. We took on some of the biggest challenges this organization has ever faced and did it as one team,” Bond wrote in a LinkedIn post. About Sarah Bond Bond became the first Black woman to serve
Google software engineer Chisom Okwor is building Braidiant, a US-based startup developing an automated handheld device to speed up hair braiding for professional stylists. Launched in 2024, the company targets a labor-intensive market where price, time, and physical strain limit supply. Okwor previously worked on Google Maps for cars and paid for her undergraduate computer science degree by braiding hair. That experience shaped Braidiant’s focus on building tools that support stylists’ work rather than replace it. Automating Standardized Braiding Styles Hair braiding in the US is often expensive and time-consuming,
Two Black women are leading rival robotaxi programs that could define the future of autonomous transportation in the US. Aicha Evans, CEO of Amazon subsidiary Zoox, and Tekedra Mawakana, co-CEO of Alphabet subsidiary Waymo, have been named to Forbes’ “Women to Watch in 2026” for their influence in one of tech’s fastest-moving sectors. Alphabet’s Waymo: Tekedra Mawakana Tekedra Mawakana, 54, has been co-CEO of Waymo since 2021, overseeing the company’s strategy and the commercial rollout of its autonomous driving technology. Before taking on the top job, she served as Waymo’s COO and previously held leadership roles at eBay, Yahoo, AOL,
Apple is undergoing its biggest leadership upheaval since the death of cofounder Steve Jobs, as a cluster of top executives head for the exits. Among them is Lisa Jackson, the company’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, and one of the most visible Black women in Silicon Valley. On December 4, Apple announced that Jackson will retire in late January 2026, marking the end of more than a decade at Apple, which helped shape the company’s climate agenda and its public commitments to racial equity. Lisa Jackson’s Departure Apple will not replace Jackson with a
