Continuing our observance of Black History Month, this week, we are celebrating with a leadership quote from an inspirational Black founder, Julia Collins.

Julia Collins is an American serial entrepreneur known for her several climate-conscious food and beverage companies. She is best known for being the first Black woman founder of a startup company valued at over US$1bn.

Collins earned her bachelor's degree at Harvard University in 2001 and received an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University in 2009. She has founded many companies and built many brands to date, including Mexicue, Murray’s Cheese Bar and Harlem Jazz Enterprises. The latter owns an award-winning restaurant, The Cecil. In 2015, she co-founded Zume Pizza, an automated food delivery company. Following the success of Zume's business model and several fruitful rounds of fundraising, the company was valued at over US$1bn, making Collins the first Black woman co-founder of a unicorn company. 

In 2018, she departed from the management of Zume Pizza but remains one of the company's owners. She currently leads Planet FWD, a new company that is building a software platform for regenerative agriculture to provide resources with which other food brands can create their own climate-friendly products.  Planet FWD has launched its own climate-friendly brand, Moonshot. Additionally, in Planet FWD's seed round, Collins focused on raising funds from people of colour and/or women. Ultimately, 99.5% of the US$2.7m funds came from these groups.

Alongside Planet FWD and Moonshot, Collins serves on several advisory and supervisory boards and is an active angel investor focusing on funding for female entrepreneurs.

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⚡️Michelle Obama: “People who are truly strong lift others up. People who are truly powerful bring others together.”

⚡️Andrea Jenkins: "If you can conceive it, and believe it, you can achieve it. But there must be a plan. We have to set goals. Review them constantly. Shift directions when necessary. But, always stay focused."