Member-only story
What It’s Like to Be a Black Entrepreneur Right Now
E-commerce founder Nicole Gibbons on micro-aggressions, tokenism, and leading her company through this complicated moment
Nicole Gibbons knew she was in rare company when her direct-to-consumer paint startup Clare raised $2 million from the likes of First Round Capital in 2017. Black female entrepreneurs receive less than 1% of VC funding raised by startups.
In an industry that champions quick pivots and failing fast, Gibbons — who launched her New York City-based company in 2018 after working as an interior decorator and global head of PR for Victoria’s Secret — feels intense pressure to make no mistakes and faces microaggressions so often she says she’s learned to live with them. She spoke with Marker about the challenges of being a Black founder, doing business in the time of Covid-19, and what companies should be saying about Black Lives Matter. (This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.)
When I started pitching Clare I knew the statistics — I knew that Black women are underfunded. I had one VC who declined to take a meeting and said, “I can tell you put a lot of creativity into your idea,” like it was an arts and crafts project. I did feel dismissed at times and I wonder: If I were a white man would I have been given the opportunity to take that meeting or have my idea be received differently?
Has racism been a hindrance to my career? I mean, it has and it hasn’t. I check a lot of boxes for people. I am super articulate, I went to a great school [Northwestern University], I’m a CEO, right? So I think I get a pass that maybe not everybody would. I don’t move and shake in a world where people are outwardly racist. No one is calling me the N-word. It’s more subtle — nothing outward enough to talk about. It’s microaggressions that happen every single day, like comments about your hair or saying you’re pretty for a Black girl. It’s just everyday ignorance, which you kind of learn to live with.
These white male founders who demonstrate some of the most inappropriate, often illegal, behavior just kind of get a pass. And I feel like I can’t make any…
