Most people know Madam C. J. Walker. This episode spotlights the mentor and architect behind Walker's framework: Annie Malone. 

You’ll hear how she built the Poro Company into more than products—training, schools, agents, and infrastructure that scaled opportunity for thousands of Black women.

If you care about Black business trailblazers, real entrepreneurship, and building business systems that last, this is your blueprint.

Mission Fuel In This Episode:

“Success leaves clues”, and Annie Malone left a trail of them.

We cover:

• Who Annie Malone was (and why she’s often overlooked)
• Poro College and the power of infrastructure
• The mentor connection to Madam C. J. Walker
• The real lesson: spotlight is optional, systems are required

Key Takeaways

• Why infrastructure beats attention when you’re building long-term wealth
• How Annie Malone scaled through training, distribution, and a repeatable agent model
• The behind-the-scenes link between Annie Malone and Madam C. J. Walker’s early career
• What modern creators and founders can copy from a system-first strategy
• A reminder: you don’t have to be the face to be the foundation

Listener Question (Call to Action)

What “infrastructure” are you building right now—distribution, training, community, or operations?

Drop your answer in the comments/reviews or tag us with your takeaway.

Next in the Series

This is part of our 28-Day Black History Month business trailblazer series.
Next up: John H. Johnson and the power of media as a system.

Links & Resources

• Subscribe to the series: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmBlackSuccess
• Newsletter / updates: https://www.IAmBlackSuccess.com
• Connected to Stephen A. Hart on LinkedIn? https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamstephenahart

Keywords: Annie Malone, Black business trailblazer, Poro Company, Black beauty industry, business systems, Poro College, Madam C. J. Walker, entrepreneurship, infrastructure, agent model, Black History Month, Black entrepreneurs

About I Am Black Success®
I Am Black Success® is a podcast featuring conversations with trailblazing Black leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. With 200+ episodes, the show documents Black stories and explores the strategies, lessons, and tools that fuel excellence, leadership, and legacy.

Stay connected:
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
Watch full episodes on YouTube
Learn more at iamblacksuccess.com

Madam C.J. Walker didn’t complain—she built ownership.

In this 10-year anniversary kickoff episode (Feb 1, 2026), Stephen A. Hart launches “28 Days of Black Trailblazers” by breaking down the Madam C.J. Walker story as a real-world entrepreneurship playbook—not a highlight reel. You’ll hear how she turned a personal problem into a product, built a distribution system through the Walker Agents, and proved why ownership and distribution create leverage that outlives attention.

Primary keywords woven in: Madam C.J. Walker, Black trailblazers, Black entrepreneurship.

Chapters

• Introduction: 10 years of the podcast + the 28-day challenge
• The Pivot: from problem to product mindset
• Building the System: branding, the Walker System, and distribution
• Ownership Creates Options: the real lesson behind the legacy
• Next Up: Annie Malone and who history forgets

Key Takeaways

• Why “becoming a student” comes before “becoming the brand”
• How systems (products + training + distribution) outperform motivation
• What “ownership creates options” looks like in practice
• The difference between visibility (attention) and ownership (leverage)
• How wealth becomes impact when it’s reinvested into community

If this episode reframed how you think about business, drop a comment with one system you need to build (product, distribution, training, or reinvestment).
Subscribe/follow for daily episodes in the 28 Days of Black Trailblazers series—and come back tomorrow for Annie Malone.

Links:

• Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@IAmBlackSuccess
• Learn more about the show: https://iamblacksuccess.com
• More about Stephen A. Hart: https://stephenahart.com 
• Improve your brand today: https://bluoakmarketing.com 

#MadamCJWalker #BlackEntrepreneurship #BlackHistoryMonth #EntrepreneurshipPlaybook

About I Am Black Success®
I Am Black Success® is a podcast featuring conversations with trailblazing Black leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. With 200+ episodes, the show documents Black stories and explores the strategies, lessons, and tools that fuel excellence, leadership, and legacy.

Stay connected:
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
Watch full episodes on YouTube
Learn more at iamblacksuccess.com

When you’re one of the few, or the only Black man in the room, leadership comes with a unique mix of visibility and isolation. Every achievement is on display. Every mistake is magnified. And the pressure to be “twice as good” can feel relentless.

In this special episode, our host Stephen A. Hart sits down with Alfred Edmond Jr., Senior VP & Executive Editor-at-Large at Black Enterprise, to talk about the realities behind the title, how to handle hyper-visibility, combat the loneliness of leadership, and turn scrutiny into an advantage.

Whether you’re already in the C-suite or working your way up, Alfred shares insights from decades of leadership and storytelling that will help you navigate the spotlight with confidence, build the right peer network, and create lasting impact.

This conversation also spotlights the upcoming BE XCEL Summit, where Black men in leadership come together to connect, learn, and grow. If you’ve ever felt alone at the top, this is the community you’ve been waiting for.

Learn more about the Summit:

https://www.blackenterprise.com/xcel-summit-for-men-2025/

Use Coupon Code: ALFRED for a $100 discount.

Subscribe to our YouTube to watch the full episode of this conversation on video: 

https://www.youtube.com/@BlackSuccessPod

#IAmBlackSuccess #BlackMen #BlackLeaders #BlackEntrepreneurs

About I Am Black Success®
I Am Black Success® is a podcast featuring conversations with trailblazing Black leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. With 200+ episodes, the show documents Black stories and explores the strategies, lessons, and tools that fuel excellence, leadership, and legacy.

Stay connected:
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
Watch full episodes on YouTube
Learn more at iamblacksuccess.com

We are not short on horror stories of racial disparities in medicine. We saw this most recently during the early days of the pandemic, when Black and brown communities were absolutely devastated by Covid-19. And even beyond the pandemic, health disparities and inequity for people of color persist.

Our guest today is Dr. Oni Blackstock. Dr. Oni Blackstock is recognized as a thought leader and influencer in the areas of HIV and health equity. She is a primary care and HIV physician and the founder and Executive Director of Health Justice, a racial and health equity consulting firm, that helps health care and public health organizations to center anti-racism in the workplace and to reduce health inequities in the communities they service.

She previously served as Assistant Commissioner at the New York City Health Department where she led the City’s response to the HIV epidemic. Prior to that, she was Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center where she led and conducted research to develop and test interventions to promote HIV prevention and treatment. She holds degrees from Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and Yale School of Medicine.

Dr. Blackstock is passionate about ensuring that all individuals and communities have the resources and support they need to thrive and achieve optimal health and wellbeing.

Join our host for this #WomensHistoryMonth special series, Jennefer Witter, Founder and CEO of The Boreland Group, for this conversation with Dr. Blackstock.

PLEASE SHARE this episode with 5 Black women (or tag them in the comments). Let them know they need this motivational #MissionFuel TAH-dayyy.

🔥 To listen to the full episode (and download the transcripts), please visit:
https://iamblacksuccess.com 

#missionfuel #blackwomen #whm2022 #health #healthjustice #healthequity

About I Am Black Success®
I Am Black Success® is a podcast featuring conversations with trailblazing Black leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. With 200+ episodes, the show documents Black stories and explores the strategies, lessons, and tools that fuel excellence, leadership, and legacy.

Stay connected:
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
Watch full episodes on YouTube
Learn more at iamblacksuccess.com

Change can be scary, and when your pivot concerns your professional life, it can become even scarier ... especially for Black Women and other women of color!

Our guest is Cecilia Nelson-Hurt, a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. In celebration of Women’s History Month, we have Jennefer Witter, a past guest of the show, taking over hosting duties for the podcast for March. Jennefer is CEO/Founder of the Boreland Group.

🔥 Download transcripts and see our full archives:
https://iamblacksuccess.com 

About I Am Black Success®
I Am Black Success® is a podcast featuring conversations with trailblazing Black leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. With 200+ episodes, the show documents Black stories and explores the strategies, lessons, and tools that fuel excellence, leadership, and legacy.

Stay connected:
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
Watch full episodes on YouTube
Learn more at iamblacksuccess.com

There is an ongoing myth that there are very few Black Women in executive and/or senior leadership positions. Like the pipeline is nearly empty. It’s NOT.

Our guest for this episode is Ebony Reed. Ebony is the Chief Strategy Officer for the Marshall Project, a non-profit that produces journalism about the criminal justice system. Connect with Ebony on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebony-reed-7b18564/

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Jennefer Witter, a past guest of the show, takes over hosting duties for the podcast for the month of March. Jennefer is CEO/Founder of the Boreland Group. Connect with Jennefer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenneferwitter

PLEASE SHARE this episode with 5 Black women who need this motivational #MissionFuel today. 🔥

Please consider leaving Trailblazers.FM a rating and review on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify. We’re actively exploring new partners and sponsors. If interested please email [email protected]

Complete show archive, transcripts and more: https://iamblacksuccess.com  

About I Am Black Success®
I Am Black Success® is a podcast featuring conversations with trailblazing Black leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. With 200+ episodes, the show documents Black stories and explores the strategies, lessons, and tools that fuel excellence, leadership, and legacy.

Stay connected:
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
Watch full episodes on YouTube
Learn more at iamblacksuccess.com

Are you a Unicorn? Have you been called a unicorn? Unicorn is a popular term used when there is an “only” or a “few” and it often means – according to Wikipedia – “a very rare find”.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, I’m turning over my hosting duties, all month long, to a dear friend and a past guest of the show, Jennefer Witter. Jennefer is the CEO and founder of The Boreland Group, a 20-year-old boutique public relations firm headquartered in New York City. Jennefer’s agency specializes in women-led and minority owned businesses as well as grassroots non-profits. 

Today, I’m sharing a conversation between Jennefer and the Rev Dr. Theresa Thames, talking about unicorns as well as occupying spaces, being our true selves, and how they all wrap into each other.

This is the first of this special 4-part Women's History Month feature, hosted by Jennefer Witter. 

More about Rev Dr. Theresa Thames:

Rev Dr Theresa Thames is the founder of Soul Joy Coaching & Yoga, LLC, an in-person and online gathering that centers womxn of color, inviting them to honor their whole divine selves and tap into radical joy. She is also a Dean at an Ivy League university.

Dr. Thames is a graduate of Howard University and received a Master of Divinity with a concentration in Gender, Theology, and Ministry from Duke University Divinity School. She has a Doctorate of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary in Leadership Excellence which explored how best to equip young clergywomen of color to thrive in ministry. As an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, she served as a local pastor in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area for nine years.

More about Jennefer Witter:

Jennefer Witter is the CEO and founder of The Boreland Group Inc. (TBG – www.theborelandgroup.com), a 19-year-old boutique public relations firm headquartered in New York City. The agency specializes in women-led and minority owned businesses as well as grassroots non-profits. Jennefer is an active public speaker, with presentations to military, trade and academic organizations on implicit bias; gender-based workplace conversation; inclusive leadership; personal branding; and networking. Jennefer is the author of “The Little Book of Big PR: 100+ Quick Tips to Get Your Small Business Noticed,” published by Amacom/HarperCollins.

Connect and follow:

https://theresathames.com

http://www.theborelandgroup.com/


Leave us a rating and review

Please leave Trailblazers.FM: I Am Black Success, a 5-star rating and review if you’d not yet done so, on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify. 

Partner with us

We’re also exploring new partners and sponsors. If you’re interested in possibly working with us, please shoot me an email to [email protected]

Learn more about our show:
https://iamblacksuccess.com 

About I Am Black Success®
I Am Black Success® is a podcast featuring conversations with trailblazing Black leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. With 200+ episodes, the show documents Black stories and explores the strategies, lessons, and tools that fuel excellence, leadership, and legacy.

Stay connected:
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
Watch full episodes on YouTube
Learn more at iamblacksuccess.com

Ready to discover the 4 truths on why we actually struggle chasing PURPOSE?

Don’t miss “What’s The 411?” with our guest Patrice C Washington.

In 2020, SUCCESS Magazine named Patrice Washington one of 12 Inspiring Black Voices in Personal Development and she continues to be consistently called on for her expertise by national media. As an award-winning intuitive author, transformational speaker, hope-restoring coach, and conscious media personality, Patrice is committed to teaching a holistic approach to life while redefining the term “wealth” back to its original meaning, “well-being.”

Patrice got her start as “America’s Money Maven,” a widely-known favorite personal finance expert, but has since expanded her mission to encourage people to chase purpose, not money. She uses her Certification in Financial Psychology to help the masses get beyond budgets and credit reports and dive into the heart of why we behave the way we do with money. Through her Spirit-led teachings and intuitive guidance, Patrice empowers her community to look at life through the lens of abundance and opportunity, instead of lack and scarcity.

As host of her award-winning “The Redefining Wealth Podcast,” Patrice has built a thriving international community of high-achievers committed to creating a fulfilled life through balancing their careers, home, health, and personal finances. Featured on Forbes.com as one of "15 Inspiring Podcasts for Professionals of Every Stripe," and highlighted by InStyle Magazine, SUCCESS magazine and Entrepreneur.com, the Redefining Wealth Podcast boasts over 10 million downloads and counting.

Leave us a rating and review

Please leave us a 5-star rating and review if you’d not yet done so on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify. 

Partner with us

We’re also exploring new partners and sponsors. If you’re interested in possibly working with us, please shoot me an email to [email protected]

About I Am Black Success®
I Am Black Success® is a podcast featuring conversations with trailblazing Black leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. With 200+ episodes, the show documents Black stories and explores the strategies, lessons, and tools that fuel excellence, leadership, and legacy.

Stay connected:
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
Watch full episodes on YouTube
Learn more at iamblacksuccess.com

How Can You Grow Your Solo Business?

Join me as I share in conversation with the one and only Ramon Ray, who is going to share some key tips and insights NOT for building a billion-dollar brand but JUST getting to over $100k in revenue-building a great business that generates a few hundred thousand dollars in revenue!

In case you hadn’t heard about Ramon until now ...
Ramon Ray is an in-demand expert on small business success. He's has started five companies and sold two of them and is a five-time author. Ramon's latest books are "Celebrity CEO", all about personal branding and "Grow Your Solo" all about building a successful solo business! Get to know Ramon better at http://www.ramonray.com

Also, be sure to connect and follow:
Ramon Ray: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramonraysmallbiz/
Stephen A. Hart: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenaihart

Leave us a rating and review

Please leave us a 5-star rating and review if you’d not yet done so on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify. 

Partner with us

We’re also exploring new partners and sponsors. If you’re interested in possibly working with us, please shoot me an email to [email protected]

About I Am Black Success®
I Am Black Success® is a podcast featuring conversations with trailblazing Black leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. With 200+ episodes, the show documents Black stories and explores the strategies, lessons, and tools that fuel excellence, leadership, and legacy.

Stay connected:
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
Watch full episodes on YouTube
Learn more at iamblacksuccess.com

Empathy is so very important in today's remote work environment, and helps leaders understand their team's perspectives, emotions, and experiences, which leads to better communication and connection.

Our featured guest for this episode is Chris Cochran, CEO & Executive Producer of Hacker Valley Media. Chris will be sharing a new segment we've created called 'What's the 411' and talking with us about Leading Empathetically in an Increasingly Remote World.

Follow us:
Hacker Valley, I Am Black Success

LinkedIn: Stephen A. Hart, Chris Cochran

Twitter: Trailblazers.FM, Stephen A. Hart, Chris Cochran

Leave us a rating and review

Please leave us a 5-star rating and review if you’d not yet done so on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify. 

Partner with us

We’re also exploring new partners and sponsors. If you’re interested in possibly working with us, please shoot me an email to [email protected]

About I Am Black Success®
I Am Black Success® is a podcast featuring conversations with trailblazing Black leaders, entrepreneurs, creators, and changemakers. With 200+ episodes, the show documents Black stories and explores the strategies, lessons, and tools that fuel excellence, leadership, and legacy.

Stay connected:
Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
Watch full episodes on YouTube
Learn more at iamblacksuccess.com