Black women entrepreneurs on the rise: these women have carved out niches for themselves in their respective fields, while creating new million dollar enterprises.

These women have carved out niches for themselves in their respective fields, while creating new million dollar enterprises

NO LONGER RELEGATED SOLELY TO SUCH traditional business as catering, child care and hair care, women entrepreneurs are now thriving in fields where few women have gone before--from engineering to construction to computer design. Many of these trend setters and trailblazers are doing more than just holding their own in these male-dominated industries: Their businesses are generating millions of dollars in revenues and employing hundreds of people.

In fact, women own more than 30% of the 21 million businesses in the country. Their earnings are rising twice as fast as the rate of all other companies, according to the National Association of Women Business Owners in Silver Spring, Maryland. These women-owned businesses currently employ one-quarter of America's entire workforce.

Despite these newsworthy breakthroughs, black women business owners, with their bold and inspiring success stories, have not been given their due. Even in publications designed to highlight the achievements of women in business, black women are sorely underrepresented.

Against this backdrop, BLACK ENTERPRISE profiles seven women whose enterprising instincts and results simply cannot be overlooked. Their businesses range from floral design to nuclear engineering. Each has been in business for between three and 10 years, and has annual sales of at least $1 million and 10 or more employees. They have all dodged a different set of slings and arrows to establish their unique niche in the marketplace. Sharing that never-say-die entrepreneurial spirit, they aim to reach the top of their field--and are all well on their way.

Margie Lewis: President and CEO, Parallax 

As a child, Margie Lewis spent hours reading fantasy and science fiction. So, "it was only natural that I would develop an interest in space and nuclear power," says the 38-year-old nuclear engineer. Lewis has transformed those childhood daydreams into a $13 million enterprise, Parallax Inc., an engineering and environmental management company with offices in Maryland, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Kentucky.

The 160-employee firm inspects nuclear power plants, implements safety procedures and cleans up hazardous and nuclear waste at plants and weapons complexes across the nation. Seventy percent of her business comes from private firms, such as Westinghouse and Lockheed-Martin. The remainder comes from such federal clients as the Department of Energy and the Navy.

Lewis, who holds a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering from Georgia Tech, worked as a safety advisor at nuclear power plants and was an inspector with the Nuclear Regulatory Agency in Washington. After 14 years of working for someone else, Lewis branched out on her own. "I thought I could provide a better service to customers than the larger companies, who were more concerned with just the bottom line," recounts the shrewd entrepreneur who opened Parallax's doors in 1993.

Lewis launched the business out of her home with $10,000 in personal savings. Her first contract was with the Department of Energy. After successfully completing the 18-month, $2 million project, Parallax began to grow by leaps and bounds.

By the end of its inaugural year, the firm had sales of $700,000. A year later, revenues had shot up to $2.2 million. By increasing her product base to include the sale of nuclear management computer software, soliciting customer feedback and making herself easily accessible to clients, Lewis boosted the company's sales to $13 million last year.

She expects '96 revenues to reach $23 million and hit $50 million by next year, explaining that environmental clean-up is a very lucrative industry. To reach that mark, Lewis plans to put a product on the shelf that will handle hazardous waste.

In the near future, companies with waste management needs and limited funds will be able to purchase Parallax's environmental computer software. Lewis also intends to go after huge construction contracts next year.

With the wheels in motion, Lewis says that she will expand internationally. A challenge for sure but par for the course for a woman accustomed to taking nontraditional routes.

Pauline C. Brooks: President and CEO, Management Technology Inc.

Any financier who has ever doubted a female entrepreneur's ability to grow a business on a shoestring budget has never met Pauline C. Brooks. What the 48-year-old president of Management Technology Inc. may have lacked in start-up capital, she compensated for by the sheer force of her faith, vision and determination.

Named by Ernst & Young as the 1995 Entrepreneur of the Year (woman-owned business category) for the Washington, D.C.-area, Brooks has now been officially recognized as a formidable business owner with a record of success. Nearly 10 years ago, Brooks started out with a two-room operation, bankrolled with $1,000 of her personal savings. Today, MTI, based in Clinton, Maryland, has eight branches nationwide, 600 employees and more than $25 million in sales revenues.

"I felt I was ready to make my own business decisions and to accept responsibility for the associated risks that came with it," says Brooks, who holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from George Washington University. Prior to opening MTI, Brooks served as program manager for an IBM mainframe facilities management contract with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She has no second thoughts about leaving the relative comfort of corporate data processing--some 25 years altogether--to strike out on her own.

Parlaying a proven track record in automatic data processing, Brooks used her cultivated relationships in the federal government to secure computer network design and maintenance and facilities management contracts for her new company. Today, MTI has contracts with a number of federal agencies, including the Departments of Commerce, Housing & Urban Development, Treasury, Labor and the Interior.

The firm provides network services--from mainframes to desktop PCs--including automatic data processing, office automation, systems and application programming and telecommunications. MTI also sets up local area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs).

To think that Brooks is now content to rest on her laurels would be to seriously underestimate the passion she puts into her role as MTI's sole proprietor and her foresight into the company's future. Says Brooks: "We are now actively working with a Microsoft vendor to enable us to go after the commercial market. And, we are also looking to provide services to companies in Europe and some of the Caribbean islands, so that we can compete for tomorrow's technology today."

Carol Columbus-Green, President and CEO, Laracris

Few women would ever associate a girdle with comfort--that is, until the debut of the Aubergine line of shapewear. The brainchild of former runway model, Carol Columbus-Green, Aubergine features attractive, lacy designs that provide nonconstricting support for women of all sizes. Green's inspiration stemmed from the need for some tummy control after her second C-section birth in 1988. "What little they had out there was unsightly, dated and ill-fitting," she recalls. "And what was being called `nude,' when compared to my skin tone, really should have been called `corpse.' "

Green's exhaustive search never did turn up a suitable undergarment for her needs. Her fashion savvy and business sense kicked in, compelling her to do some extensive market research. Proof positive, she found her niche in the white male-dominated shapewear industry, then in need of a major redesign. And Green was just the one to do it. In 1990, with an initial investment of $250,000 from her radiologist husband, Richard, she launched Laracris, Inc. (a combination of her daughter Lauren's and son Christian's names).

The nation's only African American, female-owned manufacturer, Laracris started out in the basement of Green's Chicago home. "Richard was right there in the beginning, inspecting girdles," Green remembers fondly (her husband, however, is not a partner in the business). Today, Laracris, housed in a newly renovated office building, has a staff of 10 and projects $4 million in sales by year's end.

Green started out by looking for flattering nude shades that would complement the wide range of hues in African American complexions. "I have three shades of nudes alone," she boasts. Offering top-quality products was another priority, and while Green admits there are no budget items in the line (prices range from about $35-$65), their superior quality has gained them rack space in upscale department stores, including Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom.

Aubergine (the French word for eggplant, a favorite color of Green's) has since expanded to include two lines of shapewear. In addition to complimentary nudewear, the line offers extra-firm control and moderate support. Aubergine also has a catalog devoted entirely to a shapewear line (800-446-9122).

Ask Green about her biggest challenge in remaining competitive in a tightlycinched market and she'll quickly answer, "name recognition." As she explains, "I aim for that return customer who'll go into the store and won't walk out with anything else but Aubergine." Not an easy task, but then Green never expected it to be. "If you want easy," she says, "don't become an entrepreneur."

Jacqueline Lewis-Kemp, President and CEO, Lewis Metal Stamping

Be prepared--whether for change, opportunity or the unexpected--is a characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. Jacqueline Lewis-Kemp, 34, learned this lesson firsthand three years ago, when she was thrust into manning the helm of the Highland, Michigan-based Lewis Metal Stamping & Manufacturing Co. upon the untimely death of her father, James O. Lewis.

"I had the credentials and knew the business [inside out]," says Lewis-Kemp, who started working at the 40-employee plant during her summer vacations in college. Upon graduation in 1985, she became a production control manager at the automotive and defense contracting metal stamping firm.

Despite learning all facets of the 18-year-old business from the ground up and being promoted to operations manager in 1988, Lewis-Kemp initially felt no amount of training had prepared her to assume the position of president and CEO--but she was wrong.

"Neither my mother, my brother, nor my husband were involved in the operation of LMS, so it logically fell to me to pick up the baton and go forward," says Lewis-Kemp. "That first year, I performed as if [Dad] were on vacation," she says. "I straddled the fence a lot and found it difficult to make decisions."

However, a downturn in business and the threat of competitive annihilation soon snapped the new president and CEO back to reality and into action. In response, Lewis-Kemp has instituted directives boosting customer service, time management and cost-effectiveness initiatives that rebounded the company, resulting in doubled sales and profits now totaling $3 million.

With the pressure of gaining the confidence of her staff, colleagues and, most importantly, herself, safely behind her, Lewis-Kemp can now focus on her company's next mission--expansion. She's revved up for the challenge. "This business is my passion. Now I know there's really nothing else that I'd rather do."

Karen I. Duckett,

President and CEO,

Duckett & Associates

As Karen Duckett drives down the streets of Atlanta, she beams at the office complexes, hospitals and schools that her firm has helped design over the last 10 years. Her team of 18 architects, urban planners and interior designers at Duckett & Associates has designed over $220 million worth of structures across the country, including transit stations, zoo habitats, amphitheaters and hospitals. But most of Duckett's interior designs have been in the hallowed halls of justice.

"Our specialty is courthouse design," says Duckett, a licensed designer who holds a law degree from Atlanta's Woodrow Wilson College of Law and a master's degree in urban planning from Occidental College/Yale University in Los Angeles. "With a law degree, it was almost a natural for me to specialize in courthouse design, jokes the 49-year-old Duckett, who had set her sights on being a land-use attorney before opening her firm in 1985.

A turning point for the Rochester, New York, native came when as a chief corporate planner and designer at Xerox, she grew weary of office politics. "I was tired of training my managers to become my boss." When one of her governmental clients tried to recruit her, she asked if they would give her a contract if she had her own firm. They said yes, and Duckett hung up her shingle with two contracts in hand, realizing that less than 1% of interior space in the U.S. is designed by minority firms. Beating the odds, Duckett & Associates raked in more than $1.7 million in fees in 1995, and looks to top $2 million this year.

While 85% of her business is government clients, she is now pursuing more private-sector contracts. In order to surpass her five-year revenue projection of $4 million, Duckett plans to develop a more full-service architectural firm.

The wife and mother of three teenagers admits that wearing the many hats she does can be difficult--but she loves the juggling act. "Sometimes I have to remind my children that if I can run a million dollar business, I think I can figure out how to get them to basketball games."

T.J. Robinson,

President and CEO,

T.J.'s Gingerbread House

After serving her delectable creole dinners to thousands of famous and not-so-famous patrons, Oakland, California's celebrated restaurateur T.J. Robinson of T.J.'s Gingerbread House is now planning to take the specialties of her restaurant to grocery shelves nationwide.

"Over the years we have had so many requests from our customers for our food, the next logical step was to get it into food stores." says Robinson. Those who have savored the internationally renowned restaurant's Bayou Catfish Etouffee or Whiskey Stuffed Lobster can now take advantage of her new line of seasonings, cornbread mix and teas. Robinson's on-premises Gingerbread House gift shop offers patrons such delights as her famed Gingerbread Cookies, Louisiana Bayou Spices, Three Ways Rice with Shrimp, Magic Creole Booster Spice and Starry Eye Tea.

Despite the popularity of this gourmet down-home fare, Robinson is now faced with the challenge of getting these items into the hands of loyal customers. She estimates that she will spend over $100,000 this year for national distribution of her products, and is considering hiring a broker to help with the task. Robinson will also take to the road and market her products--which she both manufactures and packages herself--at food shows across the country.

Recently named one of the top three African American chefs in the country, Robinson has certainly made inroads from the "old shack" she purchased in 1974 for $15,000. Modeled after the fairy tales that Robinson's grandmother told her as a child growing up in Bastrop, Louisiana, the restaurant today is a spacious facility that seats 114 and boasts annual revenues of $1 million. "I've always had problems getting loans so we built it a piece at a time," says Robinson of the restaurant that is composed of a gazebo, a garden and two small "houses."

"I think our success has to do not only with the quality of our food, but also with how we treat people," says Robinson. "We always greet people with a big smile," she says of her 22 employees. "I'm excited. It's like they're really coming to visit me."

Saundra Parks, President,

The Daily Blossom

When asked what business she's in, Sandra Parks usually answers: the emotions business. "When we deliver something, it stirs the emotion," she explains, referring to her floral design company, the Daily Blossom. "Flowers create a lot of sentiment in our lives."

Maybe so, but recipients of Daily Blossom arrangements insist that if the sentiment behind the flowers doesn't take your breath away, the Daily Blossom flowers themselves surely will.

Certain people's work is unmistakable. Aretha Franklin has her own way with a song. Toni Morrison turns a phrase just so. You can spot a Varnette Honeywood print a mile away. So, it is with Parks' floral designs. Her $1 million-plus New York-based firm is targeted to high-end clients who appreciate Parks' and her 15-person staff's gift for finding extraordinary, sumptuous flowers.

Parks' business idea was something of a gift as well. The former advertising and sales rep was on a hiatus when her father, the owner of McKinsey Parks Landscaping, asked her to sell some poinsettias for him. She sold 300, of which 50 went to friend and entrepreneur, Ruth Clark, who, in turn, sent them to her clients. A business idea was born. "I realized that every corporate building I stepped into had fresh flowers and plants on display," Clark recalls. "I knew there was a market."

Parks did her homework, reading everything she could about flowers and taking a course on floral design at New York's Botanical Gardens. She was soon selling arrangements out of her one-bedroom apartment, eventually snagging her first major client, HBO.

Today, her brow-raising client list includes, on the corporate side, American Express, BET, Sony Music and Earl G. Graves Ltd., the parent company of BLACK ENTERPRISE. On the personal side, the Daily Blossom boast such clients as Maya Angelou, Whitney Houston, Spike Lee, Eddie Murphy and Ed Bradley.

Parks runs a 4,000-sq-ft. production loft in addition to her retail shop in New York's high-rent Equitable Building, located in the city's busy midtown business district. Expansion plans include flower shops in other major cities and a Daily Blossom coffee-table book.