Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Marcus Sonnier.
Founded the BOSS Network is an online community of professional and entrepreneurial women who support each other through digital content, programs, and event-based networking. The mission of the BOSS Network, which stands for "Bringing Out Successful Sisters," is to promote and encourage the small business spirit and career development of women of color.
The BOSS Network has had a long-standing commitment to women entrepreneurs. The mission of The BOSS Network is to promote and encourage the small business spirit and career development of women of color. The BOSS Network Celebrated Its Milestone 15th Anniversary?:
This year, The BOSS Network announced two exciting initiatives during its yearlong celebration, highlighting its 15th anniversary milestone year.
“Invest in Progress” Grant and “The BOSS Impact Fund
The BOSS Network is changing how enterprising women are viewed among the masses and becoming a resource for companies seeking female minority influencers as their target market. Through initiatives, it has supported the careers and small business developments of more than 200,000 women of color nationwide. One of them is BOSS Business University, a digital platform that provides comprehensive mentorship programming through industry business experts.
How Has The BOSS Network Celebrated Its Milestone 15th Anniversary?:
This year, The BOSS Network announced two exciting initiatives that took place during its yearlong celebration highlighting its 15th anniversary milestone year.
“Invest in Progress” Grant and “The BOSS Impact Fund”:
The single greatest barrier to success for new businesses and startups is access to capital, and minorities make up less than 1% of founders that get investment.
The BOSS Network and Sage (via the Sage Foundation)—the leader in accounting, financial, HR, and payroll technology for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), are partnering together to remove that barrier with the return of the BOSS Impact Fund and its three-year, $1.5 million commitment to support the Fund with the “Invest in Progress” grant investing in Black women led businesses.
In 2022, the BOSS Network announced the launch of its BOSS Impact Fund, which focuses on investing in Black women led businesses and preparing these entrepreneurs to build scalable, growth aggressive companies. Its goal is to raise investment funding for Black women entrepreneurs over a three year period.
Through the “Invest in Progress” Grant Program, 25 Black women entrepreneurs had the opportunity to receive a capital investment of $10,000 toward successfully starting and growing their business in addition to an entrepreneurial mentor program in support of Black women-owned small businesses.
The “Invest in Progress” Grant has also provided coaching, curriculum, and connections while removing capital barriers to help this group achieve success.
For more information, please visit: BOSSImpactFund.com.
Pathways to Success:
In addition, The BOSS Network partnered with both Sage and Swoop, a global fintech company specializing in funding solutions for businesses, on the launch of “Pathways to Success”–a new training and mentorship program designed to support Black women entrepreneurs in Atlanta.
The Pathways to Success training and mentor program, developed and delivered through Sage Foundation, equipped 150 Atlanta-based Black women entrepreneurs with a structured series of training and roundtables, providing tactical advice to address and overcome financial and capital-raising challenges.
The program was developed as a direct result of Sage, The BOSS Network and Swoop’s report titled “Voices of Strength: Pathways to Success for Black Women Founders” launched in September 2023. The report identified the most prominent challenges Black women founders in Atlanta face, including a lack of access to funding through grants and government resources, mentorship, and the ability to digitally scale their businesses for growth. Participants will receive one year of training access and a three-year membership to The BOSS Network.
The BOSS Network Donating $250,000 to Divine Nine Sororities and the Chicago Urban League:
Earlier this year, The BOSS Network announced awarding $50,000 each in grants and scholarships ($250,000 in total) to the Divine Nine sororities—including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated; Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated; Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated—the National Pan-Hellenic Council, Incorporated, and the Chicago Urban League.
Four women from each organization received a $10,000 grant from the BOSS Impact Fund and a scholarship to BOSS Business University (valued at $2,500).
This investment exemplifies The BOSS Network’s longstanding legacy of supporting Black women in t