The Quiet Storm: Why Black Women Are Building Exit Strategies

Black women entrepreneurs

Something’s happening in companies across America. And it’s not what the headlines are telling you.

While everyone’s debating whether DEI is dead, Black women executives are making moves. Quiet moves. Strategic moves. We’re not waiting for organizations to figure it out.

The Numbers Nobody Wants to Talk About

A colleague texted me last week: “Girl, I’m done. Building my own thing now.”

She’s not alone. My network is buzzing with similar conversations. Black women are leaving corporate America faster than ever. But here’s what’s different—we’re not leaving defeated. We’re leaving prepared.

She’s not alone. According to Wells Fargo’s 2024 research, Black women-owned businesses surged 32.7% between 2019 and 2023, nearly triple the growth rate of all women-owned businesses at 12.1%. The Pew Research Center reports 194,585 U.S. firms with majority Black or African American ownership in 2022, up from 124,004 in 2017. Black-owned firms’ gross revenue soared by 66% during this period, from $127.9 billion in 2017 to $211.8 billion in 2022.

That’s not coincidence. That’s strategy.

At the same time, companies have eliminated more than 2,600 DEI jobs since early 2023, with cuts accelerating in 2024-2025. Recent data shows that Black women experienced the highest job losses of any demographic in April 2025, losing 106,000 jobs and seeing unemployment rise from 5.1% to 6.1% in a single month. Meanwhile, Bloomberg analysis reveals that the 84 largest S&P 100 companies started losing Black workers in 2022, with those losses gathering momentum in 2023 and growing almost tenfold.

We’re building what we need instead of begging for what we deserve.

The Pattern Is Clear

My network is buzzing with similar conversations. Black women are leaving organizations and institutions faster than ever. But here’s what’s different. We’re not leaving defeated. We’re leaving prepared.

Take Brianna Doe. Marketing director at a fintech startup. Months of feeling “deeply unhappy” in her role. She realized her job wasn’t the problem. Working in corporate was the problem.

She got laid off in September 2023, mere days before she planned to quit. Three weeks later? She launched her own marketing agency with co-founder Alexis Rivera Scott.

“It’s been healing working for myself,” she said. “I didn’t realize how much workplace trauma I had built up until I left that system entirely.”

That’s the story playing out everywhere. The 2024 Wells Fargo Impact of Women-Owned Business Report found that Black women now own 2.1 million businesses in the U.S., making up about 15% of all women-owned businesses despite being less than 10% of the population.

What I’m Seeing from the Inside

For over 20 years, I was inside different organizations and institutions before starting my practice. Those experiences taught me to read organizational tea leaves. And the patterns are clear:

The Labor Force Reality: As of 2024, Black women still have the highest labor force participation rate among all women at 61%, compared to 56.5% for white women. We’ve always been the most committed workforce segment.

But here’s the shift. Even as our overall participation stays high, we’re strategic about where we participate.

Prime-age Black women aged 25-54 had a participation rate of 78.1% by December 2024, which is near record highs. But we’re not just staying in traditional employment; we’re creating our own.

The Promotion Cliff: Research from LeanIn.org shows that in 2018, 60 Black women were promoted for every 100 men. By 2024? That number dropped to 54. We saw the writing on the wall.

And in May 2025, Black women’s unemployment rate jumped to 6.1%, substantially higher than white women’s rates, despite our continued high participation. The gap keeps widening even as we show up.

But here’s the shift. Research from Harvard Business Review reveals that 17% of Black women are starting or running new businesses, compared to just 10% of white women and 15% of white men. According to CNBC, Black women represent 42% of the net new women-owned businesses, three times our share of the female population.

The Expertise Export: The innovation, relationship-building skills, and crisis navigation expertise that organizations took for granted? We’re packaging it and selling it back to them as consultants and entrepreneurs.

The Secret Sauce They’re Missing

Here’s what these organizations don’t understand: they’re not just losing employees. They’re losing the people who knew how to make things work when nothing else would.

Black women have been the unofficial crisis managers, culture fixers, and innovation drivers in companies that barely acknowledged our contributions. Now we’re taking those skills and building our own success.

Lead Boldly. Care Deeply. Change Everything.

That’s not just my tagline. It’s what we’ve been doing all along. Now we’re doing it for ourselves.

The Question That Started It All

Earlier this year, during a Fortune 500 leadership retreat, I asked: “What happens when the people who’ve been holding your culture together decide to build their own?”

The room went silent. Because deep down, they know the answer.

Their former employees become their competition.

What This Means for Organizations

You can keep pretending that cutting DEI roles and rolling back equity initiatives won’t have consequences. But the correlation is undeniable. 

The same women who had the highest workforce participation rates? We’re now the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs.

The Black women who stayed through hostile environments, impossible standards, and constant gaslighting? We’re done convincing you of our value. We’re proving it in the marketplace instead.

The Real Revolution

This isn’t about anger. It’s about alignment. We’re finally matching our energy with our values. And creating opportunities that reflect our worth.

Organizations can keep operating from scarcity and fear. We’re building from abundance and vision.

But here’s the thing about quiet storms. By the time you see the damage, it’s already done.

Want to understand what you’re really losing? Look at the productivity, innovation, and relationship capital that walks out the door with each Black woman who decides she’s done playing by rules that were never meant to include her.

And then look at the businesses we’re building, the solutions we’re creating, and the markets we’re capturing.

We’re not just leaving. We’re leading.

Let’s not just talk about the shift—let’s shape what comes next.

Are you seeing this quiet storm unfold in your network? Are you in the midst of your own pivot? Share your story with me on LinkedIn, or reach out directly—because this isn’t just a moment. It’s a movement.

  • Curated By Dr. KMB
  • June 23, 2025
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The Quiet Storm: Why Black Women Are Building Exit Strategies

Black women entrepreneurs

Something’s happening in companies across America. And it’s not what the headlines are telling you.

While everyone’s debating whether DEI is dead, Black women executives are making moves. Quiet moves. Strategic moves. We’re not waiting for organizations to figure it out.

The Numbers Nobody Wants to Talk About

A colleague texted me last week: “Girl, I’m done. Building my own thing now.”

She’s not alone. My network is buzzing with similar conversations. Black women are leaving corporate America faster than ever. But here’s what’s different—we’re not leaving defeated. We’re leaving prepared.

She’s not alone. According to Wells Fargo’s 2024 research, Black women-owned businesses surged 32.7% between 2019 and 2023, nearly triple the growth rate of all women-owned businesses at 12.1%. The Pew Research Center reports 194,585 U.S. firms with majority Black or African American ownership in 2022, up from 124,004 in 2017. Black-owned firms’ gross revenue soared by 66% during this period, from $127.9 billion in 2017 to $211.8 billion in 2022.

That’s not coincidence. That’s strategy.

At the same time, companies have eliminated more than 2,600 DEI jobs since early 2023, with cuts accelerating in 2024-2025. Recent data shows that Black women experienced the highest job losses of any demographic in April 2025, losing 106,000 jobs and seeing unemployment rise from 5.1% to 6.1% in a single month. Meanwhile, Bloomberg analysis reveals that the 84 largest S&P 100 companies started losing Black workers in 2022, with those losses gathering momentum in 2023 and growing almost tenfold.

We’re building what we need instead of begging for what we deserve.

The Pattern Is Clear

My network is buzzing with similar conversations. Black women are leaving organizations and institutions faster than ever. But here’s what’s different. We’re not leaving defeated. We’re leaving prepared.

Take Brianna Doe. Marketing director at a fintech startup. Months of feeling “deeply unhappy” in her role. She realized her job wasn’t the problem. Working in corporate was the problem.

She got laid off in September 2023, mere days before she planned to quit. Three weeks later? She launched her own marketing agency with co-founder Alexis Rivera Scott.

“It’s been healing working for myself,” she said. “I didn’t realize how much workplace trauma I had built up until I left that system entirely.”

That’s the story playing out everywhere. The 2024 Wells Fargo Impact of Women-Owned Business Report found that Black women now own 2.1 million businesses in the U.S., making up about 15% of all women-owned businesses despite being less than 10% of the population.

What I’m Seeing from the Inside

For over 20 years, I was inside different organizations and institutions before starting my practice. Those experiences taught me to read organizational tea leaves. And the patterns are clear:

The Labor Force Reality: As of 2024, Black women still have the highest labor force participation rate among all women at 61%, compared to 56.5% for white women. We’ve always been the most committed workforce segment.

But here’s the shift. Even as our overall participation stays high, we’re strategic about where we participate.

Prime-age Black women aged 25-54 had a participation rate of 78.1% by December 2024, which is near record highs. But we’re not just staying in traditional employment; we’re creating our own.

The Promotion Cliff: Research from LeanIn.org shows that in 2018, 60 Black women were promoted for every 100 men. By 2024? That number dropped to 54. We saw the writing on the wall.

And in May 2025, Black women’s unemployment rate jumped to 6.1%, substantially higher than white women’s rates, despite our continued high participation. The gap keeps widening even as we show up.

But here’s the shift. Research from Harvard Business Review reveals that 17% of Black women are starting or running new businesses, compared to just 10% of white women and 15% of white men. According to CNBC, Black women represent 42% of the net new women-owned businesses, three times our share of the female population.

The Expertise Export: The innovation, relationship-building skills, and crisis navigation expertise that organizations took for granted? We’re packaging it and selling it back to them as consultants and entrepreneurs.

The Secret Sauce They’re Missing

Here’s what these organizations don’t understand: they’re not just losing employees. They’re losing the people who knew how to make things work when nothing else would.

Black women have been the unofficial crisis managers, culture fixers, and innovation drivers in companies that barely acknowledged our contributions. Now we’re taking those skills and building our own success.

Lead Boldly. Care Deeply. Change Everything.

That’s not just my tagline. It’s what we’ve been doing all along. Now we’re doing it for ourselves.

The Question That Started It All

Earlier this year, during a Fortune 500 leadership retreat, I asked: “What happens when the people who’ve been holding your culture together decide to build their own?”

The room went silent. Because deep down, they know the answer.

Their former employees become their competition.

What This Means for Organizations

You can keep pretending that cutting DEI roles and rolling back equity initiatives won’t have consequences. But the correlation is undeniable. 

The same women who had the highest workforce participation rates? We’re now the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs.

The Black women who stayed through hostile environments, impossible standards, and constant gaslighting? We’re done convincing you of our value. We’re proving it in the marketplace instead.

The Real Revolution

This isn’t about anger. It’s about alignment. We’re finally matching our energy with our values. And creating opportunities that reflect our worth.

Organizations can keep operating from scarcity and fear. We’re building from abundance and vision.

But here’s the thing about quiet storms. By the time you see the damage, it’s already done.

Want to understand what you’re really losing? Look at the productivity, innovation, and relationship capital that walks out the door with each Black woman who decides she’s done playing by rules that were never meant to include her.

And then look at the businesses we’re building, the solutions we’re creating, and the markets we’re capturing.

We’re not just leaving. We’re leading.

Let’s not just talk about the shift—let’s shape what comes next.

Are you seeing this quiet storm unfold in your network? Are you in the midst of your own pivot? Share your story with me on LinkedIn, or reach out directly—because this isn’t just a moment. It’s a movement.

  • Curated By Dr. KMB
  • June 23, 2025
Previous Post
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