BLACK APOTHECARY OFFICE- Beauty & Wellness Incubator for Black - Owned Startups

Black Apothecary Office! (BAO) is a NEW concept model incubator for black creators, collaborators, and disruptors in the beauty and wellness space founded by cultural innovator, Jaé Joseph, and veteran stylist | brand developer, Brianna Wise.

BAO works cohesively with black-owned start-up beauty and wellness brands to shape and develop their brands from conception to creation via their 3-month educational program to build a viable business, pitch investors, and bring a product to market. Their mission is to connect and provide brands with venture capital to successfully grow and develop for future retail alignment.

BAO is eliminating recurring barriers to the success of black businesses including limited access to financing and capital, building proper infrastructure, and creating a sustainable yet marketable brand. We want to see us on the shelf next to Loreal, Coty, and Proctor and Gamble brands. This builds trust with the black community and the black consumer and that's a need. We not only encourage the

community to “buy black” but also “build black”.

- Jaé Joseph Founder & Cultural Entrepreneur of BAO

BAO Program & Seed Funding Description

Their 3-month educational program consists of weekly sessions and insights panels. Each
session focuses on early-stage companies to help them develop strategies and create products designed for these specific industries. The panel is made up of industry professionals and allows startup companies

to test their products directly with experts.

Showing little girls who look like me that black women can be in leadership roles, building a culture where we are at the forefront of making decisions in the beauty and wellness industry is so important.

You can do and be anything you keep your mind steadfast on with the right mental, tools, resources, and strategies. Our mission at BAO is to create change. The time is now!

- Brianna Wise, Co-Founder & Creative Director of BAO

BAO is committed to on-going mentorship for black entrepreneurs. They aim to mentor across the core

functions of any business providing guidance from the founders, an operations mentor who has grown with the company and knows what a good team looks like, a product/technology mentor that has built and launched a real product having customers use it and love it, and a marketing mentor who has placed brands in front of the right audience for maximum exposure to buyers and consumers. BAO enters the market launching 3 emerging and progressive brands under its development.

It is an indisputable fact that Black culture feeds and heavily contributes to American culture and world

culture in every way. Because of this fact, Black-owned products deserve a prominent position on the

shelf that is proportionate to the influence of Black culture.

- Nia Imani Franklin, Miss America 2019