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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Anne d'Innocenzio

Founders of Black-owned brands adapt their hopes and business plans for a post-DEI era

Black Owned Brands New Climate - (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The co-founders of a company that makes lip products for darker skin tones no longer hope to get their line into Target. A brother and sister who make jigsaw puzzles celebrating Black subjects wonder if they need to offer “neutral” images like landscapes to keep growing.

Pound Cake and Puzzles of Color are among the small businesses whose owners are rethinking their plans as major U.S. companies weaken their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The initiatives mostly date from the end President Donald Trump’s first term and entered a new era with the dawn of his second one.

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