Mellody Hobson is a trailblazer for Black women in corporate America. As the co-CEO of the asset management firm Ariel Investments and the new chair of Starbucks’ board of directors and director at JPMorgan Chase, Hobson is one of the most respected women executives in the country. 

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Under her leadership, Ariel, the first Black-owned mutual fund firm in the nation, launched an initiative in February named Project Black to invest and scale sustainable minority-owned businesses. She has been an advocate of diversity in corporate boardrooms, where women and minorities in 2018 held just 34 percent of board seats in Fortune 500 companies. 

Appearing on CBS This Morning in June 2020, Hobson said, “Companies right now have to get their houses in order.”

During Women’s History month, we celebrate women like Mellody Hobson who “did that” and believe in opening doors for others, especially women of color,in order to better level the playing field for all.