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Pharrell Williams’ non-profit initiative Black Ambition, is making the dreams of Black entrepreneurs come true.

It recently held its 2023 Prize competition at the third-annual “Demo Day” event, an official convening of the finalists out of a applicant pool of 2,000 founders aiming to scale their world-changing businesses in varying industries including Products and Services, Healthcare, Media and Entertainment, Technology, and Web 3.0. For 2023’s Demo Day, finalists were narrowed to the 36 candidates that were anywhere from $20,000 – $250,000. The Grand Prize Winner, Antoinette Banks, CEO and Founder of Expert IEP, was given $1,000,000.

“Black Ambition is a feeling, it’s an overwhelming drive to show up consistently in excellence to create lasting, unapologetic impact,” Banks said. “For so long Black and Brown kids with learning differences have been underestimated and forgotten. Earning this $1M prize puts our kids back in the forefront, it gets people thinking deeply about solving the problems in special education. AsFounder and CEO, I am deeply grateful to Black Ambition for believing in me, holding space for me, and breaking down barriers. It’s clear that Black Ambition is more than a prize award, it’s a shift in expectation for our culture.”

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