Pharrell and Chanel Launch Mentorship Program for Black and Latinx Entrepreneurs

Pharrell‘s Black Ambition and Chanel have officially linked up to launch a two-part mentorship program for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs.

In an announcement video, Pharrell first revealed that the program will feature a panel called “Women Who Lead” with Tracee Ellis Ross, Medley co-founder Edith Cooper, Good American CEO and co-founder Emma Grede and Imaginary Ventures co-founder and partner Natalie Massenet, where they will explore leadership through a woman’s lens. “It’s important to have recognizable faces, and faces that represent brands that they build,” Williams told Vanity Fair.

The second part of the partnership spotlights a “comprehensive mentorship program,” a set of interactive mentorship workshops that will be offered to the Black Ambition prize finalists. This select group of people will have “unprecedented access to the Chanel leadership community, as well as the brand’s network of experts that will help teach them the essentials of brand building skills for 21st century business” to help with the business side of things, which Pharrell mentions is a difficult aspect for prize winners. “Even when you have a great business plan you might not find the right operators,” Pharrell explained. “[The mentorship program] teaches you all of those things. Success really does have a lot of authors. Usually when you say ‘success has a lot of authors’ it’s a dig at people who didn’t do something but are taking the credit. In this particular sense when it comes to running a business, success does have a lot of authors – there are a lot of signatures needed to cosign to get a brand new idea off the ground.”

“I am incredibly honored by Chanel’s support of Black Ambition. Mentorship is a cornerstone of Black Ambition’s mission and is vital to the success of the next generation of Black and Latinx entrepreneurs,” Pharrell added.

Elsewhere in fashion, take a look at WACKO MARIA and 56 Tattoo Studio’s SS21 collaboration.