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This post is part of the “Self-Made Women” series featuring women who came from a world without power or wealth, but with the support of family, teachers and mentors, they found their way to success.
Born in Colombia and orphaned as a toddler, Renata Black was raised in Miami by her aunt and uncle. At age 15 she dropped out of high school and took off alone, returning to her native country to find herself.
The move to Colombia was not what she expected. “I went to Colombia believing I would find a sense of self that I didn’t have growing up in Miami,” says Renata. “My adoptive family is amazing, but knowing I was adopted created a wobbly terrain for me and I was in constant pursuit of an answer to, ‘Who am I?’ In Colombia, I lived with my grandmother and basically had to raise myself. Buying toothpaste for the first time was like being hit with a bucket of cold water – I thought I was this tough 15-year-old who could do anything, but I realized that I didn’t even know how to buy my own toothpaste.”
Renata was fearless as she found her way through the School of Hard Knocks. From ages 15 to 18, she worked as a translator and spent her last year in Colombia as the head translator for Texaco, living on an oil rig in the middle of the ocean with 26 men. Having saved enough money to return to the States, Renata pursued a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina. But it was the dream job that Renata did not get that got her started on her path to empower women out of poverty and into business via microfinance. This is Renata’s story in her words:
From Breakdown To Breakthrough
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed I graduated from UNC only to be utterly destroyed that I did not get my dream job at MTV. I was living with a ska band at the time and overheard them talk about this plane ticket to travel around the world. I saved my money, bought a ticket and for one year traveled the world while volunteering in different countries from New Zealand to China and lastly to India, where I helped repair the villages destroyed from the 2004 Tsunami. I saw strong, powerful women have no option but to become beggars. It was mind-blowing. One day I was wearing a tank top (the only clean thing I had) and this village woman became irate. I thought she was upset that my shoulders were bare, so I apologized. The translator told me that she wasn’t upset about my top, but that she was saying, “I don’t want your money, but can you teach me how to make money?”
That was the most transformative moment in my life. I remember feeling that I couldn’t possibly help this woman make money because I didn’t know how to make it for myself -- I was drowning in student loans. That’s when I discovered microfinance and Muhammad Yunus, the social entrepreneur, banker and economist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. So I went to Bangladesh to meet Muhammad Yunus.
During my three months in Bangladesh I learned everything I could to take it back to India. Upon my return I told one of the village women what I learned. She said, “Meet me at the square, I’m going to bring some other women.” I was feeling like “I got this.” I was 25 years old. I lost my parents when I was a toddler, dropped out of high school, lived on my own since I was 15, went on this trip around the world and now I’m finally doing something meaningful. I get to the square and there were 800 women waiting to hear from me. Fast forward two years, I ended up staying in India in order to keep the books of 800 women so that they would be classified as "credit worthy" women in the eyes of the government, the first step in getting the money they needed to start and grow their businesses.
I lived with the women, wore a sari every day, and women would say, “I feel so sorry for you because in the U.S. you need to show your hair, your cleavage and your legs to seduce men – it must be horrible.” I thought, “Are you kidding me? I’m from Colombia and I lived in Miami. Anything short and tight, I’m there. I feel like I’m wrapped up like a burrito right now, I can’t breath, I’m so hot – I feel sorry for you.”
This really stuck with me. During my two years of living in India I developed a deep respect for these women. When I returned to the U.S. and was watching the Victoria Secret fashion show, I realized that the women in India were right. We’re using women in lingerie as tools for seduction. But what if we use the power of lingerie and fashion to empower women?
I got this tick and decided to create an awareness platform for microfinance using lingerie as the vehicle. I launched the Seven Bar Foundation, a 501(c)3 whose mission is to provide women with loans to help them start or grow their own small businesses and break the cycle of poverty. I brought together the top designers from around the world such as Agent Provocateur, Atsuko Kudo and Carine Gilson and hosted large-scale lingerie shows with the likes of Eva Longoria and Sofia Vergara, who all agreed, “we believe in this – we’re sexy and smart and we want to do something to uplift women.”
Around that time, I saw an interview with Deepak Chopra who mentioned that he was interested in supporting innovative solutions for poverty alleviation. I thought, “Boy, have I got one.” I wrote him a letter – like a kid with a dream. I said, “This is what I’m doing -- I’m using lingerie to empower women.” A week later he said he would come to my inaugural 2009 show in Miami to speak. It was unbelievable. Since then I have hosted Lingerie New York and Lingerie London generating over four billion media impressions with the message of the empowerment of women via microfinance.
Purpose Cost Me My Marriage
One of the definitions that I connect with most about being an entrepreneur is being possessed with an idea that will change the direction of your field. For me it is creating a basic product that everyone needs, like underwear, and using its sales to drive consistent funding to microfinance for women. My success comes from my relentless nature, but it did end up costing me my marriage. I was married and I was obsessed with my purpose. It was hard work and my husband took the back seat. He wanted to have a kid and I had this unwavering need to empower women. I think living your purpose is the highest luxury, but it can also come at the highest cost. He was the love of my life – I was with him for 10 years. That was one of the biggest and hardest things to overcome and it still is. One of my biggest lessons is that you don’t need to sacrifice one over the other. You need to treat your personal and professional life how you would two guests at your house – same attention. Perhaps I should have had kids earlier, but I wasn’t ready. I have learned to honor my path and respect the process. I can’t change the past – now it’s about forgiving myself. At the time I did the best I could and the best I knew how to.
Underwear That’s Empowered By You
In the midst of this I realized that the only way I was going to fuel Seven Bar Foundation consistently was through business. I was never drawn to the charity model as I felt that hope was not a strategy. I know that social enterprise, a business that drives both profits with purpose, is the future of business.
We spent two years of research and development to come up with the product for the business: the perfect everyday seamless panty, and 20% of our net profits go to microfinance for women. I realized I needed to have a best in class product and the cause to empower women is an additional benefit. But it’s the product first—you need a great product to sustain the mission. The product has a patent flocking technology that prevents sliding and riding. It literally feels like a second skin. As important, it is produced at a facility in Sri Lanka that adheres to the UN’s Women Empowerment Principles.
Empowered By You (EBY), is a collaboration brand with a cause. Hence our tagline, "What Empowers You, Empowers Women Everywhere." I believe that true creativity is the combination of two unique forces that come together to have an impact. We invite like-minded designers and brands to create their own version of the panties, celebrating their unique story. Brands like Alice & Olivia and Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiah's S189 line create their own version of the undies. They collaborate with EBY's platform to personalize the packaging with their own messages of empowerment, choose prints that are a natural extension of the brand’s personality and include personal messages from women they are supporting, like this one from Cecilia who lives in Mexico and is empowered by a loan of $260: "My embroidery business allows me to provide the healthcare my disabled son needs." Or this message from Edna, a school director in Ghana who is empowered by a $400 loan, "Growing my school has enabled me to provide a brighter future for more students."
The collaboration results in a product that easily integrates into any merchandising mix. It’s flexible. It’s non-seasonal. We are selling with amazing partners such as Shopbop, Equinox, Calypso and SCOOP. We just launched at Opening Ceremony and will be on Nordstrom.com and Revolve Clothing soon.
Renata Black, Founder of Empowered By You, wearing Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiahs line "Empowered... [+]
Why Panties?
For today’s women, lingerie is to an outfit are what pillars are to a building —ESSENTIAL. It determines how comfortable we are and how our clothes fit. If you’re shopping at a brand like Tory Burch or J. Crew you want underwear that is an extension of that brand. What you wear on the inside is as important as what you wear on the outside. Our strongest gravitas is with millennials who want an all-in-one shopping experience and 74% of which are more likely to buy a product if the proceeds go to something they believe in. We’re fueling a cause with a need-based product that is empowering women, an uprising of power. It’s that simple.
My dream is for the fashion industry as a collective to get behind this simple need-based product that drives both profits and purpose. We hear some retailers say they don’t carry the intimates category and we always respond, “Exactly! It’s an untapped revenue stream.” Making an impact is incorporated into our business model so that retailers don't have to sacrifice on margins. The goal is that you can go into your favorite retailer and buy a product that is a natural extension of the brand's personality and also leaves a lasting impact.
What’s the worst thing that can happen to the business? People stop wearing underwear! Seriously, it’s a competitive market and I have to move fast and grow fast. I need to create meaningful partnerships, stay uber creative and maintain unwavering self-belief.
I Lived Something Bigger Than Myself
I never lacked a purpose in life. I never ask “what do I want from life?” I ask “what is life asking from me?” I do not live for happiness as it is conventionally defined. I am hell-bent on creating innovative solutions for poverty alleviation. I ask myself if my daily actions are consistent with what I want my obituary to read – “I lived something bigger than myself.” I’m 35 and I’ve been on this this journey since I was 25 – that’s 10 years. It’s been relentless. I’ve sacrificed a lot, but the white picket fence isn't meant for everyone. I do want a relationship. Not now, but one day. One of my favorite quotes from the Landmark Forum is, “What could be possible if you lived outside of fear?”
Self-Made Women Series co-authored with Andrea Guendelman, Co Founder and CEO of BeVisible:
Post #1: From Murder To The Mayor’s Office: A Story Of Grit And Excellence
Post #2: From Outsider To The C-Suite: A Story On How To 'Get To The Yes'
Post #3: A Self-Made Woman Gets Lucky In The Middle Seat
Post #4: Tales About Men, Money And Mistakes From Self-Made Women
