Thank you to all of our applicants, and congratulations to our 2023 Black History Makers!
“Citi Trends, thank you so much for this grant! Math is in everything, so ensuring our children have a strong foundation in basic math is non-negotiable. Your investment will allow us to accelerate the impact we’re having on building math confidence and strengthening math skills in our kids so they can grow up ready to take advantage of every opportunity. We appreciate you and are so blessed and honored to be in the number!”
Brittany Rhodes
Founder of Black Girl MATHgic
“Citi Trends, thank you so much for this grant! Math is in everything, so ensuring our children have a strong foundation in basic math is non-negotiable. Your investment will allow us to accelerate the impact we’re having on building math confidence and strengthening math skills in our kids so they can grow up ready to take advantage of every opportunity. We appreciate you and are so blessed and honored to be in the number!”
Brittany Rhodes is a math tutor, former GED Math Instructor, and all-around math enthusiast. She’s been a math tutor since she was 17 and absolutely loves helping people see that math can be fun, engaging, and relevant– and that they CAN do math! After tutoring for over a decade, she realized that many children, especially girls, were struggling with the basics and lacking confidence in math. This meant a future of closed doors of opportunity, decreased earning potential, and limited career options. With her love for math and knack for helping people understand it, Brittany founded Black Girl MATHgic (BGM) in 2018. BGM is a movement dedicated to increasing math confidence, enthusiasm, identity, fluency, and persistence in children, with a focus on girls and black children, who are disproportionately impacted by math anxiety.
BGM’s flagship product is the award-winning Black Girl MATHgic box, which is the first and only monthly subscription box designed to increase math confidence and decrease math anxiety in girls on a 3rd-8th grade math level. Additionally, BGM offers bulk orders for schools, districts, and non-profits, math confidence workshops, and speaking engagements. In October 2022, they extended their offerings by introducing The MATHgic Prince, a math enrichment box tailored for boys.
Black Girl MATHgic has garnered significant recognition and earned media coverage, having been featured on notable platforms such as BEYONCE.com, Forbes, Good Morning America, and Black Enterprise. Additionally, through grants and pitch competitions, Brittany has secured over $230,000 in non-dilutive funding for BGM.
Brittany received her Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Spelman College and her MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. Brittany is a proud native of Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband and daughter.
Her ultimate aspiration and life’s mission is to ensure that all children have the math skills and confidence they need to succeed in class today and in society tomorrow.
“This grant came at such a critical time in the business. It quite literally granted us the opportunity to keep growing and reaching more of our community. Thank you to the Citi Trends team for understanding the power of representation in fashion.”
Nappy Head Club is an e-commerce fashion and lifestyle brand meets online community. known for our trend-savvy, inclusive clothing, where we merge activism with fashion. We weave intention, affirmation and altruism into each of our designs and business model, creating a rare opportunity to affirm and promote healing for the Black community through fashion.
Founder Rachel Topping is a branding guru from the DMV with a passion for creating safe space and generational wealth for people of color. She has spent her career at the intersection of design, culture, and fashion, having worked with companies like Complex Magazine, AOL, Combs Enterprises, Roc Nation and led creative strategy for luxury shoe brand Tamara Mellon. Now, based in her mother’s hometown of Brooklyn, she is dedicated to marrying smart, thoughtful design with a pulse on the culture in every Nappy Head Club design.
Platforms like Refinery 29, Byrdie, Ipsy, Honest Beauty and Vogue Greece have said that Nappy Head Club is a brand to keep an eye on.
“This grant came at such a critical time in the business. It quite literally granted us the opportunity to keep growing and reaching more of our community. Thank you to the Citi Trends team for understanding the power of representation in fashion.”
Rachel Topping
Founder of Nappy Head Club
“This grant will allow me to broaden my service reach. My goals of developing a lipstick line will offer my clients a new way to experience my brand on a daily basis. As a small black owned, women owned business I can not tell you how much the support from Citi Trends means to me! It gives me the opportunity to see my dreams being manifested, while inspiring others to do the same. Thank you Citi Trends!”
Kristin Jones-Coyle
Founder of Perfect Pout Houston Makeup Artistry
“This grant will allow me to broaden my service reach. My goals of developing a lipstick line will offer my clients a new way to experience my brand on a daily basis. As a small black owned, women owned business I can not tell you how much the support from Citi Trends means to me! It gives me the opportunity to see my dreams being manifested, while inspiring others to do the same. Thank you Citi Trends!”
Perfect Pout Houston is a mobile makeup service that provides convenience to clients with the “glam on demand” concept at their home or location of their choosing.
Owner Kristin has always had a passion for the arts and all things beauty! With over 23 years of experience in the industry, she strives to fill the needs of her clients while not compromising on the level of artistry and customer service.
Perfect Pout Houston will also become the hub to provide education to current and aspiring makeup artists by starting the Perfect Pout Academy. This makeup school will not only teach the art of makeup but also marketing/branding, maintaining sanitary standards, professionalism, and client retention. This growth plan will impact the next generation of beauty professionals and nurture the passion for making others feel beautiful both inside and out!
“I am so appreciative that Citi Trends offers this grant. It has been a huge blessing for our small family owned and operated business. We are excited to use this grant toward our marketing efforts and our mission of leaving our mark on the world.”
Yolanda Crawford is the founder of #EndTheStereotypes, an apparel brand dedicated to bringing attention to and eradicating harmful stereotypes affecting our community. Yolanda founded the apparel brand after being out shopping and becoming outraged after seeing a man wearing a shirt depicting a harmful stereotype about single mothers. #EndTheStereotypes apparel tackles issues such as racial inequality, self-hating colloquialisms and other harmful messages that people may have grown up hearing and internalizing, thus producing biases.
Yolanda Crawford holds a degree in Sociology and is dedicated to being the change she wishes to see in the world. She is a proud single mother of two amazing kids that both help run #EndTheStereotypes. Her hope is that #EndTheStereotypes will not just be a successful clothing brand, but also a powerful movement.
“I am so appreciative that Citi Trends offers this grant. It has been a huge blessing for our small family owned and operated business. We are excited to use this grant toward our marketing efforts and our mission of leaving our mark on the world.”
Yolanda Crawford
Founder of #EndTheStereotypes
“Thank you so much Citi Trends for identifying, acknowledging and rewarding The Pretty Spirit Palace Family! I am truly thankful and honored to receive an opportunity like this from such an amazing Network. This grant will put our company in a position to grow, expand and prosper within our mission of impacting the youth. I speak not only on my behalf but my team as well when saying “We truly appreciate everything that Citi Trends has done to help support small black businesses & we will truly cherish this moment!”
Juanysha Payton
Founder of The Pretty Spirit Place
“Thank you so much Citi Trends for identifying, acknowledging and rewarding The Pretty Spirit Palace Family! I am truly thankful and honored to receive an opportunity like this from such an amazing Network. This grant will put our company in a position to grow, expand and prosper within our mission of impacting the youth. I speak not only on my behalf but my team as well when saying “We truly appreciate everything that Citi Trends has done to help support small black businesses & we will truly cherish this moment!”
Juanysha Payton is the CEO of The Pretty Spirit Palace Company. She has worked in the retail field for 10+ years and has a degree in Fashion Merchandising & Marketing. Juanysha has always had a passion for working with youth, especially because she comes from a big family. Along with 6 younger siblings, she is also a mother. She has always dreamed of opening a boutique, and while pregnant with her first daughter, she came up with the structural idea of The Pretty Spirit Palace. She wanted to offer a full experience for the kids like no other! It may sound cliche to say but the absolute truth is that “The YOUTH are our FUTURE.”
The Pretty Spirit Palace company is a woman & family operated business that consists of a small, organized structure. They service young girls ages 4-12 years old by giving them the opportunity to identify self-confidence, individuality, & self-worth through an array of services, including spa treatments, fashion arts & crafts, and more! Along with their services, they also offer classes and events that focus on building skills, characteristics, & talents for the girls. They are a company that values the youth along with their childhood experiences because those are what we carry with us throughout the rest of our lives.
Shiv’on Monique is the founder of Just A Girl From KC, an apparel brand that uses messaging to empower women, create a nostalgic feel, and pay homage to her hometown of Kansas City, MO. More importantly, the brand is centered around giving back to the community through scholarships and empowering women to pursue their dreams as entrepreneurs. In 2020 during the pandemic and while furloughed from her job, the reality of job security and lack of enthusiasm for her current situation prompted her to take this idea off the table and put it into action.
With only two items to sell and the simple tagline “Just A Girl From KC ” she posted pre-orders on her social media and sold out of items in two days! Three years and several hundred shirts, hoodies, hats and more later, Just A Girl From KC has grown into a hometown apparel favorite that is now ready to expand its reach globally! Just A Girl From KC also fuels Shivon’s passion for giving back as the proceeds support scholarships for first generation students to attend college.
Shiv’on Monique
Founder of Just a Girl From KC
“We are grateful to Citi Trends for awarding us the grant, which will enable us to further our mission of supporting underrepresented makers and creatives by providing them with exposure and new business opportunities. With this grant, we plan to fund even more purveyors, helping them get the attention they need and deserve. Thank you, Citi Trends, for supporting our vision and helping us make a difference in our community.”
Chrishon Lampley
Founder of The Lampley
At The Lampley, we aim to support creatives and underrepresented makers by providing them with exposure and new business opportunities. Started by founder Chrishon Lampley, our team of passionate artists is committed to offering unique home decor items that represent underrepresented communities. We collaborate with local artists and purveyors, featuring handcrafted soy candles, pillows made from African cloth, table linen, kente placemats, and much more. As we expand our presence in both the retail and online marketplace, we continue to introduce new and exciting products. Browse our collection today for unique and culturally significant decor items.
Tahera Rene Christy is Founder & Creative Director of Amour Propre®️. She is an amazing chef, published author, entertainer, and community leader that left her corporate sales job to focus on creating wellness products that enhance the health and wellbeing of our consumers: people with skin!
Amour Propre® was created to support our customers with luxury clean beauty at an affordable price.
Amour Propre® is a wellness and beauty brand centered on self-love, enhanced by science, inspired by nature, and fueled by positive energy.
Amour Propre® (which means “self-love in French) is in business to encourage our customers to practice self-love by experiencing the joy of utilizing natural facial care products, feminine hygiene solutions, bath and body cosmetics that cater to sensitive skin, and home decor that provide aromatherapeutic benefits.
Tahera Rene Christy
Founder & Creative Director of Amour Propre
“Thank you to Citi Trends for your generous grant and for acknowledging the incredible artistry and contributions of those from Africa and the African Diaspora.”
Nicole Williams
Founder Belle Noire
“Thank you to Citi Trends for your generous grant and for acknowledging the incredible artistry and contributions of those from Africa and the African Diaspora.”
Belle Noire translates to “Beautiful Black.” The accessories are not only black, but an array of bright and vibrant hues. The reason behind the name Belle Noire is that we partner with Beautiful Black (primarily women), artists and craftswomen from Africa and the African Diaspora. Belle Noire brings you accessories that make all individuals feel beautiful, confident, and as if you can conquer any challenge, all while empowering women globally.
Belle Noire began after Nicole worked in the fashion industry for over 15 years without ever seeing anyone that mirrored her aesthetic, yet people would stop her and offer to buy her personal accessories all the time. Finally the light went off and Belle Noire, a fashion brand that is beautiful, high quality, and ethical was born.
“If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family (nation).”
-Fanti Proverb
Enter your email to receive details pertaining to our 2024 Black History Makers Grant!
Enter your email to receive details pertaining to our 2024 Black History Makers Grant!
