After 20+ years in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, Carmen Brace made a pivot. She went from being a Fortune 500 executive to opening Aclara Research – her consumer insights and
data products firm, focusing on cannabis.
“I realized cannabis was not about getting high, it was about getting well,” she says as a matter of fact. This statement could be a theme for Carmen’s work. During a legislative testimony in Illinois regarding marijuana legalization, Carmen drops a bevy of impressive stats and figures. She deftly put a spotlight on the medical reasons why customers consume cannabis products and how that behavior can reduce dependency on opioids.
Aclara Research helps companies understand the cannabis market and their consumers. The organization has spearheaded numerous studies and surveys, collecting invaluable data, concluding that cannabis will be more disruptive to the CPG industry than Uber has been to transportation.
Aside from being a CEO, Carmen is also a Board Member of Chicago NORML, a public education foundation that focuses on the destigimization of cannabis within the realms of wellness, politics and economic empowerment, among communities of color. She was also appointed by the governor of Illinois to its Cannabis Advisory Committee, and is a member of the 2020 cohort of the business incubator powered by the Majira Project and Boston Consulting Group.
Aside from her list of outstanding professional accolades, Carmen is also a black woman. While that should have no bearing on the perception of her skill, unfortunately it does.
“Historically, black women haven’t been perceived as credible within the business world,” she laments. She can find the grim humor in it, however. As black women are constantly underestimated, it means they can surprise, and in business that’s a competitive advantage, she says.
The disparity in access to capital that black women face when compared to other groups makes operating as an entrepreneur incredibly difficult. However, for Carmen, this is just another narrative to rewrite.
“2020 has illuminated a lot of inequity across our country and in our daily lives. It’s been a hard and painful realization for me personally as I’m literally faced with what institutionalized racism looks and feels like in a deeper way than I acknowledged before. Less than 50 black women founders have ever raised $1M+…. Less than 50!”
“As a black woman founder of a data company – who was her own angel investor – that makes me angry. It’s incredibly tough to be an entrepreneur and much tougher as a self-funded company. So, for me as a black woman founder, it has been very difficult,” Carmen shares.
The disparity of capital access tells a story that she’s going to shift, Carmen affirms. She’s also adamant about transforming these disadvantages into advantages.
Here are tips Carmen would give to women who want to enter the space as entrepreneurs:
1 Have a substantial nest egg to ride out the lean earning years at least 5 years of living expenses. I wish I’d started with more.
2 Put in 10K of hours to become an expert in your industry. The expertise you develop will be clear to investors and clients- and work in your favor.
3 Cultivate the spiritual and mental technologies needed to navigate unforeseen challenges you will encounter as an entrepreneur. My Buddhist practice, meditation and spiritual counseling are key to my resilience and determination to win.
4 Ask for help.
Many of us as black women grow up in families, which encourage us to be self sufficient and NOT ask others for help. This is a huge cultural mistake that can wreck your success trajectory. I am still learning this lesson.
5 Write a business plan and pitch for investment early. I wish I had done this earlier but I thought I could do it on my own. Find a way to monetize, even at a low level to demonstrate traction early.
6 Apply for the Majira Project Startup Incubator in Boston. It’s a business incubator founded by Kerry Bowie, a thoughtful and well connected MIT alum who has partnered with the Boston Consulting Group to provide coaching and consulting resources to POC founders. Being a part of the Majira/ BCG cohort has been instrumental In connecting with the right advocates and experts to launch our pilots with Nielsen, Ipsos- and to launch our funding round.
