VISIONARIES & FOUNDERS

Nailah Queen: Turning Pain into Purpose and Legacy

Founder, Its Nailah_The Brand 📍 United States | LinkedIn

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Nailah Queen walks in her purpose with a clarity shaped by everything she has survived. As the co-founder of Melanin and Mentorship, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering Black women entrepreneurs, she is creating pathways that did not exist for her. The mission is simple and bold: expand access, expand opportunity, and expand belief. Training, resources, and community are all part of what she builds, ensuring that women of color have what they need to launch, grow, and thrive.

Her “why” runs deep. “I am a Black female statistic that won,” she says. Childhood sexual abuse, teen pregnancies, abuse within her first marriage, the loss of her mother, years of depression, and time spent in inpatient care for suicidal thoughts all could have ended her story. Instead, they fueled it. She began asking herself what legacy truly means, and whether she could create one that would outlive her and light the way for others. “I want to show the world that your past can define you and it doesn’t have to be a negative thing,” she writes. “This is me, and this woman you see before you is a badass in my own right.” Nailah’s purpose is to embrace her truth and use it to help others rise.

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