Let’s talk about what’s really going on. A lot of us are burned out, laid off, or watching the layoffs roll in. So we’re putting more energy into our own businesses, or starting one for the first time, because tomorrow’s corporate America isn’t promised.

And the numbers aren’t fabricated. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black unemployment is 7.0%, with about 1,552,000 Black workers out of work. More than 600,000 Black women have left or been pushed out of the labor market since January 2025 mainly due to federal job cuts, anti-DEI policies, and shifts in professional and business services.

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JPMorganChase recently announced that it’s making a $10 million low-cost, long-term loan to ACE (Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs), a Georgia nonprofit lender. The money is expected to fund about 70 small business loans across Georgia, with at least $7.5 million going to Metro Atlanta.

Why low-cost beats what the bank offers

A regular bank loan hits you with high payments from day one, before you’ve made a dime. That’s how people end up working all year just to pay the bank.

Say you open a catering business and borrow $30,000. If most of what you earn goes straight to the loan, you can’t buy that second oven or pay a helper for busy weekends. Lower payments mean that money stays in your business and helps it grow.

Money without a plan can sink you

What Black entrepreneurs want to see is money and support. Plenty of people get the check and still lose the business, because there’s no plan for pricing, cash flow, or growth. That’s usually not a lack of guidance. ACE gives borrowers free one-on-one coaching and connections to other business owners.

What to know before you apply

ACE hasn’t shared loan amounts, rates, or how to apply yet but we anticipate it to come rolling in soon.

Here are a few of ACE’s current loan details

ACE’s credit requirements: a minimum credit score of 600, plus collateral.

Get ready now: ACE recommends you check your credit score first. You can pull your report free once a year at annualcreditreport.com. Look for mistakes and get them fixed.

Need help with your credit? ACE works with Operation HOPE and Money Management International (MMI) agencies that offer a free one-on-one consultation that will help you find out your credit score, and put together a plan of action.

Women can sign up for ACE’s Women’s Business Center in Atlanta for grant resources, help starting a business, and coaching.

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Disclosure: This post is not sponsored. I have no partnership with, and received no payment or commission from, Chase Bank or ACE Loans.

Ranking higher on Google has long been a priority for local brands, but the way consumers discover businesses is changing. They’re moving beyond searches like “nearest clothing store” and asking more detailed, and conversational questions. People are looking for the best recommendation tailored to their needs whether that’s a restaurant for dinner, service, or retail store that carries exactly what they’re looking for. Simply ranking on search engines is not going to cut it these days in an AI driven market.

Today’s search might look something like: “Where can I find a highly rated florist near me that offers same-day pickup?” AI models are interpreting those preferences and pulling information from websites, reviews, photos, maps, and public listings to generate personalized recommendations. As an entrepreneur, you don’t want your brand to fall by the wayside as technology continues to reshape how consumers discover, evaluate, and ultimately choose where to spend their money.

In a Capgemini survey, Over half (58%) of consumers have replaced traditional search engines with Gen AI tools for product/service recommendations, a significant jump from 25% in 2023.

SEO Is Rankings. GEO Is Recommendations.

Traditional SEO (search engine optimization) and GEO (generative engine optimization) rely on many of the same fundamentals, including accurate information, strong reviews, quality content, and a trustworthy online presence. Think of it this way: SEO is rankings. GEO is recommendations. SEO helps your brand rank in search results, while GEO helps it appear in conversational recommendations and AI-generated answers.

The future of visibility about helping consumers understand why your brand deserves to be chosen. Here are seven ways to stay ahead and position your brand to be recommended when customers are ready to buy.

1. Make It Easy for Consumers and AI to Understand Your Brand

Consumers can’t choose a business they can’t verify. Keep your website, social media profiles, Google Business Profile, and online listings updated with accurate hours, contact information, services, and locations. Consistency helps build trust and makes it easier for recommendation tools to confidently surface your brand.

2. Tell Consumers Exactly What You Offer

If someone lands on your website or social media profile, they should immediately understand what you offer, who you serve, and what sets you apart. The easier your brand is to understand, the easier it is to recommend. Remember, selling starts with clarity.

Important information should be easy to find, not buried in social posts or graphics. Include details such as pricing, unless your services are customized, complex, or premium, along with appointment options, delivery information, return policies, walk-in availability, and a FAQ section and FAQ section.

3. Strengthen Your Digital Footprint

Recommendation tools pull information from multiple sources, not just your website. Keep your Google Business Profile, Yelp listing, social channels, and directory listings active and accurate so consumers encounter the same information wherever they look. As a consumer, I’ve noticed that many businesses forget to update their holiday hours. Imagine someone searching, “Where can I find a candle store open on Christmas Eve?” If your holiday hours aren’t current, your brand could miss an opportunity to be recommended when that customer is ready to buy.

4. Let Your Customers Tell the Story

Detailed reviews and testimonials help potential customers understand the experience you provide while giving recommendation engines more signals about what your brand does best. Ask for feedback after a purchase, visit, or appointment, and respond to every review. Specific comments about products, service, expertise, or customer experience can be especially valuable.

5. Give Consumers Reasons to Believe You

Real photos, customer testimonials, completed projects, product details, pricing information, and credentials create trust. The brands that get recommended most often are the ones providing the real evidence of their expertise. Share recent photos, consumer generated content(CGC)/user-generated content(UGC), product details, credentials, pricing information, and examples of your work. Real evidence builds credibility.

6. Search Like a Customer

Search for your brand the same way a customer would. Pay attention to which brands appear first and what they’re doing well, from their websites and reviews to their social media presence and photos. Compare that experience with your own, then update any outdated or missing information.

7. Measure What Drives Results

I recently came across a post that said the goal is to solve a problem, not simply exist to look good. Another pointed out that real value comes from what you’re teaching, offering, or helping customers achieve. Visibility matters, but conversions happen when people clearly understand how your brand addresses a need. That is why it’s important to measure results. Track calls, website visits, bookings, direction requests, inquiries, and sales. One of the most effective questions you can ask customers is, “How did you hear about us?” Their answers can reveal which channels are actually driving business.

You don’t need to become a data scientist to compete in a changing digital landscape. The brands most likely to be found and recommended are often the ones doing the simplest things well by keeping information current, communicating clearly, earning trust, and creating a consistent experience online. As consumer search behavior continues to evolve, these basics can help your brand stay visible, relevant, and one step ahead of the competition.

Article cover image: Photo by Tim Witzdam | Unsplash

The post The New Era of Digital Discovery: 7 Ways to Help Your Brand Show Up When consumers are Ready to Buy first appeared on FLUENT IN BLK.

Culture clamors for more Black women to take up space and sit in the roles they are qualified for. But what happens when those same positions are passed over them despite the degrees, qualifications, and accolades?

On the surface, it may seem like isolated cases, but zooming out, a pattern emerges from one structural change to another. More women of color are being treated as if they were never prepared for the roles they are well suited for.

A recent Threads post captures this reality. “No amount of degrees and experience can save me from the fact that they are intentionally not hiring Black women,” one user wrote. “They are actively pushing Black women out of the workforce,” another chimed in.

This is no longer a one-off but rather a continuous pattern.

The pattern behind the layoffs

The employment rate of Black women fell by 1.4 percentage points in 2025, which was one of the highest one-year declines in 25 years. The public sector suffered more losses, with federal layoffs, agency cuts, and the dismantling of DEI programs hitting hard. Because Black women make up a large share of the federal workforce, this loss was more significant.

College-educated Black women were particularly affected, with their employment-to-population ratio noticeably dropping. Across women’s job losses overall, they accounted for a large share.

As companies scale in their use of AI, roles in human resources, customer service, and administrative support, areas where many Black women are concentrated, have borne the brunt. Combined with less support toward DEI programs, the gap only widened.

The causes run deeper than a single hiring decision. The impacts have been uneven, and Black women are feeling it first.

Where black women are taking their talents instead

The loss of jobs is imminent; however, that is only pushing more Black women into entrepreneurship, a space with more control that doesn’t move with every corporate or political decision.

Krista Norris, PhD, told Fast Company, entrepreneurship feels like a saving grace for Black women, as it gives them back their agency and financial mobility when the traditional system fails them.

Black women are now among the fastest-growing groups of business owners in recent years. According to Wells Fargo’s Impact of Women-Owned Businesses report, Black women-owned businesses number roughly 2 million, employing more than 647,000 people.

More Black women are launching consulting firms, creative agencies, service-based businesses, and lifestyle brands. This shows entrepreneurship is still booming, and even more so as job insecurity worsens across the community.

Many are also moving into industries where they already have cultural knowledge and customer insight, including food & beverage, education, professional services, and beauty.

The sectors showing growth

Between 2017 and 2022, Black-owned businesses in the U.S. grew substantially, generating hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue over the years.

Health care and social assistance have the largest concentration of Black-owned employer firms. Professional and technical services, food & beverage, and related service industries are steadily expanding. Black women founders are showing more activity in beauty and wellness, where customer demand is already strong. As more Black women step into these industries, growth is bound to happen.

What progress looks like

Success for Black women is frequently measured against institutions that were never designed with us in mind.

Progress for us as a community looks different. It should be measured by what we build on our own terms: new businesses, jobs for other Black women, and community-centered initiatives, rather than using institutional systems as a yardstick for what we achieve. Keeping the dollars in the community creates a ripple effect, benefiting the local economy and driving long-term wealth.

Degrees and qualifications are still being overlooked. But the silver lining is the experience, skill, and cultural background we carry, which is already determining what comes next, not the unprecedented number of layoffs.

FIB fam, are you seeing this trend happen? Has it happened to you or someone you know? Speak to us. 

The post Locked Out on Purpose: The New Job Market for Black Women first appeared on FLUENT IN BLK.

Flickr and BWP initiated the contest to help expand access, visibility, and career opportunities for freelance photographers.

Flickr will announce the winner during the MODE by Flickr festival, a three-day event taking place September 18–20 across downtown Minneapolis.

With live performances, over 60 featured photographers, exhibitions, creator sessions, workshops, and community experiences, it’s giving Coachella energy. Organizers say it “brings photography out of the apps and into the streets.”

The grant is open to Black women and non-binary photographers, including both new and longtime members of BWP and Flickr. Applications are open now through August 6, and BWP encourages international applicants to apply.

General admission is $250.

To be eligible, applicants must 

• You must be a member of the Black Women Photographers community 

• You must also join the Black Women Photographers group on Flickr 

• Next, submit a photo aligned with the theme “Traces of Connection” to the BWP Flickr Group 

• Here are some tips on how to add photos to the group 

• Share a brief description of how your photo connects to this theme 

Black Women Photographers

Multimedia journalist and photographer Polly Irungu founded BWP after serving as a White House photographer for U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. The global community and directory has over 2,100 Black and African women creatives in 60+ countries and 35+ U.S. states and offers a no-cost membership.

The ongoing partnership is about helping Black women creatives receive proper recognition, build visibility, and open real economic pathways, Irungu shares.

The Theme: Traces of Connection

This year’s concept is an invitation to notice what lingers after a moment, a meeting, or a presence has passed or shifted. It is often felt rather than seen. It lives in gestures and manifests as the quiet tension between presence and absence.

It reminds us that even when life feels lonely and disconnected, we’re still deeply connected to each other and to nature through shared history, culture, and the environment we all depend on.

Whether you’re flying into Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, arriving by Amtrak or using public transportation, get a head start on planning your trip with these local lodging and dining recommendations. You can purchase passes here.

The post Black Women Photography Announces $10,000 Grant in Partnership with Flickr first appeared on FLUENT IN BLK.