Black women entrepreneurs on the rise: these women have carved out niches for themselves in their respective fields, while creating new million dollar enterprises

Black Enterprise, August, 1996 by Lloyd Gite, Dawn M. Baskerville

Recently named one of the top three African American chefs in the country, Robinson has certainly made inroads from the "old shack" she purchased in 1974 for $15,000. Modeled after the fairy tales that Robinson's grandmother told her as a child growing up in Bastrop, Louisiana, the restaurant today is a spacious facility that seats 114 and boasts annual revenues of $1 million. "I've always had problems getting loans so we built it a piece at a time," says Robinson of the restaurant that is composed of a gazebo, a garden and two small "houses."

"I think our success has to do not only with the quality of our food, but also with how we treat people," says Robinson. "We always greet people with a big smile," she says of her 22 employees. "I'm excited. It's like they're really coming to visit me."

Saundra Parks, President,

The Daily Blossom

When asked what business she's in, Sandra Parks usually answers: the emotions business. "When we deliver something, it stirs the emotion," she explains, referring to her floral design company, the Daily Blossom. "Flowers create a lot of sentiment in our lives."

Maybe so, but recipients of Daily Blossom arrangements insist that if the sentiment behind the flowers doesn't take your breath away, the Daily Blossom flowers themselves surely will.

Certain people's work is unmistakable. Aretha Franklin has her own way with a song. Toni Morrison turns a phrase just so. You can spot a Varnette Honeywood print a mile away. So, it is with Parks' floral designs. Her $1 million-plus New York-based firm is targeted to high-end clients who appreciate Parks' and her 15-person staff's gift for finding extraordinary, sumptuous flowers.

Parks' business idea was something of a gift as well. The former advertising and sales rep was on a hiatus when her father, the owner of McKinsey Parks Landscaping, asked her to sell some poinsettias for him. She sold 300, of which 50 went to friend and entrepreneur, Ruth Clark, who, in turn, sent them to her clients. A business idea was born. "I realized that every corporate building I stepped into had fresh flowers and plants on display," Clark recalls. "I knew there was a market."

Parks did her homework, reading everything she could about flowers and taking a course on floral design at New York's Botanical Gardens. She was soon selling arrangements out of her one-bedroom apartment, eventually snagging her first major client, HBO.

Today, her brow-raising client list includes, on the corporate side, American Express, BET, Sony Music and Earl G. Graves Ltd., the parent company of BLACK ENTERPRISE. On the personal side, the Daily Blossom boast such clients as Maya Angelou, Whitney Houston, Spike Lee, Eddie Murphy and Ed Bradley.

Parks runs a 4,000-sq-ft. production loft in addition to her retail shop in New York's high-rent Equitable Building, located in the city's busy midtown business district. Expansion plans include flower shops in other major cities and a Daily Blossom coffee-table book.