Fast Company Executive Board Helps Melissa Bradley Amplify Her Voice

Early in her career, Melissa Bradley left her job in the financial services industry with the intention of starting her own firm. With her small severance package, she put together a business plan and went to the SBA with hopes of securing funding. “The SBA told me no because I was Black and female and they didn’t know any successful Black women in financial services,” she recalls. When she left that meeting, she vowed that if she was ever successful, she’d do her part to make sure that other Black and female entrepreneurs were not discouraged from realizing their entrepreneurial dreams. That goal inspired her for the next twenty years.