Simone Biles
Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in U.S. history, having won more than two dozen Olympic and World Championship medals thus far.
Amanda Gorman
Amanda Gorman is a black American poet and activist. She is the youngest inaugural poet in history and the first-ever national poet laureate.
Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter is a former Major League Baseball baseball player who was a shortstop for the New York Yankees and has since become a Hall of Famer.
Lester Holt
Lester Holt is an American broadcast journalist who in 2015 made history by becoming the first black person to solo anchor a weekday nightly newscast for a major network.
Lauren Underwood
Lauren Underwood is the youngest black Congresswoman to hold office. A former registered nurse with two master’s degrees in public health nursing, she is an advocate for affordable healthcare.
Robert F. Smith
Robert F. Smith is a black American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. He is the founder of the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, of which he is also chairman and CEO.
Sir Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Hamilton, who received knighthood in 2021, is a black Formula One race car driver with seven world championships to his name.
Rashida Jones
A veteran of MSNBC, Rashida Jones worked her way up from an executive producer and managing editor, to president of the entire cable news network.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a young British cellist who was the first black person to win BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016. He also became the first cellist to chart in the UK in the Top 10.
Lauren Simmons
Lauren Simmons made history in 2017 when she was hired as the youngest black floor trader at the New York Stock Exchange.
General Lloyd J. Austin III
As the 28th Secretary of Defense, retired four-star general Lloyd J. Austin III made history by becoming the first black American appointed to that office.
Marian R. Croak
Marian R. Croak, the soft-spoken genius behind VoIP, has risen to the top of a male-dominated field and changed the world by rethinking technology.