Last spring, we originally broke the news that Nia Phillips-Harper became an entrepreneur at her Sweet 16 birthday party. Her mother Dedra—an author and professor, gave her the gift of entrepreneurship in the form of a beauty brand: Ni’Abri Beauty, a lip gloss collection and other beauty essentials now available online.
Earlier this week, Phillips and her mother appeared on the Tamron Hall Show to discuss the importance and benefits of
engaging children in business and investing in the next generation with Tamron and McDonald’s owner/operators and mother-daughter franchisee duo Marissa Fisher and Marla Thrower.During the segment, Nia was surprised with $25,000 from McDonald’s as a part of its Black & Positively Golden movement which seeks to uplift communities and shine a light on black excellence through empowerment, education, and entrepreneurship.
The $25,000 donation is part of McDonald’s continued commitment to supporting entrepreneurs and encouraging generational wealth building. The brand is empowering rising businesswomen nationwide through its partnership with the YWCA Women’s Empowerment 360o
program, which provides a free six-week business course to help close the entrepreneurship knowledge gap for women of color.In true Black Girl Magic fashion, Hall surprised her guest audience with a free product from Ni’Abri Beauty!
Last year, Phillips-Harper shared that through the Ni’Abri brand, she hopes to help young women build their self-confidence and shine from within. “I want to inspire people to embrace positive things about themselves,” she said. “The world is full of negative messages. When someone purchases a lip gloss from my company, it comes with a card that describes the character trait of the product purchased, along with a special inspirational message from me.”
It’s fair to say that she is doing the work.
After appearing on the show, Phillips-Harper’s products flew off the shelves!
Like always, we are rooting for Nia!