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Angela Yee Is Quietly Building a Business Empire Outside of Her Morning Gig on the ‘Breakfast Club’

Every morning, Angela Yee talks it up on the nationally syndicated FM morning radio show “The Breakfast Club.” Behind the scenes, she’s building a business empire.

Yee, who was born to a Chinese father and a Montserratian mother, operates three brick-and-mortar businesses centering on wellness, nutrition, education and diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Photo from coffeeupliftspeople.com

Her businesses include a coffee shop called Coffee Uplifts People, which she co-owns with Tony Forte and LaRon Batchelor; a juice shop, Drink Fresh Juice, which she co-owns with Tony Forte; and a hair-care company, Private Label. 

Yee says she has faced challenges as a Black female founder.

“It’s been hard because I still struggle with imposter syndrome. Sometimes I feel that I’m not smart enough or that I don’t belong in a certain room. Starting out in radio, I was looked at as a sidekick…I rebelled against that notion because I had so much to prove.

“Most of the jobs I’ve worked at, I was the only woman. When we’re live on ‘The Breakfast Club,’ I’m still the only woman in the room. I do the most work because I have to prove myself. If I were a man, I don’t think I’d be the same way. I feel that I have to be more prepared than anyone else, yet I still don’t get the same respect. I do all of this work just to be considered equal,” Yee said.

Photo from drinkfreshjuice.com

Yee added that she has found people don’t often take her seriously because she is a Black woman. “People think you’re only there to fill a quota, so they may not take you seriously.”

She shared that she has found support from other Black women.

Read full story at Finurah here.

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