By: Brianna Rhodes

You can access photos here: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/3/folders/1R7Hy1E_h6VFKbPOSiQZUlmG7Jqzo85xS

Creating opportunities through mentorship, hands-on learning, and financial support has been the driving force behind WACIF’s Ascend Capital Accelerator program since 2017.

As the fund’s signature accelerator initiative, Ascend has served as a launchpad for budding entrepreneurs in the DMV to build sustainable, community-driven businesses–including beauty maven and innovator, Rahama Wright.

In 2023, WACIF joined forces with Wright to create Ascend Beauty, the first accelerator program designed to support the careers of beautypreneurs through industry-focused workshops, training, and resources. For Wright, the collaboration feels like a “homecoming” and a “full circle moment,” drawing her back to her own beginnings as an early-stage founder in Ascend’s first cohort.

Since then, Wright has expanded her impact as the CEO and founder of Shea Yeleen, a natural skincare line produced by West African women’s cooperatives that provides high-quality, unrefined shea butter to prominent retailers including MGM Resorts International, Walmart.com, and Amazon.

With her newest venture, Yeleen Beauty Makerspace, Wright has created a one-of-kind manufacturing and technology space that offers early stage beauty founders the resources they need to combat the economic and sustainability disparities.

The Makerspace has already hosted workshops for the Ascend Beauty program’s most recent cohort, and has provided members a space to refine their products and business strategies.

“It’s really interesting for us to step into a space where Ascend is focused on a very specific type of business, and it has been so exciting,” said Marisela Rodela, WACIF’s Program Director for the Office of Women’s Initiatives. “It’s wonderful to have a partner who is such an expert and is building this space to really launch this industry in the city and make it so that people can thrive here.”

Below, Wright shares the importance of supporting beautypreneurs, details about Ascend Beauty, and how the program is changing the DMV beauty landscape, and more.

A Conversation with Wright:

WACIF: Why is it important for consumers to support beautypreneurs?

Wright: “We can’t do this work alone. We want consumers to buy into what we’re doing, and support our local entrepreneurs with their dollars. When they spend on soap, haircare, facials, or any self-care practice, we want them to think about how to support as locally as possible.

We’ve designed something that is the first of its kind to support entrepreneurs in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. In order for it to achieve the success and the impact, we need our community to show up for us and the companies that we represent.

We would love people to follow us on social media, share our platform with a friend or family member, sign up for our events, and come to the space to check it out. We are in a time right now where a lot of people have lost their jobs.

Now more than ever, people are going to be thinking about entrepreneurship. The beauty industry is valued at over $60 billion in the U.S. Black founders generate less than $1.5 billion out of that $60 billion. Black customers shop over $6.6 billion. If you look at how much our businesses make versus how much our community spends, there’s an unfair market share. We have the power to change that. We just need our community to show up for us.”

WACIF: Why do you think the Ascend Beauty program is so unique?

Wright: “It is designed by a beauty entrepreneur to address pain points for beauty entrepreneurs. For me to be a beauty founder and living with the issues on a day-to-day basis, I can relate to the challenges that these entrepreneurs are facing.

I can answer the questions based on the experiences that I’ve had. Another element of it is it’s really designed for founders of color who historically have been excluded from the global beauty industry. We have different challenges and I don’t think it’s wrong to say that.

We live in a time where everyone is trying to gaslight us and tell us that there’s no inequality, there’s no racism, and there’s no sexism–but we all know that’s not true. When you’re an entrepreneur and you’re facing not only the same issues and challenges that other businesses are facing, but there’s this additional element of having to navigate the business world as a Black woman founder.

Being able to design a program so that we can have real and honest conversations, and also come together in community to help each other get through those problems and issues is a game changer. Women feel more confident, heard, and seen.”

WACIF: How do you think the Yeleen Beauty Makerspace and the Ascend Beauty program can help the DMV become a staple city for the beauty industry?

Wright: “We can point back to our recent event with Anastasia [Soare], who runs one of the biggest beauty brands [Anastasia Beverly Hills] in our country and is based in Los Angeles.

The city is very well known for beauty, and having individuals like her walk into our space, meet with our entrepreneurs, share her story, and repost their products is a game changer that shows that in a city that historically has been about politics, policy, nonprofit, and the government, that there is creativity here.

We might not be as big as New York or Paris or Los Angeles, but we’re coming.”

What To Expect from Ascend Beauty in 2026:

WACIF is excited to welcome its third cohort for the Ascend Beauty program in 2026. Cohort members will learn a curriculum created by Wright that will focus on various areas to grow their businesses. They can also expect new offerings through Yeleen Beauty Makerspace, where they will attend sessions, book time in the space, and network.

Rodela believes that the facility will help cohort members find a sense of belonging, perfect their formulas, and gain access to valuable resources. “They’ve done a lot of this work already, and this is just like fine tuning for them,” Rodela said. “It’s a really beautiful thing when they start to realize that they are these powerful experts of their own business. I think that having the space is really going to help them feel more empowered and ready for the next step in their careers with their business.”