Black Momma Brands is getting ready to launch Black Momma Tea and Café after raising $2.1 million, without relying on venture capital.
After retiring in 2013 from her career as an engineer for New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, founder Vanessa Braxton decided to use her retirement money to invest in a distillery.
She initially learned how to make vodka from scratch while in college. "You have so many resources to utilize when you're a college student. You really don't know where it might take you," Braxton told Cheddar. "When I retired from the MTA, and we moved to California, I took the opportunity to utilize my formula, and I said 'You know what? I used to make this in college. Why not take my retirement money and invest it into a distillery and create my own brand.'"
The company now has over 30,000 online and wholesale customers and counting.
Black Momma vodkas are infused with different tea flavors, so in this latest expansion, Braxton decided to keep with that theme, offering traditional, non-alcoholic teas through retailers, online, and at Black Momma Tea and Café locations.
Using crowdfunding and President Obama's 2012 JOBS Act, which eased many of the country's financial regulations to encourage the funding of small businesses, Braxton said she was able to raise capital for the new venture.
"When people see that you are true to your brand and true to your business they want to invest in you," Braxton said.
Beyond her own success, Braxton says helping non-traditional business owners build generational wealth has become a focus for the company. "I found that there are very few women and minority women-owned companies that have any manufacturing facilities and leave anything to future generations," Braxton told Cheddar.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
At the core of the ongoing government shutdown is a fight over the decision to end subsidies that let some 12 million Americans get health coverage.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
