First Black woman billionaire thrives others’ success

Sheila Johnson, the first Black woman to become a billionaire in the US, has built her career on encouraging the hiring of Black people in hospitality (as owner of Salamander Hotels & Resorts), entertainment (as co-founder of the BET Network) and sports (as part-owner of three Washington, D.C., pro sports franchises). Lifting up others is in her DNA, she says, noting that “[t]here are a lot of billionaires, multi-billionaires, trillionaires, but it’s what they do with their lives and how they give back to the community [that matters].”