Orlena Nwokah Blanchard

This entrepreneur is no stranger to social impact movements. But with her work as one of the chief architects of the Crown Act Coalition, she just may have given all Black women who’ve had to fight for the right to wear their hair naturally in certain workspaces the greatest gift of all. A multinational citizen of the world who claims Nigeria, the UK, the US and Canada as home, Blanchard broke new ground to help end race-based hair discrimination in this country when her bill came before the U.S. House of Representatives, which then passed the bill by a vote of 235-189 on March 18,2022. It’s these kinds of victories that give our community hope that the battles we wage daily are not in vain.