Hughes, Cathy
1947-present · Contribution: 1980-present
Founded Radio One (now Urban One) in 1980 after being turned down by more than 30 banks, and became, in 1999, the first African American woman to chair a publicly traded corporation
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Quick facts
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- Business & Misc.
Impact on the world
Hughes built the largest Black-owned broadcast company in the country from a single struggling station, then broke a Wall Street barrier no Black woman had crossed, proving Black media ownership could reach public-company scale.
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