Hi, I'm Dan from Mac, and welcome to Axios Recaps special series on America's small business comeback.

Today's Tuesday, May 25th.

Modernistock is up on news that its vaccine is safe for adolescents.

The weekly vaccine case, though, is down, and we're focused on Black-owned small businesses.

One year ago today, George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

It was a gruesome event, captured on video and which sparked widespread protests in the most substantive national conversation

on race in America in most of our lifetimes.

For black-owned small businesses,

Floyd's murder and everything that followed

added new layers of emotional and financial complexity

to what was already an extraordinarily challenging year

because of the pandemic.

Shelley Bell, CEO of Black Girl Ventures, called it a, quote, moment of awakening,

in which some consumers began buying black, some investors began making concerted efforts

to back black-owned small businesses, and some big corporations began finally activating

on what they've always known to be true, that they could do much,

much more. So today, for the second of our six-part series on America's small business comeback,

we want to explore what 2020 meant for black-owned small businesses and where things stand for them

in 2021 with Shelley Bell of Black Girl Ventures. That conversation in 15 seconds.

We're joined now by Shelly Bell of Black Girl Ventures.

Shelly, tell me a bit about your organization.

Yeah, for sure.

...