Source: JD Barnes / for HelloBeautiful
Carrie Bernans has been seen in high-profile TV shows such as Netflix’s The Harder They Fall (2021), and the fighting force behind Dora Milaje in Black Panther (2018). She’s a former Division 1 athlete, a martial artist, and speaks six languages. She’s been a project manager in China and traveled abroad to London, Paris, and Germany. From acting, filmmaking, philanthropy, stunt woman, and into the tech industry, Carrie Bernans is a woman of many talents and has consistently proved there is no space she can’t enter.
Check all the credentials. Bernans is giving on and off the screen.
Carrie Ann Bernans was born in Richmond, VA, but grew up in Memphis, TN in a single-parent household, which Bernans credits as the reason “she promised always to pay help and kindness forward.”
“I had a teenage mom. I moved around a lot when I was younger and my mom did everything she could to make ends meet, but things were never easy. So, to be where I am now is an accomplishment in itself.”
Bernans’ childhood experiences prepared her for much in the making. In high school, she networked and trained with business investment bankers and accountants. Through her membership in the Youth Business program, Carrie witnessed her mentors do merger & acquisition simulations on Vanderbilt, Emory, and Columbia University campuses. This experience made a significant impact on Carrie’s vision for investments and entrepreneurship.
“Investing in the tech space was something very important to me in an industry mostly dominated by white men. I wanted to come into this space to show that money is power and invest back into my community.”
Source: JD Barnes / for HelloBeautiful
Carrie has built and developed several tech start-ups. Understanding the difficulty of raising capital for prospective business owners in the Black community, Bernans has raised funds, invested, and served on the board of several companies, aligning with her personal beliefs and passions. Such involvement in the tech industry has landed her features in over 40 publications such as FastCompany, Marvel Universe, and Google on International Women’s Day.
She privately invests and runs three companies: 11 Bernans Productions, Drexel Street Marketing, an organization that helps customers develop and create an online social media presence, and Faith Is My SuperPower, an e-commerce brand designed to band like-minded individuals together.
Not only did Carrie envision a future in finance, but she also wanted to keep on her promise to help others. In October 2020, Bernans launched SheWorks, a venture capital and private equity organization “investing in the future of work, travel, food, retail, media, and education.”
Source: JD Barnes / for HelloBeautiful
Bernans also recently launched CB Seed, a foundation seeking to “empower the hidden potential within every individual — envisioning a world where all people, regardless of race, social class, incarceration status, or mental well-being are given a fair chance.” Through rehabilitation programs and simulation workshops, CB Seed promotes financial and reading literacy education in an effort to overcome social presumptions.
Bernans is a force that refuses to be unseen. Her consistent presence in multiple spaces undoubtedly pays it forward to the next lineage of women following in her footsteps.
“We want to teach kids the power of money and make it not a foreign language,” says Bernans. “We want to break generational poverty, living check-to-check. We want them to know there’s better options, and that people care.”
In the words of the multi-talented founder: “Keep going, girl. Keep going, okay?!”
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