Black Girls Unite!

Ruby Clay hopes to expand her mentoring group to bring young, Black women together

Madison Magazine monthly Innovation column, January 2021

Ruby Clay tries to be the resource she needed when she was young: that voice whispering in a Black girl’s ear that she is enough, that she is valued, that she is destined for great things.

Before the pandemic, when Clay would gather middle and high school girls in a circle for Saturday afternoon meetings, she’d share her tough experiences so they could learn from someone who looked like them — a rarity in Dane County schools. These kids were dealing with adult issues, and she’d been there. She offered practical advice, like don’t go thinking a significant other’s behavior is romantic when they show up uninvited at your job. But mostly she would listen, and encourage her girls to do the same. They would need each other to survive.

Her business started by accident. 

To continue reading please pick up the January 2021 issue of Madison Magazine at area newsstands, or click through to the online version here.

—Maggie Ginsberg is an associate editor at Madison Magazine and a long-time award-winning freelance writer. Innovation is her monthly column for Madison Magazine focused on startups, entrepreneurism and innovative ideas coming out of Dane County, Wisconsin.