Caitlyn Kumi Left Google to Build the Community Black Women Actually Needed
Most people spend years dreaming about leaving a stable, prestigious job. Caitlyn Kumi just did it. After building a career as a Google marketer — complete with a Forbes recognition — she walked away not because things were going badly, but because Miss EmpowHer needed all of her. Coming from a Ghanaian-American household where that kind of decision carries extra weight, she made it anyway, and she has not looked back since.
Miss EmpowHer, the women’s media platform and events community she founded in June 2020, started as a college idea with no fully baked plan. Kumi was still a student at UNC Chapel Hill when she launched it — right in the middle of a pandemic. Rather than delay, she pushed forward, and what began as a raw idea has since grown into sold-out events across New York, DC, and Atlanta, where women arrive not knowing who they will meet and leave with connections they may carry for the rest of their careers.
The demand has been extraordinary. Her Collective, the private membership community she recently launched for just 250 women, had over 3,000 on the waitlist before it even opened. That number alone tells you everything you need to know about the gap she identified and filled.
Why Miss EmpowHer Redefines What Networking Means for Ambitious Black Women
Kumi does not use the word “networking” lightly — in fact, she barely uses it at all. For her, there is a meaningful and deliberate difference between networking and community, and that distinction shapes everything about how Miss EmpowHer is built.
“Community is really more about relationships and things being ongoing, not being transactional, being very value-driven,” she explains.
Her Collective brings together professionals, founders, investors, and creatives — not by accident, but very much on purpose. Kumi believes the intersections between those worlds are where real things happen. As she puts it, the women in her community are the same ones you could discuss investing and career development with, and also the ones you would not mind going out with afterward. That blend of depth and ease is rare, and it is exactly what keeps women coming back.
Building Miss EmpowHer During a Pandemic Taught Kumi to Trust the Process
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Kumi faced a crossroads that would have stopped most people cold.
“I have two choices,” she recalls thinking. “I can delay my launch or I can continue and push forward.”
She pushed. At UNC Chapel Hill, she kept noticing the same pattern — younger students with no real entry points into professional spaces. So she built an internship program through Miss EmpowHer and started filling that gap herself. She also got into an accelerator, where she observed something that sharpened her thinking: many people without her background had early-stage ideas and backing, but no fully developed plan. She had the plan and the drive, and she was building in real time without a roadmap — which ultimately became her greatest strength.
That experience of figuring it out without a blueprint deeply shaped how she thinks about what women need from each other. It also gave her the credibility and empathy to create spaces that feel genuinely useful rather than performative.
Her Collective’s 3,000-Person Waitlist Proves the Demand Was Always There
The 3,000-woman waitlist that formed before Her Collective even launched did not come from a single viral post. It came from years of Kumi going through every DM, every comment, and every post-event feedback form because she genuinely wanted to know what women were asking for in real time. What she kept hearing was consistent — the big events were fun, but the smaller, more intentional gatherings were where real things happened. Women left those rooms with referrals, collaborators, and opportunities that actually materialized.
“Women who are extremely ambitious, especially in major metropolitan areas like New York, DC, Atlanta are really discerning when it comes to their time and their money,” she says.
That discernment is reflected in how Her Collective is designed. Some events are Pilates classes. Others are simply women walking together with their phones put away, actually talking to one another. Kumi recognized early that self-care is often the first thing ambitious Black women sacrifice on the way up, and she was not interested in building yet another community that treated wellness as an afterthought.
The Real Stories Behind Miss EmpowHer’s Impact on Black Women’s Careers
What keeps Kumi going — even when she is exhausted — are the stories that find their way back to her. Women who opened their first investment accounts after hearing her advice. Women who paid off credit card debt, secured their first angel investor, or landed a job referral from someone they met at a Miss EmpowHer event. These are not abstract metrics — they are real turning points in real people’s lives.
“Seeing a woman who comes to me and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, your advice helped me open my first investment account or helped me pay off my credit card debt or now I was able to secure my first angel investor after attending your event’ — it truly brings me so much joy no matter how tired I am,” she shares.
Notably, Kumi is an introvert who takes one full weekend a month to simply stay home. She has built Miss EmpowHer deliberately enough that it does not collapse without her constant presence — a testament to the team she has assembled, which includes her PR lead Courtney, her sister on strategy and operations, and a rotating group of interns. The women in her community also carry the brand into rooms she never enters. That kind of organic advocacy is not manufactured. It is earned.
