Museum of Black Women Innovators

Museum of Black Women Innovators The Museum Black Women Innovators exists to inspire, empower, and educate all people by celebrating the groundbreaking achievements of Black women innovators.

06/16/2026

What happens when a woman refuses to let the odds define her?

At a recent MOBWI House Party, Founding Board Member Niko Hamm shares a powerful reflection on the women who stepped forward, broke barriers, and changed what was possible, not just for themselves, but for all of us.

Their stories are exactly why MOBWI exists.

Who is a woman whose courage inspires you?

06/14/2026

She rises through every season. She carries hope for every generation. ✨
Black women continue to turn resilience into legacy, courage into change, and vision into a future worth believing in.

06/13/2026

“I heard about your vision and wanted to invest in that, to plant a seed….” - Toiya Sosa

That’s how the Museum of Black Women Innovators is being built.

Not by people waiting until the museum opens.

By people who hear the vision and decide to plant a seed today.

The stories of Black women innovators deserve to be preserved, celebrated, and shared with the world. The question is: What seed will you plant?

She rises through every challenge. She carries hope into every room she enters. ✨The legacy of Black women is one of res...
06/09/2026

She rises through every challenge. She carries hope into every room she enters. ✨
The legacy of Black women is one of resilience, courage, and unwavering belief in a brighter future. Their strength doesn't just inspire change—it creates it.

06/06/2026

She is the vision. She is the voice. She is the future in motion.
Every idea she nurtures and every barrier she breaks creates space for generations of brilliance to rise after her. 🌸

They didn’t wait for permission.They built.They led.They healed.They advocated.They innovated.And whether history record...
06/05/2026

They didn’t wait for permission.

They built.
They led.
They healed.
They advocated.
They innovated.

And whether history recorded their names or not, their impact can still be felt today.

These Founding Trailblazers remind us why the Museum of Black Women Innovators exists:

To make sure brilliance is not forgotten.

To preserve stories that deserve to be known.

And to ensure future generations understand that innovation has always looked like this.

As the inaugural Founding Trailblazers of MOBWI, these women helped launch more than a recognition program. They helped establish a movement dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and elevating the stories of women whose contributions have shaped our communities and our world.

This is only the beginning.

Every breakthrough begins as a dream. Every legacy begins with a vision. Black women have always imagined possibilities ...
06/02/2026

Every breakthrough begins as a dream. Every legacy begins with a vision.
Black women have always imagined possibilities beyond the horizon—and then built them. Today’s dreams become tomorrow’s innovations, movements, and milestones.
She dreams. She shapes tomorrow.

One carried a gavel.One carried a stethoscope.Together, they helped ensure that justice and healing reached communities ...
06/01/2026

One carried a gavel.
One carried a stethoscope.
Together, they helped ensure that justice and healing reached communities too often denied both.
Long before they became Judge Eileen Olds and Dr. Francine Olds, they were two young Black girls helping to desegregate schools in Chesapeake not by choice, but by courage.
They weren’t witnessing integration. They were the integration.
They experienced firsthand what it meant to walk through doors that had previously been closed and navigate systems not designed with them in mind. Those experiences would shape a lifelong commitment to expanding access, creating opportunity, and breaking barriers for others.
Judge Eileen Olds made history in 1995 as the first woman and first African American jurist to preside over any court in Virginia’s First Judicial District. Many know her by another title: “Judge Auntie.”
A beloved mentor, advocate, and community leader, she has spent decades using the law to champion justice and open doors for others. The City of Chesapeake honored her enduring legacy by renaming the municipal courtyard complex Eileen A. Olds Courtyard Park.

Dr. Francine Olds knew she wanted to help people get well when she was 6 years old.
That calling led her to become a Johns Hopkins-trained, board-certified OB-GYN whose meticulous, compassionate care has touched the lives of thousands of women and families. For decades, she has combined medical excellence with humanity, dignity, and an unwavering commitment to healing.

Together, they represent the power of sisterhood, service, & perseverance. Through law and medicine, they challenged barriers, expanded access, and created opportunities for others to follow.
This is only a glimpse of the story that will live inside the Museum of Black Women Innovators.
Trailblazers are the foundational leadership level of support for MOBWI; women whose stories, impact, and leadership help shape what this institution preserves, honors, and carries forward.

05/30/2026

Innovation didn’t begin in the headlines.
It began with women whose brilliance shaped the world long before they received recognition.

Scientists. Educators. Creators. Strategists. Visionaries.

Their contributions are woven into history — and her name is in it.

MOBWI is dedicated to honoring the legacy of Black women innovators and ensuring future generations see themselves reflected in the story of progress.

Before “representation” became a corporate initiative or diversity became a talking point, Catherine Hoskins Wilson was ...
05/28/2026

Before “representation” became a corporate initiative or diversity became a talking point, Catherine Hoskins Wilson was already doing the work.

In 1960s and 70s Mississippi, where opportunities for Black women were often restricted by race, gender, geography, and economics, Catherine chose to build a different future not only for herself, but for the people and community around her.

Through education, faith, public service, and real estate investment, she forged a path rooted in knowledge, ownership, and community impact. While many women were denied access to opportunity, she pursued it relentlessly, earning degrees and credentials across multiple disciplines while simultaneously pouring into students, families, churches, and her town.
As an educator, civic leader, church financial secretary, alderperson, and investor, Catherine understood that true empowerment meant more than personal success. It meant creating economic opportunity, expanding access, and showing others what was possible.
Her leadership helped bring jobs, investment, and hope into her community while modeling a new vision of what Black women could achieve and lead.

Catherine didn’t just overcome barriers. She widened the path for others to follow.

Trailblazers are the foundational leadership level for the Museum of Black Women Innovators, women whose stories, impact, and leadership help shape what this institution preserves, honors, and carries forward.

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Portsmouth, VA
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