Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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At a time when opportunities for female Black entrepreneurs were constrained by gender restrictions and Jim Crow, one Jacksonville businesswoman built a prosperous beauty empire. A new profile of Sophia Nickerson Starks explores how she created the Nickerson’s School of Beauty Culture on Myrtle Avenue in the heart of Durkeeville and transformed it into a model of Black enterprise and financial resilience. We talk to the author of the piece about why he wanted to celebrate Starks’ accomplishments and highlight her lasting legacy.

Guest: Jerry Urso, historian, writer and archival researcher