I’m a Black Entrepreneur Working to Keep My Husband, Children and Business Alive — and I’m Exhausted

In an interview with Refinery29, Nyakio Grieco, founder of a skincare brand, talks about dealing with twin traumas: her husband's scary experience with COVID-19 and the social and emotional upheaval of the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd's death.

What she has come to realize is that she was dealing with two pandemics — the coronavirus and persistent, soul-crushing racism.

"It is a sad and true reality that systemic racism is a virus, too," Grieco says. "Watching George Floyd call out to his mother as he was taking his last breath shook me to my core. As a mother, it is my job to protect my children, but as a mother of Black children, I felt completely helpless at that moment."

Read the full interview here.