CATHY HUGHES

FOUNDER & CHAIR, URBAN ONE INC.

With the 40th anniversary of the founding of Urban One (formerly Radio One), media mogul Hughes recently celebrated her company’s unparalleled rise from a single Washington, D.C., radio station into the nation’s largest black-owned, diversified media company with a presence in radio, cable television, television production, and digital media. Hughes made history more than 20 years ago when she took her company public, becoming the only African American woman to control a NASDAQ company. Once a teenaged mother, her son now runs the company. “One of the things my mother taught me when I was a child was just keep your eye on the prize and as long as you feel that you’re right with your creator and you’re right with yourself, then other people’s opinions really don’t matter.”

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