Visionary Entrepreneur: Sheila Johnson, founder and CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts

WeBADD! series

Honoring the passion, perseverance, and grit of Black women in the public sector, business, and community activism

In the 1800s, Madame C.J. Walker, a pioneer in the hair care industry, founded her hugely profitable business: Madame C.J. Walker’s Manufacturing Company. She is America’s first self-made Black female millionaire.

Sheila Johnson, founder, and CEO of Salamander Hotels and Resorts, embodies Walker’s tradition of ingenuity, excellence, and philanthropy.

In 2001, she became America’s first Black female billionaire after she and ex-husband, Robert L. Johnson, co-founders of Black Entertainment Television (BET), sold the multi-media company for $3.1 billion.

In May 2024, my granddaughter, my best friend, and I stayed at one of Johnson’s properties in Middleburg, VA, a sumptuous 340-acre property set in the state’s wine, and horse country. Driving through the small town (pop. 600), with its antique stores, taverns, restaurants, and small specialty shops, you easily forget that you are just sixty minutes away from the frenetic pace of the nation’s capital.

Cited by Condé Nast Traveler (“one of the Top 10 Resorts in the South”), Travel and Leisure (“World’s Best Awards in 2023”), and Forbes (Triple Five Star Spa), nonetheless, the Middleburg resort’s ambiance is family friendly.

No snobbish front desk staff. Cheerful greeters. Traditional house-made recipes. Diverse clientele. Meet and Greets with Cupcake, a miniature horse.

Johnson, the innovative force behind Salamander’s portfolio of luxury properties in Florida, South Carolina, Washington, D.C., Colorado, and Jamaica, WI, is no stranger to seats of power. She is vice-chairman and partner of Monumental Sports and Entertainment, and the only African American woman with a principal shareholder stake in three sports teams, WNBA Washington Mystics, NBA Wizards, and NHL Capitals.

At BET, she was executive producer of four documentary films, two of which debuted at the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals.

Her philanthropic work includes serving as global ambassador for CARE, a humanitarian organization “fighting global poverty and world hunger by working (with) women and girls.” In 2012, Johnson received the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal for “individuals whose far-reaching influence has made our world a better place.”

An accomplished violinist, Johnson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Illinois, hence her dedication to promoting the arts. She chairs the Board of Governors at the New School of Performing Arts in New York City and is founder and chair of the Middleburg Film Festival.

Behind her story of monumental achievements, there is another reality: a father’s philandering, family financial struggles after her parents’ divorce, her mother’s subsequent mental breakdown, and a 33-year marriage marked by infidelity and mental abuse. Johnson candidly reveals all in her 2023 memoir, Walk Through Fire: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Triumph.

Kirkusreviews.com stated, “(Johnson) … faced racism along her new path as hospitality industry entrepreneur and distinguished patron of the arts. Yet the strength and perseverance she forged during the “toxic part of my life” became the foundations on which she built hard-won happiness.”

Johnson’s battles against racism and sexism are especially relevant for Black women who are less likely to receive start-up loans or grants. In June 2024, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a grant program administered by the Fearless Fund, a venture capital fund, is “racially exclusionary” and “substantially liable” to violate federal law against racial discrimination in contracting. The fund’s Strivers Grant Contest, which provides $20,000 grants to businesses run by Black women has been suspended.

Likewise, in June 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the affirmative action policies at Harvard College and the University of Alabama ruling that such policies violate the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which applies to all programs or activities that receive federal funds.

In effect, the decision could reduce minority student enrollments to colleges and universities and limit minority scholarships and grants. Thus, Black women and girls can face significant barriers to achieving professional goals. Johnson’s personal and professional triumphs over adversity provide a beacon of hope as well as a blueprint for attaining phenomenal success.

From her memoir, “These days I’m a successful businesswoman, a happy wife, a mother, and grandmother …. But believe me when I tell you, I had to walk through fire to get here …. (I hope) my story might help other women who find themselves facing fire, too.”

Wista JohnsonJune 28, 2024