A new Nielsen report is confirming just how much financial power black women have when it comes to setting trends in mainstream consumerism.

The “African-American Women: Our Science, Her Magic” report, released on Thursday, combines stats with the viral #BlackGirlMagic movement to show just how much of an asset black women are to the United States economy. Despite making up only 14 percent of the country’s female population, the roughly 24.3 million black women are trendsetters and brand loyalists who play a vital role in influencing mainstream culture in fashion, beauty, television, music and civic engagement for women of all races, information sourced from various Nielsen analytics tools found.

With steady growth in education, income and self-awareness, black women have set trends and broken barriers for all women. A recent U.S. Census survey shows that black female entrepreneurs had the highest rate of growth (67 percent) out of other groups in the number of firms they held primary ownership over from 2007 to 2015, owning more than 1.5 million businesses with more than $42 billion in sales. In addition, 64 percent of black women also agree that their goal is to make it to the top of their profession, which is 95 percent higher than non-Hispanic white women, according to the report.

“What black women are purchasing, other women think are cool so they’re purchasing it, too. All of that has an impact and when it comes to the fact that we love keeping up with celebrity news and gossip, it also highlights those consumption habits and behaviors a lot of the celebrities that we love and acknowledge now wouldn’t be in existence if it wouldn’t have been for the black woman’s support,” Grace said.

Read the source article at huffingtonpost.com