Bisharah Shabazz is the Founder & CEO of AlignHer Inc. and Founder & President of AlignHer Foundation.

A leader, mentor, and advocate dedicated to empowering Black women and women of color to navigate professional spaces with confidence, clarity, and purpose.

Throughout her career, Bisharah has had the privilege of being guided by strong leaders who not only invested in her growth but also exposed her to the unspoken rules of professional environments. Those early experiences shaped her ability to build strategic relationships, communicate with intention, and advance confidently in corporate spaces.

As she progressed into leadership roles, Bisharah recognized a gap. She encountered many talented and capable women who had the potential to grow and lead but lacked access to the guidance, exposure, and professional development needed to navigate those environments successfully. In those moments, she made a conscious decision: “they deserve a chance.”

That belief became the foundation of her work.

Bisharah began intentionally mentoring and coaching the women around her, offering career guidance, mock interviews, real-time feedback, and strategic insight into navigating workplace dynamics. Her leadership approach is rooted in empathy, trust, and accountability. She believes that leading with empathy not only sets great leaders apart, but also creates environments where individuals feel seen, supported, and empowered to grow.

Her impact is reflected in the success of those she has mentored, many of whom have advanced in their careers and stepped into new opportunities with confidence.

Through AlignHer, Bisharah is expanding that work, creating structured programs, workshops, and experiences that equip women with the tools, confidence, and professional presence needed to show up aligned, empowered, and prepared in every space they enter.

She is committed to building pathways, creating access, and ensuring that more women of color are not only present in professional spaces, but are equipped to thrive in them.

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But to truly understand AlignHer, and the woman behind it, you have to go back to where it all began. Long before the corporate titles, the teams, and the programs, there was a seventeen-year-old girl in Union Springs, Alabama who already understood something most people spend decades trying to learn: that opportunity doesn't always knock. Sometimes you have to build the door yourself.

At seventeen, Bisharah spotted a closed SnoBiz shaved ice shop near her home and saw what others walked past: an opportunity. She convinced her mother to take out a $10,000 loan, negotiated the purchase price down, bought the franchise, built a 32-flavor menu, managed employees, and in her first four months grossed between $5,000 and $6,000.

Black Enterprise for Teens put her on the cover. That was 2001. That was just the beginning.