The Silicon Valley Black Chamber of Commerce has made history by choosing its first female president — a longtime member with an empowering personality.
Alicia Owens is the new chamber president and executive director of entrepreneurial development, and plans to waste no time upping the presence of the organization. Owens said she wants the Silicon Valley Black Chamber of Commerce to be more effective in getting the word out about its offerings and accomplishments. She plans to spotlight members in its newsletter and attend more grand openings of local businesses.
“There were things that I saw that I thought if we just did one step further, would have been a real success,” she told San José Spotlight. “I don’t want to keep griping about stuff. I want to be part of the solution.”
Prior to her new role, Owens, 66, worked as executive assistant to the president and operations manager for four years. She became a chamber member and volunteer office manager in 2015, working on economic empowerment. She joined the chamber board earlier this year.
Owens has been creating programs for the chamber, including a health fair. She plans to jumpstart previously held in-person workshops, such as STEM programs, which offered coding for Black girls. She’s also interested in the chamber offering artificial intelligence platforms and databases for its members.
Blanch Domino Bailey, who met Owens more than 20 years ago through a networking group, said Owens is knowledgeable about small businesses.
“She brings a wealth of information to her job. She knows how to network and is professional,” Domino Bailey told San José Spotlight. “She’s the perfect person for the job.”
Conquering challenges
Throughout her life, Owens has never let challenges stop her. She remains positive, in spite of being disabled in her 30s with joint damage in her hands and legs from rheumatoid arthritis. She underwent five surgeries, having her hips, ankles and knee replaced.
“It’s been a struggle,” she said. “But I didn’t want that to be my life story. So I got myself back up and slowly got out of the wheelchair, started walking. And I got back out into the workforce.”
She is determined to help reenergize the Black community and their businesses. Black residents comprise just 2.8% of Santa Clara County’s population, according to the July 2025 U.S. Census. Only 1.2% of businesses were Black owned in 2023, according to the Bay Area Equity Atlas, and a study showed less than 1% of county contracts went to Black and Latino businesses.
“It’s disappointing because you want to frequent your own people’s businesses,” she said. “My dad owned a nightclub in the Bay Area and one of the first things people said is, ‘Where are all the Black people at?’”
Owens’ first mentor, Carl Davis, Jr., who founded the Silicon Valley Black Chamber of Commerce, motivated her to reach out to disenfranchised minority business owners.
“That was his passion,” she said. “We provided a lot of counseling, but when funding dries up, what are you going to do?”
Chuck Cantrell, an economist and San José Spotlight columnist, said funding is the main obstacle for Black startups, and a racial bias makes it difficult for Black small businesses to secure contracts, grants and bank loans. He said being capital starved makes it more likely a business is going to fail and prevents its growth.
“It’s funding. That’s the No. 1 obstacle,” Cantrell told San José Spotlight. “Black-led startups don’t get nearly as much funding as any other. It’s generally a racial bias that creates the biggest obstacle.”
Owens agrees and said the data speaks for itself.
“Federal Reserve survey data shows Black-owned firms applied for credit more often than white-owned firms, but were approved at a lower rate of 61% compared with 80%,” she said. “There is a racial gap. It’s very frustrating. I want to fix that.”
Owens is exploring the possibility of the chamber becoming self-funded, in an effort to break away from a reliance on bank and government funding.
Be’Anka Ashaolu, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Nirvana Soul, is trying to change the lack of Black businesses in the community.
“We were driven by a set of very strong values and a mission to bring people together,” she told San José Spotlight.
Ashaolu would like the chamber to sponsor events Nirvana Soul puts on and help the Black and Latino vendors they work with secure loans and expand. She said the more support small businesses get, the better.
“We certainly all could benefit from that,” she said. “That’s what we’ve done at Soul Street — nurture the Black small business environment in San Jose and create a space where at least folks know where they can see other people who look like them on a regular basis.”
Davis, Jr. said the chamber needed someone like Owens to revitalize it. He wants the chamber to become a pillar of the community and believes Owens has the personality and skills to make it happen.
“Alicia’s coming back with a fresh vision and getting everybody all excited about it again,” he told San José Spotlight. “People like her. She’s charismatic, and that makes a difference because nobody can run a chamber by themselves.”
Contact Lorraine Gabbert at [email protected].
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