The co-founders of a company that makes lip products for darker skin tones no longer hope to get their line into Target. A brother and sister who make jigsaw puzzles celebrating Black subjects wonder if they need to offer “neutral” images like landscapes to keep growing. Pound Cake and Puzzles of Color are among the small businesses whose owners are rethinking their plans as major U.S. companies weaken their diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The initiatives mostly date from the end of President Donald Trump’s first term and entered a new era with the dawn of his second one. Some Black-owned brands suspect big retail chains will drop partnerships they pursued after the police killing of a Black man in 2020 reignited mass protests against racial injustice. In today’s anti-DEI climate, other entrepreneurs worry about personal repercussions or feel pressure to cancel contracts with retreating retailers. “It becomes a question of, are the big box stores going to be there? Do we even make any attempt to talk to these people?” Ericka Chambers, one of the siblings behind Puzzles of Color, says. “We are really having to evaluate our strategy in how we expand and how we want to get in front of new customers.” Read the full story.  ...read more read less