Written by: Scott Stump

Janice Bryant Howroyd has gone from one of 11 children growing up in segregated North Carolina to the first African-American female to own a billion-dollar business, turning $900 in her pocket when she left her hometown in 1976 into a vast fortune.

The founder of Act1 Group, a multi-billion-dollar staffing firm that does business in 75 cities across the world, Howroyd has lived by four principles to success. She shared those and more with TODAY special correspondent Jenna Bush Hager on Wednesday.

Her four core tenets are:

1. Make sure you’re prepared.

2. Understand what the goal is.

3. Understand that all of those around, particularly family, are part of that success.

4. Always find a moment of gratitude and be grateful along the journey.

Howroyd launched the business in 1978 with the goal of helping others find employment, and the ideals she began with still resonate nearly 40 years later. Act1 is now the largest woman minority-owned employment agency in the country.

CONTINUE THIS ARTICLE