ABOUT HARD LAUNCH
Listen to how ambitious women built it, learn how you will too.
HARD LAUNCH’S MISSION
With The Hard Launch Podcast, host Crystal Angelee aims to humanize the women behind the headlines of what's been called a "she-cession:" the 600,000 Black women laid off or otherwise forced out of the workforce last year (Fortune, Nov 2025); the 42% of women who cited caregiving and flexible work arrangements as their reason for leaving the corporate workforce in 2025 (Catalyst, Jan 2026). Hard Launch amplifies women who are creating an impact, shaping culture, rewriting the rules of the 9-5, and steadily building something extraordinary.
Bold risks. Real strategies. Built by women like you.
Building a business is beautiful, brutal, and let's be honest: some days it feels like you're the only one still trying to figure it out. Here's the good news: the women you admire are a lot like you. They got intentional, got strategic, and made a courageous decision to rewrite the rules of the 9-to-5 and build success on their own terms.
The Hard Launch Podcast with Crystal Angelee is for women entrepreneurs steadily building, figuring it out, and refusing to quit on themselves. Whether you're planting your first idea, building your dream on the side, or your business is already fully flourishing, Hard Launch is your dose of real stories from real women business owners. This is the community you've been looking for if you're ready to turn inspiration into action.
MEET THE HOST
Crystal-Angelee Burrell is a media entrepreneur, journalist, and go-to-market strategist born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Crystal's Jamaican heritage and upbringing has profoundly informed her worldview as a first-generation American. Her steadfast commitment to community has been foundational to a career spanning tech, media, and the fine arts.
With a focus on ownership and economic empowerment for women and people of color, Crystal's journalism bylines appear in Hyperallergic, Sweet July, and The CultureLP. As founder of her creative marketing firm (est. 2020), Crystal's business has partnered with world-class arts institutions including The Public Theater, the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts (MoCADA), and Joe's Pub at the Public, as well as Black Skin Directory, the UK's leading e-commerce beauty platform for the African diaspora. By centering the stories of inspirational people making an impact across art, business, and lifestyle, Crystal's work advances cultural equity for historically underrepresented and excluded communities.
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