ANDREA M. ROBINSON (35)
Founder and President, ARCLS Corporation

When growing up, Andrea Robinson was sure she’d be an attorney. But life, she says, does not always go as planned. Today, with a background in chemical distribution and manufacturing, she’s president of the ARCLS Corporation, a certified minority- and women-owned business that serves as a broker for people looking to find distribution and manufacturing jobs within the industry. She also is former president of the Chemical Association of Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that provides networking opportunities and scholarships to students looking to enter the industry.

In addition, she has a makeup brand, Forever Drea Marie, and made an entry in the restaurant industry as owner and operator of Sugar and Smoke in Bloomfield. She directs a program that places high school students and young adults into hospitality management positions or entrepreneurial endeavors by teaching “knife skills and life skills.”

Robinson is one of eight children — the second oldest and the first to go to college. “Nobody wrote a handbook for me. I’m trying to write that handbook for my siblings, but also for young Black girls who look like me.”