To celebrate Black Business Month, Capital B Atlanta is profiling innovative entrepreneurs during the month of August. 

Denene Millner knew there was a problem when she saw there were more children’s books about animals than there were stories featuring Black people.

And so the six-time New York Times bestselling author, who has penned books for the likes of Steve Harvey, Taraji P. Henson, Charlie Wilson, and Cookie Johnson, set out to launch a company “with the express purpose of creating children’s books that celebrate the everyday humanity of Black children and families.”

Launching Denene Millner Books with Agate Publishing, a small publishing house outside of Chicago, served a purpose for the publishing market and also for Millner herself, a mother of two daughters, who has always loved children’s books.

“Agate’s publisher, Doug Seibold, understood and supported the mission, and we launched Denene Millner Books with six titles in 2017, including Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut, a beautiful book about all the ways little boys feel loved, held when they are tended to at the barber shop,” Millner, the company’s president and publisher, told Capital B Atlanta. “That book went on to win every major award to be won by a children’s book in American publishing; just this year, it was named one of the Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far), by Kirkus.”

A few years later, Millner moved her imprint to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Since its inception in 2016, Denene Millner Books has released 23 books. 

“I have access to a full-service production, publicity and marketing team that allows me to spread my wings as a publisher and editor and open the door to even more Black creatives,” she said.

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Denene Millner Books has garnered critical acclaim and top honors: two Caldecott Honor Books, a Newbery Honor book, a Kirkus Prize for Children’s Literature, two Society for Illustrators honors, three NAACP nominations, a Southern Book Prize and two Georgia Author of the Year awards. 

In 2019, Millner partnered with Oscar-winner Will Smith for the release of Fresh Princess, inspired by his hit sitcom.

“He had this brilliant idea to create … a little girl that was very much like the Fresh Prince,” Millner told ABC News. “She would be strong, she would be confident, she would be super cute, she would be a little bit of a troublemaker.”

And in 2023, she dipped her toe in the Marvel universe with the release of Miles Morales Spider-Man: Through a Hero’s Eyes.

The 56-year-old former politics and entertainment journalist and talk show host also penned the novel, One Blood, the hauntingly beautiful story exploring the interior lives of three Black women in search of freedom, which won the 2025 Townsend Award, the highest honor for a book in Georgia.

And more recently, Millner’s book written by Karen Good Marable and illustrated by Tonya Engel, Yaya and the Sea, was named a Best Illustrated Book of 2024 by The New York Times. Marable was also named Georgia’s Author of the Year in the children’s category for her work. 

Through her other company My Brown Baby, Millner also runs a full service boutique agency from her home in East Lake that specializes in the creative arts, with a focus on books, essays, podcasts and television hosting.

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“I have used my creativity to celebrate our intelligence, beauty, art, lives. We are an incredible people with a history and culture that deserves an airing, and it brings me joy to do so.”

Here, Millner shares her vision for her company, and why her work is a labor of love. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Capital B Atlanta: What made you launch your company?

Denene Millner: I’ve always loved children’s books — the illustrations, the color, the whimsy, the beauty of the stories. I’m particularly drawn to books that speak to the human experience of Black children across the diaspora, beyond the typical subjects saddled on them, like the Civil Rights Movement, slavery, and the lives of sports and music icons. Don’t get me wrong: I appreciate that those books give our history an airing for our babies. But I’m infinitely more interested in stories that celebrate the everyday beauty of being a little human of color. Black children believe in the tooth fairy, get scared when they contemplate their first ride on the school bus, look for dragons in their closets, have best friends who get into mischief with them. 

In other words, Black children have the same universal childhood experiences that any other human revels in as a kid, and they should be able to see that part of their lives reflected in the stories on their bookshelves. My goal is to have my imprint add to that small but important canon. 

Who is your business role model?

I always admired the tenacity and art of Toni Morrison, who was a prominent book editor opening doors for Black writers as she wrote her own award-winning, critically acclaimed books. My writing can’t touch the hem of her garment, but I really loved how she made a point of opening the door for Black writers, insisting that their work, and her own, too, stay true to revealing the humanity of Black folk. 

Why is Atlanta a great place to run your business? 

When I moved to Georgia from New York, the epicenter of media, all of my media friends thought I was nuts. But I knew I’d made enough connections to continue my career as an author, journalist, editor, and essayist to be able to do my job from anywhere, so long as I had my laptop and some Wi-Fi. 

Choosing to base my job here in Atlanta turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made, because Atlanta has everything that New York has to offer: culture, nightlife, a strong writing community, historic bookstores that support Black authors, all of it. But Atlanta is more affordable than New York City, and my home-based business thrives as it’s set in a place pregnant with peace and inspiration and ripe for creation. I really do love it here. 

Where did you get the funding to launch your business? 

In the beginning, it was Doug Seibold, who funded the production of Denene Millner Books at Agate; later, Simon & Schuster stepped up to pay all costs for the production of DMB books, including generous advances to my authors and illustrators. My bills have always been covered, and I’ve negotiated deals to be paid for my work as a publisher, TV host, podcaster, etc.

What are some of the biggest challenges you had to overcome? 

One of my biggest challenges is getting support for these books. We are creating quality work that is thoughtful, beautiful, celebratory and unique, but if parents and caregivers do not buy the books, they languish, and children don’t get to see these books created with them top of mind. Of course, these books are for everyone; as Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop once said, “Children’s books featuring Black characters are windows and mirrors,” meaning Black children can see themselves and white children can have a peek at their fellow humans, whose lives deserve to be seen and respected. I just wish the book-buying audience was as invested in supporting our work as we are in creating these stories for them.   

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What’s your advice to other Black entrepreneurs in Atlanta? 

For creatives specifically, take advantage of the creative energy this city has to offer. From the music to the theater to the art scene, there is a lot to see, celebrate and be inspired by. Tap into that, and create, create, create. We deserve to be celebrated — to be seen. 

What are your goals for the business?

Right now, my imprint is working on books through spring of 2027; my goal is to make them as beautiful as anything I’ve ever done, and have them celebrated in real ways beyond awards — through sales. My goal is to put more of these books on the bookshelves of all children and the adults who love them. Personally, I am writing a book of essays on being a free Black woman, and I’m working, too, on a novel, a companion piece to One Blood. I’m excited for what’s to come.

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