 She is founder and chief executive officer of The ActOne Group, the largest privately held, minority-woman-owned personnel company founded in the U.S. Howroyd is most well known as being the first African American woman to build and own a billion dollar company.Born September 1, 1952 as Janice Bryant in Tarboro, North Carolina, the fourth of 11 children in her family.As a teen, she was one of the first African American students to desegregate her town's previously segregated high school.