But How Is The Pandemic Directly Affecting Black & Brown Vanguards In The Sustainability Space & How Can You Help
Every year we try to pick a time to celebrate a collective group of MelaninASS Vanguards. Last year, we amplified the voices of “47 Badass Womxn of Color Influencers Unapologetically Changing The Landscape of Sustainable Fashion” in honor of International Woman’s Day. This year, the universe chose for us and we are honoring Earth Day by sharing the intimate and vulnerable challenges of womxn of color in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. During a time where the economy is suffocating, well-being is a muscle that’s constantly being exercised and Black/Brown communities globally are disproportionately affected - we wanted to chat with a few of our sustainability leaders to hear how they are being affected and how our vast interwoven community can provide them with resources. When we think about the powerful revolutionary forces behind the sustainability movement - these are the entrepreneurs and activists who are rarely made visible.
NOW MORE THAN EVER, YOU NEED TO SEE THEIR FACES & LISTEN TO THEIR NEEDS!
So we are sharing just 18 out of hundreds of the Womxn of Color Vanguards who have been transcending sustainable fashion, wellness, food/land justice, the fight against environmental racism, equitable education and the healing artistry space. Please read their stories, support their work and share their messages within your community!
This is how we continue to build together!
AMBER TAMM
FARMER | HORTICULTURALIST | FLORAL DESIGNER
AMBER TAMM
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
Covid-19 has truly made my life come to an almost complete halt. My floral business has completely crashed, my horticulture business has vanished with all the small businesses I was doing horticulture for. And lastly, my farm career is in a complete standstill. I was supposed to be farming with Brooklyn Grange this season but due to Covid-19, they decided to not take on any new farmers til the stay at home orders are removed. I was also fired from my side hustle, working as a pastry chef, which was my biggest form of income. I am searching for ways to bring in some sort of income just to afford groceries. Right now, I am trying to find ways to get more food growing in the city. I see how quickly farmer’ markets are selling outta produce and how supermarkets are constantly out of packaged goods. It is clear that we are in need of more hyper local produced foods. I am looking to get in contact with the presidents/head of Central Park and Prospect Park to discuss growing more food on their flat clearings. I am also putting together a small resource called, “voices from the garden: advice on growing your own food” which features the voices from farmers all the over the globe. These seem to be the most I can do with what I have. I won’t stop searching for ways to uplift NYC through food.
What resources do you need at this time?
If anyone has any contacts or ideas with ways to get in contact with Parks and Rec, The Presidents of Prospect and Central Park - they’d be a major help in moving things along with food sovereignty in NYC.
Sustainability Donation:
If you’d like to support me with groceries: Venmo: @AmberTamm
AMANDA MCLEMOR
SUSTAINABLE LIVING
BAGUETTE & BUTTER
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
“This crisis has fueled me to be a resource now more than ever. To continue to find the best ways to educate city dwellers on how they can cook, preserve and prepare with what they may have on hand (as many stores are selling out of food). We are planning to host more cooking classes online and be available on Instagram to answer the communities questions on how they can keep calm and keep cooking.” - Amanda McLemore
What resources do you need at this time?
Spreading the word on the resources we are providing on baguette & butter and supporting the local companies we are featuring that are helping the community that has less than we do. All of our upcoming events have been canceled.
Sustainability Donation:
You can support us via Patreon, purchase our ebook "The City Dwellers Guide To Being Frugal AF" or attend one of our upcoming online classes.
SHEENA SOOD
SUSTAINABLE DESIGNER
ABACAXI
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
I had decided to take my line to Paris market this season, which was a big investment taken in hopes of meeting new stores and buyers and expanding into other markets. There was no way I could have predicted the timing of this pandemic though, it hit at the same time, and many buyer cancelled their trips. Even buyers I did meet with for the FW20 season, some aren't planning to order because of how their stores are affected. As a new brand, it is really tough because stores are likely not adding new brands at this time. After over 12 months of planning, investment, and a lot of hard work designing and developing the collection, it is super disappointing and quite stressful as I'm trying to figure out how to move forward and continue. This will affect the business revenue for the next 6 months or more. As a creative it is also pretty discouraging to work so hard on a project and then not be able to show it or sell it as you had hoped.
Simultaneously, I had planned a press launch for my Spring line for this week - March 10- obviously this was also affected by the crisis. Again, a lot of planning and investment in PR went into that.
What resources do you need at this time?
In regards to ways to help, purchasing, sharing and promoting the new SS20 'Fruit Nostalgia' collection which is now stocked on my web shop is greatly appreciated. There are a ton of great new pieces in stock and I'm remaining hopeful I'll be able to sell them throughout the spring and summer; continuing to focus on the online/direct sales during this time for sure.
I'm also interested in connecting with other independent designers and minority-owned businesses on ways to get overcome these challenges.
AKILAH STEWART
CREATIVE WASTE REDUCTION INNOVATOR & EDUCATOR
FATRA
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
Since the outbreak, the teaching/ community building element of FATRA has been affected tremendously. With all of sessions being in person, all classes/workshops/Mend events have been cancelled/postponed.
While planning on delivering virtual lessons is underway, the reality that FATRAs core audience has access to machines and sewing tools is far from reality. A large part of what FATRA offers in addition to technical skill is, access. FATRA also feels obligated to it’s many students that are taking classes, for enjoyment and as a form of art therapy. Mending and creating is a positive outlet for our clients everyday life stressors. There are also clients looking to use their skill to build businesses and create economic advancements as side hustles or to incorporate into existing business models.
What resources do you need at this time?
Gratefully, for those still optimistic about the future, there is still the option of purchasing a handbag for more light gutted occasions. But The reality is that events and workshops make up the bulk of FATRAs revenue.
Sustainability Donation:
CashApp: $FATRA
PayPal: Paypal.me/hiFATRA
MARILIYN MOORE
FOOD JUSTICE WARRIOR & MOTHER OF 3
DIVINE APPETITE
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
10 month yearly (4 mths remaining) School Contract with School in the Square was postponed without pay.
E.A.Y.T. (Elders and Youth Together) Initiative was postponed without pay. Banana Kelly was willing to continue via zoom, but most of the group of elders could not download it. This initiative trains Elders (garden leaders and resident council) to host community demos with youth. This will improve the relationships between seniors, youth, local politicians and food in our neighborhoods.
Fresh Initiative with Bronx Health Reach was postponed without pay. Divine Appetite creates the healthy to-go food to equip Bodegas with healthy food options. We are still in the public sampling stage and those had to stop. We get paid for each weekly public sampling and surveying we do.
I have homeschooled and worked from home with my oldest but not with all three. This has been a big adjustment. They are in three different school ages. Randi, my 8yr old is really routine oriented and this is frustrating her. Grace my 6yr old loves being home, so this is a breeze. My 4yr old still cries at daily drop off, it was getting better. But now, after two weeks home with me, I am concerned about her transition back to class. How this impacts children really matters, they manage tight schedules right along with adults. We are doing our best to mentally process this.
My reality: Divine Appetite just hired a paid intern that had to have their hours cut, week one into working. From 20hrs to 5hrs a week. Honestly my chest hurt for days, because I work 60hrs a week to save money. I work as a private chef at times on the weekend to build capital, but my body would prefer public speaking on weekend instead and now this happens. We are in the middle of a product launch and food justice roundtable planning. Divine Appetite also have two interviews scheduled next week with the most passionate local teachers. I cannot run all these programs as a single mom anymore.
We have turned down a school because I currently teach over a hundred children and adults a week. Which means I create the lesson plans, do the shopping, teach the classes along with networking at events weekly, managing all social media and administrative work. At least 10hrs a week into research like neighborhood asset mapping. We can continue digitally, but there is nothing like walking through a neighborhood and really seeing the hidden gems that do not show up online. It transforms our connection to our students. Everything is on hold but, it is time to expand and we do not deserve to be held back. So since we are so small and I cannot stop my salary as quarantine continues, this could deplete what Divine Appetite has saved.
What resources do you need at this time?
Community Referrals to administrators at city agencies such an ACS, HRA, DOE, CAMBA, City Council, Juvenile Detention Centers/programming, Large charter schools, Women Substance Rehabilitation.
Public speaking Referrals: Exposing Food Apartheid and the preventable disease it causes is it my passion and drive each day. If anyone knows people in radio, new, podcasts, public health conferences, wellness conferences. I can travel.
Capital: Thinking of crowdfunding, I filled out the Sba forms and reached out to my accountant about possible loan (I hate debt)
Promotion ideas and referrals to sustainable wholesale packaging ( glass jars, compostable packages) for the MarilynTheChef brand of oils, herbs. The launch of the herbs and oils was this May 2020, but the sustainable packaging I am using is quite expensive in small quantities and which requires capital, that is being eaten up, while I'm home paying myself, intern, business insurance and workers comp.
Share our Social Media @MarilynTheChef Instagram and Twitter( New intern will be managing our twitter.)
Sustainability Donation:
Pay-pal: Info@divineappetite.com
Marilyn Moore, is here to say I am fucking proud I turned a pop up brunch/catering company into a Food education movement… Divine Appetite is a company that respects my mental health, personal life and pays me a salary that sustains a family of 4. It allows me to educate my daughters in black owned/black run, democratic education style environments, such as Xyayx and Seneca Village Montessori School Not only that, but Divine Appetite offers me the means to pay Prospect Lefferts Garden Rent and eat Healthy Food... So no fucking virus will cause Divine Appetite to regress!!
TEJU ADISA-FARRAR
WRITER | GEOGRAPHER | POET
TEJU ADISA-FARRAR
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
Traveling to conduct trainings and workshops is the core of my consulting practice. Thus, with all my work travel cancelled I have lost a bulk of work and am not sure when next I will be able to resume that work. Although I've been searching for clients for whom I can work remotely, so much of what I do is about place-based nuance and connecting in person to build alternatives.
Additionally, having a god-mother with cancer, my mother by herself in Jamaica, and several friends in Europe -- I am acutely aware of the risks to many of my loved ones. It's also difficult to figure out how to offer camaraderie and company from afar, but luckily video-calling is a thing.
What resources do you need at this time?
I am taking the extra time I have to read, eat well, and listen to music. Although I am worried about finding remote work / having clients after this month. What I need most is work for April and beyond that can be done remotely.
Sustainability Donation:
Venmo - @tadisafarrar
Paypal - tejuispoetri@yahoo.com.
CHRIS
MULTI-DISCIPLINARY HEALER
REST IN POWER
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
I teach kid's yoga in a public school in LA. With the school closures, I've lost that income for the next few weeks. I also co-lead a BIPoC femme meditation group (ticketed), and the surveys we've sent said that people are overwhelmingly not going to come due to social distancing, so we'll have to cancel that as well. I've also had some private clients reschedule until next month because they prefer in person to virtual sessions, so I won't receive those payments for this month! So far, I've been able to focus on the positive, but the loss of income is definitely very stressful.
What resources do you need at this time?
Mostly, I need money! I'm happy to receive supplemental income (donations, etc) but I also am able to offer many of my services virtually. So if there is the capacity to spread the word to folks who have funds and are looking to receive personalized virtual yoga, reiki, private spiritual coaching, meditation or sound healing, I would love to have them sent my way
Sustainability Donation:
CashApp: $restinpoweryogareiki
Venmo: restinpoweryogareiki
PayPal: www.paypal.me/chriseva
EMILY SIY
ACUPUNCTURIST & HEALER
EMILY GRACE ACUPUNCTURE
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
I am an acupuncturist licensed in NYC and a nationally board certified Chinese Herbalist. My practice was in Chinatown, NYC. My physical space of practice is temporarily shutdown as many businesses in NYC are. I am devastated because I put everything into this business. I am directly affected bc I temporarily have no business, no job. Normally it is my job to take care of people's health and well being. To guide them down the right path on their journey with health and to give treatments to make them feel better. I have now shifted into worrying about the state of the world and the immediate health and well being of my friends, family, community and how this highly contagious and infectious virus can spread. I have a lot of fear and worry.
What resources do you need at this time?
At this time my focus is keeping people safe, healthy and as well as possible. I do want people to stay home and stop being around each other. I want to let healthcare workers, grocery, pharmacy, bank, postal and delivery workers to know that I am offering herbal consultations via phone and online. My intention here is to work herbal medicine while it is still available, before supplies run out and before the pharmacies are asked to shut down. 85% of COVID19 patients in China were taking Chinese Herbal formulas. I am working with these formulas as well as modifying them to people's needs. My intention is to take pressure off the hospitals and medical care workers. This illness can turn to pneumonia quickly and Chinese Herbs can help in the early stages to prevent it. I do want people who are not feeling well to still contact their doctors and seek medical attention regardless. Because of shipping and processing delays on the strained herbal pharmacies we must act preventatively and sooner than later. So just getting the word out is important. Because of resources the herbal medicine may or may not be still available at the time of this article. Chinese Herbal Medicine is not a quick study.
Other offerings: I'm asking my community to purchase earseeds in lieu of their acupuncture treatments. Earseeds are acupressure ear beads that can be applied and removed on your own. This is also a small source of income for me. https://www.earseeds.com/ref/85/ discount code TOGETHER for 10% off. Additionally I am holding a weekly Monday night healing circle and meditation on a donation basis for those who are still working and free for those who are not. https://www.emilygraceacupuncture.com/all/mon-march-16-online-meditation-and-healing-circle
What would be helpful for me is if people would like to engage in the above offerings OR to share/like my posts on social media, visit or share my website link or write reviews or testimonials if we've ever worked together.
Sustainability Donation:
Venmo: @emily-siy
Paypal: emilygraceacupuncture@gmail.com
CORINNA & THERESA WILLIAMS
ECO-FRIENDLY LAUNDRY MAT
CELSIOUS
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
We're having to adapt the business almost on a daily basis, creating entirely new laundry procedures in order to safely provide an essential service to the community. We're doing this without a full team and with dwindling resources. What affects our well-being is when people assume that everyone's "new normal" is remote work. By no means are we doing the most important job out there, but we'd love a new narrative, one that recognizes the healthcare workers, sanitation employees, supermarket/bodega staff, delivery personnel, law enforcement, etc. who still have to leave their homes to serve. It would be great to see more acts of kindness, community support and fundraising, and less self-indulgent/entitled content.
What resources do you need at this time?
If we're being really honest, the resource we need the most right now is money. We've lost all our B2B business (salons, restaurants, hotels) and we can't offer self-service laundry, so we created a low-contact laundry drop-off system. Corinna and Theresa are the only ones processing laundry at this time in order for our team to remain safe at home, so there's only so much laundry we can take in and process.
Sustainability Donation:
If you'd like to donate a wash + dry to a neighbor in need, send $8 with the description "Laundry Love" to either our Venmo or Paypal. Or if you'd like to say thanks to Corinna and Theresa for their low-contact laundry drop-off service, send any amount you like with the description "TY Celsious." Our Venmo is @Celsious-Laundry and our is Paypal: comeclean@celsious.com.
DIANNA ROSE
ZEROWASTE CATERING & MEAL PREP
JARS OF DELIGHT
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
Let me start off by saying that, it is a profoundly trying time for all of my fellow colleagues in the Small Business Foodservice sector as we're all greatly impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. As a local fresh-food provider, Jars Of Delight is feeling the effect of Corona mostly in canceled/postponed events and supply chain disruptions.
Since the majority of our business thrives from our large scale catering contracts, its been unbelievably devastating to have received event cancellation emails one after another from companies (like Google), and organizations (like Ted) in which we had confirmed catering orders for the first and second quarters of this year. We have literally cleared our schedule for the next 4 months (thus far) and are praying that the events we had confirmed in the latter part of the year do not follow suit.
Aside from event cancellations, we are dealing with an inadequate supply of in-demand produce and products from our vendors, as well as the new, earlier order cut-off times for produce and products that are available. Before we had the flexibility to place a product order by 11 pm for next day delivery to allow last-minute catering orders. Due to the irregular operations of our vendors, we no longer have that leisure, and that means a possibility of lost profits as we have decided to evolve into a meal-prep/delivery service until further notice.
As CEO of Jars Of Delight, I would like to believe my well-being is still intact. I have God and my faith, so spiritually I'm good! The reassurance of a better tomorrow from my amazing team has been uplifting and helpful in those moments of brief despair and uncertainty. I feel inspired by the determination of my team to execute this meal delivery service, so that's helping to keep my mind occupied (not to mention my two boys who keep me VERY busy!!). The love and support of my family have also been great. So while I wish things could be better, I also acknowledge that things could be a lot worst and resolve within myself that I am blessed.
What resources do you need at this time?
Truly, the most significant resource we could use at this time is finance that will give us the opportunity to cover our kitchen rental, insurances, and other necessary bills. Following our social media pages is another amazing way to support us! Leaving us a <3 or an encouraging word would go a long way!
The effect on the foodservice industry due to Corona is one that we are far from understanding the long-term consequences of. As we adjust to the new ways of conducting business, one thing is for sure, the development and integration of sustainable business models will be essential for the survival of every small business moving forward.
Sustainability Donation:
Paypal: paypal.me/JarsOfDelightLLC
Venmo: www.venmo.com/Jarsofdelight
TERENEH IDIA
INDIGENOUS GLOBAL ECO-DESIGNER COLLABORATOR
IDIA’ DEGA
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
As you know we work with Indigenous women from Kenya and Oneida Indian Nation of New York as a creative community of 36 women we are impacted on several ways:
An inability to create new work together.
Closed, canceled or postponed events that would have allowed us to sell current products.
Planned new production and designs on hold.
What resources do you need at this time?
I want to be able to support our global creative community of amazing women at this time.
Sustainability Donation:
Venmo: @TerenehIdia
PayPal: tereneh@gmail.com
NGOZI OKARO
INCUBATOR FOR LOW NICOME & IMMIGRANT WOMEN
CUSTOM COLLABORATIVE
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
As you know, the womxn we work with are at the margins in general, and the coronavirus situation adds to it. You might remember that the students are paid a stipend, but if we don't have class, we can't afford to pay them for the time missed, and for the time when they come back. We're also worried that if we stop class, they may drop out in the 2-3 weeks in-between.
What resources do you need at this time?
If we had more resources, this would be different -- all students would have laptops and machines at home and we would have the tech to teach and stream remotely (vision for another year).
Sustainability Donation:
ACACIA WOODSCHAN
ETHICAL TRAVEL COMPANY & EDUCATOR
ETHNIC TIES
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
This sudden pandemic initially had very little to no effect on my daily activities. For the last 6 months, I have been working from home as a small business owner, with limited need to be at a job since I only worked part time as an adjunct professor. This semester, however, I dont teach classes and so most of my time has been spent at my home office, less I was collaborating or networking. In the last few weeks, however, I got word of the cancelling of many contract opportunities including with local tech corporations and even the local county. This means that the projected payment, along with any other form of social marketing or promotion is also cancelled. This year was supposed to bring many new speaking engagements, panels and other forms of networking and advertising, which are all now postponed or flatout cancelled. I don’t know if those opportunities will present themselves again once this pandemic is over, and so the re-introducing and positioning is another cost that I will have to invest. My business is a travel agency, and we are being hit super hard. I have arranged numerous travel plans for people who are cancelling due to conference, vacation or flight cancellations, if they hadn’t cancelled for personal reasons themselves. The more events get cancelled, the less overall travel there will be, and there goes ANY of my business. Right now we are shifting to create other forms of valuable services and products for people and have released an online webinar sharing about ways to get paid to travel, however that is super contentious right now too. Still, we are trying to highlight the voices of travelers, with a focus on members of the Black Travel Movement with complex opinions surrounding traveling while black, and even more of the current and nuanced challenges in considering travel during the era of Corona. Some of the nuances include having accessible and affordable flights now, yet having to take inventory of the ways travelers can effect the local population. While I love how this situation is raising the conversation, we would have hoped that travelers are conscious enough to consider their effect on the local community AT ALL TIMES. We want to support conscious, ethical and socioeconomic sustainable travel within and beyond the diaspora, so we are glad to see that people are being considerate of the health effects of their travels at this time. We hope this same consideration extends to the local, sociocultural, economic and other structural effects individual and group travels can have on international locals post-Corona.
What resources do you need at this time?
Right now I’m looking for creative alternatives to stay afloat. We are good with food and are actually growing a lot of produce, but in terms of work Im having to be creative about the different forms of promotions and branding that many of the cancelled conferences and engagements we’re going to help with. Currently, Im seeking creative collaborators and experienced travelers to help sustain momentum in the business. We are developing travel-based content and want experienced travelers to share about their travel journeys either in an interview wed love to conduct with them OR if they know they want to package their past travel experiences, we ask for them to sign up for our online webinar, "Get Paid to Travel." We are simply trying to stay active and shift some of our original plans, however are finding a lot of challenges and dead ends, as are many people at this time.
Sustainability Donation:
If people would like to support financially, I ask that they enroll in our webinar or share it with anyone they know who may be interested in monetizing their international travel experiences. We are also accepting donations via paypal via @awoodsch@gmail.com or venmo @ms. acacia travels.
JAZMINE DANIELLE
HOLISTIC JEWELRY & HEALING
QUEENDOM CULTIVATION
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
I was booked to teach crystal healing and jewelry making at UC Berkeley and Ringling University this month. Due the the spread of COVID-19 classes and workshops were canceled and have yet to be rescheduled.
What resources do you need at this time?
You could shop Queendomcultivation.com to assist during this time.
Sustainability Donation:
Venmo: @Queendomcultivation
Cashapp: $Queendomcultivation
LOULWA AL SAAD & ANGELA LUNA
SUSTAINBLE FASHION AIDING REFUGEES
ADIFF
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
I wish we had the resources to initiate a program and help other small businesses who are also struggling to survive. Unfortunately, we're currently on the other end of this, with limited resources to pay for our salaried employees in Greece, as all purchasing has halted since the escalation of the virus.
We have a monthly expense of $2800 that goes directly to our operations in Greece, to cover the full-time salaries of our employees and rent of our office space. Our team lives in a refugee camp north of Athens, which is no longer safe from the virus, so we have allowed them to self-isolate at our office to reduce their potential exposure.
In an effort to cover the costs of their salary, we have rapidly developed fabric face masks to combat facial touching in public spaces (that can also be worn over N95 masks) as requested by several of our customers, and we were able to sell out of the first batch within 30 minutes of their release, which further proved to us how desperate people are to get a hold of a mask. Therefore, we were able to cover the salaries of our tailors for a month. We are currently taking pre-orders for the second batch of masks, however, it seems highly unlikely that we'll be able to sell enough of these to support our monthly operating costs (we're selling them at cost so as not to capitalize on a crisis).
What resources do you need at this time?
Our goal is to donate masks to hospitals as well, so we started a crowdfunding page to help us cover the production cost to produce masks for donations at hospitals in NYC! We're also trying to secure a sponsorship to produce even more masks for hospitals.
Sustainability Donation:
Paypal: angelaluna@adiff.com
Venmo: @adiff.
NIA THOMAS
SUSTANIABLE FASHION
NIA THOMAS
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
I cannot go to pick up fabric and materials from my suppliers as they don’t have the materials from overseas. Also it is risky to travel on the subway to the city from Brooklyn to have a meeting with them to see the materials in person before purchasing. I do not like to purchase any materials for the brand that are Final Sale Only from pictures. I actually need to see and feel it in real life. I am also worried about the impending shutdown that will close the post office. I cannot ship out my orders if the post office is closed and I don’t get paid from the orders of my Shopify site unless the order is shipped and I provide my customer with a tracking number. I just spend hundreds of dollars creating the newest collection and I am afraid to release it (the release is already delayed) due to the fact that people are in crisis mode and not online shopping mode. The global economy is currently in a free for all mode which isn’t helping either.
What resources do you need at this time?
The resources I need are income coming in. Due to the fact that I need to pay my bills for the brand and don’t know how to produce that income yet. Press for the brand couldn’t help too with online magazine to help get recognition and potential orders. Also just support with fellow small business owners as we are all in this together.
Sustainability Donation:
Venmo: @WearImAt
PayPal: niathomasny@gmail.com
MEL CHANTE
POET & AUTHOR
MEL CHANTE
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
As an artist with multiple hustles, the Rona has led to the cancellation of paid upcoming shows and events in NYC, D.C. and Charlotte, including putting a pause on my monthly open mic series. It has also cancelled event shifts that I work as a caterer part-time. And it also slowed down my marketing client work in the financial industry due to the markets.
Financial stability does play a big part in my peace of mind, so I've been having to refocus and realign, be more still and patient, and find the abundance with what I have now. Redirecting my energy into myself, meditating, journaling, writing, singing, stretching, cooking, making smoothies, creating and cleaning my physical space.
What resources do you need at this time?
Resources I'd need right now would be:
Book sales: People buying my poetry book, Brown Butter (while post office is up and running!)
Listen to my poetry on all music platforms, I get paid for streams.
Future event bookings: Book me to perform, host or speak.
Event sponsors / partners: for my monthly open mic series or influencer / brand partnerships
Donations for necessities, rent, bills, groceries, etc.
Sustainability Donation:
Venmo: @MelysaLatham
Paypal: melysalatham@gmail.com
IBADA WADUD
FREEDOM FROM BAGGAGE: PROMOTING FAIR CHANCE HIRING IN FASHION
LULAH
How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting your business and/or wellbeing?
In the midst of the global covid-19 pandemic, I have been working to pivot to ensure the sustainability of LULAH’s flagship program, which aims to cultivate sustainable careers in the fashion industry for women impacted by the criminal legal system.
Since we launched our pilot academy in handbag design and construction in 2019, LULAH has specifically targeted women impacted by the criminal legal system for our unique workforce development program. Our program is equity-centered, advocating for fair chance hiring in one of NYC’s most iconic industries. Now, more than ever, we are noticing the indispensability of the fashion industry as brands, factories and suppliers play a key role to produce masks at scale for the health and safety of all New Yorkers. We have all observed how rapidly the industry has pivoted, and this has inspired me to consider how to strategically pivot in a way that feels mission-aligned, authentic and sustainable to LULAH. This has been a critical lesson.
As the founder of a brand that is pre-launch, and one that has heavily relied on philanthropic funding in its incubation, it took me about four weeks to thoroughly map out a strategy. After the initial panic, I went back to where we began: our story.
LULAH is named for my mother, who overcame racial oppression in the Jim Crow South, and went on to raise three girls as a single mother while carrying the same leather handbag for a decade. By rooting LULAH in storytelling, we can amplify our core mission to cultivate sustainable careers in the fashion industry for women impacted by the criminal legal system. Creating compelling content that captures the layers and nuances of our brand mission is how we’ve chosen to pivot. And this will begin with a spring series called LULAH Letters, a platform that will allow women who have been directly and indirectly impacted by incarceration to connect with one another, as they recall how fashion has influenced their relationship with their own notions of “freedom (from baggage).”
LULAH is deeply rooted in my family legacy, which is one that is connected to my ancestral homeland in rural North Carolina. Black and brown communities, particularly in The Rural South, are disproportionately impacted by covid-19 as a result of systemic inequalities that impact every aspect of our lives. This includes our physical and mental well-being, our access to education, and our work, food and housing security. Racist and biased structures that are in place directly fuel the prison industrial complex and mass incarceration. And because black and brown people are disproportionately incarcerated in jails and prisons, these populations are at an extremely high risk of contracting covid-19, while returned citizens may be further marginalized. It would be remiss to focus on our product launch as the population we aim to support experiences sanctioned violence.
As I’ve overcome my own hardship during this pandemic, I’ve pivoted to focus on my personal well-being so that I am able to authentically speak to LULAH followers. This has manifested as a necessary pause to thoughtfully consider our next steps. Meeting our audience where they are at this historic moment feels like a duty, not an option.
With that said, LULAH was set to launch our 2nd annual Women's Month campaign on March 8th in partnership with iFund Women of Color. This was to be followed by a special event at SXSW in Austin, TX on 3/15 hosted by our friends at Raven & Lily and sponsored by a large corporate brand foundation with a strong sustainability ethos. Due to COVID19, this event, which was slated to generate $5k in revenue, was cancelled.
Launching our product is top of mind. We completed our 12-week pilot in 2019 and we are thrilled to work with a new educational partner in 2020 to relaunch our 2nd annual training academy in handbag design and construction for women who are justice-involved. Due to COVID19, we are planning our 2020 academy for August - December 2020.
Sustainability Donation:
Please donate at https://www.shoplulah.com/donate to ensure that we are able to launch our 2020 storytelling campaign and training academy, which will help women who have been impacted by the criminal legal system to secure employment.
Alternatively, you can PayPal LULAH at hello@shoplulah.com.
