As Black Lives Matter and social justice protesters continue to take to the streets across the country and the globe, I feel a great shift is happening. The Root has called this movement a “Fed Uprising” and I couldn’t agree more. Black people and people of color are unwilling to go back to some kind of “normal” where our issues are put on the backburner. I cannot stress enough how imperative it is for us to keep the momentum and demand changes. 

Many pivotal things are happening all over the world, Londoners and Belgians pull statues of slave traders and colonizers from their public squares. Australians reckon with the horrible treatment and brutalization indigenous Aboriginal people have faced since their lands were taken over. And here at home, Black Lives Matter LA is fighting for our budget to be reallocated from policing to services our communities desperately need. And grassroots organizations, Black Visions and Reclaim the Block had a historic victory, pushing the Minneapolis City Council to divest from the Minneapolis Police Department. 

Photo by Kai Adia

I write all this not only as a snapshot of the time we are living in but to say that where we put our attention, action, effort, and support can truly make an impact. This leads me to the main point of this post which is how to exercise our Black purchasing power. 

As Issa Rae’s data-driven streaming site Clture reminds us, Black people create culture and drive trends. In the same way that our data is powerful so is our ability to make things popular. As much as we can rep big brands in our music or on our platforms, it’s high time we support businesses that celebrate us instead of tolerating us.  In the list below, I share the Black brands, businesses, and or people I’ve been able to support during the pandemic and look forward to supporting. Drop a comment if you support any of these brands or are excited to learn about and support them in the future!

Black-owned brands I’ve supported during the pandemic: 

UOMA Beauty

Recently, UOMA Beauty had a fantastic storewide sale of 80% off in celebration of their brands anniversary. I hopped on that sale so fast! I wanted to finally try their highly-recommended Say What?! foundation, Stay Woke concealer, and Brow-fro brow liner. The foundation is currently my go-to for light, natural coverage.

Melanin Haircare 

Melanin Haircare was launched by natural hair YouTuber, Whitney White aka Naptural85. Recently, as I planned to twist my hair, I thought to try a new leave-in conditioner and thought of Whitney’s products. I bought her conditioner and pure oil blend. I really like how functional the packaging is as well as how lightweight both products feel in my hair. Additionally, I’ll keep supporting CurlyChic HairCare & Curly Kids HairCare!

Reparations Club

Rep Club is a bookstore and concept shop that I’ve frequented many times as a Free Black Women’s Library LA chapter volunteer. They’ve put their bookstore online, showcasing a score of books by Black and POC authors. I recently purchased CRWN Magazine’s Issa Rae | The Storyteller Issue from the Rep. Club. The issue was photographed on location at the Reparations Club shop off of Washington Blvd. I look forward to buying more books from them as well as continuing to buy from another Black bookstore, Eso Won Books. 

Swift Cafe

Although I’ve primarily been cooking at home, I’ve also ordered delivery from Swift Cafe in Leimert Park. I love Chef Kyndra’s vegan and utterly delicious sweet potato and black bean tacos. The sauce she uses sets these tacos in a league of their own! Though this is my first time mentioning Swift on my platform, before Rona I frequented the cute cafe multiple times. I’ll be sharing a more in-depth post on Swift soon. 

Willie Green Project

Willie Green is a New Orleans-based musician who I know will be a legendary and innovative figure in Jazz one day! I supported his band, the Willie Green Project, by purchasing one of their comfy shirts. Since musicians have been hit hard by the pandemic, listening to their music and supporting through merch is so important right now.

Bonus: It almost goes without saying that I’m a Fenty Beauty & Savage X Fenty stan. I’ve done a bit of retail therapy with Rihanna’s lip glosses and new cream blushes as well as her cute lavender lingerie. For whose enjoyment you ask? My own!

Businesses I hope to support in the future:

BLK & Bold has specialty coffee and tea. It’s become a new routine to make coffee at home, so I’m more than willing to act on my position to boycott Starbucks. I love going to local cafes and I can’t wait to do that again yet I’m also excited to try this start-up’s coffee and loose leaf teas!

Ummm. . . I'm not supporting #starbucks anymore and quarantine just made this even easier. Don't care that they are letting employees wear #BLM shirts now

— Kai (@kaiadia) June 12, 2020

The Honey Pot Company is a Black-owned plant-based brand that surged in popularity around February 2020. After seeing a Target commercial for Black History Month, many found out the brand was founded by a Black woman, Bea Dixon. While some folks were outraged (you can probably guess who), many Black influencers and shoppers sought to support this brand.  I’ve been intrigued ever since and once it’s that time of the month again, I’ll try out Bea’s lovely feminine care products!

Mented Cosmetics and The Lip Bar; beauty guru Jackie Aina has raved about these brands and I’m eager to support them. Mented, in particular, has an extensive list of nude lip shades for brown-skinned girls. 

NaturAll Club has great natural, nourishing haircare lines of shampoo, conditioner, and more. As most Black haircare isn’t Black-owned, I’m going to support their conscious products. They’ve also teamed up with The Bail Project to ensure profits from their CBD Line support those wrongfully incarcerated for non-violent crimes including marijuana possession. You can find out more about the project at NaturAll Kitchen.

Overall great resources to know:

Shoppe Black is an incredible site sharing all types of Black-owned and operated brands from cleaning products, clothes, food, and more. Whatever isn’t listed above rest assured Shoppe Black likely has it on their website. Through this resource, I’ve already found Black-owned nail salons that I hope to try when such businesses can reopen. I do a lovely at-home self-care pedicure and after experiences of discomfort at non-black nail salons, I’m making sure that if ever I want to go back into a nail salon, people that look like me aren’t talked down to in these spaces. 

BLK + GRN is a wonderful marketplace dedicated to sharing Black eco-friendly brands. They stand by helping folks “to buy black and live green without compromise.” You can find The Honey Pot Co. on there as well as a few brands you may not know yet.

Black Book LA shares amazing events happening in the city like parties, film screenings, happy hours, etc. I’m a subscriber to their newsletter which is the best way to stay updated on the events they share. I’ve found events through them in the past such as the Insecure Watch Party at The Parlor and I’ll continue to do so when such activities can take place again. 

Why Supporting Black Business Matters

The beauty of supporting Black Business is that the more we look, the more we’ll find. What inspires me is knowing that this time we’re in will be a seed for Black creators to think about, strategize, and develop their own businesses and support systems for our community. We don’t have to sit at anyone else’s table when we can create a space for ourselves that’s built on fairness, love, and empowerment. I’m one of these individuals who has the gears turning about how to be a successful Black entrepreneur. So as I’m writing my future and developing my first poetry volume as well as the publishing platform to distribute my poetry, I ask that you support by sharing and liking this post, and subscribing to my blog for further updates 🙂

Keep your momentum, take actionable steps, show support, and don’t avert your eyes!

Stay Strong, Hygenic, & Compassionate!

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Best,

Kai