SHOPPE BLACK, Author at SHOPPE BLACK

Harvard Students Hold The First “Black Graduation”

May 23, 2017November 8, 2017

1 min read

Earlier today, Black students at Harvard Univeristy held what was described as “the first ever university-wide commencement ceremony honoring graduating students who identify with the African diaspora.”

“We really wanted an opportunity to give voice to the voiceless at Harvard,” said Michael Huggins, president of the Harvard Black Graduate Student Alliance, a campus group that planned the ceremony.

“So many students identify with the African diaspora but don’t necessarily feel welcome as part of the larger community, and they don’t feel like their stories are being shared.”

Harvard joins a growing number of universities that have added graduation events for students of different ethnicities.

Some have offered Black commencement ceremonies for years, including Stanford University, Marshall University and the University of Washington.

Some have added them more recently, and are also adding events for a variety of cultural groups.

“This event is truly open for everyone,” said Huggins. “We really want this to be an open affair where people can learn about some experiences that often go unnoticed.”

Even with that said, you know Black folks can’t get together and celebrate excellence without some people feeling salty about it.

Some people just won’t understand the need for a space like this. It isn’t our job to convince them of the necessity either. Congratulations to all the graduates!

-Tony Oluwatoyin Lawson

Couples Inc. : Luxury Handbag Makers, Gregory and Terri “Sylvia” Pope

May 23, 2017January 14, 2022

5 mins read

Gregory and Terri “Sylvia” Pope are a North Carolina couple that created a luxury handbag and leather goods brand, Gregory Sylvia.

We reached out to find out more about their journey as partners in life and in business.

SB: What inspired the creation of Gregory Sylvia?

Greg: We have both always wanted to be business owners even before we met. Terri has always loved handbags but realized there weren’t any prominent Black-owned handbag companies in the market.

Gregory Sylvia

So, in 2010 we worked to establish our company with our name, logo, manufacturing, etc. We wouldn’t start sales until 2012 but we sold out of our inventory at our first event and had to take backorders so we knew we were on to something. The rest is history.

SB: What are the biggest challenges you encounter as entrepreneurs?

Terri: Our biggest challenge is that we’ve encountered as business owners is creating brand awareness. Unlike our large handbag competitors, we don’t have the big marketing dollars to make high end commercials or ads so we rely a lot on social media and word of mouth.

Another challenge we had to overcome was finding the right manufacturer. We’re perfectionists so finding the right manufacturer that can execute our designs and maintain a very high level of quality has always been a very important focus.

SB: You describe your products as luxury items. How did you decide on the price point for your bags?

Greg: We describe our brand as luxury because of the high quality leather and hardware used to make each product.

Through the use of pricing formulas, we work to keep the prices for each of our bags within the affordable luxury price point. Overall, we want to provide value by giving our customers a super luxurious design and feel at a great price.

SB: What advice do you have for other couples who are in business together?

Terri: The best advice that we can give to other couples in business together is to continue to make time for each other. Just like how you put in time and energy to grow your business, you need to do the same for your marriage.

We have a scheduled date night once a week in which we may go out or stay in but we can’t talk about our business. We both enjoy our business but having time away with each other is very necessary.

SB: Describe your individual personalities and explain how they come together to make the business work?

Greg: When it comes to business we are complete opposites. Terri is a left brain thinker so she is very logical. She is very detailed oriented and loves numbers.

I’m right brain oriented. He is very creative, passionate, and a big-picture thinker. Together we are able to marry our thinking and abilities in a way that we can leverage each other’s strengths while covering for each other’s weaknesses.

SB: Where do you see the business five years from now?

Greg: Five years from now we see ourselves selling more than just handbags. Our goal is to expand our product offerings to men’s accessories and other types of non-leather accessories.

Our products and brand will also have much greater exposure with expansion into more specialty boutiques and large department stores.

SB: What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Terri: Make sure your business is structured properly and that you have a solid business plan. Understanding your finances or having a CPA to help you manage your finances is also key.

Know that not everyone is going to support your business and that’s okay. Your best customers will most likely be people you don’t know.

Another piece of advice is to invest in people. Network, build relationships, find a mentor and build a team that can assist you along your business journey. And finally, remember if it was easy everyone would be doing it. Don’t give up.

National Chess Champion is a Baltimore 7th Grader

May 22, 2017November 8, 2017

1 min read

Last week, Cahree Myrick won the National Chess Championship. The Baltimore City Schools 7th grader beat hundreds of other students to take the top prize.

“I expected to do well, but I didn’t expect to win the whole thing,” Myrick said.

chess

The Roland Park team practices four days a week after school. Myrick’s coach even gives them homework to stay sharp.

“They work hard during the school year and everybody wants to be on the team and wants to go, so we try to take as many as we can,” said teacher Annett Zimmer.

Roland Park Middle School has won the national title twice as a team. Four other students from Roland Park went to nationals. As a team, they placed 13th out of more than 40 teams.

Cahree, whose been playing since 1st grade, says the strategy is his favorite part of the game.

“I think [my favorite part it] practice and studying the board,” Myrick said. “Because in order to be successful, you need to know tactics, you need to know all of the rules.”

Reported by Devin Bartollota of CBS Baltimore. Watch Cahree coach Devin in chess here.

Black Bank To Receive $1 Million From Billionaire

May 20, 2017November 8, 2017

3 mins read

Billionaire Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker is making a $1 million deposit in Chicago’s last remaining Black owned bank.

As we reported earlier this year, Chicago’s Seaway Bank & Trust failed, leaving Illinois Service Federal Savings as the last Black owned bank left in Chicago.

The Announcement

Pritzker hinted towards the investment earlier this week during a radio interview and his campaign team confirmed shortly after, saying the deposit is part of Pritzker’s commitment to improve economic conditions in hard hit communities and neighborhoods.

“J.B. has made expanding access to capital for small business and entrepreneurs, and making investments in the communities hardest hit by Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership and manufactured budget crisis a top priority for him as governor,” a spokesman said in an email.

Not the first $1 million deposit at a Black Bank

Pritzker’s idea isn’t original though. He’s actually doing what his opponent already did years ago.

In 2014, Bruce Rauner, a then Republican candidate for governor, deposited $1 million in a South Side credit union.

“I would have done what we’ve done today irrespective of the campaign,” Rauner said at the time.

Rauner makes $1M deposit at South Side credit union

The Scandal

The Pritzker campaign says the deposit is “part of a broader effort to revitalize minority neighborhoods.”

Others say $1 million is nothing a man who made hundreds of millions as part of the leadership at Superior Bank, a subprime mortgage and auto loan provider that eventually failed during the 2008 financial crisis.

The bank was described as “One of the nation’s largest bank failures in a decade.”

A former small business owner remembers waiting outside one of the bank’s branches the week after its closing with dozens of other depositors worried about their money.

“It looked like a soup kitchen,” he said. “And the Pritzkers made money on the deal.”

Closing thoughts

So, how do we feel about this deposit now? Is it a ploy to buy favor from Black voters?

My hope and prayer is that somehow there will actually be families and business owners that benefit for this. Hopefully, among them will be those who got shafted during the 2008 financial crisis.

– Tony Oluwatoyin Lawson

Couples Inc. : Nicaila & Muoyo Use Tech to Inspire Entrepreneurs

May 16, 2017April 5, 2020

10 mins read

For our Couples Inc. series, we’ll be highlighting dope couples who either run a business together or separately (With the support of their partner of course!)

First up, Nicaila Matthews, founder of Side Hustle Pro, the first and only podcast to spotlight bold black women entrepreneurs who have scaled from side hustle to profitable business, and Muoyo Okome, founder of Daily Spark Media and the Daily Spark Entrepreneur Community, a fast-growing online community dedicated to the empowerment, education & support of entrepreneurs.

SB: How did you both meet?

Nicaila: Each of us has our own version of this story so this is going to be long. Muoyo is convinced I was trying to talk to him, but I’m simply a friendly lady who was doing research. So back in December 2010, having recently started thinking about going to business school, I was trying to talk to as many people as possible who had gotten their MBA.

Muoyo: I was fresh off of co-chairing a successful Wharton Africa Business Forum and was in the middle of trying to land a post MBA job while also trying not to fail the courses I had been neglecting.

Nicaila: That’s why he was putting up photo albums on Facebook (sideeye)

Anywho, I was on Facebook one night and Muoyo’s photos from the Wharton Africa Business Conference popped up in my feed. I came across his photo and thought that he looked familiar.

Then I clicked on his profile and saw that we had a lot in common. He had also done the MLT MBA Prep program and was currently at Wharton for business school (I’d gone to undergrad at Penn). On a whim, I sent him a friend request, figuring it would be cool to talk to more people before making a decision about business school.

Muoyo: I was taking a break on Facebook when I noticed one of those red notification bubbles you can never really ignore. I clicked on it and saw a new friend request from a smiling young lady in an incredible blue dress I will never forget.

Not wanting to appear too eager, I took a few moments to scroll through all of her photos and life story before accepting. Soon after, I received a friendly and mildly flirtatious message asking a few “cover questions” about the conference, the MBA experience, and MLT, so as not to appear flirtatious (women…).

Nicaila: Lies. All lies.

Muoyo: We exchanged a few more messages on Facebook and then brief phone calls over the next week and decided to meet up when I was back in NYC (where we’re both from) for my winter break.

Nicaila: A week later, we ended up meeting up for what was supposed to be coffee, but got changed to dinner. As we got to talking, I instantly felt comfortable with Muoyo, like I was meeting up with a longtime friend. We talked naturally about everything, from business school to our upbringings.

Muoyo: In the following days, I would travel across the globe to Israel, Egypt, and Turkey for an academic trip, and despite all of the incredible experiences, I couldn’t wait for those moments of wifi so I could share them with her via BBM (that was still a thing back then) & email.

Nicaila: I knew when this Brooklyn guy drove me all the way back to the Bronx that he was a keeper.

SB: Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! How are you handling those plans in addition to running a business?

Nicaila: Wedding planning has been interesting to say the least. It’s almost like having a third job! But it has also been fun to see how excited our friends and family are to celebrate with us. Their energy keeps things in perspective when we (OK, just me) are tempted to overthink stationery or linens.

Muoyo: Although it can be overwhelming at times to keep track of all the moving parts, we both know that at the end of the day we’re going to make it happen and it will be beautiful.

SB: In what ways do you both have similar entrepreneurial traits and in what ways are you different as entrepreneurs?

Nicaila: Well, the biggest difference right now is that one of us is a full-time entrepreneur (Muoyo) and one of us is still side hustling (me). So we face different things in our day-to-day. For me, I have to push through when I’m drained after a long day of working one job and come home to start working on my other job.

The good thing is that Muoyo already experienced the side hustle life. So he’s there to encourage me to keep pushing when I’m having a rough patch.

Muoyo: We have similar goals and aspirations for our life and family. When we see our future, we envision being able to work from anywhere in the world (and not have to worry about having enough vacation days!). It helps a lot that we are on the same page.

Nicaila: We are also different in our approaches and styles. Although we are both action oriented, I take my time going through learning new things and take a bit longer to act. Muoyo will learn something and be ready to start a new business that week. But as a result he learns a lot quickly.

SB: What is the most important thing your partner has taught you?

Nicaila: To relax. It’s a work in progress and practice, but when I’m tempted to freak out or have irrational fears about a new challenge in my life, I hear Muoyo’s voice telling me that it’s going to be OK and that, “every problem has a solution.”

Muoyo: One thing I really admire about Nicki is her ability to set up systems and follow them through in order to get things done. She is very detail oriented and though it probably still isn’t a strength of mine, I like to think I’ve improved since we first met.

SB: What is the most important thing to remember when in a relationship with an entrepreneur?

Muoyo: When you’re an entrepreneur, the work never really ends. You could keep working all night if you wanted to. We’ve learned that we have to make sure to set aside and prioritize time to together despite the demands of business. That means being intentional about keeping date night on the calendar and not letting our laptops and cell phones creep in on our couple time.

It’s also important to understand the highs and lows that an entrepreneur will go through and to be there for each other through it all.

SB: What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

Nicaila: Start with a side hustle. There’s no reason to be broke and stressed while you’re still figuring things out if you don’t have to. Because, as one of my recent guests Kim Lewis shared on the Side Hustle Pro podcast, “If you can’t run a side hustle, you can’t run a business.”

Muoyo: Zero in on the problem you are solving and what you want to offer the market and then become a master of your craft. Wherever you are now, it’s a midpoint, not an endpoint. We all have limitless ability to learn and improve if you are willing to put in the work.

-Tony Oluwatoyin Lawson

Black Owned Businesses in Paris You Should Know (Pt2)

May 12, 2017June 3, 2020

2 mins read

Since Paris is a favorite and we are advocates of #ShoppeBlackGlobally, it shouldn’t be a surprise that we’ve got another list of Black owned businesses you can support while abroad!

Black Owned Businesses in Paris

Maison Chateu Rouge uses wax clothes that divert the traditional African dress in a contemporary spirit.

Dada Wax Couture creates custom and personalized clothing in Wax African Wax. for women, men and children.

O Petit Club Africain offers authentic African dishes in a warm and artistic environment.

Afrikrea is your platform for discovering, buying and selling fashion, arts and crafts Made in Africa.

Waly-Fay offers West African cuisine in a hip and trendy space.

Babylone Bis is a restaurant that serves up original French Creole specialties.

Keur – or “house” in Wolof- offers a selection of decorative objects and home accessories authentic and colorful, entirely made in Senegal.

black owned paris

Le Caffé Créole is a Caribbean restaurant, which offers typical dishes of the Islands.

black owned paris

Biss and Love is a French start-up, will make you (re) discover the bissap, a red drink made from hibiscus flowers.

While working on this list, I had the pleasure of meeting Jacqueline Ngo Mpii, founder of Little Africa Paris and author of City Guide, Africa in Paris. Be sure to check out the website and the book!

Meeting Jacqueline Ngo Mpii at 1:54 Contemporary Art Fair, Brooklyn.

–Tony O. Lawson

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram &Twitter

Get your SHOPPE BLACK apparel!

Why We Need to Talk about Black Teen Depression and Suicide

May 5, 2017June 26, 2022

6 mins read

Perhaps it was the fact that my parents worked long hours to provide for me; or maybe it was because I was (and always have been) an utter ball of emotions, completely opposite from the stoic example that my family provided for me while growing up.

Regardless, no one saw it coming. No one ever noticed the hands of depression, first nipping at my ankles around pre-adolescence, then, preparing for its final grasp around my throat towards the end of high school. Then, finally I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) at age 16 after a suicide attempt.

Socially, school wasn’t easy for me. I was a shy, insecure loner. I have always attended predominately white institutions which added to my insecurity. How could I rock my Alicia Keyes braids when all of my peers emulated Britney Spears?

The stress of having to read Jet and Teen Vogue, just to stay afloat was enough to break anyone down. Now, introduce hormones and the evolution of social media.

I remember when I signed up for my first Facebook account in between class periods in the computer lab. Hastily I did it, so I wouldn’t be late to class, but it was also so that I could be as cool as the upperclassmen.

A few months later, Facebook rolled out a new addition, the “honesty box”. Anyone could anonymously say anything they wanted about you.

Perhaps I was too hopeful that one of the boys in my high school would confess his undying love for me, but instead, I was greeted with messages of hate: “you’re ugly”, “a stupid nigger”, “whore”, “slut”, etc.

Now there are so many social media outlets—Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat—to name a few. I was looking for validation back then, as so many teens are, to fill a void of insecurity. This, coupled with societal pressure to be successful, are factors that can lead to depression amongst teens.

Ashley Duncan, 17, wrote ‘I finally got a gun’ and then posted a picture of a revolver which, just hours later, it is believed she used to kill herself.

A lot of my time in high school was spent on the couch in the guidance counselor’s office. I’m sure she suggested I get an actual therapist many times to my parents, but that was taboo.

My white counterparts had no qualms about going to therapy, popping pills (albeit, usually of the white collar illegal kind) but I had no way to cope.

In many Black families, from an early age, we are taught to bottle our emotions up, bury them deep inside. Because we, as a community, don’t express what we deem “sensitive” feelings, mental illness is so often undiagnosed. We think that since we survived slavery, segregation, and today, are still surviving police brutality and racism, we can survive anything.

While this is true and we can survive, we need to acknowledge that it is okay to not feel “ok”. We need to stop labeling each other, and even ourselves, as weak for having and expressing feelings.

Being a teen is hard. Being Black is hard. To be a Black teen is a double whammy. Recently, a young couple in Cincinnati, OH committed suicide, one after the other.

The only evidence we have that the young man was undergoing stress is a video he posted online right before he killed himself, indicating that he “couldn’t take it anymore”.

18-year-old Mercedes Shaday Smith took her own life on Apr. 20th. Her boyfriend, Markeice “Mari” Brown ended his life on Saturday, Apr. 22nd

Too little and too late. Suicide is the third leading cause of death amongst Black youth (Lincoln et al., 2012). Additionally, about 7.9% of Black youth meet the diagnosis criteria for Major Depression (Turner et al., 2015).

We need to make sure that we are talking to our teens and also importantly, modeling healthy behaviors for them. While suicide is an end, it does not have to be the end to depression.

Depression still lurks at my window, beckoning me to let it inside, but what has changed is that I am no longer afraid to express my feelings for fear of being called weak. I’m strong enough to be vulnerable, to feel. We all are.

Deja Morton is an aspiring freelance writer who resides in the Indianapolis area. She enjoys writing short fiction and op-ed pieces that explore her personal struggles as a minority. This is her first article for Shoppe Black. She can be reached at dejamorton@gmail.com

Where Have All the Black-Owned Businesses Gone? – The Atlantic

May 3, 2017August 20, 2021

5 mins read

At the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., a hallway of glass display cases features more than a century’s worth of black entrepreneurial triumphs.

In one is a World War II–era mini parachute manufactured by the black-owned Pacific Parachute Company, home to one of the nation’s first racially integrated production plants. Another displays a giant clock from the R. H. Boyd Publishing Company, among the earliest firms to print materials for black churches and schools.

Although small, the exhibit recalls a now largely forgotten legacy: By serving their communities when others wouldn’t, black-owned independent businesses provided avenues of upward mobility for generations of black Americans and supplied critical leadership and financial support for the civil rights movement.

This tradition continues today. Last June, Black Enterprise magazine marked the 44th anniversary of the BE 100s, the magazine’s annual ranking of the nation’s top 100 black-owned businesses.

At the top of the list stood World Wide Technology, which, since its founding in 1990, has grown into a global firm with more than $7 billion in revenue and 3,000 employees. Then came companies like Radio One, whose 55 radio stations fan out among 16 national markets.

David L. Steward: chairman and founder of World Wide Technology, Inc.

The combined revenues of the companies that made the BE 100s, which also includes Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, now totals more than $24 billion, a nine-fold increase since 1973, adjusting for inflation.

A closer look at the numbers, however, reveals that these pioneering companies are the exception to a far more alarming trend. The last 30 years also have brought the wholesale collapse of black-owned independent businesses and financial institutions that once anchored black communities across the country.

In 1985, 60 black-owned banks were providing financial services to their communities; today, just 23 remain. In 11 states where black-owned banks had headquarters in 1994, not a single one is still in business. Of the 50 black-owned insurance companies that operated during the 1980s, today just two remain.

Over the same period, tens of thousands of black-owned retail establishments and local service companies also have disappeared, having gone out of business or been acquired by larger companies.

Reflecting these developments, working-age black Americans have become far less likely to be their own boss than in the 1990s. The per-capita number of black employers, for example, declined by some 12 percent just between 1997 and 2014.

What’s behind these trends, and what’s the implication for American society as a whole? To be sure, at least some of this entrepreneurial decline reflects positive economic developments. A slowly rising share of white-collar salaried jobs are now held by black Americans, who have more options for employment beyond running their own businesses.

The movement of millions of black families to integrated suburbs over the last 40 years also is a welcome trend, even if one effect has been to weaken the viability of the many black-owned independent businesses left behind in historically black neighborhoods.

But the decline in entrepreneurship and business ownership among black Americans also is cause for concern. One reason is that it largely reflects not the opening of new avenues of upward mobility, but rather the foreclosing of opportunity.

Rates of business ownership and entrepreneurship are falling among black citizens for much the same reason they are declining among whites and Latinos. As large retailers and financial institutions comprise an ever-bigger slice of the national economy, the possibility of starting and maintaining an independent business has dropped.

Read the rest of this article by Brian Feldman @ The Atlantic

4 Poems That Show How Personal Gentrification Is – CityLab

April 28, 2017November 8, 2017

2 mins read

To close out National Poetry Month, we rounded up poems that translate gentrification and the housing crisis into personal terms.

Terms like “gentrification” and “housing crisis” get tossed around so much that they’re often stripped of their human context, framed as abstract, hypothetical, and overwhelming concepts.

A good poem can take what is unwieldy and make it specific and human, showing viscerally how policy and development translate to everyday lives.

“Dispatches From The Black Barbershop, Tony’s Chair. 2011,” Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib

poems — Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib –
Photo credit: Airgo Radio

“…jeff got knocked out on east main by a sucker punch that broke up the 4th of july cookout in front of brenda’s hair shop and when he woke up it was a whole foods see that’s why you sittin up here talkin bout you lonely while my rent goin up every month but I still got my name on the door.”

“There is a Street Named After Martin Luther King Jr. In Every City,” – Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib

“…after all / are you less / of a ghost / if you die on a street / named for a man who / they will say / could have saved you?”

“Housing for All,” Tyrone Lewis

Lewis, from the Bay Area, wrote this when he was 12 about his own family’s struggle to find an affordable place to live.

We’ll Work hard

Day by day

‘til everyone has

A place to stay

I shouldn’t see couches

On the sidewalk

I should see a street

Full of U-haul trucks

“This Is Home,”Deandre Evans, Will Hartfield, and Donte Clark

This poem, produced in conjunction with The Center for Investigative Reporting, touches on the mismanagement of public housing in Richmond, California and the dreams and needs of people who live there.

Modified from an article by Natasha Bakwit, City Lab

Black Owned Businesses in Philly That You Should Know

April 28, 2017April 16, 2023

3 mins read

As we speak, Philly is hosting the 2017 NFL Draft. Reports say this event will pump tens of millions of dollars into the local economy.

Seems like a great time to shout out some more Black owned businesses in the area.

Black Owned Businesses in Philly

900AM-WURD is the only Black owned and operated talk radio station in Pennsylvania, and one of few in the country.

Wilco is one of the last remaining Black owned cable operators in the U.S. They are also the largest privately owned Black owned cable provider in the Philadelphia area.

Duke Barber Co. specializes in traditional barber cuts and shaves. ”We are home to several of Philadelphia’s finest and most talented master barbers.”

Silver Legends offers an array of exceptionally crafted handbags, precious and semiprecious stones, sterling silver jewelry and much more.

Reef Restaurant & Lounge serves classic Caribbean fare reworked with a Southern American accent in an bright aquarium-like setting.

Hakim’s Bookstore is the city’s oldest Black owned bookstore.

Stripp’d Juice offers old-pressed juices, acai bowls & other health-conscious offerings in a cool, industrial-chic nook.

E’TAE Products is a natural hair product line made for all hair types that can make the hair healthy, manageable, and moisturized.

The mission of the Afro American Music Institute is to provide systematic, specialized instrumental training in all styles of the African American music traditions such as Jazz, Blues, Gospel and Negro Spirituals.

The Sable Collective offers clothing, jewelry, art, books, body care and housewares intentionally selected for our beauty, joy and wellness.

The Colored Girls Museum is a memoir museum, which honors the stories, experiences, and history of Colored Girls.

Relish: Modern southern fare meets live jazz at this stylish fine-dining room, plus a popular Sunday brunch.

dermHA specializes in providing customized skin treatments for sensitive and problem skin.

Omega Optical is a provider of quality vision care and products and personalized optometric services.

Ms Tootsies is a multilevel restaurant & lounge, known for its soul food classics, also offers a take-out cafe.

At Tucker Law Group, LLC you will find a strong and dedicated team of accomplished trial lawyers. The firm has tried more than 100 cases to verdict in Federal and state courts.