Those words best describe the way I started #BlackHistoryMonth2025!

Thank you Save Harlem Now!, and Langston Hughes House for the opportunity and the distinct pleasure of the event celebrating Langston Hughes’ birthday!

If you’ve ever been in the presence of a palpable energy, then you have some idea of what it’s like to be surrounded by your culture.  Where great things happened.  In the places that people we grew up learning about called home.  

Everything was top-tier!  The food, the people, the vibe, the live music.  While I am an introvert, I enjoy the art of conversation and gleaning nuggets of wisdom, so I especially appreciate everyone who engaged me!

It was my extreme pleasure, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to absorb such a moment and become a small part of that grand history.

At this writing, we’re about a month into the year of #FAFO…aka 2025.

Old School is here to tell you that it’s time to go old school!  Community.  Bartering.  Collaboration, not Competition.  It takes a village.

If you’re still blessed to have elders around, ask them how they made a dollar out of fifteen cents…’cause they got shyt done!

If you have farming and gardening friends, work out trades amongst each other for food you can trust.

Buy in bulk (I’m lookin’ at you Costco, one of the few big businesses standing on DEI business).  Shop with a friend or group and split your needs amongst you.

#ShopBlack.  Plan your shopping so you have time to receive what you need before it runs out.

Black-owned businesses:  please make it easier to support you through an ecosystem of smooth communication, systems and processes.  Get fractional support to fill in any gaps.  Regardless of contracts and collaborations, you need your own real estate and outreach methods for e-commerce.  

#BuildBlack.  Whether you’re bootstrappin’ or ballin’, reclaim your sovereignty …because anything that someone can give you can be taken away.

And as to monetization, I’mma shout out Fanbase, ’cause it’s Black owned!

I’m also building a running database of Black-Owned businesses that you can browse and list yourself on.

I want to see the impact of the 1.6+ TRILLION in spending power we’re said to have.  With that kind of power…concentrated…we could reclaim ourselves.