Listen as the panel discusses the challenges of owning a business as black women.
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00:00 As a successful designer, what are some of the hurdles you still face within your own community
00:05 when it comes to support? And what do you want to say to us tonight about being the change?
00:11 And I know that's a loaded question, but again, this is a kitchen table talk, so you can speak freely.
00:16 I honestly have no complaints in terms of receiving support from my community.
00:27 Just even right now, it's fashion week. I've had the same makeup team doing my runway shoot for years,
00:36 black women. I've had the same hair team doing my hair for years, black women. I've had the same
00:41 casting director for years, black women. I've had the same shoot producer for years, black women.
00:47 And they were sending emails and messages as early as June being like, "What are we doing
00:57 for fashion week? When do you need us?" So my community shows up for me, which I'm
01:04 really grateful for. My customers are predominantly black women. No complaints about my community.
01:14 It's the corporations that we have complaints about.
01:19 Yeah, yeah. And what do you think they miss, the corporations?
01:25 Oh gosh. Yeah, I know. We need a night for that.
01:28 Yeah. So the corporations, I mean, they love to see the shows. They're like, "When's your show?
01:36 When's your show?" But they don't want to give you the funding to produce the show.
01:39 They don't give you the backing to produce the show or whatever it is that you're doing, really.
01:49 You sort of just get a pat on the back and like, "Hey, go do it. We'll watch." And I've
01:55 noticed that I've received the most support from corporations when tragedy happens within
02:03 our community. So not to get too deep, but I probably received the most support that I ever
02:14 received in terms of brand collaborations, partnerships, just everything after the
02:20 unfortunate loss of George Floyd, which is unfortunate. It's a pattern. It's slightly
02:28 performative in my opinion. So that's my take. Yeah, yeah. That's real. That's real. Everybody,
02:37 in tragedy, it seems that corporations sometimes they get this call to consciousness.
02:43 And then after a few months or several months, they're like, "Hi, we're all good. You're good.
02:49 We're good. We did our part." No, we have to keep holding them accountable.
02:52 Sherry, what have you experienced? What are some of the hurdles that you continue to face
02:56 in your business? I think the biggest challenge for me has been financing my business as an
03:04 independently owned business owner. As I mentioned before, in the very beginning,
03:11 getting turned down by banks, we eventually found a banker and supporters, but it took years. I mean,
03:18 I'm 16 years in and it took me 15 years really to get the type of investment in the company that
03:26 we really needed to scale and grow. But we do what we have to do, right? For me, I didn't have
03:33 a fallback plan. I could have done something else, but there was no other option for me.
03:38 This is what I love. This is what I have built with my team. And for me, there was no other
03:47 option. So I was going to make it work the best that I could. And many times we do that. But I
03:54 want to say to some of the corporations we were talking about how they could lend more support,
03:59 many times they just need to see numbers, right? I'm a business person and black-owned
04:08 businesses are just good for business. Truly. Even just my sales numbers, my top selling brands
04:18 are black-owned brands. This is Christopher John Rogers. He's our number one designer, right?
04:24 He sells out consistently, highest margins, most profitable. And I can go on and on about so many
04:34 of the brands, Ashlyn Kamps, Diotima, Harwell Godfrey, Kyrie, can go on and on. Those are the
04:40 brands that are in the highest demand and not necessarily from black consumers, from everyone.
04:47 So I think the more we normalize, right? Like we wear it in life, then it just becomes this
04:57 normal thing for everyone. Every single day of my life, I wear a black designer. And thankfully,
05:06 we have those options. And we have amazing designers that you can find at stores or you can
05:14 find on their websites or thankfully on social media, whether it's TikTok or Instagram, but seek
05:20 out those brands. Ask your girl, ask your friends, what do you have on girl? What's this bag? This is
05:27 East African designer. She came to me, I'm like, yeah, I'm going to put you in my store because
05:32 your shit is hot. Like it works. And so, you know, the more we just are, right? We just, we share,
05:40 we wear things, you know, it becomes normalized.
05:47 Yeah.
05:47 (upbeat music)
05:50 (upbeat music)