Ashley Rouse was terrified when she first started receiving media requests from major publications featuring Black-owned businesses last June. The founder and CEO of Brooklyn-based Trade Street Jam Co. says her team saw “insane growth” between January and June, with monthly sales skyrocketing from $1,500 to $80,000, and she was hanging on by a thread to keep up.
“At the beginning of June, I was 8 months pregnant and swollen all over,” Rouse recalls. “I was up day and night fulfilling packages with my husband, mom, and a team of two, trying desperately to keep up with these blessings that I had prayed for for so long. But I. Was. Tired!”
The murder of George Floyd mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets worldwide in protest against police brutality and in solidarity with Black lives last summer; at the same time, dozens of social media posts and roundups circulated online with headlines such as, “How to Support Black-Owned Businesses” and “Support Black-Owned Restaurants Now!”
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