Part of our mission is to co-create a world where Black folks and non-Black people of color can show up anywhere...in any space...with all of our identities...in our full authentic selves. This means that we constantly and consistently work to create those spaces wherever we go. To center Black and non-Black people of color means that we intentionally work to shift power, resources, and comfort in their direction--even if that means making white people feel uncomfortable.

Extractive capitalism and settler colonialism thrive off of separating us from our humanity. Traditional business practices continue to separate us from the land, each other, and our own being-ness. Not here, nuh uh. In order to dismantle these harmful systems, our businesses must enrich our bodies, minds, emotions, and spirits.

Bringing your humanity to work means honoring our needs. Our needs for rest and joy and grief and play and on and on and on. We must honor those calm and confident voices inside of us that know exactly what we need so that we don’t let the frightened, more anxious voices take over.

Sometimes saying yes means you have to say no to the people, places, and processes that don’t serve us. We say yes to the work. We say yes to the discomfort of growth and change. We say yes to our own accountability. We say no to any situation where we experience repeated harm and our humanity is not valued.

The key practice of noticing and naming is learning to call things what they are. In plain language. We work at all times to avoid jargon, over-intellectualizing, secret codes, and plain old lies. Instead, we make space for folks to speak what is true...and then, believe them.

We are in this work to make an impact. We are also in this work to be compensated for our expertise, emotional labor, creativity, and brilliance. Like everyone else, we must earn money for ourselves, our families, and our communities. We know our work has value, just like your work has value. If you choose to work with us, we expect that you understand our value and will pay us what we ask for, when we ask for it. At the same time, we are fully committed to pay our partners, employees, and vendors what they need to grow their businesses and thrive in their lives.

This is hard work. No one should go it alone. We attend meetings, facilitate sessions, and make decisions collectively. This way, we have each other’s backs. When the work starts to feel like too much, it’s a clear sign we need more help.

The work of dismantling systems of oppression and white supremacy is urgent and vital. The time is now. We must show up with all of our courage and imagination to call out what has caused harm and make way for what will heal us. There is no time to play it safe. We get nothing from being neutral or diplomatic or by standing on the sidelines. We throw ourselves all the way in and show up fully for racial justice.