With Black Business Month coming to an end, we as a team at Stella Labs wanted to come up with ways we can cultivate a continuous impact for the Black Business economy rather than celebrating for a single month. 

One of the ways we as consumers can facilitate change is through intentional spending. Middle class Americans spend more than $8K of their income on discretionary spending. If every American intentionally allocated 5% of their total discretionary spending for towards Black-owned businesses, it would amount to an added $54 BILLION in revenue for Black business owners. Talk about small changes with a big impact!

While we’re on the topic of discretionary spending, the holidays are right around the corner, and with so many things to celebrate and countless numbers of gifts to buy, why not plan to buy products from our favorite Black Business brands? Black Businesses are one of the groups that have been hit the hardest by the pandemic and now more than ever it’s important to support marginalized economies during the upcoming holiday season. 

As we become more deliberate about our spending and factor in the holidays, sending the message about our evolving shopping habits to our friends and family becomes ever more important. About 80% of all household spending is determined by women, so if women make the effort, make well thought-out decisions about spending, and spread the word, we can be the leaders of change. As women, we can produce an extra $43.2 billion in revenue for Black Business owners.

As we continue our support of Black Businesses, we can start to build connections with our favorite local products and brands and ask these business owners directly about what they need or what else could be done to further maximize their success. Sometimes, we really don’t know what happens behind the scenes until we ask. More often than not, there are little things we as a community could do to help these businesses thrive, so why not help make a change? Taking all these little steps can transform Black Business Month into not only a month to celebrate, but rather a new, more intentional way of living (and spending) to follow. HERE are a few more ideas on how we can better support marginalized female founders.