It’s Time
“We have given the world work, hard back-breaking labor, and the world let Black John Henry (insert Black Women) break his heart to beat the machine. It is now our business to give the world an example of intelligent cooperation so that when the new industrial commonwealth comes. We can go into it as an experience people not again to be left outside as mere beggars…We become pioneer servants of the common good.”
Du Bois, 1933
We’re Building
We are building a worker-owned National Black Women’s Creative Cooperative that will be a mutual aid network of Black women creatives who support one another to work within organizations throughout the creative sector and independently. Finding environments that are supportive and prioritize retaining Black women’s leadership is rare. We will remove the barriers that often keep Black women creatives in oppressive and toxic work environments and support our tiny creative businesses to thrive!
About the Cooperative
The National Black Women’s Creative Cooperative is born of an Unlock Creative Coaching and Management LLC initiative, Creative Flowers that focuses specifically on growing, nurturing, and keeping Black women in leadership within the creative sector including the nonprofit arts and the commercial entertainment industry. We define the creative sector broadly as the arts, commercial film, music and live entertainment industry, and nonprofit sector and is inclusive but not limited to visual arts, theater, dance, film, music, and culture bearing. Creatives interested may define their artistry as graphic design, animation, music composition, production, songwriting, sound engineering, storytelling, museum management, costume design, lighting design, opera, fashion design, or technical direction.
Mission
National Black Women’s Creative Cooperative is a worker-owned limited liability cooperative and mutual aid network of Black women creatives. Our mission is to liberate Black Women from oppressive and toxic work environments, generate wealth owned and stewarded by and for us toward a goal of political and financial freedom.
Founding
Board of Directors
left to right, top to bottom
Ashley Walden Davis, President
Zenobia Lockhart Esq. Secretary
Sola Bamis, Vice President
Varsey Laurelle
Vision
Our long-term vision is for all Black Women Creatives to be in charge of their destinies, do the work that fulfills them and their communities in alignment with their values. The cooperative is intended to be a rival and healthier alternative of working for “the man” or big business while retaining those same perks without racism and sexism while also having ownership and benefiting in the profits.
This online platform is a tool to build our coalition, knowledge, wealth, and cooperation acumen that will be leveraged for resourcing the cooperative and ourselves. The Cooperative ecosystem, network, and marketplace will be a place where Black Women Creatives can grow, gain professional development and services like medical, vision, dental, long-term and short-term disability, payroll, and staffing services all from Black-owned businesses.
With that said, by 2026, we are planning for the Cooperative to own a town, our Wakonda, where the online community will be represented and exist in a physical manifestation of a creative community run by Black Women. The community will be ALL Black-Owned including housing, community spaces, businesses, theaters, studios, creatives spaces, restaurants, and groceries while being eco-friendly and sustainable for the Earth.
Moving toward a goal of financial freedom, we are spending the time to form a cooperative enterprise, a business entity that is collectively owned by us and share in the profits of the company. There are many other coalitions and organizations that support segments and issues of Black Women through programs and services. We seek to work in partnership with those organizations. And, we are explicitly pulling together dynamic and Black Women Creatives to take our collective skills, training talents, equity, and justice-minded frameworks into these conversations to build OUR COOPERATIVE BUSINESS where Black Women’s lives are centered.
INVEST IN BLACK WOMEN
It’s the smart thing to do.
The National Black Women’s Creative Cooperative is fiscally sponsored by Alternate ROOTS. We are able to accept tax-deductible monetary donations, stocks and securities, sponsorships, and in-kind products and services.
The National Black Women’s Cooperative is an incorporated LCA in Colorado and Headquartered in Atlanta, GA.
Network
We are building a coalition with over 1,000 black women creatives already in our network.
Worker-Owners
Our goal is to have 100 worker- owner-members, shareholders, and investors of the cooperative.
Black-Owned Businesses
We aim to support a minimum of 50 Black-Owned business a part of our All Black marketplace.
3729 Main St. Atlanta, GA 30337 USA
GA 303337 USA
blackwomencreativecoop@gmail.com