Holiday Shopping: Where To Spend The Trillion

Plus: 10 Lessons From Mike Tyson’s Legends Only League Debut

“Need that, need us, Almighty Black Dollar” - Jeezy, “Almighty Black Dollar”

In Maggie Anderson’s 2013 book, Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy, she outlined the results of her study with the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, which found that less than 3% of Black Americans’ then $1 trillion in spending power made it back into the Black community.

Today, Black people have $1.4 trillion in spending power—and it would be interesting to know how much of that money is now allocated to Black-owned companies. What does having $1 trillion in buying power really mean if we don’t use it to build and maintain wealth within our communities?

During yesterday’s #CultureTalks, we spoke to leaders of the #BuyBlack movement about the importance of improving this statistic. “Every dollar you spend is a vote,” Kristian Edwards, founder of BLK + GRN, told the audience. “You are voting for what brands you want to be successful.”

This holiday season, and every day moving forward, be strategic and intentional when voting with your dollar. That said, 2020 has been a tough year, so give yourself a break if your holiday budget doesn’t look like it usually does.

P.S.: For(bes) The Culture is a media partner for the “Philly Forward Forum: Celebrating Our Spirit, Investing in our Potential, Transforming Our Future!” bringing together entrepreneurs, neighborhood heroes, institutions, foundations and private investors to recognize Philadelphia's potential for economic growth. Register here.

Brianne Garrett

Reporter, For(bes) The Culture Editorial Lead

Rashaad Lambert

Founder, For(bes) The Culture, Director, Culture & Community

Spotlight On: Stephanie Tharpe

For(bes) The Culture member and contributor Stephanie Tharpe is the founder of Offpage, a social reading platform that aims to make literature more accessible and engaging. She is also the host of Culture Reads, For(bes) The Culture’s international book club, through which she’s spotlighted Black and Brown authors including Cole Brown (Greyboy) and Arianna Davis (What Would Frida Do?).

News For The Culture

Pharrell Williams recently launched Black Ambition, an incubator for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs launching startups in tech, design, healthcare and consumer products.

Courtne Smith, who spent more than a decade on rapper Drake’s management team, discusses her pivot to entrepreneurship, including the launch of her social app, NewNew.

#CultureTags, a card game that uses hashtags and acronyms to test whether players are up-to-speed on current culture, wants to be the next Uno, for the culture.

Podcast company Meet Cute just raised $6 million to shake up the podcast industry with its diverse rom-coms.

Colin Kaepernick has partnered with Ben & Jerry's to launch a vegan frozen dessert flavor, Colin Kaepernick’s Change the Whirled, with 100% of Kaepernick's portion of the proceeds supporting the work of Know Your Rights Camp.

More than 30 leaders, including Merck Chairman and CEO Kenneth C. Frazier, have pledged to train, hire and promote one million Black Americans over the next decade.

Golden Globe award winning-actress Taraji P. Henson and entrepreneur Tracie Jade Jenkins are shining a light on mental health in the new Facebook Watch show Peace of Mind with Taraji.