Something Money Can’t Buy — The University’s First Ever Black Student Business Expo

If you had ventured into the Newcomb ballroom in the early afternoon of Friday, Apr. 21, you would have heard Nicki Minaj, smelled Caribbean food, and saw about a dozen tables — ranging from jewelry businesses like Mary Makes It to tech start-ups like HoozBizz. The University had its first Black Student Business Expo that day, co-sponsored by the Black Economic Empowerment Society and the Student Organization for Caribbean Awareness.

The event was held from 10:00 am - 1:00 pm and featured everything from entertainment by student performer Davy HBF to catering by Charlottesville’s own Pearl Island, a Black-owned business specializing in Caribbean cuisine. The event kicked off from 10:00 - 11:00 am with academic speakers who encouraged young entrepreneurs with stories of adaptability and practical advice for business ownership.

The speakers included Professor Greg Fairchild who serves as a Research Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business and the co-founder of Resilience Education, an organization that provides “business curriculum to incarcerated learners.” Professor Fairchild emphasized the statistics of entrepreneurship in the U.S. — besides Indigenous people, African-Americans have the lowest rate of business ownership amongst racial groups, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Moreover, there is a reverse correlation between education and entrepreneurship — “In many ways, you all represent those who are least likely to start your own business,” he stated. Professor Fairchild told students to “take the view that you are the asset,” however, and use their growing education and work experience to build a “basket of knowledge” to start a business. In closing, the professor remarked, “I’m super glad you’re here…I hope you will take seriously what [the expo] is about.”

Following Professor Fairchild was an impromptu speech by the University’s own David Touve, the Senior Director of the Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Darden School of Business. He highlighted some of the entrepreneurial opportunities available in the classroom — such as the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s Technology Entrepreneurship Program, the Batten school’s Social Entrepreneurship Program and the Architecture school’s Architectural Design Thinking Concentration to name a few.

Outside of the classroom, Touve expressed that any student interested in entrepreneurship can contact him directly at david@virginia.edu. There are also opportunities to launch businesses within the University using grant money. Touve explained the Catalyst Accelerator program, which runs for the entire academic year and stages $100,000 in grant money for students. In phase one, students apply and are evaluated. In phase two, the businesses are further narrowed down and connected with experienced founders. In phase three, the remaining teams present to a select committee with the hopes of being funded. Touve also highlighted W.L. Lyons Brown III Innovation Laboratory — also known as iLab — which is a summer program with $5,000 to $15,000 available in grant funding. While the application window for iLab closed on Apr. 24, there are still other opportunities available like the Community Investment Collaborative, which centers startups and services businesses with a success model of training, mentoring, financing and networking.

Finally, Assistant Professor and Assistant Dean Connie Chic Smith spoke to the students. Along with her duties at the University, she is a business owner, serving as the president of Communication Wave LLC, a small business that “provides each client with the tools to accelerate their professional growth and development.” Despite all of these achievements, Professor Smith introduced herself simply as a “sister from Brooklyn” and a first generation college student. She emphasized the importance of collaboration — she stated, “you’re gonna need some strength and some support on your journey…so why not connect with people in this room today? Build that community.” She continued, “If you’re looking to be an entrepreneur, everything is a resource — and we don’t want to waste resources,” referencing everything from classes to relationships with other students and teacher assistants.

After sharing some of her own experience as a business owner, she urged students to use the resources highlighted by Touve and approach entrepreneurship with intentionality — “the money that we spend on some frivolous items — for many of us, that’s the seed money we need for our business.” Professor Smith not only highlighted race, encouraging students to use the “global community,” but she also prompted “the women in the room to speak up.” Professor Smith's speech was ultimately exemplified in her words of hope to the student business owners — “Your goal is achievable, it’s possible, no matter what it looks like.”

After a short intermission, the Black student business owners of the University had an opportunity to highlight their businesses — each business owner was provided a table to set up product examples, pictures, boards and QR codes for potential future customers.

Several of the students’ business ideas began in quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic. Jayden Pierre, founder of Jay’s Sneakz, said that he got the idea to resell sneakers during quarantine, stating, “I really liked shoes and I had about 20 pairs for myself already and I kind of stopped wearing some of them so I got the idea to sell them.” Jayden uses already existing digital marketplaces as his platform for reselling. “I sold them pretty quickly so I started picking up more and I just stuck with it,” he said. 

Mary Hall, the founder of the jewelry company Mary Makes It, said that she got the idea right before her baby sister was born in 2020. “I’ve been making jewelry since I was twelve, but I needed something to keep my mind off of my mom being in the hospital giving birth to my baby sister,” she stated with a laugh, “so I started making jewelry and then I was like ‘you know what — I enjoy doing this. Why not try to sell it?’” 

For fourth-year student Lukas Spady, his clothing business started out as a senior project in high school but he officially made it a business during Covid-19. “We had to do a year-long project, and I decided I was going to make a t-shirt or something, and I learned to sew. I ended up releasing, like, five tye-dye t-shirts with the logos,” he said. Spady makes t-shirts, hoodies, jackets, and sweatshirts — as his business grows, he hopes to get more into “the fashion aspect” of the clothing lines. 

Many of the students also spoke to unique challenges that black student businesses face. “School gets to be a lot sometimes, and finances, but it’s really worth it in the end,” Hall stated. I really love making people happy with the jewelry that they get for themselves, their partners, their parents, things like that.” Mary Robinson, co-founder of HoosBizz, also said that the challenges of being a black student contributed to the idea of her business,“We sat down and looked at things that we struggle with — I’m an out-of-state student…so I don’t really know any nail techs or anyone to do my hair.” So, HoosBizz allows students to go to their website, fill out what they need, then connect with student businesses on Grounds that can accommodate them. The business offers a two-way street — exposure for student businesses and services for students.

The businesses also contribute to change in other communities intersecting Black America. For  Taiwo Adepoju, founder of Ilesanmi, a woman-owned and woman-catered Afro-centric fashion brand, 10 percent of all proceeds goes towards supporting women’s education in Nigeria. “I feel like all things that [I] work on, in terms of my projects, have to contribute back to where I come from,” she said. Likewise, after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Hall made tote bags that went toward the Reproductive Freedom Fund. During June, half of her sales go toward Pride Month charities and LGBTQ+ businesses.

“Since we are part of a minority, it’s good to come together and give members of the minority a platform to show off what they have to offer,” said Justin Maples, a freelance photographer and the founder of ShotbySyrup. Maples took up the photography business about a year ago and covers everything from Africa Day to prom photos.

Spady agreed that the Black Student Business Expo was instrumental in highlighting his businesses. “As a much smaller business just starting out, most of my sales and support come from in-person [events],” he said, “So this is where I get the most traction — [these in-person opportunities] are what allow me to keep my business going.”

“[The expo] really helps in terms of visibility,” Adepoju said. “A lot of people don’t really know the different talents that a lot of black students here have or the different businesses or concepts that they’re coming up with, so being able to have a space like this allows people to really put their businesses out there for the community to see.”

When asked if they had any advice for Black students who might want to start businesses, there was a consensus among the tables — “just do it” and “start now.” Much like the speakers from earlier in the day, students emphasized initiative and courage in the making of a young entrepreneur.

According to fourth-year student and SOCA president Karla Gonzalez, the idea for a University-wide Black Student Business Expo was first conceived by SOCA’s Special Events Coordinator, second-year McKenzie Samuels. She pursued the idea because she saw “a need for [a black student business expo] on Grounds.” The newly founded BEES was asked to join to begin planning the event and when asked about inspiration, second-year Syrell Grier, founder and chief Executive Officer of BEES, said that the expo was largely influenced by the annual Charlottesville Black Business Expo. “One of the ideas I had for BEES longterm was to bring [the Charlottesville expo] here.” That plan resulted in more connections with Charlottesville businesses, Grier said. “U.Va. has not really been a good connection point for the Charlottesville community in general,” he stated, “and I want BEES to help mend that gap by creating genuine connections in the community,” such as Bellamy Brown and Quinton Harrell.

Grier and Samuels’ plans succeeded due to networks and relationships built throughout the University. Grier said that it was difficult to find a venue as BEES did not have Contracted Independent Organization Status yet, but his connection Jenn Jones in the Economic Career Office helped him to book the Newcomb Ballroom. Similarly, Grier was also able to pull from Jefferson Trust — the grant helped to pay for the catering and website subscription, among other things. 

Samuels said that her connections in the DEI office helped to keep her accountable as BEES and SOCA planned the event. Both Joshua Epps and Kevin G. McDonald within the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion provided advice and encouragement to keep consistently working on the expo. “They connected me with resources and then they checked back to see if I’d spoken to them,” she said.

When faced with the challenge of Black student businesses not responding to a registering survey, a change of marketing was implemented — “I was like, ‘we know people — let’s just text people,’” Samuels stated. While BEES handled logistics, SOCA was mostly in charge of gaining traction through social media posts and fliers. “It was a lot of trial and error,” Samuels said. Out of the seventeen businesses that signed up, twelve black student businesses were present.

“White man’s ice is not colder,” Grier concluded. “We can shop amongst each other to contribute to a stronger black community.” Overall, the event not only demonstrated the creativity, perseverance, and initiative of the University’s Black students, but it created a space in which support was magnified and acknowledgment was granted for just a handful of all of the University’s amazing Black student businesses.

Please go support Black student businesses at the University of Virginia — links and details of the event vendors below!

Tech

RoomMe by DSB — Brian Bernard (co-founder)

ShotBySyrup – Justin Maples

HoosBizz — Mary Robinson (co-founder)

Vibez Music — Cresta Campbell

Fashion/Clothing

CHIRTÉ — Evodie Mukandila (email: Chirteofficial@gmail.com)

Ntrl Ground — Lukas Spady

Jay’s Sneakz — Jayden Pierre

Crochet by Kenzie — McKenzie Samuels 

Ilesanmi — Taiwo Adepoju 

Beauty

sty.ledbyangie — Angie Smith (instagram: @sty.ledbyangie)

Looks By Storm — Aminah Mason (instagram: @looksbystorm)

Fiyin x Mimi — Fiyin (instagram: @fiyinxmimi)

Art

Mary Makes It — Mary Hall 

Music

DJ MAZI SERVICES — Praise Agochi (instagram: @dj_mazii)

DJ Immaculate — Sean Ayers (instagram: Dj_immaculate_)

Davy HBF (Stage Name) — Davon Okoro

Food

Treasures by Tresure — Tresure Gary