3 Companies To Shop In Celebration Of National Black Business Month

Telsha Anderson of t.a. New York for Hanahana Beauty. Courtesy of Hanahana Beauty

By Cassell Ferere originally published on Forbes.com

This summer has been a resurgence for a lot of small businesses and a great year for launching in the case of new start-up businesses. Black-owned businesses have seen major support following the 2020 year of uproar from minorities against systemic racism and bigotry of all kinds; in the workplace as well in law enforcement, and healthcare. For companies who range these levels of business operations from law enforcement to healthcare, conscious consumers help them thrive and become household names.

National Black Business Month was founded in 2004 by historian John William Templeton and Frederik E. Jordan Sr., an engineer. They built the National Month to drive a policy agenda to encourage people to support the more than 2.6 million African-American-owned businesses in the United States. Black businesses make up 10% of business in America, and 30% of all minority-owned businesses. Women have helped that number rise over the years, gaining ground in Black-owned businesses by about 67% from 2007 to 2012. Healthcare has been one of the major stakes in black-owned businesses, along with, repair, personal, and laundry services, and social assistance.

For the Black female founders of t.a. New York, ITA Leisure, and Hanahana Beauty, launching a company in this climate is daunting in itself, but doing it as a woman of color added to the overall challenge. Founders Telsha Anderson, Jade Akintola, and AbenaBoamah are defying their bounds and are pushing a narrative of Black-owned businesses, positioned in fashion, beauty, and lifestyle.

Telsha Anderson is the owner and buyer of the newest go-to shop located in the Meatpacking District, t.a. New York. Anderson has curated global style in her concept boutique for the modern cosmopolitan woman. Opening in the heat of the 2020 summer, Anderson has managed to create a taste for lifestyle items and fashionable garments, sourced from places like London, Paris, Peru, Tbilisi, Milan, South Korea, Los Angeles, as well as New York, and many other eclectic locations around the world. The store carries books, clothing, magazines, photo books, jewelry, bags, shoes, and other items.

The t.a. New York boutique’s international repertoire has grown since its opening and demand has kept the doors open even as we deal with a continuing pandemic. Anderson has defined women of great detail through her curated shop and defines the modern-day businesswomen representing Black-owned fashion retail.

ITA Leisure was founded by Jade Akintola, seeking to fill a void in lifestyle outdoor products that reflected and related to Black people who value the serenity of the outdoors and the representation of personal style outward to the world. Mainly, Akintola was uncomfortable with her selection of leisure products like lounge chairs and beach towels that didn’t relate to a Black woman like herself. A disconnect that she noticed and has given way to the awareness of those aspects and nuances of the mundane.