As many of you know, Brown Sugar took a hiatus & decided to temporarily close our doors.
Our vision has always been to be as impactful as possible & to decrease the literacy gaps in black & brown children, while bridging the cultural gap within our communities. Through our efforts we're proud of the hundreds , maybe even thousands of people that we've been able to impact through our various platforms.
It's no secret that we hit some bumps along the way. Starting with Racism & Vandalism, Building structural issues & normal issues that new business often endure.
Those things took a toll & I Raven White as owner decided it may be best to start fresh in a different more receptive environment. Literally within minutes of announcing our store closing & till this very day, we begin to receive hundreds of emails, text, DM's from customers & supporters expressing their sorrow, shock & asking us to please reconsider.
We heard you. We went to work on us. We developed a new & improved bulletproof business plan! Better onboarding for new independent authors, Improved Cafe experience, state of the art podcast studio, co-working offices & SO much more! We obtained a business coach, professional business counsel, mentorship & more to decide if this was the right move or not.
It was NOT.
As the owner I can be transparent & admit that with stress of playing every major role in business from accountant, cashier, bookseller, & of course head chicken salad croissant maker, extreme burn out & stress crept in & there you have it, you get a Proprietress that desperately needed to take a break, Re-group & get some real help with building such a powerful brand. Something this big, I couldn't do it alone.
We have a plan to return a NEW space with bigger , better & brighter ideas! We will roll out our amazing programs as well as events ! Most importantly we will have all of the latest & best books that not only we as adults love to read, but specially curated selections of books that will encourage our children to read more & actually love it all while seeing CLEAR & POSITIVE representatives of themselves.
We will continue to support & partner with others local brands, host networking events, in-store book signings , live art shows & of course continue on with our one of a kind "tiny desk " style weekly storytelling & open mic nights.,
WHY we need funding. New businesses are expensive.
Did you know that LESS that .1% of black female founders like myself receive funding for their startup businesses through entities like banks, private investors, government grants & many more organizations designed specifically to help small impactful business like mine to grow? For black women , often times if it's not coming from personal resources , friends & family or community, must of us never receive funding help. The reality is that it takes hundreds of thousands to start & grow most businesses before a dime of profit is seen. We don't want that to stop us from our mission of helping children fall in love with reading! We want families to have a place in their own communities to call their own with amazing books, music, art networking, co-working & culture.
We are raising funds that will go towards the tools & resources that we need to effectively, smoothly & securely allow us to re-open without issue.
We genuinely LOVE & APPRECIATE our supporters. I don't think a day passes that I'm not moved to tears over being told the impact we've already made & how we're missed.
Please leave a note for us of encouragement if you can. Even if you can't donate $100 all amounts are welcome♥️
Peace & Blessings
Proprietress , Raven Rose White #Fortheculture
