About Melanin Preneurs
"Black isn't a trend, it's a culture."
Melanin Preneurs™ purpose is to support emerging and established Black-owned businesses by offering consumers a curated directory of Black-owned businesses across the United States, increasing the amount of time the Black dollar stays in the Black community.
The Goal
Our goal is to reshape old paradigms of Black-owned businesses having inferior products and services or lacking the ability to offer an excellent customer experience. We are dedicated to making a positive impact on a divided nation. Like Mother Teresa would never attend an antiwar rally, but would a peace rally, we must focus on what we do want rather than what we don’t want.
Equally, we are deeply committed to ending systemic racism and contributing to the demarginalization of minorities, not by breaking down systematic barriers but by developing opportunities that tower over and smothers the light that illuminates injustice.
The Black Narrative
What happens when the Black culture consisting of more than 47.8 million, spends more than $1.3 Trillion annually yet does not receive the same socioeconomic and business support equal to non-minority groups? The entire economy is negatively impacted, and this impact of inequality unleashes a shift to how and where Blacks spend their economic power.
For centuries, the bold and resilient spirit of Black entrepreneurs has forced them to reframe their approach and take risks to flourish in and outside of their communities. Often, when opportunities didn’t knock, Blacks were forced to build their own door. Such as the “Black Wall Street” of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. This initiative aims to create another door for Black-owned businesses to walk through and paint for American history a vivid picture of their ability to thrive when support is served in equal portions.
Our Founder
Bailey Sessoms is a branding expert, author, speaker, educator, and entrepreneur. A graduate of Howard University, over the past 20-years, Bailey has contributed creative support to many notable brands looking to cater to the African American community. Best known for helping launch BET.com as one of only five content producers, she is also a former lifestyle columnist for AOL.
Also, Bailey was also dubbed a 202Creative as part of the launch of Mayor Muriel Bowser 202Creates, which amplifies and celebrates DC’s creative culture. She was recently commissioned to design the District of Columbia’s “Living Wage DC” initiative logo.
She has been featured by prominent news outlets, including the historical Afro American Newspaper, The Washington Post, New York Daily News, NBC, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.