accountability: in support of Black Lives Matter

Hello friends <3  

Like many of my small business peers, I’ve refrained from any business-related posting over the past week to make room for the pressing and significant dialogues that have been occurring both online and in the streets.  I have taken this opportunity to turn my attention to the very necessary work of self-reflection, unlearning, listening and educating myself on how to show up as a true anti-racism ally.  It is important to acknowledge that even having the option of choosing to engage more deeply with issues of race in this country is a tremendous instance of my white privilege.  It’s time to embrace the discomfort and continue to have difficult conversations with myself, with my family and with my communities.  I have more to learn, I am imperfect and I am responsible for growing, in perpetuity.  In the interest of pushing past my ego-driven fear of saying the wrong thing, I return to this platform with question: 

If allyship is a constant process of actions, not just beliefs, how then to show up as a business?

As a business owner, I cannot ignore the reality that capitalism is one of many systems strategically designed to profit from an imbalance in power, at the expense of marginalized individuals and specifically BIPOC.  While I love what I do and believe in the value of creating beautiful, functional objects, I readily acknowledge that my product falls in a non-essential category. Additionally, my position in the marketplace, even as a tiny brand, is still inherently boosted by my status as a white woman.  

At every level, white business owners have a responsibility to participate in the redistribution of wealth. I am still researching the most effective way to do this as a young brand, and would like to explore a variety of strategies (matched donations, dedicated product sales, percentage of profit, etc) over the coming months and years.  While I know that any such financial return will only serve as a very overdue, very small drop in the bucket, I am committed to incorporating a giving program into my brand’s mission and practice.  

Beyond monetary donations, I am committing to a close scrutiny of my supply chain to ensure that I am not investing any money with companies that undermine an anti-racist agenda.    Although I am currently a one-woman operation, I intend to expand and I am committed to embracing diversity in my hiring from the start.  Furthermore, I will only begin to hire when I am able offer the kind of compensation and employee work experience demanded of any brand that considers itself sustainable and ethical.  

I will prioritize a renewed attention to showing diversity in my feed, lookbooks and editorial shoots.  Since I specifically chose to focus on leather accessories because they fit every body (as opposed to straight sized apparel), I need to better communicate this in the kind of imagery I share on my platform.  This includes diversity of race, size, and gender expression, both in my original content and the inspirational art and design images I repost. As the incomparable Erykah Badu said, “be the reason someone feels welcomed, seen, heard, valued, loved and supported.”  

The past two weeks have shown a glimpse of what a more active, more honest, more accountable America might look like-  it is our job to make sure this becomes the norm, and not a momentary trend that fades with a new crop of headlines. Keep listening, sharing, learning and taking direct action. I’d love to hear from you and welcome your thoughts, comments, concerns, suggestions, or ideas.

Black lives matter.  Defund the police.

With love,

Hannah