On excellence and viewing it from three different perspectives

The partnerships, activations and events I’ve had the pleasure of planning and being a part of this year have been nothing short of amazing. In the past few months, I’ve been able to view inspiring events from different perspectives - one where I led the planning and execution (Build Black Virtual 2022), being a participant in one (Black Entrepreneurs Day with Daymond John) and another where simply got to be an attendee, of sorts (Afrotech 2022). From each of these, I got to learn new things - my absolute favourite thing to do.?

Build Black Virtual 2022

In 2021, Build Black Virtual was a seamless way to bring black businesses across the world together to learn about Shopify’s Black Entrepreneurship program and what it meant. It was also an opportunity to share actionable lessons that could help businesses. This year, it was that and more. I wanted to push the envelope and think about how to not just engage the audience, but captivate them too.? By virtue of being virtual, I wanted to animate the elements we could and create enough segments that would keep everyone’s interest, without overwhelming them.?

When I say we pushed the envelope, I mean in all the possible ways. It was, at the time, the largest event our friends over at Venue (the streaming platform) had hosted. They were involved in the backend to ensure the event went on without a hitch. About 17,000 people registered, over 6,600 tuned in to the event. It’s the biggest Build Black Virtual thus far. Working with all the teams to bring this together, and having each of them equally as committed to all of the nuances was special. It was so special that people didn’t want to leave at the end!?

After the event, there was so much buzz and people wanted an encore - so we did that. I capped the encore with a question and answer (Q&A) session from our team. Then, to avoid having to do multiple encores, despite people asking, I uploaded a recording specifically for the registrants to watch it as many times as they wanted.?

When I’m so intimately involved with building something, I can see all of the cracks in it. It takes me a moment to step back and fully appreciate what I’ve done. Weeks later, I’m able to think of all the cracks as areas that can be replaced with gold and strengthened. The positive feedback from attendees was heartwarming and really helped me in this regard. It was great to see the event from the perspectives of the people who attended it and how much it meant to them. They indicated this with their comments during the show, their feedback afterwards and continued conversations across the internet.

None of this would have been possible without the founders and entrepreneurs who came on and shared their stories and experiences and the teams who helped bring this together:

Julian R. Addo from Adjoa Beauty | Blake Van Putten from CISE | Melissa Mitchell from Abeille Creations | Kadidja Dosso from Dosso Beauty | Monique Rodriguez from Mielle Organics | Archie Clay III from Wear Brims | Timothy George from Elo Vegan

José, Andrew Schiller , Paul Caristena , Steven Buffee , Trevor Silvani , Diego Bernal and Brandon Davenport , Jason Goldlist and his team. In-person filming, editing, animation, production. Every single one of these people were committed to my vision of creating an event that was engaging, educational, fun and captivating for black entrepreneurs. Watch the Encore of Build Black Virtual 2022 here.

After months of planning, Build Black Virtual 2022 wrapped my September in a bow. The Build Black team and I headed to New York for Black Entrepreneurs Day to talk about our support of black businesses and a different perspective of excellence.

Black Entrepreneurs Day with Daymond John

The Apollo Theatre in Harlem is one with a stage that’s been filled with legendary icons. As I got mic'd up to get on that same stage to speak with Daymond John, I had to pinch myself a little bit. I was going to be up there talking about a thing I do everyday - supporting black businesses. I do the things I do well, but I wouldn’t say I am legendary.?

For our team, we’re digging deeper into our commitments to supporting black businesses so we can build higher. Each day, I’m still learning from entrepreneurs. There are always new obstacles to navigate, so that’s never going to stop. I heard from so many different icons and companies and gleaned from each of them. Whether it was the businesses in the Shopify Pitch Competition and what they would do with the grant money, or it was the persistence of Tracee Ellis Ross to establish Pattern Beauty, despite her fame and fortune. Whether that was Spike Lee and the things that fuel his creativity or Marvin Ellison on his work ethic and becoming a CEO of Lowes. It was an enlightening experience to be hearing about the different experiences and paths each of these people took to attain varied levels of success. It was a reminder that success and excellence is inevitable with consistency. That was October.

Afrotech 2022

As if I could not be full enough with everything I had planned and been a part of above, I got the distinct pleasure of going to my first ever Afrotech conference. The energy of downtown Austin was incomparable as 20,000+ black people in tech moved to and fro in the city. From lunch spots to seminars, to bars, to the convention center, to shops.?

There was just something inexplicable, yet immensely tangible, about that many people in the same place with similar goals. It was electrifying. The connections and conversations were unmatched. I never felt the need to explain myself. Every conversation started with an openness to discuss our subjective experiences, the important work we are doing or the correlations of that work. Sometimes, those conversations were around the shoes I was wearing.?

The curation of the various speakers on stage was meticulous. Each talk provided a broad overview of topics from a variety of people. Chamillionaire on becoming an investor, Mark Cuban and his investments in black businesses, Toure Roberts on purpose, equity and innovation. Talks on web3, inclusive product design and a myriad of other equally important topics. It was great to see that there was content for everyone and their various interests. Being surrounded, daily, by that kind of energy was incredible. While those talks on stage were brilliant, I will likely remember the individual conversations the most. I remember learning about the (very high level) intricacies of thermal engineering. Prior to this, I didn’t even know Thermal Engineers existed! Walking the Expo Hall and learning about the number of companies I had never heard of who were doing impactful work. For that week, a brief moment in time, we were all relishing in the magnificence, yet intimacy, of the conference.?

Connecting with other Shopify employees (100+) I had never met before was the highlight for me. My other favourite part of the conference was experiencing the duality of all the people there. Mornings filled with talks that were directly or tangentially related to the work that people did and then at night, the same people who were teaching me about the intricacies of web3, blockchain or burnout management were letting loose and having a good time. To me, it spoke volumes about the necessity to be balanced. All of it was an incredibly relatable form of excellence.

Being at Afrotech 2022 made me feel like all of us in those rooms could change the world.

I imagine very many of us will.?

As we neared the end of Afrotech, at an impromptu Shopify event to commemorate the incoming Black employee resource group (ERG) leaders, I said something along the lines of

“I hope that when you go back to your jobs and you’re the only one in the room, you at least have a memory of what it's like to be surrounded by your own. To know what this is like. That you know we’re all out there, doing the [expletive] thing.”

As I came back to work on Monday, I had the luxury of starting my week off with these women - Amena Agbaje and Anikei Allen . I couldn’t have chosen better partners to do this work with. The entire year has been nothing short of phenomenal and these last three months and events have me excited and ready for everything that is to come.

If you know anything about me, you know I have already started tinkering and planning on what next year is going to look like. I cannot wait.