Nuggets of wisdom from a Black female founder

I’m sure you know ALL about my content series, ‘Celebrating Our Sisters’ where I interview brilliant Black female and non-binary changemakers, who are serious about social justice. Last month, I featured my friend and changemaker Foluke Akinlose MBE FRSA , who’s the founder of PRECIOUS, a digital platform, network and resource for women of colour. And also Tobi Oredein founder of Black Ballad, a digital media and lifestyle subscription platform, launched by Tobi in 2014.

Each time, I ask our brilliant interviewees a range of questions which ask them to think about their founder journeys and reflect on things like what they wish they’d known when they started out and the things they’re proudest of. When I asked Danielle Bridge , CEO of Black Minds Matter UK to tell us about the things that you do that foster community within your industry, she answered:

?“I’ve made it my mission to network and to reach out to the organisations that are not only supportive of the work that we do at Black Minds Matter UK, but are also supportive of the work that I’m trying to do personally within the organisation. So, reaching out to allies in the mental health space that can help foster conversations about where we are, or should be, are at the forefront of that conversation. So, for example, massive allies are people like Sarah Hughes at Mind UK and Laura Bunt at Young Minds who already work on a national level.”

And when I asked her to reveal how issues of white supremacy shows up as the Black Minds Matter UK organisation is becoming more successful and well-known, Danielle said: “Well, there is the age old ‘Oh, well you’re a racist organisation’ which I have heard before, you know, in emails, etc, that were received. But I don’t not pay any of them any mind because you cannot argue with people who are not willing to learn and in the words of Sweet Brown: ‘Ain’t nobody got time for that’ .Other places where white supremacy is going to show up, and has shown up, is where we are being asked to support charitable organisations. So, for example, working with drug and alcohol services, without asking whether or not Black Minds Matter UK is only for Black people.” ?

Read the full interview with Danielle Bridge, here.

(Letting you know that we’ll also be posting this content out via our Brand By Me channels, too).

It was really eye-opening to hear Danielle chat about her role with Black Minds Matter and I’ve distilled our chat into three main takeaways from her interview. They are:

Collette’s three main takeaways from Danielle’s interview:

1.? Cherish the challenges?

Sometimes the things that you’re daunted by are the things that end up being the most rewarding .

2. Connect everything and everyone to the mission

In a founder-led business, everyone needs to feel like they own the mission and purpose. This is really important so that the legacy lives on beyond the founder.

3.?‘Mental health’ and ‘life’ are not separate

Prioritising the discussion about mental health within the Black community is super important.

And, for this interview I’m adding a fourth: it’s ok to focus on one minoritised community if it creates real equity and tackles injustice. Too often, people criticise because they think inclusion means “everyone” instead of understanding that it’s about inclusion of the most minoritised and marginalised communities.?

I’d love to hear your reflections on the topics we delved into – sign up to the collettephilip.com email newsletter so that we can stay in touch.