A tribute to my supplier diversity officers, advocates, my MBEs...

This is an off the cuff, just feeling overwhelmed with gratitude, wanting to share my blessings tribute to my supplier diversity officers, advocates, my MBEs... all of you who are uniting and fighting back so that we can counter injustice with empowerment, exploitation with ownership, racism with inclusion, and pain wth power... 

Every year, during the holiday shopping season, I push hard for conscious consumers to try harder, do more, to support our MBEs. I offer tips, lists, favs. I give information and inspiration to my supporters in The Empowerment Experiment so we can do our part to lift up these vital Black owned businesses that create jobs, wealth, hope, and role models that can NOT be created otherwise. I will keep doing that. It makes a difference. 

But to trigger and facilitate the economic upheaval my community needs and to truly annihilate the forces of racism, poverty, injustice that stagger and stifle our progress as a society, we need the same level of energy and excitement (AND attention and anger) in the supplier diversity movement. We have to go out of our way to find that local Black owned business… the dry cleaner, the baker, the daycare, the optometrist, the McDonald’s you visit, the bank… I make sure all of these entrepreneurs and enterprises come from my Black community. It’s the least I can do, when I see young men killing themselves mostly because their families and neighborhoods are poor and almost every business owner they see everyday in their own neighborhood does not look like him. Watch this video... 24HoursInMyBlackChicago. You will meet some of these great MBEs... just a day in my life supporting these amazing entrepreneurs and businesses. We do this FOR REAL! And we love it! I want the same for you!

But that’s only one part. If you care about the Black community... If you care about these disillusioned boys...If you want to prove your love and pride for Black owned businesses... if you want our children to do better because they see better, then you need to spend money with brands, retailers, franchisors that do business with us. NOT JUST HIRE US! You need to help these supplier diversity officers - my friends at the corporations, the schools, in government - prove that seeking, developing, investing in and engaging diverse owners is important to us. Then, THEN, those MBEs, after getting a contract from a Nestle, New York Life, Hilton, can create jobs for the people and hope for the youth. That’s how it works! That’s the ONLY WAY it can work. If you want more Black owned products on Target’s shelves, you need to find and buy the ones you see now. Then, THEN the supplier diversity officer has a case to put more of those products on the shelves, include more Black service firms for IT, Marketing, groundskeeping, transportation, whatever in the supply chain, more Black owners in the franchise.

Community let’s step! Let’s help these diversity officers mean it when they say “the Black community needs to be valued. If we want to do business with the Black community, we have to do business with Black firms!” I’m pushing you to do that, to do more, to try harder. MaggieAndersonTEDTalk (Watch my popular TED Talk, a call for more business diversity and a tribute to our unsung yet awe-inspiring history of entrepreneurship and economic solidarity.)

And while I do so, I am thanking those who are actively, everyday, putting Black made products on the shelves, granting franchises to Black firms, and construction contracts to Black companies. You do it now, without a movement, without praise and fanfare, without any glam or glory.

Thank you. Thank you. I get so much love because I took a stand, and now devote my life to spreading this empowerment message. How courageous, how giving, how committed. And that’s cool. My family did and still does sacrifice a great deal. Lovingly and happily, we do! And I try very hard to redeem that love and respect as a speaker and activist. But the real praise belongs to you, the revolutionaries at the big institutions fighting for diversity, inclusion, equity with love, smarts, and conviction. Where would I be without you? It is your courage that wakes me up everyday. It is your commitment that persuades me not to give up. It is totally because of you - my brilliant, bold, talented and driven entrepreneurs, advocates, and corporate, government university partners - that I give my all to this, putting this before my family, my career. (See me below with diversity soldiers from McDonald's and New York Life. These McDonald's owners and New York Life executives fight for Black agents, businesses, suppliers and franchisees. They are my fuel!)

So with all that praise and love I have for you, I ask you to do what I do. Stay patient, prayerful, AND powerful. Be bold and brilliant. Be revved and ready, because the consumers are coming up right behind you!  Love, Maggie

See more, learn more, do more at www.AuthorMaggieAnderson.com www.OurBlackYear.com!