A few months ago I received a message from Andrew of Fine Balance Brewing Company asking if I would want to work on a collaboration with him. He likes the work I’ve been doing to amplify local Black-owned businesses and was wondering if I would want to participate in one of their quarterly collaborations with a portion of the proceeds going back to a local non-profit which I would get to choose. I was so humbled by this message and eager to work with Andrew!

If you’re new here, I will give a bit of context about the Black-owned business list. In 2020, the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, I shared about my personal experiences growing up in Kingston as a Black kid and teenager. That blog post got a lot of attention and I decided to shift the focus away from myself and onto something actionable and important. I started a Black-owned business list for folks looking for ways to address a global issue locally. It gave a platform for businesses that might not get as much traction locally and also for Black folks across the diaspora to easily find more of their culture in our community.