Business Brew: 4 BIPOC Podcasts Inspiring you to Succeed
BIPOC businesses have opened the window of opportunity for conscientious and mission-based companies. With a recent surge of successful BIPOC businesseshaircare and ethically-sourced baked goods, to brick-and-mortar bookshops and book clubs, it’s evident that highlighting marginalized voices serves communities beyond a single zip code.
With the added benefit of having an online presence, customers feel connected with their community—even opening doors so people can feel seen enough to start their own business venture. While profit is still the bottom line, the act of authenticity and being purpose-driven can be seen as a new definition of success.
However, with this surge of success kicking off on a celebratory note, how do BIPOC businesses stay true to their purpose?
When taking a closer look at the actual bottom line of BIPOC-owned businesses, it is the investment in one’s community that genuinely brings wealth beyond measure. So while we might not be “free” from the barriers, we are uniquely positioned to reinvent profit for good. Right now, it’s a matter of asking how future generations will do business.
Here are four podcasts celebrating BIPOC business success stories. Each podcast digs into how running businesses with empathy and mindfulness is what keeps BIPOC businesses thriving.
BOSS Barista Podcast
If America runs on coffee, no one is harder working than our baristas who make that phrase possible. Boss Barista’s host Ashley Rodriguez creates space to discuss issues in the coffee industry. Every episode aims to empower baristas and call for equity in the workplace.
One of its earlier episodes from 2019 discusses raising the minimum wage. In this episode, a coffee shop owner shares how their work on providing a living wage to their baristas came about. This story connects how the service industry (where low wages and overworked staff persist) can find a path to providing dignified incomes for artisans deeply passionate about making and selling coffee.
RED Bay Coffee & RED Bay Coffee Dojo Podcast
As a coffee company and a podcast, RED Bay Coffee, is committed to sourcing sustainable coffee while also being a vehicle for diversity, inclusion, social and economic restoration, and environmental sustainability.
RED Bay Coffee’s podcast, RED Bay Coffee Dojo, is hosted by its founder Keba Konte. The podcast discusses more than just coffee and the “grind” it comes with. Each episode examines the intersections of leadership and culture. They dive into what it takes to be creative while featuring bold outliers in the business.
The Fearless Podcast with Arian Simone
More focused on BIPOC entrepreneurship, this podcast takes an engaging, funny, transparent, and fearless tone with money. Host Arian Simone discusses seemingly daunting acquisition and venture capital topics each week and turns them into digestible information, making financial literacy a little more fun.
In this 2020 episode, Arian discusses what it looks like to go after your dreams fearlessly. Journeys of failure are shared, along with a reminder of how purpose and passion can pull us back up.
Side Hustle Pro
Hosted by Nicaila Matthews Okome, Side Hustle Pro spotlights bold black women entrepreneurs who have scaled from side hustle to profitable business. Each episode features a BIPOC-owned business and its success story and mission to serve its community.
In this 2021 episode, BIPOC business Puzzles of Color tells the story of Ericka Chambers, CEO, and Co-Founder of Puzzles of Color. Chambers found her calling to start a business designing and creating puzzles for people of color when idle time during the pandemic led to the realization that there was a lack of representation. She considers it to be her best invention yet.
The demand for freedom from capitalist economic oppression has become more evident. It’s taken global-scale economic setbacks and looking past old versions of success to inspire a new generation of BIPOC entrepreneurs. Finally we are seeing huge impacts in a world of small business.
