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We're so excited and proud of Rae and Kissia - two of our favorite Our Bar ATL regulars, black entrepreneurs, and inspirational Atlantans - as they bring their Blacklanta brand to brick-and-mortar!
Ever since they helped us push our Hug The Block cause forward back in November 2020 for Founder Rae's birthday, they've since held multiple panels at our bar on deeply important community issues such as mental health, love, trauma, seasonal depression, social media addiction, and wellness.
They've been incredibly involved in our community, whether it's passing out basic necessities to our unsheltered neighbors in the Old Fourth Ward or tackling the mental and spiritual issues so prevalent in our community. Therefore, we were honored to feature them in our first Black History Month Zine earlier this year! We sat with them for an in-depth interview and photoshoot as we discussed what Black History meant to them personally and their big dreams for themselves and their community.
Given their amazing love and support for Our Bar ATL and all that we do here, we couldn't wait to return their generosity. As soon as they shared the news that they've found a space, we immediately wanted to do a collaboration in order to raise funds and help them reach their goal!
BLACKLANTA, a woman-owned, local directory, is a leading source for Black businesses in Atlanta. In just two years, they've leveraged their platform to help put together hundreds of businesses and thousands of entrepreneurs in the right places to organically meet and grow from each other's experiences and resources. They've become a trusted and effective directory for Black-owned businesses, as well as furthered the circulation of the Black dollar within the community.
Given their talents, achievements, and ambitions, a brick-and-mortar space was inevitable. At the top of this year, they announced their plans to launch their start-up storefront, the Black Creators Convenience Store (the.bccs)
With just over a year in business ourselves, we still recall being in their shoes and nervously anticipating the future. However, the strongest emotions that remain indelibly sketched on our hearts are the sheer gratitude, caring, and companionship we felt as our friends stuck with us through all the doubts, bone-deep anxiety and sheer fear of public failure. =
Rae and Kissia, we believe in you and everything that Blacklanta and the.bccs stand for. Your vision of a reimagined convenience store is a beautiful and much-needed concept in our community. Whether it's buying from this tee collab, contributing to their crowdfunding, or even sharing their story, we hope all of Atlanta can show up, support, and fund bright and beautiful Black women such as yourselves.
To our neighbors, friends, and fellow Atlantans, when there's something like this that so clearly benefits our own community, we can't help but do what we can to nourish and cherish it. Come be a part of something precious - for it's never too late to help dreams come to life.
Love,
Your friends at Our Bar