00:00 For those of you who don't know me, I am a fashion designer.
00:03 I launched my brand Brother Valleys several blocks away from here with $3,500 at a flea market
00:09 and everyone thought I was totally insane.
00:11 It was my entire life savings at that time and I really kind of put it all on the line.
00:17 I was lucky enough that I got grants, I worked really hard, I ended up really in debt, I got evicted.
00:23 It was dark for a while, but I pulled myself out of it through grit and through determination
00:29 and I learned a lot of very hard lessons.
00:32 It was those lessons and those fights and those wins that helped me have the courage in 2020
00:39 to go once again onto Instagram, which now I know is a trend of mine,
00:43 and put a bold idea out there and ask major retailers, many of whom were partners at the time,
00:50 to do something different.
00:53 And that was to do the thing that they do best in service of those who've been historically excluded,
00:59 i.e. the black community.
01:01 And I asked them to consider committing 15% of their shelf space,
01:05 roughly equivalent to the population of black Americans,
01:08 to commit 15% of their shelf space to black businesses.
01:12 Very rapidly, we started having people sign on, everyone signed contracts,
01:18 and within the first 18 months we had 29 of the largest retailers around the world
01:22 commit to the 15% pledge.
01:24 Thank you, guys.
01:26 [applause]
01:28 And through those contractual commitments, we're now in the process of reallocating
01:31 over $14 billion of annual revenue to black entrepreneurs.
01:37 Thank you, guys.
01:38 And so many of you guys have lifted us up in that process and helped make that work possible.
01:44 I think we know, and we've already touched on it a lot this evening,
01:48 that all of this work is very much in jeopardy.
01:52 When we ask some of the biggest companies in the world to commit 15% of their shelf space,
01:57 that ties in with things like affirmative action.
02:01 And so in 2024, we have to remember, yes, we have made so much progress,
02:08 but each and every one of us and the work that we do every single day
02:12 is an incredibly important part of the fabric and the quilt that ties us together
02:18 to give us the strength to keep pushing forward.
02:21 Because as hard fought as it was to get this progress,
02:24 there are people that are working overtime to claw it back from us.
02:28 And every single day I have the privilege of talking to black entrepreneurs
02:32 that are changing the face of this country,
02:34 and they're able to do that because of the work of all of us in this room.
02:38 We have fought hard.
02:39 There are people who were here long before us that started this fight
02:42 much, much, much before any of us were ever even born.
02:46 And the reason that my ask was heard by so many people
02:49 was because I was standing on the shoulders of the people that came before me.
02:53 So I just want to tell you guys, thank you so much for allowing me in this space with you.
02:58 I am so, so, so honored to get to do this work,
03:03 to get to be in this fight alongside all of you.
03:06 We need each other.
03:08 We are so strong together,
03:10 and that is how we get the message louder and be heard everywhere
03:14 so that we can have the next generation have just as much, if not more, opportunity than we've had.
03:18 Thank you guys so much.
03:19 Thank you to Time Magazine.
03:21 (audience applauding)
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