00:00As a way to celebrate entrepreneurial prowess, Essence and Pinesol have partnered up to create the Build Your Legacy Contest.
00:07A $100,000 grant awarded to one Black female entrepreneur to support her business.
00:14This contest was created as a response to Black women being the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs, but also the most underfunded.
00:23We want to change that.
00:24And now it's time to introduce you to the Build Your Legacy Contest semifinalist, Mary Blackford of Market 7.
00:34Market 7 is a community marketplace that features Black-owned businesses for the purpose of alleviating food and retail deserts in Washington, D.C.
00:45I started Market 7 because I was hungry.
00:47I mean, really hungry.
00:49The type of hungry that makes you want to actually get up and do something about it.
00:52I had to take a Uber or a Lyft to the other side of town to actually access fresh food and sustainable grocers.
01:00And it became quite expensive.
01:02And I was wondering, is everyone doing this?
01:04And I started to ask around in my community to community stakeholders and government officials, how can we get a better grocery store in our community?
01:12Because we only had one dilapidated grocery store.
01:14And they said, Mary, we can't really attract better stores because the area of medium income is far too low to actually attract the type of grocery stores that you're talking about.
01:23The only way that we can change this would be to up people's tax brackets.
01:27And essentially, that means gentrifying our community.
01:30And I didn't want that to happen.
01:32But I knew that there was another way.
01:34And thus, Market 7 was born.
01:35My grandmother, Mary, she has been such an inspiration to my life.
01:47She's one of the women that helped raise me.
01:49And through her, I learned so much about committing to community and service.
01:54Martin Luther King has this quote where he says, anyone can be great because anyone can serve.
02:01And my grandmother is the personification of service.
02:05When my grandfather passed away in the 80s, she needed additional food for the home because of the lack of income that was coming in.
02:12And she went to a food bank that gave away free food to the community.
02:15And when she got there, even in her own state of need, she saw that they needed additional volunteers.
02:20She said, listen, I can step up and I can help.
02:22And my grandmother has just really committed to being there so much so that whenever they have overflow or she can help or bring extra food to other people, she does it.
02:31She brings additional food from the food bank to elders that live in her building that have mobility issues and don't have a lot of family around, as well as people who are just in need.
02:40And so I have committed to service in such a big way through her influence.
02:44And that has just been my guiding light with my business.
02:47$100,000 for Market 7 means survival.
02:54What a lot of people don't know about Washington, D.C. is that in communities in Ward 7 and 8, residents are dying up to 16 years earlier than residents in other parts of Washington, D.C.
03:06due to things like diabetes and other health-related issues that can be remedied in part or altogether through a change of diet.
03:13And so we are very excited to be a part of the Build Your Legacy opportunity because this means that we're not only going to just get more businesses, but also we're going to get jobs.
03:26We're also going to have access to entrepreneurs that can teach our community about how to eat better.
03:31And this is really just going to plant a seed for a blueprint for economic cooperation for our communities going forward.
03:37And we can actually help them by providing an example of how Black businesses can come together and build something that helps our community stay safe, thrive, and be healthy.
03:49You've heard from Mary Blackford, and now it is time that we hear from you.
03:53Please vote for the entrepreneur that you think should win $100,000 at Essence.com slash your legacy.
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