This Sunday evening Women.Weed.Wifi hosted a Black Market event full of Black and Brown entrepreneurs at the Artspace Hiawatha Lofts in Seattle. Artists and artisans provided Seattle locals with an opportunity to get some meaningful and original gifts for the holidays, as well as an opportunity to support Black and Brown local business owners. Of course, I couldn’t help but attend and purchase a few gifts for myself. When I arrived there was DJ providing an intimate ambiance to the modern space, there was also some food and champagne served.
A variety of vendors were at this event, from photography and canvas paintings to cosmetics and apparel, the Black Market had something for everyone and there were even some things that I wasn’t expecting. When you think of a market, does radio come to mind? Maybe not if you’ve never been to a Black Market. One of the first tables that I approached was Hella Black Hella Seattle, a group of Black women who were born and raised in city. The women host a podacast series that facilitates communtiy engagement of people of color in the Seattle area. The originally short run summer series was expanded to the Fall and Winter with so much success. After meeting the women here (and getting a cool sticker) I’m looking forward to binge listening to their series of podcasts, you can follow and listen to the group’s tracks here on Soundcloud. The women are giving Blacks in Seattle a voice that needs to be heard, as a natural hair stylist I’ve heard it hundreds of times, “Where are all the Blacks in Seattle at?” and now I can tell them Hella Black Hella Seattle has the answers and are providing us with local restaurants, events and new music for us to explore and enjoy.
In addition to introducing and connecting consumers to local media producers and entertainment, there were also vendors with body products. Nyema Clark, owner of Avenue South (who also organized the BPP Film Forum this past September), has handmade natural body products. We purchased a beautiful container of whipped shea butter that can be used on the skin or hair. The mixture is smooth and creamy and a perfect moisturizer or deep conditioner. I also purchased 2 tubes of handmade lipsticks from Shie Cosmetics. Shakiara, the owner of the brand, had several shades to choose from. Shie’s Wicked is a deep purple with red-ish undertones, the shade looks amazing on both my stepmother and I.
And of course I couldn’t help but gravitate towards my favorite things to buy, clothes! I couldn’t help but drift towards the $1-$5 table that was piled with T-shirts, dresses, shorts, sweaters, blouses and other colorful garments. After grabbing a few pieces from the table I was drawn towards an original jacket by Women.Weed.Wifi. I bought the jacket because it was the last of its kind, a stressed, stained and oversized pink, camouflage military jacket.
Women.Weed.Wifi is a is, “a space dedicated to highlighting badass chicks who 
pursue their dreams, are committed to building strong communities, and share the same love of cannabis.” Women.Weed.Wifi provided another incredible opportunity to buy Black for the holidays. For me, it always feels incredible to spend money within the communtiy, especially with small business owners. Thank you for organizing this event, any one who is looking for more information on the Black owned businesses that were at this event will find their contact information updated in the Black Business Directory.
