Let’s hit em facts, back it up with history and top it off with some inspiration, good girl style…
For the unfortunate facts:
For the good facts:
The Good Girl Movement interviewed powerhouse, Brianna Baker, about black women’s finances and she broke it all the way down.
“Eloquent Rage” by Brittney Cooper
“How are black girls supposed to grow up to be black women in love with themselves in a country built on the structural negation of black women’s humanity and personhood.”
And that sounds abstract in connection to finances but the ways in which we recognize our value are very much tied to the ways we recognize our personhood and humanity.
There’s been a structural undermining of black women, we’ve been taught and fully internalize this idea that we have to be twice as good to get half as much and with that we’ve internalized and undermined our work. Far too often there's black women who feel like they have to accomplish this that & the third before they can start charging people what they already should’ve charged year one. Black women already encompass and have more vision than anyone else, they have creativity and cynosure that far exceeds a lot that's already happening and yet and still we doubt our worth. In a world that already doubts the work of black women, we cannot do that for ourselves. We have to commit to unlearning, until we unlearn all the structures and all the ideologies that tell us we are not enough we will continue to lack as far as our economic value. We have to commit to the idea that we are brilliant enough to do this work, quite frankly a lot of our ideas are the trendsetters and visionaries for the work that already exist.
Although black women, as we know as of recent, are leading any demographic as far as educational attainment, we are the fastest growing demographic achieving different roles, constantly molding ourselves, and chasing excellence, yet and still we are lacking the wealth and stability thats tied with that. It’s not because we are not getting it, it’s because once we do get it, we have to give it to a family member that might not be able to pay their phone bill, taking the little bit that we have and spreading and sharing it, and sometimes we fragment ourselves so much that we don't have enough to stand on. We have to be very intentional about 1 recognizing our value, making sure that we are getting paid for it, stop doubting that you’re good enough, you been good enough and quite frankly some of the visions that you’re doing a white man has already taken tried to gentrify so be clear on who you are, stand clear on what you been called to do, and make people pay you for it.
SN: Now you see why we s t a n Brianna Baker, over here at The Good Girl Movement.
Moving forward…let’s get to the solutions. It’s imperative we start building the black community back up, invest in our own businesses and educate ourselves and sisters on the importance of financial literacy to break the curse of living paycheck to paycheck. It’s time to promote generational wealth, and understand it’s attainable as long as we put in the work, stay educated, and always give back.
We recently released a Good Girl Guide for Black women that focuses on the intersections of black womanhood, economics, and entrepreneurship.
Here are a few take aways:
Also note, if your goal isn’t to be an entrepreneur, that’s 100% okay. Don’t let social media make you feel like you aren’t doing or aiming high enough. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, sis. We need everyone killing it in their own lane for it all to work. I know for The Good Girl Movement, if I didn’t have my team we would be nothing. Some people’s gifts are to see other people’s vision and bring it to life for them, do you whatever makes you happy whether its starting that business or becoming the President of someone else’s, you’re a boss either way.
Our ultimate goal here is to inspire you to want more for yourself, be more for your community, and do more for the world.
