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Three years ago, a group of Black women in Knoxville set out on a mission to launch their own businesses and to help other Black women do the same.
And when Black women set their eyes on something, they go and get it.
Tanika Harper and Deidra Harper, sisters who carried out their father’s legacy of entrepreneurship in the city, and Dasha Lundy, an advocate for East Knoxville and a county commissioner, make up the current membership of The Women, LLC.
They believe Black wealth, Black entrepreneurship and economic empowerment are part of the answer to disrupting the poverty that lies in their own community.
They held their first Crown Pitch Contest specifically for Black entrepreneurs on Juneteenth, June 19, the first of its kind in the city. Shora Foundation, The Roots Collective and The Women of Knoxville hosted the event. Judges April Hardin, Dr. Angelique Adams and Kenneth Herring chose the winner after four Black women pitched their business idea to the panel.
Northwestern Mutual, Operation Hope, SCORE, River & Rail Theatre and East TN Foundation sponsored the event.
This year’s grand prize of $7,500 went to the Sistas of Steel Gun Club, an organization founded by Adrienne Goines that educates and trains Black women on firearm safety and ownership.
She founded the organization after her marriage of many years ended in divorce. Without a man in the home, she felt the need for protection for herself and her children.
“It’s important for Black people to be responsible gun owners and own firearms because of the climate that we’re in; no one’s coming to save us, you know? It starts at home, and why not start with Black women. We are the foundation of the family. We do things here the right and legal way and this money is going to go a long way toward implementing even more programming in Knoxville. It’s truly a blessing,” Goines said.
The second prize of $2,500 went to DAI Wellness owner Deborah Ingram. She is empowering Black Knoxvillians through yoga and wellness, the key toward healing the trauma endured daily in the lives of African Americans.
After the loss of her husband, Ingram carried out the idea of they had birthed together a year prior.
“It really just propelled me to finish what we started. I already can hear him saying, ‘You got things to accomplish.’ We have so much post traumatic stress in the Black community and we are still dealing with the effects of post traumatic slave syndrome,” Ingram said. “We have to get a handle on our mental capacity and health so we can heal properly and my mission really is to provide a holistic approach to that for us.”
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The Women plan to make the pitch contest an annual event and continue providing avenues and funding to Black small business owners in Knoxville.
Lundy told Knox News that holding the event at the Old City Performing Arts Center was intentional. The theater sits in what was known as The Bottom, Knoxville’s historic Black business district that was decimated during The Red Summer Race riots of 1919 and urban removal.
“It’s a prophetic moment. You know, we have gone through so much in our community and dealing with an inexcusable poverty rate and dealing with gun violence and just dealing with great division,” Lundy said. “This is both a time and space that we show that we’re trying to build community and bring people back together right here in a place that was once ours.”
Knox News reporter Angela Dennis was a founding member of The Women LLC until 2021.
Angela Dennis is the Knox News race, justice and equity reporter. Email angela.dennis@knoxnews.com. Twitter @AngeladWrites. Instagram @angeladenniswrites. Facebook at Angela Dennis.
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