26: Being a Woman of Color Owned Business

As we celebrate International Women's Day support the March 8, 2017, called "A Day Without A Woman."  We are excited to shared our chat on the joys and challenges of being women of color owned business and certifications that one can apply for as a minority and women owned business.  For more information on the March 8th Campaign, the Women's March website suggests three ways to participate in the strike:

Women take the day off work — whether you are paid or unpaid.

Refrain from shopping for the day — or if you must shop, choose small, women- and minority-owned businesses.

Wear red in solidarity with those participating in and supporting the strike.

In this episode Nicole interviews Jes as she takes us through the process of earning a certification to become a minority and women business. What is this? A Certification businesses can gain to access RFPs for diversity supplier needs.  The Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprise (MWB) Certification.  State and city certifications are available - JPD has NYC and NY State certification along with New Jersey. We also talk about how accountability in this process (and in life!) is very important when moving forward. As many conversations between Nicole and Jes go this episodes also flowed into a chat about the challenges and sometime annoyances of doing business as a women of color.  Nicole shares a frustrating process of contract negotiation with two white men. Jes shares how she stood up to a business bully  Looking for accountability? Join the Black Sheep Society our free online community at https://www.facebook.com/groups/iamblacksheep/ Have a women of color owned product or service you want to promote? Email us [e-mail] and get featured in an upcoming Buy Brown Guide.  Want help finding awesome women of color owned business? Get on our list to access our latest Buy Brown Guide coming out soon. Don't miss out on these amazing products by women of color owned businesses. Sign up here http://bit.ly/buybrownguide to be notified when the new guide is released. Resources mentioned in this episode: Minority Owned Business NYC MWBE Overview