BIPOC Businesses Holiday Gift Guide
If you feel a little conflicted about shopping with the big box retailers and are looking to shop a bit more consciously this holiday season, we have you covered. We gathered a list of directories and our favorite businesses owned by Women and People of Color.
Black-owned businesses & directories
https://www.buyblackguide.com/
Notable favorites
Marla Rene Beauty & Co
Co-founders Marla René Dornell-Leak and Tezra Leak started this online skincare business in 2013 from their home with an uplifting ethos of creating products to help with skin "insecurities" rather than "imperfections." Their formulas are highly concentrated with restorative fatty acids, phytonutrients, minerals and other natural ingredients;
You can take a skin assessment on their website here to find the products that are best for you.
Sip & Sonder
Amanda Jane Thomas and Shanita Nicholas started their specialty coffee roastery and multi-purpose space in 2017 in Inglewood, California. Given their business and legal backgrounds, these two founders wanted to create more than a coffee shop. Its gallery and event space draws entrepreneurs, freelancers, and curators from all over.
“Shanita’s goal was to provide the startup community access to business and networks while drinking coffee,” Amanda shares with ESSENCE. “For me, there weren’t many coffee shops growing up in Brooklyn in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and my interactions with the ones that I did visit were almost as an outsider, never feeling truly at home, ...”” -ESSENCE Magazine 2018
Check out Sip & Sonder here where you’ll find several varieties of coffee and tea as well as find out about upcoming events.
Latin-owned businesses & directories
Latino-Owned Businesses in Los Angeles - LA Times
Notable favorites
Lit Bar
This bookstore/wine bar/community center officially opened its doors in April 2019 and was founded by Afro-Latina Noëlle Santos, who saw a need for a bookstore in her borough (The Bronx) after the only existing shop, a Barnes & Noble, closed in 2016. She set out to start a bookstore that reflected the interests of the local community while also providing windows and doors into other cultures.
Though they’re a local book store you can shop from and support them on their BookShop.org store here.
La Monarca Bakery
Looking for something sweet? Consider a gift set from La Monarca. Alfredo and Ricardo felt inspired by the pan dulce of their hometown in Mexico and wanted to bring the sweet flavor of Mexico to Los Angeles while creating opportunities in underserved communities.
All of their products are made with fresh, top-quality ingredients without preservatives, artificial colors or flavors. They also donate 1% of their proceeds to their partner, ECOLIFE CONSERVATION, to support their programs to protect the monarch butterfly.
Shop their line of gift boxes here.
Asian-owned businesses & directories
100 AAPI Businesses to Support - NBC
Creative offerings from the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Community
Notable favorites
Mostra Coffee
Mostra Coffee is a women, minority, veteran, and immigrant-owned small business. The four founders, Beverly, Jelynn, Mike and Sam, had a range of backgrounds as a classically trained opera singer, TV and movie veteran, nursing student and army veteran respectively. While their backgrounds seem like they couldn’t be more different, these four founders had one thing in common, a love for coffee and an ambition to create a business that could make a difference in the Philippines as well following a charitable trip building houses there.
They offer multiple options in every roast level that you check out here.
Nimble Made
An often-ignored place where representation has been lacking is on the clothing rack. Tanya Zhang and Wesley Kang set out to change that with each having noticed that the standard measurements for men’s shirts didn’t often correlate with Asian body types. “Our demo is people who are frustrated with the idea that the size of your neck and length of your arms should determine your entire body, which is the current norm for dress shirt sizing.”
On their website, you can shop for slim fit shirts in a variety of styles or browse their blog for fashion-related topics such as styling yourself for various occasions, answers to frequently asked questions about styles and fabrics, and list articles.
Check out Nimble Made here.
Best in Nature
Best in Nature is an Asian-American and women-owned maker of all-natural health supplements. Improving the lives of people and the planet is at the center of every product we make. At Best in Nature, we responsibly and thoughtfully create products for better health. Joy Pan founded the company in 2006 bringing together 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry to provide natural products that could help people live better at every stage of life.
Check out our line here.
[READ: Best in Nature Gift Guide]
Native-owned businesses & directories
Powow.com’s favorite native-owned businesses
Etsy’s directory of Native American Made Goods
If you find products on a different website and want to make sure you’re buying native-owned, look for a statement of compliance with the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990.
Notable favorites
Eighth Generation
Eighth Generation is a Seattle-based art and lifestyle brand owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe. It was founded in 2008 when Louie Gong (Nooksack) — an artist, activist and educator widely known for merging traditional Coast Salish art with influences from his urban environment to make strong statements about identity — started customizing shoes in his living room. Now the first Native-owned company to ever produce wool blankets — with a flagship retail store in Seattle's iconic Pike Place Market. On their website you can shop for hats, blankets, towels, jewelry and more, or browse their blog which covers activities, product releases and interesting news.
Check out Eighth Generation here
Under One Nation Tribe Trading Post
This business started from an eBay store with a few products and has grown to become much more, adding its own website and products from many other tribes including Navajo, Tuscarora, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Zuni, Croatan, Aztec artists and many more. Not only are they native-owned, but 75% of all products are handmade by Native Americans!
Check out Under One Nation Tribe Trading Post here.
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Women-owned businesses & directories
https://buywomenowned.com/women-owned-directory/
WBENC Make One Switch to Buy Women Owned
World Wide Women’s Business Directory
Notable favorites
Mrs. Turbo’s Cookies
A few of us here grew up on Happy Days reruns so the 50s aesthetic of Mrs. Turbo’s cookies caught our attention immediately. The founder, Mrs. Holly Turbo, grew up baking with her grandmother. After moving to Ohio, her husband commented on the lack of good cookies at the time which prompted her to take up baking again. Long story short her hobby and method of stress relief grew into a thriving business. You can order catering from Mrs. Turbo’s if you’re local to the Columbus area.
You can browse their full line of cookie gift sets here.
Packed with Purpose
Packed with Purpose is a specialty gifting company with a social mission.
Leeatt Rothschild was inspired by her experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer and social impact consultant to create these gifts that give back. They have been committed to creating meaningful impact through high-quality gifts. They handpick a variety of products for their gift boxes from Purposeful Purveyors who transform individuals and communities around us.
Their gifts are nicely categorized for someone who needs to do business gifting as they have categories including employee gifts, prospect gift and client gifts: all are highly-customizable.
Brose Pack with Purpose Gifts here.
Alternatives - Give on someone's behalf
For the environmentally-conscious person in your life, you can consider alternative giving such as those from the Parks Project that helps to fund upkeep for our National Parks.
Heifer International
Through Heifer International, you can gift an alpaca, heifer, or goat, send a girl to school or provide clean water to those in need on someone else’s behalf with an honor card detailing your pledge.
Give through Heifer International
Arbor Day Foundation
When you pledge to the Arbor Day Foundation, you will have a set number of trees planted in your honorees name. You can also do more traditional gifting through their online shop which includes a nursery and Arbor Day branded coffee.
Also Consider
Alternative Gift International
[READ: Best in Nature Giving 2020 Roundup]
Bottom Line
Hopefully, this list has provided you with some helpful ideas for more conscious holiday shopping.
We’ll be updating this page as we find more resources. Submit your BIPOC business or the business of someone you know to [email protected]
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