To celebrate Black History Month, Ohun Ashe wanted to do something special. The St. Louis native loves this city and Black communities within it 鈥� and that love is the driving force behind For the Culture STL, an online directory of Black-owned businesses in the region, and her social justice activism.
So when Ashe noticed a lack of Black St. Louisan representation in a local publication listing reasons to 鈥渓ove St. Louis鈥� late January of last year, she threw herself into creating a project to highlight Black-owned businesses.
From that effort came her video series 鈥�28 Days of Black-owned St. Louis.鈥�
鈥淸We had] a smidgen of time to do 鈥�28 Reasons to Love Black-owned St. Louis.' That was a series that [For the Culture STL] did last year,鈥� Ashe told St. Louis on the Air. 鈥淭his year with Black History Month鈥 knew I wanted to do something similar. We came up with going to different spaces and highlighting Black-owned businesses with Tik Tok and highlight reels.鈥�
What formed was 鈥�28 Days of Black-owned St. Louis,鈥� where Ashe and other contributors to For the Culture STL highlighted a local Black-owned business every day in February.
Celebrating Black-owned businesses is an everyday practice for Ashe, but this effort differs in the inclusion of minute-long videos and an intentional focus on various types of businesses. She said, 鈥淲e know a lot of Black-owned businesses, but this time we specifically wanted to focus on things outside of restaurants.鈥�
Curating the list across varying industries proved to be a challenge for For the Culture STL, but Ashe found the work rewarding. 鈥淪ometimes it was literally Feb. 5, and we needed something for Feb. 6, 7 and 8. It was a fun challenge 鈥� I think it was necessary to highlight that Black businesses sit everywhere.鈥�
ForTheCultureSTL is doing a series called,
— Ohun Ashe 馃尰馃尲馃尀 (@Ohun_Ashe)
鈥�28 Days of Black Owned St. Louis鈥�
Day 5: Black Beauty Supply
Ashe鈥檚 list includes businesses from Cherokee Street in the St. Louis to St. Charles. There are apparel stores, like , as well as , , and a complete with booths to produce online streaming channels.
Although the video series just wrapped, Ashe has heard positive responses from both the businesses she鈥檚 highlighted and their customers. 鈥淚鈥檝e received a lot of feedback of gratitude and happiness. Across the spectrum it was just visibility, to let people know that these businesses exist.鈥�
Ashe said that 鈥�28 Days of Black-owned St. Louis鈥� is a list for everyone and that non-Black St. Louisans can 鈥� and should 鈥� engage with it. 鈥淲hen we talk about creating a more diverse culture, supporting different cultures, going into those spaces and getting to know the people in those spaces matter if we talk about a more healed St. Louis.鈥�
She continued: 鈥淪upporting Black business, I tell people all the time, it's not a trend. 鈥� It's not something for Black History Month. It is a movement, a protest, that empowers people to be better people for each other.
To hear more about the businesses highlighted in 鈥�28 Days of Black-owned St. Louis,鈥� listen to St. Louis on the Air on , , , , or by clicking the play button below.
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by , , , and . is our production assistant. The audio engineer is . Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
