How ‘Black on the Block’ Highlights Black-Owned Businesses and Celebrates Black Culture
March 29, 2023
Jennifer Hudson loves to support Black-owned businesses, so she was thrilled to meet the founders of Black on the Block!
Lanie and Char Edwards are two sisters who founded Black on the Block, a monthly event series that aims to celebrate Black culture by organizing a vendor village composed entirely of small Black-owned businesses. There’s also food, music, dancing, and more!
Both Lanie and Char are small business owners themselves, so they know the struggle of trying to build a business from the ground up. When they moved from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, they participated in several pop-up events and realized they were often the only Black-owned vendor in attendance.
“It got my wheels turning,” said Lanie to Jennifer on “The Jennifer Hudson Show.” “I was like [to Char], ‘What do you think about doing a Black-owned block party open to everybody?’”
“Juneteenth was coming up,” she continued. “We thought it would be a one-and-done event…I was such an amazing turnout. We just kept doing it every month.”
The events in Los Angeles have done so well that Char and Lanie will be bringing Black to the Block to D.C. and Dallas.
“The statistics aren’t in our favor for small Black-owned businesses,” Char explained of what motivated them to start Black on the Block. “Eight out of 10 fail in the first 18 months, we’re less likely to get bank loans, and we get financing at higher rates.”
She continued, “So we’re just trying to beat those statistics as best we can… We’ve been doing this two years now, and we’ve seen the success of so many vendors.”
Learn how you can be a vendor and see how live, fun, and impactful their events are by visiting blackxtheblock.com.
“The Jennifer Hudson Show” airs weekdays. Here’s when to watch in your area.
