We are in the middle of a historic moment in the fight against systemic racism and we are dedicated to helping incite necessary, meaningful and lasting change. As we look to take greater action in our roles as allies, we have compiled a list of resources that we have found useful in educating ourselves, and we want to make available to our community.
Below are a selection of incredible organizations to donate to:
–ACLU
-The Marsha P. Johnson Institute
The event industry has so many incredibly talented Black artists, and we are sharing creators in each category that we are truly inspired by:
Photography:
DJ:
Florals & Event Design:
Make Up:
Catering & Venues:
Decor & Rentals:
Consulting:
Elizabeth Coopersmith Consulting
Brides and Green Wedding Shoes and Baby Makes Memories LLC have all shared extensive lists of Black-owned businesses in the events community from all over the world. Ethos West Collective was also recently founded to showcase black creators in our industry.
The Los Angeles Times, in conjunction with the Infatuation’s team member, Kat Hong, also compiled a list of over 200 Black-owned food businesses to support in Los Angeles.
Image by Mariah Tauger via The Los Angeles Times
As parents, we maintain an open dialogue with our children on allyship and anti-racism. Here are some of the educational tools we are using.
artwork by Oh Happy Dani
The CNN and Sesame Street’s Racism Town Hall is a fantastic resource on how to explain racism to your kids.
Additionally, there are so many books that both show racial diversity and face the issue of racism in our culture head-on. We will delve deeper into specific books we have been reading to our own children in a separate post, but below are some great, thoughtfully-curated lists to begin the work:
Just as we are committed to teaching our children, we are equally committed to learning. Here are a few the books we are reading:
-White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
-The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
-How to Be an Anti Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
-Sister Outsider bu Audre Lorde
And here is a list of Black-owned bookshops all across the United States to source these works from.
As part of our continued effort to amplify voices that have been silenced, we will be starting a new series on our platform to feature artists in the Black community that inspire us in our work and in our lives. Our minds, hearts and ears are open.