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This year, we sent out a number of gift "baskets"—some were just a bit of homemade coquito or cake, others added some whiskey or other treat, and a few got a bit more. Most of you who received something as seemingly odd as laundry detergent guessed that our basket this year was made up of gifts from black-owned, black-founded, black-led companies. No two baskets with more than two items were the same; we tried to make each basket fit who received it—hopefully, we did okay.
Two things that we wanted to provide were explanations of how we came to choose the particular items in the baskets and a little bit of information about each item. Some of you, I know, have already googled some of the things you received, but this site was put together to share a little something about each of the things in those gift baskets, recognizing that not everyone got everything shared here.
The Genesis
In a number of ways, it has been a rough year—non-stop virtual meetings for some; not being able to see family, even new additions, in person; and some have had to endure some difficult moments or loss amidst a mandate to stay apart. And of course, the political and social turmoil we have been and will continue to face has been an intense, depending on the moment, backdrop or foreground to this pandemic.
And yet, there has also been some silver lining to it all. For us, it has meant less travel, fewer events that one must attend, and more time with our immediate family. We've all had to navigate sharing the same wifi and space, but we are fortunate to have more time to spend with each other talking, eating, and more. One shining example has been that Diana and I have worked out more, often with William, been able to develop better eating habits and together have lost over 50 pounds. All that to say, even with all that we've had to endure, we are certainly counting our blessings.
One of the things we wanted to do this year was send best wishes to as many friends and family as possible, and particularly given the year, we thought that doing so with products from black-owned businesses would be a great way to do just that. We were grateful to have had the chance to spend Thanksgiving (and later Christmas) with Dad/Pop-pop and Mom/Grandma (George and Mary) Campbell and it was during our dinner visit that we were introduced to a taste of Uncle Nearest. In particular, Pop-pop shared the Jeffrey Wright narrated story of this whiskey:
This became on of the anchor gifts, a new find for us, to go along with something we knew we would share—my version of "Chippy's Pound Cake," a family favorite that I am still trying to get to be as good as my Aunt Chippy's. And so then, for about the next couple of weeks after Thanksgiving, we started scouring various places for an eclectic, interesting mix of gifts.
The Black Lists
The Black Lists & Choosing Products
There are a number of "black lists" out there, but some of the ones that we look through included:
And those are just a few of the lists we checked. In several cases, there were items found doing a "directed Google search" (e.g. a search for "black owned fitness apparel") that we would discover later was also on one of these lists. We didn't come across Oprah's list, for example, until after we had uncovered a number of items independently. Another late discovery was that it seemed like Target was one of the few big box stores with a subsite dedicated to black-owned businesses. In some cases, the prices at Target were better than the price of buying directly from the black-owned company's website, but in several cases, the company website offered a wider selection.
In addition to using these lists to find out about new products, we also had a number of products we had already tried and loved and a few that were "home-brewed" (which made them black-owned :-). In general, there really wasn't one particular principle guiding the choices we made, but there were two reasons that proved to be frequent reasons something was chosen. In many cases, the story of the company's founding/founder(s) were particularly compelling. Often times, there was some hardship or inability to find something that suited them (or their children), and their business emerged out of a desire to fill that need. For others, there was a family connection to the production of the item. But, in all of the cases where the product was chosen because of the founding/founder(s), there was a passion that resonated with us, story that was interesting.
And in several other cases, the products were simply chosen because they seemed novel, were not too expensive, and/or we thought a number of friends and family might find it useful or fun ... or yummy. We haven't yet tried all of the products, but of the ones we have, we have yet to be disappointed. We hope that you enjoy finding out more about whatever products you did get, and perhaps some that you find worth checking out that you didn't get!
In addition to the contact us section below, we are hoping to make it possible for folks to leave comments so feel free to share thoughts, feedback, or questions—we won't guarantee a response to any old email, but if we can, we will.
We wish every one who comes by to check this out, a Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays, whatever you celebrate, and a Happy New Year.
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