A scroll through the blog 'Black-Owned Brooklyn' reveals everything from coffee shops and grocery stores to fitness studios and hot sauce, designed as an online showcase of the best of what black proprietors in Brooklyn have to offer.

What You Need To Know

  • Tayo and Cynthia Gordy Giwa started Black Owned Brooklyn in 2018 to highlight minority owned businesses

  • The blog and website have delivered a bump in revenue to featured businesses

  • The couple wants to continue to bring attention to the business community during pandemic

"There's a thriving culture in Brooklyn among black people and we live that reality and we want to tell that reality to our community," said Tayo Giwa.

He and his wife, Cynthia Gordy Giwa, are the couple behind 'Black-Owned Brooklyn' and the companion Instagram feed 'BlackOwnedBklyn.' Though both have full time jobs, it's a passion project they started in 2018, not as a directory but a carefully curated list.

 

 

 

"It's going to be very high quality in terms of the product and services, the customer service that you get, the experience," said Gordy Giwa.

In just two and a half years, the husband and wife team have built a devoted following with some-90,000 readers.

"Business owners constantly tell us that there's an extraordinary bump in their business following our feature," Giwa said.

The Giwas say that response takes on special meaning now as small businesses everywhere struggle.

"In this time of pandemic, we see the difference we're making and it's just motivation for us to keep putting out this work,” he added.

This year has also seen a national movement for civil rights that has increased calls to support black-owned businesses. Though the couple feels conflicted about possibly benefiting from the pain of injustice, they're happy to serve the broader cause.

"In this moment of great reckoning and change, it's been great that we're able to be of service in this way a lot of our blog readers are finding us because they want to you know buy black as an act of resistance, as an act of protest," said Gordy Giwa.

But the Giwas say supporting black businesses has always been a way of life for them.  Now they're happy to help their readers learn to do the same and they have no intention of stopping or changing their focus.

"Brooklyn has so many black businesses," said Gordy Giwa. "We never feel like we're running out of things."

"We found our beat and we definitely want to keep riding that beat,” Giwa added.