About Us
[Our Vision]
We aim to develop the wellness and shared prosperity infrastructure needed to sustain Black, Indigenous, Women or Color Entrepreneurs (BIWOC) and their communities for generations to come.
[Our Mission]
We achieve this vision by fostering symbiotic BIWOC communities and implementing programs that facilitate mental/physical wellness, collective ownership, resource mobilization, and mutual assistance.
[Our Vaues]
01.
Joy
As solo entrepreneurs, it’s easy to overwork ourselves. We believe joy and play are key to self-care and are required for our businesses to succeed.
02.
Sustainability
We believe in a holistic approach to sustainability, where we build both our external and internal support systems.
03.
Social Entrepreneurship
We believe in social entrepreneurship, rooted in prioritizing people and the planet over endless profit and growth.
04.
Shared Prosperity
Through the Abolitionist, Reconstruction, Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Lives Matter Movements—we know that we go further together. We pull the lessons of our ancestors into our work of business development and economic self-determination through a philosophy of collaboration instead of competition.
There is more than enough to go around—we have everything we need within ourselves and each other. We choose community over competition, shared abundance over individual wealth, and health over endless productivity.
05.
Restoration
We believe sustainable Black entrepreneurship requires individual and community healing rooted in restoration and repair from historical and systemic oppression. We center on the principle of Sankofa—meaning “to go back and get it”.
We must understand the economic and social trauma that we have been through as a community, in order to know how to restore and build for the future. We believe this is best done in the community and acknowledge that healing spaces for Black people, let alone Black women, are few and far between.
[Our Co-Founder’s Story]
Hope Henson-Lehman (she/her) is a healer, solidarity economist, and Black Feminist creative.
She is passionate about building solidarity economies and community wealth models rooted in healing that holistically resource and sustain BIWOC Entrepreneurs, their families, and communities.
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Her passion stems from a family legacy of economic self-determination. As a child, she observed her young, single entrepreneurial creative Black mom start a band promotion company in the 1990s, teaching herself HTML from scratch, building her own website, and securing clients from all over the country. Even with all this traction, her mom struggled to develop a sustainable business that could support her family of four. Eventually, she had to give up her dream due to a lack of community, support, and holistic resources. These experiences stuck with Hope as she navigated her own mental health journey and shifting career paths. When she started her first art business Fresh to Def Collective in 2014, she realized she was continuing her mom’s legacy. This legacy has led her down a path of self-discovery and healing. She began to get curious about how we could really build the infrastructure needed to sustain the wellness of Black Women as they continue to reimagine a more equitable world one business and organization at a time.
In her free time, Hope loves to write + doodle in her morning pages, boogy to hip-hop freestyles with her partner, geek out over afro-futurist sci-fi/fantasy with friends, and stretch out neck kinks with meditative yoga. As a recovering perfectionist, one of Hope’s favorite quotes reminds her to detach personal value from productivity,
“We must recognize and nurture the creative parts of each other without always understanding what will be created.” - Audre Lorde
#Ase
WHERE WE’VE BEEN & WHERE WE’RE GOING
JUNE 2016
Just BE was founded by 8 Black Women Entrepreneurs who came together, seeking support and community following the murders of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling at the hands of police officers. The founding members knew they wanted to build an organization that centered the needs of Black Women Entrepreneurs in a holistic way.
DEC 2016
Launched the inaugural in-person Holiday Noir Pop-up Market that celebrated Black women makers, artists, creatives, and entrepreneurs.
2017
Hosted our first Black Women Mean Business Mixer that brought 55 Black Women Entrepreneurs together for resource sharing, discussions, and community building.
AUG 2017
Just BE became a fiscally-sponsored social enterprise with its founding members Kamilah Richardson, Marisol Catchings, and Hope Henson-Lehman.
SEPT 2017
Just BE pilots a podcast about the Black Women entrepreneurship experience.
NOV 2017
Hosted our first Play Day at The Exploratorium in San Francisco, with a gathering of 50+ Black Women Entrepreneurs and creatives to play, commune, and have an evening of fun.
NOV 2018
Launched For the Culture Market (FKA Holiday Noir Pop-up Market), A Black Women-Powered Holiday Market.
2019
Began a partnership with West Coast Craft to expand vending opportunities for Black women creatives, artists, and entrepreneurs.
2020
Piloted an online digital marketing course called The Business Glow-Up to empower Black Women Entrepreneurs and equip them with digital marketing tools to scale their businesses.
2020
Pivoting due to the pandemic, Just BE raised $150,000 in 60 days to launch For the Culture Market as a two-day, interactive virtual shopping experience designed by a dynamic team of women entrepreneurs.
SUMMER 2022
Just BE secured five years of funding from the Kataly Foundation to sustainably rebirth our organization with a new holistic approach.
2023
Seven years after its founding, following organizational shifts and transitions, Just BE has newly emerged as a healing and shared prosperity membership-based business community for Black, Indigenous, Women of Color Entrepreneurs (BIWOC).
Community
Blessings
I have been a part of the Just BE community for a multitude of years, participating in their membership pilot, networking events, the holiday marketplaces, and West Coast Craft Just BE Booth. As an introvert, I don’t normally go out and was surprised by my experience. I could feel the great intentionality and care put into the networking event. I felt deeply supported and in a space that was truly seeing me as a Black Women Entrepreneur. I loved my first Just BE event so much that I told everybody about it. Since then, Just BE has unlocked great opportunities for my business IYOBA increasing my visibility and access to various marketplaces.
Efiya Asabi
OWNER, IYOBA