Discover Locs of Glory, a unique nexus of beauty, health, and entrepreneurship in St. Louis. Providing a one-stop-shop for beauty and wellness services, this innovative business is committed to excellence and customer satisfaction.
Saint Louis is in need of a major paradigm shift. As an entrepreneur in the beauty industry, I have a dream of a thriving economic system that reflects the people who live here.
Closing the racial wealth gap is imperative in making this dream a reality. We know that the black dollar circulates the least amount of time in our community compared to other communities. Studies say that the average lifespan of the dollar is approximately 28 days in Asian communities, 19 days in Jewish communities, 17 days in white communities — and just six hours in Black communities.
Every time a black woman purchases products from a beauty supply store the cycle ends not only because it isn’t black owned but because these owners DON’T spend their dollars in the community.
They don’t live here nor spend their money in other black owned businesses. We must do better! How do we do it, though? We must create a safety net for black businesses to thrive because when black businesses thrive, neighborhoods thrive, communities thrive.
As the owner of a beauty supply store located on Delmar Blvd since February 2021, I’ve experienced firsthand how easy it is to fail and end up closing.
In a city where the black population is just over 50%, just about all of the beauty supply stores are owned by Asians or Middle Eastern men, while the number one consumer of these stores are black women.
We must acquire a large injection of capital to create a safety net for the following circulation: fund and strengthen the black manufacturers, launch several more black owned beauty supply stores throughout the area and launch a “buy black in beauty” marketing campaign.
Now we have an ecosystem where the black dollar circulates longer. The manufacturers create products, tools/equipment & techniques that are then sold to the black owned beauty supply stores who then sell those items to beauty/barber shop owners, licensed beauty professionals and the community at large.
The manufactures, stores and shops all employ black folks from the community which] not only circulates dollar currency but also positive energetic currency.
That’s the true currency that keeps communities uplifted and inching to close the racial wealth gap.
