Small business spotlight: BLM x Tae

Jul 24 2020, 6:23 pm

Growing up in the foster care system, Seattle business owner Tae always struggled to keep her head above water.

Wanting to help everybody around me was something I was faced with every day. I don’t want anybody to ever go through what I did,” she told Daily Hive in an interview. “As I got older I realized the need was much greater than I ever imagined but also disproportionately affected black and brown communities.”

Getting fed up with the “broken systems that are supposed to exist to help people but exploit them instead,” she realized that it was time to make a change, and started BLM x Tae, a small clothing company that “provides resources as well as educational insight on the Black experience, wealth gaps, privilege and other things that might make you uncomfortable.”

Tae will be launching her website on July 26, where she’ll be selling limited quantities of embroidered shirts. Proceeds from sales go directly back into her business as well as Black and Brown communities through different organizations.

“I’m just one person behind this and I’m not doing this for profit,” she says. “My mission is really simple, make clothes, sell them, and donate the funds to marginalized communities. I want people to use my website to access resources they may be looking for and to start having more conversations about our essential community needs. Money is the most tangible thing so I personally feel the best way I can give my support to the people is by donating what I get.”

 

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Those looking to show their support and purchase a shirt can do so at a Pop-Up at Jimi Hendrix Park between 11 am and 3 pm on July 25, or by preordering online starting July 26.

“When there is support, magical things can happen and lives can change,” says Tae. “My only goal is to be part of that change and give as much as I can, as often as I can. The people have proven time and time again that we are beyond capable of supporting each other. We need more of that.”

BLM x Tae

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Alyssa TherrienAlyssa Therrien

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