In the past few years, I’ve been really intentional about where I spend my money. From random TaskRabbit* hourly projects to finding photographers, graphic designers and makeup artists for my campaigns, I typically go out of my way to hire a woman of color. A bunch of the art that fills my home are from black women artists, and I do most of my splurging on black designers ( that’s a whole other topic with lots of photos to come!). And through my extensive research and support of these amazing women entrepreneurs and businesses, I’ve noticed two things:

1. They undervalue their goods or services.

2. They’re uncomfortable with giving their rates when approached about a project. They give me the runaround, which gives me (the client) too much to worry about, and so I find another person or solution because often, I have a strict deadline.

This past weekend, I had to pleasure of speaking and displaying my company at South by Southwest’s International Women’s Day celebration in Austin, TX. It was one of the biggest events we had ever participated in so I wanted to make it special and to push myself to do something I had never done before. I designed my very first set and contracted artist and self proclaimed, modern day renaissance man, Moyo to help me bring it to life. I selected and hired two delightful, brilliant women (Alexandra and Cassie) to be the brand’s ambassadors, and I delivered a solo talk about building self confidence. It was a long twelve-hour work day, but I got to hug, meet, and celebrate so many amazing women.