Blax Friday Holla-Day Shopping Guide with Ashley La Russa

30 Minutes spoke with Ashley La Russa, founder of Roux Events LLC and project lead for Blax Friday. Blax Friday is a Black business-focused organization that is proud to announce Holla–Day Shopping on Blax Friday, November 27th with promos, pop-ups, and partnerships across Arizona. Featuring an online Holla–Day shopping guide with Black businesses offering seasonal menus, products, services. On Blax Friday, November 27th there will be limited capacity pop-up events and promotions with community partners such as Why I Love Where I Live, Hotel Congress, & Gallery, Hotel McCoy, CIMA Enterprises, and more.

Blax Friday is a community organization created in the summer of 2020, that spotlights Black businesses in Arizona. Their goals are representation and economic empowerment of Black business owners. They spotlight businesses through our website, iOS app, social marketing, promotions, weekly newsletters, and community events. They are Black business owners who joined forces to build a bridge between their Black Owned Businesses and the communities they serve in Arizona. They are focused on positive actionable steps towards inclusivity and equity.

“This project was created to take away emphasis from using “Black” as a discount code via Black Friday. In turn, we created Blax Friday where people shop at Black Owned Businesses” — Khailill P.

“Having grown up in Tucson, and seeing little acknowledgment of the Black community, it’s very encouraging to see so many people jumping on board to support and empower Black businesses. I’m personally receiving a lot of DMs from people who are eager and excited to buy Black! The fact that (Blax Friday) got organized so quickly is amazing.” — Fiona C.

With the desire for more representation and inclusive spaces, Blax Friday has created a promotional campaign for Black Businesses during the 2020 holiday season. This will allow opportunities to build awareness and bridges within our community while offering an accessible guide and limited capacity pop-up events that amplify Black businesses in lieu of the stressful undertakings at big box stores on Black Friday. The pop-up events on Blax Friday, November 27th will invite the community to actively locate Black Businesses via the Holla–Day Shopping guide while exploring community partner spaces for #blaxfriday promotions.

“Black Businesses are organizing, celebrating, and building resiliency plans to survive the effects of COVID-19, racial injustice, and economic disparities of financial support. The data and news show the world that we all need to do more in order to preserve the growth of local small businesses. As a community, we can change the ways of the past to propel ourselves into a positive future”. — Ashley La Russa

Roux Events is an event management company founded in Tucson, Arizona with a primary focus on supporting the growth of organizations and community leaders that foster equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives.

Recorded and produced by Amanda Shauger.