Last night I had the opportunity to present a Pecha Kucha style presentation at Edmonton design week 2022. This type of presentation is 20 slides with 20 seconds to discuss each visual.

The topic that I chose was A Vignettes to Record in Colour

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There's a big difference between being a virtual speaker and in person; however, you could have so much fun leaning into special opportunities around virtual keynotes.

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Being a better online speaker will transfer to all aspect of content creation, especially in the planning phase!

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The Sixth annual celebration of Black history at legislature 

Last week as I sat down at the Alberta legislature, I was happy to celebrate Black History Month in person again, and it was a great event.

Hearing such great stories and examples of powerful conversations, led by MLA David Shepherd and John Cornish, reminded me of the importance of this year’s topic: the rise and empowerment of Black business owners and entrepreneurs in my province.

Supporting Black empowerment through entrepreneurship could lead to significant growth and opportunity for the Black community in Alberta.

Resources for black creators

Thankfully, different programs are now finally being activated. The Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE) loan program, STORYHIVE Black Creators Edition, or some other program made for Black businesses, entrepreneurs, or creators. These Black serving programs provide services to help Black professionals gain more experience.

It has always been challenging to start as a Black entrepreneur, but the times are different now. Some organizations and programs have been created to help Black businesses grow.

Black entrepreneurs face many unique obstacles, such as access to capital and resources. The purpose of these funding programs is to help them with these challenges. Below are some programs : 

Africa Center

The Africa Center is offering to support to all Black businesses.

“A community where Black entrepreneurs and small business owners are fully integrated and have the same opportunities to realize their dreams”

Africa Center’s Entrepreneurship Empowerment program seeks to build a sustainable ecosystem in which Black entrepreneurs and people of African descent can thrive.

The program will seek to do the following:

• Stimulate and support business creation, scaling and expansion.
• Develop and deliver programs for business skills development.
• Provide relevant and timely business services to entrepreneurs.

I highly recommend checking out their website for more information.

The Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE)

FACE is a national and bilingual Black-led non-profit organization focused on providing resources and information to the Black community across Canada with the aim of accelerating wealth creation for Canadians of African descent.This is a loan program that is ready to support your businesses if you are in need of a loan as a Black entrepreneur.

More details here.

black business face unique challenges

When we think about some of the challenges businesses face today because of the pandemic, they’re compounded within the Black community.When we look into specific industries, such as the technology sector or the cannabis space, we see patterns and not much representation of the Black individuals in either senior roles or ownership.This is due to systemic issues. This is why it is essential to know that the rise of Black business in 2022 is something that we all should be aware of if we are open to more diversity and inclusion within industries. 

black businesses have history in alberta

Alberta is a province that has had a history of Black entrepreneurship in its roots which was refreshing to hear.On top of that, with the more significant topic of making history now or how Black history is now, a local rapper named OG Jonas, who had an outstanding performance was the first hip hop artist to perform in the Alberta legislature building, which is shocking as it’s 2022.I believe that because of some of the opportunities and challenges faced today, we are right now in the process of making history, and we need to be more present than ever.

2022 will be an important year for black creators

This pandemic compounded with the murders of Black and Brown people made 2020 and 2021 a very tough year.From these worldwide protests, many systematic issues have been brought to light pushing large companies to launch programs to support Black-owned businesses. You can check out initiatives from some of the biggest online platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc.Black Creators have a unique opportunity because many people, platforms, and organizations are open to hearing their stories, which was not always the case in the past.

Take the full advantage

The Canadian government has invested almost a billion dollars in Canada into both the Black business and not-for-profit sector.These programs have a runway of 24 to 36 months, and there are so many programs, resources, and opportunities for Black business owners and entrepreneurs. This is an unprecedented time that will be viewed in history.

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When it comes to learning a new skill, one of the most important things you can do accelerate success is to connect with like-minded individuals by joining a community around that topic.

These relationships might help you get the support, resources, and added help that might need to successful in your journey. 

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table of contents

What does it take to join a community? 

1. Understand yourself 

2. Be ready to bring value to the community 

3. Find a leader who's best for your development

4. Determine how much you are willing to share with the community

5. Challenges down the road, have patience.

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Being around people who are on a similar journey and share the same interests, passions, and goals can become aids when facing challenges progress.

What does it take to join a community? 

To find a community that appreciates your every little success and understands your struggles, you must first be fully aware of your goals, expectations from others, and what you're willing to contribute.

Look deep inside and figure out your motives and how you can bring value to the community.  By being an active participant and contributing, organically, you will see people providing you with advice on how they were achieved progress within their journeys.

Being a part of a community doesn't come easy; they aren't immune from challenging circumstances. 

Here are five steps that are going to help you find the right community.

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1. Understand yourself 

The first important thing is understanding yourself through personal reflection. It is vital to have a deep transparent understanding of what you're hoping to achieve. You should be clear about what you want from a community and how you can contribute to it.

You then, in turn, can go down the journey of finding resources or information about how you can achieve what you're hoping to do and what you need. It is easier to move on to the next step when you are entirely aware of your expectations.

To other content creators this can be as simple as commenting and providing real feedback on their information people share.

2. Be ready to bring value to the community 

One of the fundamental pieces about seeking and being part of a community is making sure that you're driving value to it.

When you are active to help contribute and make sure that the community is thriving, you will then, in turn, get others who will invest the same type of resources or time in helping you along your journey. But be sure not to have those high expectations; sometimes you'll get little in return but sometimes even more.  

3. Find a leader who's best for your development

Research the leaders who are creating these communities. A leader is someone who's going to guide you towards your goal.

I've been fortunate enough to meet a a lot of different individuals who are phenomenal leaders that make you want to stay once when you join a community. They consistently invest their time and efforts to ensure that everyone with in their community is getting value with clear expectations and goals.

The great try to take the time to engage members on a personal level t foster stronger relationships.

4. Determine how much you are willing to share with the community

When it comes to finding and engaging with communities, it is fundamental that you determine how much you will share and participate.

You get the best results when you do so. Don't overextend yourself; set the proper expectations with yourself about how you're going to share and contribute, whether that is sharing content, commenting on other people's content, or simply providing your own stories and solutions on how you solve your problems.

Active participation can help in knowing each other better and building bonds.

5. Challenges down the road, have patience.

At first, you might have a tough time settling down. Have patience in learning and being part of the community. It is quite evident that you won't have an instant connection with a new group of people; it'll take time to establish such bonds.

Being a part of a thriving community means feeling a sense of kinship, camaraderie and connectedness, but to achieve that level, you must invest as much time as you can. Those investments can turn into such a huge amount of value as you proceed and continue down your journey of developing new skills, new relationships, and essentially becoming a better you.

Don't be frustrated if you can't seem to fit in at first; all great things take time. Hang in there. 

I highly recommend that you get involved with a community of like-minded people on a similar journey and path like yourself. This will help you learn from the people around you more effectively and start moving past objections and challenges quicker. In addition to that, when you reach new thresholds and new levels, you'll be able to celebrate with people who care and understand your success.

I explore this topic more on my podcast here if you interested to learn more about some of my experiences connect more with like-minded people on a similar path like me.

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