How to support Black businesses in the face of retail DEI rollbacks

"Boycotts don't work unless you're redirecting your money," says Nikki Porcher

I spoke with Buy From a Black Woman (and its spinoffs) founder Nikki Porcher for this story in Salon about the Feb. 28 economic boycott. We spoke again on May 29, 2025, to talk about how retail DEI rollbacks are affecting Black businesses, and how everyone can better support them. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Buy From a Black Woman Founder Nikki Porcher

Vanessa McGrady: Tell me what you're seeing for Black entrepreneurs right now. What is this moment like?

Nikki Porcher: I've been getting frustrated for our Black business owners across the nation, because we see the uprising of DEI rollbacks. Businesses that made promises have taken the promises back, silently dismantling DEI.

[We want to show] consumers how to properly consume from small businesses. We’re starting a class on June 2 to talk about redirection and how to purposely spend money—they’re not spending money with small businesses, not even in this time. I'm not sure what the disconnect is with that.

VMc: Tell me about some of the balance and sacrifice that people are going to have to make to do that. Because before it was really easy, you walk into Target and you get what you need, and there was a pretty healthy selection of Black-owned business within Target. What's the best way for people to find that now?

NP: I wouldn't say sacrifice, because this seems like you're sacrificing because you are supporting this brand as opposed to going into a big-box store. It's more becoming a conscious consumer and learning about your spending habits and being aware of where your money is going. There are a number of online directories, not just centering Black businesses, but for small businesses, local businesses, your neighborhood businesses. You can always put in Google as well as Yelp and a couple other apps that are sure to find businesses that you know are contributing to your community. It's not as hard as people are thinking.

Convenience is what they are used to, what we want. If it's not convenient, then it becomes hard because it's not right in our face, so it just takes a lot more of getting out of the “microwave mindset” of I need it now. But you know you'll need toilet paper every day, right? You know you need toothpaste every day. Certain essential items that you know you're going to need, you can go ahead and start intentionally buying those ahead of time, so you don't have to rush to the corner store, Target or Walmart.

VMc: What is the unique burden on Black business owners right now?

NP: Maybe consumers are not sure how to find them, because right now, Black businesses are not getting business. People are not seeking them as a alternative or redirecting their money. So the Black businesses—a couple have posted that they are no longer on the shelves of the big-box stores that were boycotted—have not seen an uprise in their business. As a result, the people who said that they were going to the store to buy this stuff are not going [directly] to the website to buy it, which makes you wonder what happened? What was the disconnect, and how do we get that back?

VMc: I don't understand why a private entity, like a Target, roll back DEI if they weren't required to? Wouldn't you double down on that, like Apple did?

NP: You would think, right? That would be like the most, easiest, best solution, especially knowing your demographic, where source of the stuff's coming, but maybe they knew something we don't know.

VMc: Do you think they have some government contracts or something that they're afraid of losing, or are they afraid of oversight? Or is there a skeleton in the closet?

NP: All the above. It’s no secret that a lot of our politicians do take a lot of money from places they shouldn't take money from. Old politicians who should be retired are not getting out of the way. So new people with new visions, who are used to new things, can make this country what it needs to be.

VMc: If you're a Black entrepreneur, and you find yourself in this precarious position, now, what do you do?

NP: You’ve got to get out there and remember what it was like in 2019. These last five years were great because there was attention, there was media push, there was awareness on a national level. It wasn't just marketing on different regions or different audiences nationally. The country was buying and supporting Black businesses. So if you were in business before that happened, you know how rare that is and how unexpected that is, and a lot of us might have gotten spoiled from that. Remembering what it looks like to have boots on the ground, remembering what it looks like to reach out to your audience, your marketplace. We have to go back to the basics and realize what got us this far. Let's start doing that again.

VMc: Can you give me more of what the basics are? What does boots on the ground mean to you?

NP: Something as simple as going to pop-ups. Before, you were in a store, so you no longer had to go to a marketplace pop-up, or a local community vending pop-up, because you had that reach. Start going back into that. You have to build a community. It is really the basic thing—and this doesn't go just for Black businesses. This is all businesses. The people who do the best are the people who have communities around their products, around their services. So if you are not building community and you're relying on the big-box stores, you have to go back and being that “every person” for your business—the marketing person, the advertising person, the design. You have to go back to what you did to make sure that you survived.

VMc: What's the smartest way to do that? It sounds a little exhausting to go back to that if you've had a product in Target, and now it's dropped. What’s the best way to pivot so you're not working necessarily harder, but you're working smarter?

NP: If you're a business that has a community, and you went inside Target and you stop reaching out to your community, you stop being a part of your community. You need that back. You need to go out and get a community so you have a direct line [to your customers].

That's the thing about being an entrepreneur, it is a very exhausting, rewarding field. It's not for everyone, and I don't advise everyone to try it, because it's one of those things. If you are not able to build community, if you're not able to know that you have to stay in the house to get things together. You have to just work at it, because, like, you're always working. Even when I'm on vacation, I'm working--if it's not my fingers, it is my mind.

VMc: Boycotts. Good or bad?

NP: Boycotts don’t work if you're not redirecting your money.

VMc: Let’s say I need something weird, like a Pyrex thing or something, or replacement part for my vacuum. How do I find that person, that company that's going to give that to me?

NP: You can start with your local thrift stores. A lot of thrift stores donate their proceeds to a cause. So if you're looking for something like a vacuum part, maybe start there to see if they have your vacuum, they have parts. We have to find creative solutions with this stuff. There are stores in your community that can help you with that dish or pan that you're looking for. It might not be top of the line because you got it from a Goodwill, but you got what you need. Wse have to change our mindset too, because we are over-consumed nation who thinks that as soon as we press the button we're supposed to have it.

VMc: What would it take to get you back into a Target?

NP: I stopped shopping at Target. I stopped shopping at Amazon. I stopped shopping at Walmart in 2024, and I don't miss anything. I have not lost any weight or missed a meal. My life still goes on, and I don't even miss it. I realized how much I was just going just to go, not because I needed something.

VMc: I feel like most of the shopping I do is at the farmers market for my food. And that way you actually meet the farmers. You meet the people who are bringing that food to you in a way that you can't otherwise.

NP: You are meeting your community.

VMc: Same with gifts. If you go to your neighborhood flea market or your neighborhood craft market or whatever, you're actually meeting the people and supporting them in a way that's even probably more powerful than if they got a fraction of the money from reselling at Target or something.

NP: That adds the value to it, because now you know that business person. You know that farmer, if you exchange words, you know a little bit about their story, and people buy from people. “I talked to Joe farmer, and he was so friendly. He gave me advice on cucumbers. I want to ask him about tomatoes.” And then you have a conversation. And now you trust him, and he trusts you to give advice, and it goes to something else. And then when you're looking for that vacuum part, you might say that to the farmer and he might know someone who repairs vacuums. But you wouldn't know that if you just bought it off the shelf and had no idea where it was coming from.

RESOURCES

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