BlackOut Entertainment exceeded expectations of their first BlackOut Entertainment Fashion Music and Art Affair on Aug. 19 at Cobo Hall in Detroit. The founders and owners of BlackOut Entertainment are sisters La’Shanta and Errin Mitchell, and Alicia Osborne and LaTerria Snipes. When BlackOut Entertainment launched this past June, the ladies set out to bring exposure to local designers, aspiring models, musicians, poets and other entrepreneurs within their community. “We want to cater to their ambition and keep the positive vibes flowing,” says member La’Shanta Mitchell about female entrepreneurs in Detroit.
A part of the proceeds from the event went towards Fighting Colors, another organization of which La’Shanta is the founder. The organization provides wigs and other necessities for young children who are cancer fighters and survivors.
Aside from their collaborative visions for BlackOut Entertainment, they each have individual goals of their own. Errin aims to put her archaeological skills to use that she learned while studying in Belize, La’Shanta plans to open a homeless shelter, LaTerria dreams to become a fashion publicist and Alicia plans to start many businesses.
Check out what the women of BlackOut Entertainment had to say about their entrepreneurial journey.
How do you think your first event turned out?
Alicia: I think it went well.
La’shanta: It was better than I expected. I was nervous and thought the worst, but everything came together great for our first event.
Errin: I think it went well also. The designers were amazing! They did an amazing job.
How did you come up with the name of your company? What does BlackOut Entertainment mean?
LaTerria: Well, when you think of a black out, you think of lights being out. So what we wanted to do was shine the light on all the African American entrepreneurs and communities in Detroit. That’s why we all came together to bring that light back on to what was so dim.
La’Shanta: Like what she said, we want to come together to uplift those dim areas in black entrepreneurship and help people sprout their ideas to grow and work towards getting better.
What does the future look like for BlackOut Entertainment?
Alicia: Our future is bright. We’re going to make the fashion show an annual thing.
La’Shanta: Also, business expos and other things. We do have a lot of things in store and we’re pretty excited!
