Angel Gregorio is the founder of the Black-owned strip mall Black + Forth, which houses her specialty spice shop, The Spice Suite, as well as commercial space that can be used by other Black-owned businesses.
Funded through her nonprofit organization Dream Incubator Inc., she is creating a space for Black entrepreneurs to build wealth and educate themselves.
Gregorio opened up about her commitment to the community.
What is the mission and vision of Black + Forth?
The mission and vision of Black + Forth is the idea of going back and forth with Black people. For me, that’s the notion that we need to bring as many people along on our journeys as possible, because sometimes we won’t get to where we need to be alone, by trying to go along. That’s what I’ve been doing with Black + Forth, using my business model Spice Girls, which is this collective of Black women who have their own businesses. While they are running their businesses and popping up at my store regularly, they help run my shop. That’s my business model to help them avoid some of the overhead and operating costs. I don’t have to hire staff to run my shop, because the Spice Girls, enter into this reciprocal agreement where we exchange time for them working in my space.
Why are you committed to the community?
As the owner and kind of CEO, my commitment is just to make sure that I continue to create as much space for Black people and be clear that this space is for Black people as much as possible. We have a farmer’s market that operates here every second and fourth Sunday, that is specifically for Black farmers and vendors, and it’s free for them to rent here.
We allow Black businesses to do pop-up shops in our store, we’ve hosted thousands of pop-up shops in the seven and a half years we’ve been in business, and we’ve never charged anyone to pop-up with us. We just share space with other Black creators as much as possible. My mission is simply to share space. Sometimes people just need space and opportunity. I have space, and I give them an opportunity. However they decide to utilize that opportunity and flourish is completely up to them.
How can people support your nonprofit financially or in other ways?
I think because supporting Dream Incubator Inc. is like literally supporting hundreds, if not thousands of other businesses; when you give to us, we can give back to more businesses. We give out scholarships that are community business school classes, we provide space and opportunity for other small businesses, and we allow them the resources they need to grow. It’s not just about supporting one business. It’s like an easy win for corporations to give us a grant because they know that grant money is going to multiply financially, but also socially — the impact will trickle throughout the community.
