The story behind the dots
WHY BLAK
Rooted in something bigger.
01 · The origin
Rooted in something bigger
BLAKDOTTIE didn’t begin with a map.
It began with an appreciation for what I kept discovering on it.
The creativity. The businesses. The products. The ideas. The people who decided to build something of their own — sometimes with very little, sometimes against enormous odds, and sometimes long before there was an internet available to tell their story.
The more Black-owned businesses I discovered, the more amazed I became.
02 · The roots
My own roots
And then I started thinking about my own roots.
My family’s story stretches through generations, from Cartersville, Georgia, back into South Carolina. Old census records, family documents, photographs, and pieces of history remind me that working, creating, building, serving a community, and finding a way forward didn’t begin with my generation.
It was already there.
One of my favorite pieces of that history is an old photograph of a family business in Cartersville — a reminder that entrepreneurship wasn’t some new concept that suddenly appeared in our family.
People were building then.
People are building now.
And BLAKDOTTIE is about making sure we keep seeing them.
03 · The mission
Making sure we keep seeing them
This platform isn’t about separating ourselves from anyone else. It’s about making sure incredible Black-owned businesses aren’t invisible.
It’s about discovering the restaurant you didn’t know existed.
The contractor down the street.
The artist making something you’ve never seen before.
The grocery store, designer, baker, mechanic, consultant, creator, farmer, beauty brand, professional, food truck, shop, and entrepreneur that deserves another customer.
I want us to keep talking about each other, recommending each other, discovering each other, and supporting each other.
Because when businesses grow, families grow.
Communities grow.
Ideas grow.
And opportunities have somewhere to go next.
I’m simply someone who became fascinated by what was already out there — and decided I wanted to help connect the dots.
Or maybe, more appropriately:
Keep the roots growing.
04 · The invitation
LET’S KEEP IT moving.
Every listing.
Every recommendation.
Every purchase.
Every share.
Every conversation.
It matters.
Supporting Black-owned. Every day. All day.
And we’re just getting started.