Talking about what it means to be Black in Portland also means looking toward the future. Below are some portraits of Black people in Portland who started innovative businesses in the past several years. To be an entrepreneur means dreaming of a better world. It means looking at what exists and imagining how it can change, even in small ways.
Himalaya Rao, who helped launch Black Founders Matter to seek funding, “Venture capital comprises individuals with generational wealth,” Rao says. “They’re always gravitating toward what they know, rather than innovation. I think that’s why Black founders have been left out. People are always looking for the same thing within the same box. You’re leaving out deals that you can’t measure based on what exists.” “capital, so often controlled by white institutions, is withheld from people of color whose ideas are unfamiliar to banks and investors.”
It was 2018. Roberts, 35, who lives in Southwest Portland, had just attended his youngest sister’s college graduation in Texas. He hit the road with his son and his niece, and got an uneasy feeling. He knew the fear: It was driving while Black.
“We’ve all seen the headlines,” Roberts says. “We know what happens when traffic stops get tense. I know firsthand and have personally been involved in some terrifying police encounters on the road.”
No police officer pulled over the Roberts family car that day. But the man at the wheel let his imagination run. “My mind just started wandering in and out of different possible solutions,” he recalls.
The solution he landed on was disarmingly simple: a wallet that attaches magnetically to a car dashboard, allowing drivers to reach for their license and registration with their hands in plain sight. Dashdok wallets are, well, wallets: flat, leather and stitched with five pouches. A magnetic strip at the wallet’s base lets it dock to the dashboard of the car. The wallets start at $26, for cotton, and rise in price to $212, for goatskin. A leather model sits in between, at $90. He’s received no outside funding or venture capital. That’s not unusual for a Black-owned startup, says Himalaya Rao, co-founder of Black Founders Matter.
“If you’ve never experienced what it feels like to have an uncomfortable situation with the police, what would prompt you in your mind to come up with something like the magnetic wallet?” Rao asks. “Different lived experiences and different pain points create different outcomes. Why would you come up with a solution if you didn’t know a problem existed?”
Another Black entrepreneur, Brittany Sierra, founded the Sustainable Fashion Forum five years ago in Portland, which has developed into a yearly fashion conference with a global reach. Sierra and her team have been bringing renowned speakers and fashion-focused people together in community to educate and learn since 2017. The SFF facilitates and encourages conversations about social and environmental responsibility to build a more sustainable fashion industry, and even hosts a weekly podcast on the topic called “Crash Course Fashion.”
Portland native Sharon Thomas has been doing professional photography and videography for over six years. She’s captured weddings, senior pictures, family photos, maternity shoots, artists and live performances, portraits, and more. She’s also doing a creative project called Black Love PDX, an Instagram photo and video series that features love stories of couples in Portland.
In Portland, Black-owned businesses can be found in business districts citywide offering everything from critically acclaimed food to passionate professional services.
