Our Commitment to Allyship
At Babes Who Hustle, we believe that each woman’s progress is every woman’s progress.
We know that in order to translate that belief into a reality, we must be steadfast in our approach to fostering diversity and inclusion practices—through intentionally updating and adjusting our internal systems, processes and dialogue—in order to create an actively anti-racist company, culture and community.
We know that our good intentions, wordy statements, IG stories and ‘muted’/black squares are bullshit if they aren’t translated into active change. We can’t promise that we’ll always do all the “right” things, but we recognize the need and obligation to better equip ourselves as anti-racism allies—not just right now, but every day—as we continue to listen, learn, grow and evolve.
Our six team members have spent the past few weeks moving through grief and uncertainty by channeling our anger and frustrations into different forms of action. We’ve attended protests, added anti-racism literature to our audiobook and podcast collections, engaged in uncomfortable, important conversations with friends, family, clients and colleagues, and donated to anti-racist organizations actively doing the work.
As a team, we’ve formulated and talked through an updated Diversity and Inclusion plan of action—broken down to quarterly, monthly and weekly checkpoints. These commitments will transform the way all departments of BWH are approached moving forward, from content calendars and social media posts, to events, book clubs, partnerships, and the growth of our team, etc.
We’ve also created this list of anti-racism resources, and have committed to giving a quarterly donation to minority-run organizations in need, starting with The Loveland Foundation: an organization that brings opportunity and healing to communities of color—and especially to Black women and girls—through fellowships, residency programs, listening tours, and more.
Most of all, we are committed to listening to, learning from and amplifying the voices of the (past and present) black community—a community who continues to face unjust murder and discrimination fueled by the same systemic and institutionalized racism that continues to be upheld in our own communities, neighborhoods and backyards.
We believe that each woman’s progress is every woman’s progress, we believe that black lives matter, and we are committed to using our platform, resources and tools as forms of allyship.
In the words of Rachel Cargle:
“Anti-racism work is not self-improvement work for white people. It doesn’t end when white people feel better about what they’ve done. It ends when black people are staying alive and they have their liberation.”
Thank you for holding us accountable.
In sincerity,
Chelsea DuDeVoire
Founder/CEO, Babes Who Hustle
