'This Is A Very Strange Time To Be A Black-Owned Business'

This story, as told to Janna Mandell, is from the perspective of Trinity Mouzon Wofford, the co-founder of Golde, a Brooklyn-based superfood-fueled beauty and wellness brand, which she co-founded with partner Issey Kobori in 2017. In a short period of time, Wofford has hit several career milestones, including being the youngest Black woman to ever launch a line at Sephora and being chosen for Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list. Yet she and her company still face daily obstacles, forcing her to live inside the anxiety dream. You know the one — you’re on a busy sidewalk with people bustling past you, but you have to use every bone in your body to propel yourself even an inch forward. Here at HuffPost, we think it’s important to give powerful voices a platform, especially one like Wofford who speaks with such naked candor and emotion. We’re listening.

Like the rest of the world, I heard the news of what had happened in Minnesota sometime last week. Just before that, I remember learning from Issey, my partner [and co-founder], about Christian Cooper, who had the cops called on him in Central Park while bird-watching, of all things. We kind of had a laugh about it because I was like, “Jesus Christ, Black people can’t even go bird-watching.” In this situation, no one got hurt and the woman who made the 911 call got shut downreal quick — and so aggressively that Cooper said something like, “We don’t need to ruin her life. I think she got the point.” It was nice for once to make that point without something devastating happening. We started off the week with, “Oh, this is so ridiculous.” It was then followed by one of the most horrifying accounts of police brutality that I have experienced in my lifetime.

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