“I Gotta Get Mine, You Gotta Get Yours.” – MC Breed
When Black businesses or individuals provide great services, we deserve to be recognized for a job well done. We deserve to be celebrated. We are owed AcknowledgeMINT.
Although Black contributions to culture, innovation, education, and business have unquestionably made a massive impact globally, for whatever reason the optics of our role in improving society’s quality of life are often suppressed. Just imagine how many more little Black boys and girls would dream BIGGER if they were constantly exposed to how great their lineage is. How cool would it be to avoid dealing with impostor syndrome in the workplace, if we understood that we deserve a seat at the BIG table. How much more productive would we be in our community if we were taught, ‘just because I gotta get mine, doesn’t mean I have to take yours,’ because there really is enough to go around for everyone. As we continue to know better, we’ll do better. And this is why we need to gather.
Years ago, my friend Jasmine Crowe had me meet her at a brand new private membership club in Atlanta called The Gathering Spot. We were catching up so she could fill me in on a new food waste management company she was forming called Goodr, which she believed would be huge. The information I gained at our table that day was phenomenal, but I was also so impressed by the high-frequency professional environment we were in. A safe space with Black creatives sharing information over food and drinks. To witness the evolution that TGS founders Ryan Wilson and TK Petersen have experienced since opening the doors in 2016 makes this full-circle moment so much sweeter.
On the heels of reclaiming the independence of their company, which they sold to Greenwood in 2022, Ryan and TK deserve premiere cover story AcknowledgeMINT for recommitting to finishing what they started at their thriving networking hub. This issue is also a great time to check in with popular hip-hop hoarder turned influencer Larry ‘Nuface’ Compton and Patchwerk Studio co-owner Curtis Daniel for an interesting State of Hip-Hop Culture conversation. And I can’t express how much it warms my heart to have longtime friend/mentee Demetri ‘Mimi’ Ricks sharing gems about her journey from college intern to running the TV/Film day to day at Georgia Public Broadcasting studios.
Much love to everyone who has contributed to this premiere issue, the preview issue, and the events we’ve had over this past calendar year. AcknowledgeMINT is the premium business lifestyle magazine that our culture deserves. We owe this to ourselves. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
This issue inspiration is my heartbeat. My daughter, Mia Henderson.
Adell Henderson
Publisher
