We recently connected with Majora Carter and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Majora thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard.
I work as an economic development consultant across the US. One thing that almost all low-status communities like the South Bronx have in common is that they lack what urbanists refer to as “3rd Spaces”. These are usually businesses like cafes, bars, and restaurants, and book stores where people can meet up randomly or self-program for meet ups.
These types of businesses are only supported by the commercial real estate and banking industries later in the development curve when displacement is well underway. I believe in a talent-retention strategy for community development. Even though many of these communities are low income, there still are many success stories. We don’t do a good job of giving that smaller group of residents and those who commute in, reasons to stay and send their time and money.
The Grind is that place, and we are building Bronxlandia to do even more – look it up !
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
In our pursuit of creating a high quality 3rd space for residents and those who work here, we have won awards, pivoted several times through covid, and watched people rethink what it means to be from here and find their fortune.
We did not want to be in the cafe/bar business, but nobody was stepping forward no matter how attractive we made the deal.
This place is an homage to hip hop and the urban landscape of the 1980’s when hip hop was born on these streets. We invite anyone who is a fan of hip hop to visit – there’s lots of detail.
It’s also very important that the quality is top notch. Our coffees, beers, sangria and food are all great. We keep it simple but also top quality. It’s important because so much of what we get in neighborhoods of color is low quality.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I grew up believing that i could only measure success by how far i got away from the low-status community where i was born and raised. I got myself into the Bronx High School of Science and then onto college. I only moved back to the Bronx because I was broke while in grad school and my parents had a room in their house. There was no sanctimonious “give back to the community” thing involved. It felt like a defeat at the time. Eventually i discovered the remarkable talent all around me – the same community that gave birth to Hip Hop didn’t just disappear, it’s all around us.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
Mostly it’s my own money, but we have picked up various other forms of financing along the way for various reasons. Hebrew Free Loan Society (HFLS.org) has no fee no interest loans for business up to $50k that are for real. We’ve done the SBS loans, taken equity investment from local families, and during covid we did a revenue share note with mainvest.com where we attracted 125 investors and raised $50k mostly from locals. The crowd source investment platforms are really god if you have the reach. They are more adjustable and customizable than we knew at the time so i would suggest talking to someone who knows the sector well.
Contact Info:
- Website: boogiedowngrind.com
- Instagram: @boogiedowngrind
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/majora-carter-8649529/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-boogie-down-grind-bronx?osq=boogie+down+grind
Image Credits
boogie down grind