We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Olivia Robinson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Olivia below.

Olivia, appreciate you joining us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build? What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

I want the feeling of my impact to outlast the memory of my impact. I still want to be felt long after I’m forgotten. And if I am remembered in perpetuity, I’d rather it be more for my morals and the outcome of my contributions rather than simply my accomplishments in and of themselves. The key parts I want people to remember are the core of my identity at present: Liv is a changemaker, Liv loves God, and Liv loves people. May my integrity be the beacon that shows other entrepreneurs, creatives, and systemic disruptors how to perform at the peak of their ability while also nurturing their inner sanctuary.
I don’t desire to be the first [insert minoritized identity qualifier] to do this or that. But if I happen to be the first to do anything, I’d like to clear a path for others to follow behind and grow to the capacity to outdo me.

Specifically speaking, however, I would like to be remembered for my dedication to creating economic liberation for Black people in America. I want to be part of the solution to the injustices that have magnified and maintained oppression for people of various marginalizations. I want people to remember how fearlessly I fought, how hard I loved, and how carelessly I laughed while doing it. And once there is no one left to remember those things about me, if others continue to teach the importance of buying Black, then I will have lived life well.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up in Palmdale, CA, but I’ve lived a fascinatingly intersectional life in different places throughout the country and the world, starting in my own home. Each place has, in some way, watered the seeds of justice seeking that are innate to my very being. They haven’t given me the perfect answer or perspective on every issue, but they have taught me good questions to consider as I take stances and take action. That’s truly what has prepared me to do what I do and be who I am. In 2019, I really began to deepen my understanding of personal finance and the historic relationship between economics and oppression in the Black community. I had an idea for an app that would help people locate Black owned businesses throughout the country. I set out to launch it in 2020, and for the past three years I’ve sown into my beloved invention known as BlackDollar. I had no business degree, no tech background, and no outside business funding. All I had was vision, Google, and audacity.

BlackDollar is a directory that shows all types of Black businesses in a growing number of cities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, Washington DC, and the San Francisco Bay area. Users can utilize the map to search numerous categories of businesses throughout different cities, or they can search the mobile business section to find products and services from ecommerce sites or places without a stationary business location. I envision growing it into a marketplace app that serves as the one stop shop for both Black businesses as well as consumers.

I’ve seen other apps supporting Black businesses come and go during my time producing BlackDollar, but I hesitate to see them as competitors. I support other businesses that support Black businesses because at the end of the day, my goal is to see an increase in the circulation rate of dollars within the Black community, regardless of whether it’s a result of BlackDollar or another resource. This is the goal that I keep at the center of how I operate my business.

There’s so much opportunity for growth in BlackDollar. I’ve had so many instances where I could’ve understandably given up, but I’m in this for the long game. I’m thankful to have had so many users, businesses, and supporters understand that. I’m just as excited for BlackDollar’s future now as I was when I first founded it. Though motivation has had its moments of expiration, committing to the impact is what has enabled me to hold on and steer straight.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In 2021, one year into founding BlackDollar, I started my first full-time job. I thought I would work all day, come home, and put 2-4 hours into BlackDollar. That did not happen. I went from putting in 8-18 hours per day into my app to struggling to do 10 hours in one week. In 2020, I had been able to prepare the data for hundreds of businesses in one day and have it formatted and published onto the app within a week, on top of being a content creator that every entrepreneur seems required to be nowadays.

When I wasn’t able to produce at that speed once I started working full time, I felt as though I personally was in the way of BlackDollar’s growth. I thought about how my grandfather would come home from working at the factory to plough his field every day. BlackDollar was my field to plough, and I was not tending to it at the capacity that would produce the harvest I desired, so I thought.

This. Burned. Me. Out. By 2022, I got to the point where I didn’t even want to look at my business Instagram, and I felt false guilt about not giving enough of myself to BlackDollar. I was doing the right thing by having a steady source of income to pay my bills and advance my career development, but I was convinced that if I wasn’t doing the most, then I might as well not be doing anything at all.

The best thing that helped me was taking an intentional step back for about a month to recollect my mental balance. Entering into independent adulthood is hard enough without the internally manufactured pressure of performing at your peak year-round! When I was ready, I came back to the drawing board ready to continue. All the businesses were still on the app, and I had more users than when I was grinding into dust. This taught me the value of investing into my own wellbeing first, and I have continued to practice that in the time since.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Over the years, there have been a handful of lessons I’ve had to unlearn or relearn. Untying my output from my identity was one of the most valuable. As entrepreneurs, we invest so much of our time and thought into our brand that we don’t think of ourselves without thinking about our brand; our baby. So, while it’s understandable to hold our creations so close to who we are, we were people before we were ever entrepreneurs, and we’ll still be people regardless of whatever happens to our businesses, for better or worse.

There was a stage where I was a guest on several podcasts and was invited to speak across a variety of platforms. I was traveling, interacting with businesses on BlackDollar, and networking with other entrepreneurs. I had a go-to way I would introduce myself:

My name is Olivia Victoria Robinson, and I created an app that helps people find Black owned businesses throughout the US.

When I was in places where introducing my business didn’t make sense, such as at work, I felt like something was missing. I’ve always had a confident understanding of who I am in terms of my me-ness, but I was shifting into this place where I was equating what I do with who I am. While this is how people commonly tell others about themselves in the states, my title as the creator of BlackDollar was starting to become a value statement for me.

One day, the thought crossed my mind, who will I be when BlackDollar is no longer my primary accomplishment? Will I constantly introduce myself in relationship to my output, as if that elevates my importance to whoever I’m speaking to? I realized that holding my values and qualities in closer proximity to my identity rather than my brand would allow me the distance necessary to critique and challenge my brand without taking it as a slight to myself as a person. This allowed me to receive and apply constructive criticism more effectively.

There was a moment during a very difficult time when I had the opportunity to sit down with a hero closely connected with the Civil Rights movement. She asked me to tell her about myself, and when I did, I truly told her about myself. In presenting who I am as a person and who my business is as a business, I felt the most myself. And that has become the primary way I introduce myself:

My name is Olivia Victoria Robinson. My passion and purpose are liberation, my strategy is love, and my foundation is God.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://eztree.me/BlackDollar?fbclid=PAAabgT7NtvI-qZ5QAHu-BvhKRGVv_InBMlCW_qns3DuM6hlLuwgVywwHBlnU_aem_AYMqWbfthWZqEv-XhiG1mW8XU8nNx0ZEQhszFg7jFwYUmjg-5Vi-z0S84A9i6RJ8sYI
• Instagram: @blackdollarllc
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivia-robinson-a07987139
• Other: Personal Instagram: @itsyourcurl

Image Credits
J Chris Rouse