We were lucky to catch up with Sadie Pegues-Hall recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sadie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I have been in the event planning world for about 10 years. I have often held vendor events that brought small business owners and bloggers together in an effort to give bloggers products to talk about, but more importantly giving these small businesses a platform to be seen. I have always possessed a passion for making those genuine connections. While making those connections, I did however notice that there was a greater need for black women, small business owners to be seen. No one was really giving us any exposure unless we had already reached a certain level of notoriety, which can be discouraging to our community of women, who are simply wanting a chance to be placed in front of the right audience.
When the pandemic hit, I stopped holding in-person events, but still felt the need to connect and build deeper connections with my community. I was a contributor for several publications and began my Youtube Channel, Sadie Says It All, where I would chat about random topics. As I grew a following for the show, that’s when all of a sudden, it came to me! I decided that this would be the perfect platform for me to chat with black women, small business owners, and the idea for The Meet The Woman Behind Business platform was born.

Sadie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I first began my journey as an event planner from my life as an autism mom. I was looking for a way to increase awareness for the autism community by way of events and bringing people together. I was also a contributor for several different publications, and really enjoyed building an audience through my articles. During the pandemic, I no longer held the in-person events, but felt there was a movement taking place within our country and community, and I wanted to be a part of that movement. As a black woman I saw that there was a need for support in a specific part of my community. I noticed many small businesses emerging throughout the pandemic, small businesses that were created by black women. Many times black women are over looked and over shadowded, and no one ever really takes notice until a certain status is already achieved. That is where the Sadie Says It All, Meet The Woman Behind The Business platform steps in. The talk show invites these women onto the show to talk about their businesses and a bit about their lives, in the form of your typical sister-girl coversation, and we also play a game at the end of most episodes. It gives the viewers some insight into who this woman is, her personality, and why you should shop with her business.

The Meet The Woman Behind The Business platform was expanded with the addition of the magazine. The magazine features a black woman small business owner on the cover, and features these women from all over the country throughout the magazine. All of the ads within the magazine are all by these black women and there is also a Black Women Small Business Listing at the back of each issue. I am so proud of what has been and is beeing accomplished here, and I will be forever grateful for them trusting me with their brands To offer a platform that is so overdue to women who just need the opportunity to be seen is what I am most proud of, and this is only the beginning.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I believe that my reputation has been built with my market, by simply being true to who I am, and building true connections with people. Each and every guest I have on the show and feature in the magazine trusts that I will represent them and their brands in the best way possible. That comes from simply being sincere and delivering on whatever expectations I set.

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 am not sure if it was a lesson that I necessarily had to unlearn, as opposed to a form of the imposter syndrome that would creep in, but I had to shake the fear of thinking that no one would be receptive to this platform I was building. I did not have a huge “following”, but I was certain of the direction that I wanted to take, and what I wanted to achieve. I had to get out of my own way and take that first step. That first step was to reach out to women who did not know me and ask them to let me interview them on my show. It was the best decision I could have made, and it has been nothing but great things from there.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mtwbtb.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/sadiesaysitall
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC61Z6wgQiI8_OKe4XbOzQpA

Image Credits
Aaron Stallworth Photography