We were lucky to catch up with Tunisia Morrison recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tunisia , thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

In 2019, I started a business knowing that opportunities were continuously finding their way onto my lap and that I needed to prepare a structure. In 2020, while working as a Chief of Staff to a NYS elected official and with COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter uprisings, I began receiving numerous offers to create toolkits, organize protests, brain dump all I know about civic engagement, politics and policy and be the curator of safe spaces for people. I didn’t take the requests lightly because where do you start to teach someone about their own agency and autonomy? How do you educate people to believe that all the power they project onto others actually lives within them? I had no clue besides the lessons my grandmother Ora instilled in me, so in her memory, I took the leap.

After working on a civic engagement toolkit, voter guide and toolkit on the history the of prison industrial system, I decided to begin hosting zoom calls titled, “Hey, Check on Your Black Friends” and changed the topics up according to need. We held safe space to talk about community, racism, work place violence, blatant oppression in nightlife and more. I coordinated senior food drop-offs, business walk check-ins, traveled the country to help friends start philanthropic initiatives and I must say, I felt like I did some good, until I saw Gen Z’ers and younger, in my community screaming for the rights to be heard. It was only then did I realize that younger generations weren’t just looking for their own spaces to relate, they were looking for support and validation from their elders, so I began ensuring to attend as many of their protests as possible.

Around June 2020, with protests and rallies still going strong, I attended a small one led by young people in my community and was stunned to learn they did not know of one of the biggest days in American history: Juneteenth. In that same few weeks friends of mine asked me to help them put on a Juneteenth march to rally in our community. I took it as a sign that I was meant to uplift the day in some way and pitched my state elected official boss to make Juneteenth a state holiday and we did. By October 2020 the bill was signed into law and by June 2021 the our federal administration followed suit. I decided to use Juneteenth the same way I used Check on Your Black Friends, to create a safe and informative space for all looking to learn and spread love.

Check on Your Black Friends Inc. became the name of my non-profit organization and the Juneteenth in Queens Festival became real. With 5 days of educational programming and a festival commemorating all intersections of the Black experience and Black culture, the event has become a premier day in the city of NY. The event is unique because its multi-generational and looks to find the bridge of understanding and empathy for all.. It truly is community centered and everyone feels like its theirs, and that matters. Though I still consult on external affairs, community and non-profit development, I’ve focused a lot of my attention of filling the void that exists within civic engagement and advocacy through my organization.

Tunisia , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I wear many hats, but I can say without a doubt my favorite one is being a professional people connector. I own a consulting company called The Consignment Group where we consult people who are running for office, build unique public affair strategies for public work projects and development and aid non-profit organizations in building capacity and relations. The other hat, in which I love equally as much is I am the founder of a non-profit organization called Check on Your Black Friends Inc., though centered in uplifting the amazingness that is Black culture, it works to positively impact communities of color that have suffered from being almost five steps behind in obtaining the necessary knowledge and access to succeed in their passions. My favorite part about the organization is that it leaves no on behind. Its objective is to target multi-generations and demographics and build socio-emotional, economic and political belonging. Its model is one that any community could use to lead horizontally, ensuring theres something for everyone and everyone has a role to play in leaving the world better than we found it.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Trust. In the external and public affairs work its important that you can stand on your name and your word. Do you show up? Do you execute? Did you stand on your word or acknowledge your pivot? The game really needs authenticity do build strong relationships. I’m an over achiever and pride myself on not doing things alone (even when I could) and I feel like that doesn’t go unnoticed. I also work hard to sustain my network as it grows, its not easy but only calling people when its transactional isn’t the best way to strengthen relationships. If anyone asked me how to truly sustain relationships its: don’t over promise, try to be as professionally transparent as possible, pivot pivot pivot, reply to emails! and stand on your word as much as possible – changing your mind isn’t a weakness, not acknowledging it can be perceived as one though.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

There’s a few and I think they intersect so I’ll list them all: 1) Perception Matters
2) Humility breeds success
3) Sitting in an office equates to productivity

Being a Black woman and working in corporate and bureaucratic spaces has plenty of challenges. A main one is how people perceive you from the moment you walk in a room, to the moment you open your mouth. Traditionalized beliefs taught me to be quiet, wear my hair a certain way, don’t ask questions or push back to not be identified as an “angry Black woman” or “hostile” because those perceptions create a unpleasant work culture for us. I had to learn that 90% of our thoughts about other peoples perceptions of us, are really our perceptions of ourselves and honestly, who cares? Those that want to box you and label you will do it anyway, what’s meant for you will be yours as long as your work on it and manifest it. Literally, no one can block your blessings so show up the best you. I had a horrible supervisor at one of my previous jobs, who were surrounded by Black women and for whatever reason he believed us all to be the same. Answer him the same, comprehend the same and all, and the moment he realized I was not like the rest, he made it his duty to have me fired. At first, I was embarrassed and thought that everyone hated me or would blackball me so I didn’t sustain the relationships and did everything to avoid them. Then one day, I got the opportunity to connect a new business client to the organization and was welcomed with open arms. I decided that day to not let anyone else’s self projections lead to my own demise.

I come from a long line of humble humans and I know its because their lives work is out of pure purpose and passion. So much like them, I don’t boast or gloat about the work I do or need my name stamped on it to know my impact. I think because I believe that no one can be great alone, there’s no joy in making it a “me” show. However, being quiet about your success or taking credit for you work isn’t narcissistic, its humble pride. Like that old supervisor I mentioned, there have been plenty of people like them who will speak up and take credit for your work if you let them. These type of people will put themselves first and minimize you at the cost of self preservation. It doesn’t hurt to slap your name on your execution, and if you don’t, no one else will. You did that! You deserve your flowers, even if you bought them yourself.

Lastly, I hope we all learned this lesson since the pandemic. Office does not equate to productivity. If you like to sit in a space and focus whether thats a coffee shop, office or home, thats okay but the work is the work and has to get done no matter where you are. The push to ensure there are bodies in the office space can feel a little micromanaging at this point. Different strokes for different folks but the world is a different place now, i love being on the go and being able to still produce.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.juneteenthinqueens.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/livefromtunisia
• Facebook: Tunisia Morrison
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tunisia-morrison-827481187/