Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Mompreneurs host Nancy Redd welcomes dynamic duo Simona Noce Wright and Nikki Osei-Barrett to discuss their social organization for millennial moms of color, District Motherhued.
Wright and Osei-Barrett put on community events for Black moms nationwide that attract celebrity keynote speakers and regularly sell out. And it all started with a simple DM. At first, the two mompreneurs only knew one another through Instagram. However, with both of them being from Ghana, having sons and having backgrounds in PR, they had a lot in common and liked each other’s online presence. So one day, Osei-Barrett messaged Wright about co-producing a one-off event in the D.C. area.
“For us, what we were looking for….we wanted to hang out with other young Black professionals who were also getting into that family space,” says Osei-Barrett.
It quickly became clear to the ambitious pair that they were destined to build so much more than a singular event, and from there, the idea for District Motherhued was born.
With each woman specializing in distinctly different areas — Wright loves PR, and Osei-Barrett loves event producing — the working chemistry was more than there. “It’s a testament to finding people that don’t overlap skills,” says Redd.
The events were instantly popular but not instantly smooth or profitable. The bestie business partners recall a food vendor pulling out the day before an early event and having to provide the food themselves. Charging just $25 at first put them immediately in the red, too.
Today, tickets to District Motherhued events cost around $800, but becoming comfortable asking for that was a journey for this energetic team. The duo explains that they were hesitant to ask for so much, as they personally knew how much it costs moms — between babysitters to Ubers — to get to such an event.
Redd explains why the pair didn’t want to charge their worth. “As Black women, we are just taught to give and give and give. Having the confidence to say ‘I should be paid for this’ is very hard.”
Today, the women know the value their events deliver makes them worth the cost of admission. In fact, they’ve expanded their business also to offer their Momferences, the nation’s first large-scale conferences dedicated to moms of color, and Mommy En Blanc events, which are described as “the nation’s premiere all-white, pop-up picnic for bomb (brown) moms and their littles.”
Redd concludes the interview by asking what advice the mompreneurs have for other moms who don’t believe they have what it takes.
“You have to believe in yourself, and you have to just put one foot in front of the other and do the work,” says Osei-Barrett.
Follow @DistrictMotherhued on IG to hear about upcoming Momferences, Mommy En Blanc events and more.
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