Our names are Nicole, Elvis and Elzavier Obi. Elzavier was born April 2016.
While on maternity leave I began to do a lot of research and self discovery. During my journey I watched, listened and read articles from today’s leading Black scholars, entrepreneurs and conscious entertainers. One major point that stuck out to me was the idea of leaving a legacy for our children.
Many people live pay check to pay check, not able to save. Especially when our children go to college, many parents put themselves more in debt in addition to the child entering debt. Too often do parents leave this world leaving debt for their children. Elvis and I don’t want to do that to our son.
In addition to buying real estate to leave for our son, which we’re not at that stage yet, we’ve started our own business. Giving a work place for our son, some place for him to call his own, not having to worry about someone else hiring him, is a gift we aspire to give to our son.
In the 1960’s 40% of Blacks had their own business. Today less than 7% of Blacks have their own business. We want to give our son the confidence to be able to build something on his own. To teach him that being a Black male in America doesn’t mean that he has to rely on someone else to survive and to provide for his family.
Our store Moor American orginated online at mooramerican.com. We then got a location in a discount mall next to our residence. The mission of the store and the clothing and acessories we provide is to honor African style and promote the reconnecting of members of the African diaspora and encourage Black consciousness through bold statement clothing.
In addition to having distributors that we get goods from, we also have custom made pieces including hoodies, skirts and T-shirts. Our most popular item is actually our custom made hoodie.
Because of the items we carry in our store, it also sparks meaningful conversations with almost every one of our customers on the state of American and Black America. Opening the minds of one another and sharing ideas helps in our mission to encourage others to feel empowered, to help those around them, and to be successful on their own terms.
Proceeds will help in paying our credits that we used to fund the start of the business, purchase more products, materials and paying for the rental space of the store.
$5: A special thank you from Elzaiver
$15: A Pen with the store logo
$20: Pen and notebook with store logo
$50: Custom hoodie from MoorAmerican.com
$100+: All of the above, special thank you on our website and social networks, and an I Support Black Businesses Shirt.
So we thank you in advance for your support. It not only will mean the world to us, but your contribution will help shape our son’s world view.
Help spread the word!