living in a boomtown has created opportunities and challenges for all of us here in Central Texas this Black History Month were taking a look at how some of those issues have impacted communities of color in Austin and highlighting people making history today to make sure those communities are thriving and not forgotten we begin tonight with cave news dear Nisha Haren who met two entrepreneurs paving the way for black owned businesses sneakers are not just shoes they hold history express style until a story my staff is super knowledgeable here so we can tell you about any shoe on awhile Greg Grover is the owner of kicking it ATX a one-of-a-kind sneaker social at the domaine north side so it’s just somewhere you can come hang out like I said you can meet with like-minded people where they lace you up in the latest kicks in apparel while you kick it we have a bar we have a lounge area we watch fights we watch football games it’s just the air you can come back Rovi a Dallas native has always had a love for sneakers I was always into sneakers even in elementary school but you know at the time my parents couldn’t afford to buy me every shoe I wanted but they made sure the ones I had looks good and stay fresh to get me through the school year those sneakers got him all the way to Houston Tillison where he earned his MBA in 2009 by 2018 he walked into the history books we’re the only black owned business on the domaine north side and we were the first black owned business in either side of the domain which is a compliment for us but the road to renting a storefront in one of Austin’s most popular malls wasn’t easy this times will come out or we’ll see his face is like all of this space is occupied somebody just signed a lease on it and it’s like six months later the space is still empty but it was all part of God’s plan to lead us here to the domain where we are across Austin the number of black owned businesses is on the rise but still relatively low according to the Austin small and minority business resource department in 2019 there were 194 certified black owned businesses in Austin which is up from the 166 businesses the year before and the 145 in 2017 there are a lot of barriers that remain for people of color but there also is a lot of opportunity don’t wanna DJ lazada own soul pot a gourmet popcorn shop at Barton Creek square mall that sells soul food flavored popcorn they remind you of home soul pops uses all-natural ingredients to create the flavor of soul food without the guilt if grandma didn’t use it in her kitchen we’re not going to sit in our shop lazada started the company in her kitchen in 2016 her son with Asperger’s loved eating popcorn and she wanted to give him something without preservatives and die tofu popcorn was born I started this company with 53 dollars in my bank account and with those 53 dollars she started at the farmers market in 2016 and then last year they popped in barn Creek square pineapple upside-down cake [Music] you can customize your popcorn or choose from their signature options which are all vegetarian we have our vegan fried chicken we have banana pudding she says she wants to continue to blaze a trail for other black business owners my mission is to make sure that I demonstrate everything that it needs to be done so that I no longer am the only black business owner in this mall like lisanna Ravi hopes his story can inspire others to make history hopefully people can look at us and believe I other black owned business can come here and you know sustain themselves to quote Doris from finding anyone just got to keep swimming you just got to keep swimming a lot of things are coming your path you had different obstacles but just keep moving forward and believing in it in Austin Darren Isha herring
