Baldwin Wallace students were able to engage in the first-ever Buzzin’ Black Friday event on Feb. 17 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Student Activity Center.  

Buzzin’ Black Friday is a pop-up shop created by sophomore political science student Daisjah Brown, a Brain Center fellow. The event brings in local Black vendors selling products ranging from hair oils to candles, press-on nails, hair line-ups and much more.  

The goal for the event is “to help create an inclusive community here at BW between our students and faculty of color and showing them in a positive light that the university really hasn’t done before,” Brown said.  

The inspiration for this idea struck while Brown was on a civil rights alternative break trip last year to Montgomery, Ala., and Atlanta, Ga. While on the trip, Brown saw that many businesses were gas stations or liquor stores, and not many people of color owned any businesses. She talked to fellow students about the idea of bringing local black vendors to campus, and the student recommended she become a Brain Fellow. She then joined the Brain Fellows team, where the idea began to blossom and became a campus event. 

“[I want] people leaving feeling like they learned something, and I want people to leave feeling like there is positivity in the Black community that is not shown in the media,” Brown said. 

At Buzzin’ Black Friday, Tameka Rashid, vice president for student affairs, spoke about the event and Brown. 

 “I really applaud the effort of what Daisjah and her team have done to not only provide a space for entrepreneurship and our businesses that are here today and represented but to provide an opportunity for education and an educational space to learn,” Rashid said in her speech. 

At the event, students were able to learn about the circulation of the Black dollar and Black businesses. There were chances to win prizes and enter a raffle, including winning a BW center basket.  

This will be one of many events the Brain Center will host this semester. There is an OAC food drive happening today from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Lou Higgins Rec Center. There will also be pop-up pantries throughout the rest of the semester in various dorm buildings. Additional information on this can be found on the Brain Center’s Jacket Connect page.