If It’s Black, I’mma Be There: The Shirt That Changed My Vending Game

Some products are planned. Some are strategized. And some just… happen.

“If It’s Black, I’mma Be There” started as something I made for myself. Not a drop. Not a collection. Not a launch. Just something I wore because it felt true.

And people responded.

They stopped me.
They laughed.
They nodded.
They pointed.
They said, “Where can I get that?”

That’s when I knew it wasn’t just mine anymore.

So I made 20. No big rollout. No complicated marketing plan. I took them to a Black-owned food truck festival in Charlotte — Bites on 7th, created by Eat Blk CLT — and set up my table.

I sold out.

It was the highest-grossing vending day I’ve ever had — and to this day, it still is.

All because the shirt spoke to people.

It wasn’t trendy. It wasn’t attached to an organization. It wasn’t tied to a celebrity quote. It was just a statement that felt lived-in and real.

And people saw themselves in it.

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The Lesson That Still Haunts Me

But here’s the part that sticks with me.

My sizing was off.

Two very prominent online personalities stopped by and asked for sizes I didn’t have:

Comedian Tim Shropshire.
KJ Kearney of Black Food Fridays.

And I didn’t have what they needed. That moment still sits with me.

Because if you vend long enough, you know what that kind of opportunity means. Right place. Right time. Organic alignment. The kind of exposure you can’t manufacture.

And I missed it.

I went home and panic-ordered 50 more shirts. Every size. All of them. All the way up to 6X which NO ONE asked me for but I knew if I didn't have it, someone was going to ask for it. I was never going to be caught slipping like that again.

I knew I’d be ready for the next round. Except… the next round never came.

That particular festival didn’t return. The moment didn’t circle back. And sometimes that’s the hardest part about entrepreneurship — not the failure, but the almost.

That “if only.”

To this day, I overprepare on sizes because of that moment. I panic if I don’t have everything imaginable. Because I remember what it felt like to not have what was needed when it mattered.

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Where Do You Put a Shirt Like This?

Another challenge with this tee was categorization.

It’s not an HBCU shirt.
It’s not Divine 9.
It’s not a quote from a civil rights icon.
It’s not attached to a specific movement.

So where does it live?

Eventually, I placed it in the protest section.

Is it protest?

No.

But also… yes.

Black joy is protest.
Community is protest.
A Black woman-owned business creating and selling culture back to the culture? That’s protest.
Showing up consistently in Black spaces? That’s protest.

Revolution doesn’t always look like marching. Sometimes it looks like cookouts. Festivals. Food truck lines. Film screenings. Homecomings.

Sometimes it looks like being present.

“If It’s Black, I’mma Be There” isn’t aggressive. It’s not confrontational.

It’s alignment.

It’s declaration.

It’s choosing community on purpose.

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What It Taught Me

That shirt taught me:

• Listen when people respond.
• Always be ready.
• You won’t always get the second chance.
• Momentum is unpredictable.
• And sometimes your best seller starts as something you made just for you.

It’s still one of my strongest pieces at in-person events.

It’s still a conversation starter.

And every time someone picks one up, I remember that first day — the folding table, the festival energy, and the realization that something simple could resonate so deeply.

If it’s Black… I’m still there.

And this time, I’ve got your size.