I’m thinking about using The Commons Dispatch, my Simply Edyn & Co. newsletter, to create a free spotlight for small Black-owned businesses.

Not as a critic review. Not as a “gotcha” space. Not as another internet scoreboard.

My hope would be simple: to give more visibility to businesses that are often overlooked, under-shared, underfunded or treated as niche while the culture they help shape keeps moving through the mainstream.

I would do my best to vet with care, welcome honest feedback and keep the purpose clear: discovery, circulation and support. A place where readers can learn about small Black-owned businesses worth exploring, and founders can have one more free marketing opportunity in a marketplace that does not always make room for them.

My true north star vision is not exclusion. It is correction. It is visibility. It is circulation. It is saying, “Here are businesses worth knowing that too often do not get the same discovery pipeline.”

The primary focus will be small Black-owned businesses, because visibility, circulation and economic support matter. I may also include a Community Pick in each issue: a small business or maker whose work I genuinely love and believe aligns with the spirit of The Commons Dispatch.

I want to be clear about why this matters. We are living in a moment when voting protections are being weakened, Black children are still denied the presumption of innocence, and “self-defense” is applied unevenly depending on who is feared and who is allowed to be afraid. Racism is not only carried by open white supremacy. It also moves through systems, policies, courts, schools, markets and everyday choices. Centering small Black-owned businesses is not about exclusion. It is one small act of correction, visibility and circulation in a country that still too often treats Black life, labor and ownership as optional.

I’m also aware that subscriber fatigue is real. Everyone is overwhelmed. Inboxes are crowded. People are tired of being asked to sign up for one more thing. So before I build this out, I want to ask plainly:

Would this be useful?

Would you subscribe to a newsletter that regularly features small Black-owned businesses to explore?

Would you want your business featured?

Would you share it with people who want to shop more intentionally?

My vision is not exclusion. It is correction. It is visibility. It is circulation. It is using whatever platform I have to help point attention toward people building beautiful, useful, meaningful things who deserve to be seen before they have to become “big enough” to be noticed.

I’m seriously considering it, but I don’t want to waste anyone’s time or build something people don’t actually want. So I’m asking first.

Would The Commons Dispatch Small Business Spotlight be worth creating?