Culturally Inspired Bean Line Expands with Black, Latino Recipes

Ibraheem Basir is the founder and CEO of A Dozen Cousins, a mission-based brand that creates authentic and nutrient-dense natural foods. The brand debuted earlier this year with a line of culturally inspired slow-simmered beans from traditional Black and Latino recipes.

He said he was inspired to create the company after reflecting on dinners he enjoyed as a child. For many years, Basiris worked on natural food brands before coming up with A Dozen Cousins, a name derived from his daughter and her 11 cousins.

“I grew up in a big family with nine siblings, and food always had a special place in our house,” Basiris said. “Dinner served as a way for us to reconnect at the end of our day and it was one of the primary ways that we celebrated holidays and marked important events. I always wanted to marry my professional career with my love for food, and eventually, I was able to do that.”

Read the full story at The Washington Informer.

The First Natural Black Hair Salon In The Dominican Republic Is Coming To New York City

One salon in Santo Domingo has been turning an old beauty ideal on its ear since December 9, 2014. Miss Rizos, the Dominican Republic’s first hair care institution strictly dedicated to curly, kinky and afro’d hair, is pioneering hair acceptance in a Caribbean Latin American country marred with a complicated history of anti-blackness, despite its majority Black population.

For National Black Business Month, BET tracked down Carolina Contreras, the woman behind the mantra “Yo Amo Mi Pajón” or ("I love my big / afro’d hair"), who against all odds successfully established and continues to run a salon serving Black women, children and men as a scrappy entrepreneur.   

In a Q&A [at the link] below, Contreras outlines her biggest setbacks and rewards as a Black woman business owner (including being ripped off by imposters), the social activism driven by Miss Rizos, and the success that has afforded her to open a second location in the heart of Washington Heights, New York—home to the largest population of Dominicans outside of the island.