Meet Kesha Rodgers | Entrepreneur & Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kesha Rodgers and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kesha, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
In the summer of 2020, I took an entrepreneurship course because I was eager to explore owning my own business. Just a short while later, the national reckoning on anti-Black racism was really beginning to accelerate. In Seattle, there were a lot of people reaching out who were educating themselves but struggling to find tangible things to do to help. My friend, Sara, and I had talked for hours about how we might help people shift their empathy to action. From there, we saw the opportunity to help close the wealth gap and run a business at the same time.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

The Ally League provides people with education, resources, and opportunities to use their privilege to help the marginalized. We started with Black Boxes – gift boxes curated exclusively with products from Black-owned companies. The idea was to fill a gap at the time when people were just opening their eyes to racism and were full of empathy for Black people. People wanted to help, but they didn’t know how to take action beyond educating themselves as best they could.

Black Boxes provided a platform where we could get people to shop at more Black-owned businesses. We wanted to share and celebrate the brilliance of Black entrepreneurs, expose people to more products from Black owned-businesses, and ultimately, get people in the habit of doing more frequent and impactful actions. We wanted to create more true allies.

It was so tough. Sometimes it still is! The kids were remote learning, my job became more stressful, there were so many places I felt unsafe, and I wasn’t able to travel to see my sisters and parents. We were also two biotech professionals. We knew how to support your clinical trial or help you manage organizational change, but supply chain, marketing, and logistics presented a steep learning curve. I’m really proud that able to get up and running in 10 weeks and far exceeded our revenue goal that first holiday season. More than anything, though, we saw that sometimes if you just present the opportunity and the tools, people will act.

To Sara Erickson, thank you for not even blinking at the idea of starting a business with a buddy, diving in head first, and making incredible things happen with me in such a short time. You are a marvel, and I can’t wait to see what adventure awaits you next.

That gave me the opportunity to use my professional experience to follow our customers’ need and provide opportunities for them to learn and practice behaviors that demonstrate allyship and inclusion. The response has been tremendous, and now we have shifted focus to education and support for people to build allyship and inclusion as habits.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

This is a tough question! Does my friend prefer nature or the city? Either way, we’d start our day with coffee and treats from Mixed Coffee & Community and head downtown. For city folks, we’d then have brunch at Communion (cornbread French toast!), and then go to Pike Place Market for fresh flowers and to watch the fishmongers toss fish. It’s touristy, but it’s also fun! For the nature lover, we’d swap the trip downtown for a trip to Snoqualmie falls. Seattle’s landscape is gorgeous, and to be surrounded by the tall evergreens, taking in the waterfall – it’s just magic.

A pro-tip: if you’re flying into Seattle, get a window seat on the left side of the plane as you face the cockpit. When you descend to SeaTac airport, there is usually a breathtaking view of Mt. Ranier, one of the tallest mountains in the country. Seeing its peak above the clouds is really a treat.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

There are so many!

Shout out to my husband, Shawn for believing in me and trusting me every day.

To my sisters, Kim, Pam, and Danielle, and to Dad, for encouraging me and jumping in to help whenever I needed it. You are the smartest, fiercest, kindest people, and I am so grateful for you.

To the Seattle Urban Impact program, thank you for the education and support from the earliest days.

To Fernell Miller, thanks for showing me the path.

To the Goldman Sachs Black in Business program, 1863 Ventures, Cynthia Nevels (my business advisor), and my CEO sisters, there aren’t words for how much the Black in Business program changed my business and my life.

And to Ozzy and Jason, my children, thank you for inspiring me by showing me the good in the world every, single day.

Website: www.theallyleague.com

Image Credits
Ashley Kay Photography