Meet National Association of Black Professional Organizers (NABPO) | Professional Organizing Association

We had the good fortune of connecting with National Association of Black Professional Organizers (NABPO) and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi National Association of Black Professional Organizers, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
In 2015 Naeemah Ford Goldson created a Facebook group for women of color who were either in the professional organizing industry or thinking about becoming professional organizers. The reason she created the group was because women of color in the industry were drastically underrepresented, and lacked the support and resources for starting their businesses.

Having joined several other professional organizer groups previously, Naeemah never felt welcomed in any of those groups. She noticed her questions were being met with snarky responses, or not being answered at all. She then started to observe the different groups and noticed that was the same trend for other women of color. She reached out to some of those women and asked if they would like to join her group, and kept it exclusive to women of color.

Fast forward to 2017, Naeemah gathered a group of organizers from her Facebook group for brunch, they loved their connection so much, they decided to meet up again to brainstorm ideas on how they could collaborate. Several months later, NABPO was born. Our six Founders are Naeemah Ford Goldson, Dina R. Smith, Tiffany Blassingame, Carolyn Rogers, Shaheedah Hill, and Naomi Kyalo.

NABPO’s mission is to empower and educate existing and start-up minority and women-owned businesses and other disadvantaged entrepreneurs by providing the appropriate resources and referrals that will meet their business needs.

NABPO has members all across the country, and it’s the only association that provides a listing of minority professional organizers, productivity experts, and coaches for potential clients to interact with.

What should our readers know about your business?
NABPO seeks to support its members through education, networking support, special events, referrals, and DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) initiatives. We are most proud of our continual growth and being a safe space for people of color in the industry.

NABPO is the place where writers, hosts, casting producers, and clients come to find organizers of color to utilize in their projects. No other association provides that resource.

Getting to where we are now has not been easy. For the first three years of business, we had about 10 members. After the events of 2020 with Black Lives Matter and the pandemic, more people started to recognize NABPO and realized we were a resource they could utilize.

The biggest lesson we’ve learned along the way is to keep going even if it doesn’t seem like anyone recognizes the work being done. Always be willing to pivot, and stay consistent with your messaging on who you are trying to help and what you are trying to achieve.

The majority of our members are Black women who own their businesses, and according to SCORE, the average gross annual income of a Black female-owned business is $24k vs. $143k among all women-owned businesses. Some reasons include lack of funding or capital, lack of support and resources, and burnout.

Our hope as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is to help our members continue to grow their businesses with some of the resources we can provide.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The historic Auburn Avenue in Atlanta holds a special place in our hearts because that is where the Founders met for the first time. Auburn Avenue is also where the home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is located. It’s close to the King Center and Ebenezer Baptist Church. If you’re in Atlanta, this is a great area to experience history.

While you’re in Atlanta make sure to visit any of the many Black-owned restaurants to experience southern hospitality at its finest!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The six Founders deserve recognition for stepping up and filling the void that was needed for people of color in the professional organizing industry. They’ve all contributed so much to get NABPO to where it is today. They were all brave enough to disrupt the industry and coordinate a group that has contributed to the success of so many.

Website: https://nabpo.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nabpo_inc

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nabpo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nabpo/

Image Credits
Woods Photo + Video