From Black-Owned Breweries to Seats at the Table, Darden Students Showcase ‘The Black Business Experience’

The Black Business Student Association (BBSA) at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business is hosting a week of events called The Black Business Experience that is showcasing unique stories of black professionals in business and society.

The events started with a special First Coffee kickoff event on 18 February and will close with a 24 February trip to First Baptist Church, a historic African-American church in Charlottesville. In between, the BBSA presented events ranging from an examination of black-owned craft breweries, to a panel of black professionals discussing how they have earned “a seat at the table” with decision-makers at their companies, to social events and explorations of African-American culture.

The Black Entrepreneurship: Black Craft Brewers event drew local media coverage as Mike Potter, founder of Black Brew Culture, delivered an address on the growing number of black-owned breweries entering the craft brew market.

“We’re going to use the craft beer movement as a case study for black entrepreneurship,” BBSA President Zhana Edmonds (Class of 2019) said in a segment with Charlottesville’s NBC 29 TV station. “It’s a great way to show what black entrepreneurs go through when setting up their businesses.”

Watch broadcast news coverage of the event from the NBC 29 and CBS 19 stations to learn more.