8 Ways the Event Industry Is Celebrating Black History Month

From gift boxes curated with products sourced from Black-owned businesses to inspired virtual happenings, here’s how event pros can toast the monumental month.

Isabella Ursos

February 23, 2021

Cheers in a Box is offering a custom-curated corporate gift box that includes unique Black-owned wellness brands.

Photo: Courtesy of Cheers in a Box

Looking for ways to get involved and commemorate Black History Month? Here, we’ve rounded up various gifts and events surrounding Black History Month and, more specifically, Black event professionals.

To Educate Yourself
The National Society of Black Wedding & Event Professionals (NSBWEP)— a membership-based wedding and event association for Black-owned businesses founded by Tara Melvin of Perfect Planning Events—is dedicating the entire month to Black history with a video series called "Black History Black NOW," reflecting on trailblazers and innovators of the past to those equivalent in the present day. The videos appear weekly on the organization’s social media platforms. Check out NSBWEP’s YouTube channel for more.

Since the end of 2019, Boston-based TeamBonding has been offering a program dubbed “The White Privilege, Black Power Experience” to help open up those serious discussions that companies and teams should have. Click here to sign up.

Attendees at The Black Table’s webinar this week have a chance to win giveaways from Black-owned businesses, including scented candles from Kesh Design Home, a division of event and wedding company Kesh Events.Photo: Courtesy of The Black TableThe Black Table—a collective founded in 2019 to elevate Black-owned businesses in the event industry—is hosting “Finding Your Power Seat at The Black Table—A Celebration of Black History” on Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. ET. The webinar is a commentary on the power of collaboration, led by the organization's group of high-profile Black event professionals. Bonus: The virtual event’s attendees will be treated to a raffle at the end of the webinar with all giveaway goodies sourced by Black-owned businesses (think luxury scented candles, wine bottles from Minneapolis-based 1010 Wine and more). Click here to register.

The National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals (NCBMP) is hosting the organization’s second annual Founder’s Day event on Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. ET, and inviting event and meeting pros to join in on the celebration as NCBMP founders George Turner and Sylvia Thomas lead the evening. Click here to register.

To Support Black-Owned Businesses
Designed to connect small Black-owned businesses with major corporations, women-owned Cheers in a Box offers a custom-curated corporate gift box that includes unique Black-owned wellness brands. The company's new initiative aims to help some of these small businesses make those valuable connections to a corporate buyer that they may not have been able to reach easily due to COVID-19. Founder Jessica Shea says, "Particularly at this historic moment in time, it is important that all of us small businesses work together to innovate and use the power of community to drive new revenue streams."

Schrecengost focuses on Black-owned wineries such as New Jersey-based McBride Sisters and Maison Noir. While folks enjoy their beverage of choice or cooking through the recipes, they also participate in trivia to learn about Black History Month holistically and the change-makers that were part of hospitality.Photo: Courtesy of Virtual With UsThis month, Black entrepreneur Alexandra Schrecengost and owner of New York-based virtual event wine business Virtual With Us is offering a series of virtual events, ranging from a virtual wine tasting that showcases Black-owned wineries to cooking sessions led by celebrity chefs to learn how to make classical soul-food dishes.

Looking for some event inspo? This past weekend, FX hosted the Snowfall Neighborhood Car Wash in Los Angeles, designed to celebrate the return of the series, which follows the crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980s. Open to fans from Feb. 19-21, the contactless experience featured a custom car wash featuring lights, music and effects inspired by the series. The brand worked with the Official Black Wall Street app to promote the activation, and also draw attention to 10 Black-owned local businesses in the L.A. area. (The app allows you to search for Black-owned businesses near you.)

To top it all off? BizBash’s own graphic designer Aaliyah Letriece McNeal doubled as a book illustrator for author Zakiya Powell's new children’s book, Why Are You Afraid of Me?, which released this month and was created to teach Black kids to be proud of who they are. "With the current climate of the world, we need to value our children and instill a confidence within them," says McNeal. "I believe teaching them to lift each other up without tearing others down and celebrating diversity is important in reaching unity. When I first read the story, I knew I had to be a part of this project because of its strong messaging and ability to empower the young community in self-love."Photo: Courtesy of Aaliyah McNeal