In this episode of The Taniesha Westbrook Show, I’m joined by my husband and co-founder, Greg Westbrook, for a real conversation about what it has actually taken to build Shop Black Fest behind the scenes.

People see the events, the crowds, the vendors, the community support, and the growth, but they do not always see the parts that almost broke us. We talk about starting with an idea, building as a husband-and-wife team, learning how to work together, and figuring out what it really means to move from hustle mode into building a sustainable business.

We also talk about our early experiences in entrepreneurship, corporate America, and what made us want to build something centered around Black business and Black culture. Greg shares his perspective as a Black man founder, and I share more about what it felt like trying to build something while also navigating being Black in corporate spaces.

This episode also gets into the business lessons we had to learn the hard way. We talk about scaling too fast, trying to go from a few cities to way too many, canceling events, dealing with customers, managing cash flow gaps, restructuring the business, and realizing that making money does not mean the business is actually built to last.

A big part of this conversation is also about roles. When you build with someone else, especially your spouse, you have to figure out who does what, what each person is actually good at, and where the business needs help. We talk about the difference between doing the things you like to do and doing the things the business actually needs.

Toward the end, we get into a deeper conversation about Black business support. Should we be trying to help every business owner, or should we be investing more energy into the entrepreneurs who are ready to grow? We talk about hustle mode, growth-minded entrepreneurs, capacity, and why support without responsibility does not always help people build better businesses.

This episode is for founders, couples in business, Black entrepreneurs, community builders, and anyone who is trying to build something that is bigger than just making quick money.

Drop your thoughts in the comments. Do you think Black business support should be for everybody, or should we focus more on the businesses that are ready to grow?