The surge of DEI initiatives at giant retailers such as Amazon, Target, and Walmart after the 2020 murder of George Floyd gave several Black entrepreneurs a long-awaited spot on the shelves of stores that millions of Americans have long trusted.
But as President Trump threatens to dismantle such programs with executive orders — and those same companies respond to him by scaling back their efforts — local business owners who have benefited from these programs are left wondering: Will their enterprises unravel under the pressure?
“It’s almost disheartening,” Baldwin said. “Dependent on the political climate … it’s almost like we take a step forward to take a step back.”
The recent unwinding of DEI policies among America’s leading retailers is a stark contrast with the enthusiasm they professed five years prior. In 2020 and 2021, Target vowed to spend more than $2 billion with Black-owned businesses, add products made by more than 500 Black-owned brands, and boost its Black workforce by 20 percent. Walmart established a racial equity center to devote $100 million toward improving health, finance, criminal justice, and education.
Much of the DEI programming focused on diversifying the workplace and suppliers of these major companies is seemingly still in tact. But retailers are making changes to their equity practices in real time and tweaking DEI languages on web pages, too. The seemingly conflicting messaging has left entrepreneurs not knowing what to expect next.
Target, for example, announced it is phasing out some of its DEI policies, but its Forward Founders program, which focuses on helping underrepresented owners of burgeoning brands scale for mass retail, won’t be affected, according to a company spokesperson. Amazon has not publicly specified which DEI programs it is halting until further notice, but its Black Business Accelerator website is still active. And none of these brands, including Walmart, have so far pulled products from their inventory due to a DEI rollback. But some Black suppliers, such as Oh Happy Dani, have pulled their products by choice.
“What are you going to tell the brands? You have 50 woman-owned and Black-owned brands, and you’re pulling back DEI? That in itself is embarrassing,” said Shelly Marshall, cofounder of True Scoops, a Beverly-based brand of shelf-stable ice cream mixes.
In Massachusetts, elected officials are working to safeguard DEI practices in the private sector. Last week, 16 Democratic attorneys general, including Massachusetts’ Andrea Campbell, issued recommendations to local companies to double down on their initiatives, saying it is not illegal to strive to have a workplace that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
It’s unclear how many Massachusetts businesses have participated in retailers’ DEI programs. Local advocates for entrepreneurs of color are waiting to see the ultimate effects of the DEI pullbacks.
The numbers are small, but some Massachusetts-based operations benefited from the DEI programs. And having the visibility that comes with a billion-dollar retailer — whether online or in-store — has made the difference in sales for these shops, including Destiny African Market in Randolph, which focuses on catering and selling groceries from the African continent.
Adebukola Ajao, the store’s marketing director, said the store added its moin-moin mix, a Nigerian bean cake, to Amazon. The listing generated web traffic its own website couldn’t.
“Even just having a listing on Amazon, people discover us just from that and will come in [our Randolph store],” Ajao said. “This is working.”
Marshall and Kelly Williamson, the other True Scoops cofounder, were accepted into Target’s second Forward Founders cohort. The pair learned how to pitch their product, gained access to buyers, and received mentorship.
“We looked at it as a way for us to carve our path towards big-box stores like Target,” said Marshall, who is Black. (Williamson is white). “The fact that we were one of the brands that they chose gave us some validation that our brand was onto something.”
After the program, Marshall and Williamson decided that brick-and-mortar retail would be too big of a financial gamble and stuck with selling the mixes on their website and through Amazon. Now, after the DEI rollback, they say they would have reservations about being on Target shelves if the retailer doesn’t change course.
“I tend to keep business and my personal feelings separate,” Marshall said. “But it’d be like, well, are we even a good fit? Are my people even shopping here?”
After brands’ DEI rollback announcements, calls for boycotts soon followed. But the entrepreneurs behind several Black-owned brands carried at these major retailers have discouraged such demonstrations, arguing that a drop in sales for their products at the retailer would threaten their livelihoods.
“While I understand that people want to boycott, I would urge them to consider what the financial impact might be to the brand, especially the smaller brands,” said Mishell Ekunsirinde, whose products from her now-closed baby goods brand, Stina & Mae, are sold on Target’s website. (Her Target contract has ended, but products are still available for purchase online as the retailer empties its inventory.)
Though Ekunsirinde, a Massachusetts resident, said she’s disappointed to see Target scale back its DEI commitments, she wouldn’t rule out another partnership for her new business, a children’s decor brand called Play & Oak. She also understands why other brands aren’t severing their ties, given how difficult and costly it can be to pull products from shelves.
Baldwin, who owns Lace Layer, said if she removed the 500 or so products from Amazon’s stockpile, it would cost an estimated $10 per item to return. That doesn’t include the products she has on Walmart’s online store. “It’s actually easier and cheaper to destroy the products than mail them back,” she said.
“We’re such a small brand, we’re still trying to make it; we’re trying to make [Lace Layer] a household name,” Baldwin said. “These avenues have allowed us to reach milestones that using our own dollars would have been very expensive to.”
Ajao, of Destiny African Market, said that small Black business owners are especially susceptible to the ebb and flow of consumer trends, economic downturns, and political shifts.
While Black brands and their customers figure out the best way to support their community’s businesses while holding powerful retailers accountable, she said people should focus their efforts on issues that will persist under any administration. That includes breaking down the barriers that have prevented Black entrepreneurs from accessing the same capital as their white counterparts, as well as increasing access to lucrative networks that help such companies grow their brands.
Directing their energy that way will be crucial in the long term, Ajao said, so that “when we have hard moments, we have a soft spot to land on.”
Tiana Woodard can be reached at tiana.woodard@globe.com. Follow her @tianarochon. Dana Gerber can be reached at dana.gerber@globe.com. Follow her @danagerber6.
