Transform your business relationships by prioritizing service over profit. When you intentionally seek to help others first, you build authentic value and lasting connections. Shift your focus and watch the dynamic of your entire business change. #BusinessGrowth #LeadershipMindset #ServantLeadership #Entrepreneurship

True change starts from within. Building a stronger future for North Minneapolis requires local leadership and collective action. It is time to invest in our own land to create better opportunities for every young person in the community. #NorthMinneapolis #CommunityGrowth #LocalEmpowerment #CommunityBuilding

Terresa Hardaway’s favorite part of being a business owner is the chance to intentionally build community. She has built two.

In this On the Radar episode, host Damenica Ellis sits down with Hardaway to talk about co-founding Blackbird Revolt in 2017, acquiring Black Garnet Books in 2024, and how she uses both to move Black liberation from theory into practice every day.

Blackbird Revolt is a Twin Cities design studio focused on social justice, anti-racism and abolition. The studio works with government agencies, nonprofits and grassroots organizations on branding, animation, video and audio production, fabrication and other creative work. At Black Garnet Books, Hardaway curates Black and Brown authors whose stories do not always receive the amplification they deserve and hosts community events designed to make the bookstore a safe third space.

“We find ourselves in a time where we really need third spaces, places where our neighbors feel safe, and so being able to build that, to create events that center Black and Brown voices.”

Hardaway is also an associate professor of graphic design and director of design justice at the University of Minnesota’s College of Design, where her research centers on abolition, design and Black liberation. Running two businesses allows her to put those ideas into daily practice rather than keeping them in the classroom.

She talks honestly about what it took to keep Black Garnet Books a safe community space during Operation Metro Surge, the federal immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities. Her approach was to adapt and center what the community was actually asking for rather than following the model others expected.

“I own this model and actually don’t have to do it the way that other people do. I actually want to center community.”

Hardaway credits her network with giving her the confidence to become an entrepreneur, and she is direct about the fact that she does not do it all alone. Her advice for anyone looking to work across multiple fields is to find where they overlap. Her advice for anyone starting a business is to have a plan, know who you are and surround yourself with people who will remind you of that when you forget.

“Know who you are and surround yourself around people who, when you forget, because you will forget who you are, they will remind you.”

Full story at msr.media.

Terresa Hardaway co-founded Blackbird Revolt in 2017 and acquired Black Garnet Books in 2024, using design and storytelling to put Black liberation into daily practice.

Full story at msr.media.

Subscribe for more On the Radar from the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

Stop grinding without purpose. Your state—mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual—must come before your output. Remember, you are a human being, not a human doing. #PersonalDevelopment #Mindfulness #SelfCare #ProductivityTips

Join Damenica Ellis and Tracey Williams-Dillard on a Black Girl Walk to the Center for Performing Arts, the home of the 2nd Annual Best of Black Business Awards Ceremony. See the building from the outside and learn where to park. Five Black businesses will receive awards on Saturday, November 7, from noon to 3 PM, with the community that voted for them in the audience.

Tickets are $25: https://spokesman-recorder.com/sister-spokesman/

Center for Performing Arts, 3754 Pleasant Ave, Minneapolis, MN

#BlackGirlWalk #BestOfBlackBusiness #SisterSpokesman #Shorts