Building in Good Faith in the Golden Age of Scamming

Building a business in good faith can be a wild ride.

I recently saw a video about a young woman in the Bronx who had peach trees on her property. She had been nurturing those trees all spring and planned to give the fruit to her neighbors for free. She planned a small event and invited her community. Signage went up. Flyers went around. Social media posts were made. It was a generous gesture that could strengthen neighborhood ties. But, a day or two before the event, thieves struck in the night and stole every peach off her tree.

That story stayed with me because it highlights a hard truth that creatives and entrepreneurs must keep in mind: sometimes people watch what you are doing just so they can use it to hurt you.

We are living in an economic climate where Black people with exceptional talent are being pushed out of the workforce. And if they do have a job right now, they're being demoted and/or treated badly in the office. Black entreprenuers are working 10 times as hard to build sustainable, independent businesses on a shaky foundation. In this environment, community trust is everything.

Because that desire for connection and support is so real, it can also become a vulnerability.

We live in a world where people will use shared culture, big promises, and the rhetoric of "supporting the community" as a Trojan horse. I was recently scammed by someone who said he could provide me with some advertising and publicity for my silk scarves. In the end, this person did not deliver and I am out 6 scarves, $250 bucks, wasted time, and a hard lesson.

Over the years, through various wild encounters in the art and design world, I’ve realized that opportunism knows no bounds. And the hard part of staying open as an artist is learning how to avoid these people so you can do your work.

Navigating these negative interactions is an initiation of sorts. It forces you to realize the true value of what you hold in your hands.

To my fellow creatives: nurture your fruit, but watch who you let near the tree. Hold tight to your discernment, and never let a bad actor convince you to make your art any smaller.