SF Hunters Point woman uses her position to support Black business owners
SAN FRANCISCO - Even before the pandemic, US Census numbers show that eight out of ten black-owned businesses failed in the first year and a half. This week's Jefferson Award winner is a woman whose goal is to turn things around.
Andrea Baker was a college student from Jamaica studying hotel and restaurant administration at Cornell University.
"The woman, who was white, immediately pulled the thing off the door, the window, and said, "No the position's been filled. We're not looking for anybody,'" Baker recalled.
Sensing something wasn't right, one of Baker's white friends then applied for the same job.
"She went in and she got the job five minutes later," said Baker.
It was her first taste of racism.
"I sat on the sidewalk and cried because it seemed so wild," Baker said.
It still stings decades later.
"Why, I decided then that I would become an entrepreneur and I would have a place where black people could apply and get a job," she said, fighting tears.
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Baker became a self-described "serial entrepreneur:" she started several businesses - from catering to gifts - in a span of a decade.
And she had a longtime consulting business, Andrea Baker Consulting. She turned it into a nonprofit, En2Action, in 2019 in the Hunters Point shipyard.
En2Action empowers and supports several dozen small business owners each year who are black, indigenous and people of color.
Like Quanisha Johnson, the owner of Yes Pudding. Johnson uses the nonprofit's free commercial, Ujamaa Kitchen space to make her popular dessert. Thanks to Baker, Johnson has transformed her homemade pudding hobby into a business that has a spot at the Ferry Building.
"Feels amazing, it's like a dream come true," Johnson said.
En2Action's free incubator training program helps entrepreneurs get permits and grants, grow their online presence, and sell their products through pop-ups and events.
Small business owners receive the guidance they need to help them succeed.
"Andrea lives and breathes to serve," Johnson smiled.
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Dontaye Ball of Gumbo Social calls Baker a lifeline. He says the food hub she created with other partners kept black vendors like him and Johnson in business during the pandemic delivering food boxes to those in need.
"She's such a leader, even if it's not her expertise, she knows how to find someone to help with that area," Ball said. "It's like having another mini business partner."
A partner who's stirring up success just as she'd hoped so many years ago.
"We're here to support those dreams," Baker said.
So for empowering underserved entrepreneurs with free business development training, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Andrea Baker.