Spending Is Political—Whether We Admit It or Not

I started BLK + GRN because I understood, at a very deep level, that my dollar is a vote.

Long before it became common language, I believed that every purchase reinforces a system. Every checkout is an endorsement. Every “set it and forget it” subscription quietly says, this is acceptable to me.

BLK + GRN wasn’t just about non-toxic products. It was about power. About choosing to redirect money toward businesses that reflect the world I want to live in—healthier, more equitable, more human. What I didn’t realize at the time was that this belief would continue to expand far beyond personal care and into every corner of my spending.

As BLK + GRN grew, so did my systems thinking. You can’t build an ecosystem for Black women-owned brands without eventually asking harder questions: Who controls the pipelines? Who benefits from convenience? Who am I unintentionally funding just because something is easy?

That’s when I started looking more closely.

When I learned which companies donated to the Trump campaign, it wasn’t shocking—it was clarifying. It put language to something I already knew in my body: neutrality is a myth. Opting out of awareness doesn’t mean you’re uninvolved; it just means you’re participating unconsciously.

So I made changes. Not suddenly. Not dramatically. But decisively.

I stopped using Exxon and switched to BP. Not because BP is perfect, but because values-based spending lives in reality, not purity. It’s about directional movement.

I’m transitioning from QuickBooks to Zoho because the tools I use to run my business are part of the system I’m reinforcing. Infrastructure matters.

I moved away from PayPal and toward Venmo for the same reason. Convenience alone no longer gets to be the deciding factor.

And I canceled Amazon Prime.

That decision felt symbolic and practical at the same time. For years, Amazon represented ease. Speed. One-click relief from decision fatigue. But BLK + GRN taught me something different: when you go directly to the vendor, you’re not just buying a product—you’re sustaining a livelihood.

So now, I buy directly from brands. From artisans. From people. It takes more intention. More time. More awareness. And that’s the point.

BLK + GRN expanded my belief that money is a vote into a practice of living inside that truth. It forced me to look at systems instead of isolated choices. To see how personal finance, politics, business, and health are deeply intertwined.

This isn’t about being loud or self-righteous. It’s about coherence.

I can’t talk about conscious consumption and then ignore where my dollars flow.

I can’t build alternative systems while propping up ones that harm.

I can’t ask my community to be intentional without doing the same.

My spending habits are changing because my awareness has grown. And once your awareness grows, returning to autopilot is no longer an option.

My dollar has always been a vote.

Now I’m casting it with my eyes open.