Mimi C.
Yelp
MY VOICE WILL BE HEARD!
On Friday, December 1st, I was a victim of racism and prejudiced actions.
I was a vendor at the North Side Social event that was held and coordinated by Randi Milton.
The mistreatment by employees and customers was so overwhelming. My work was knocked over, thrown, and mishandled; my table was treated as a place to rest and lean up against my decor. My hat was stolen. There were people who were interested in my work, and a vendor who had no respect for me would take potential customers by shouting and telling them to come look at his items and divert them to his table.
The negative energy and hate I received caused me to leave an hour and a half early. As I tried to inform the event planner, Randi Milton, as to why I was leaving early, she didn't hear me out fully and brushed me off. I held back tears. What I am telling you is not even the full story because this would become an even lengthier message.
Now, Randi Milton said it's a coffee shop, so people might've been thrown off with it being a pop-up shop event. But no, this place has negative air and negative energy. I've talked to people days after the event who are not of color, and they have said they knew not to participate in that event and something about it was off. This is not just towards me - The actions and racist intentions were definitely targeted at me - but this business as a whole does not have a good reputation, despite its positive reviews online.
The manager(Gana Ganbat), who I spoke with today, came to the conclusion that the reason I experienced people tampering with my table was due to limited space. And the reason for the workers unprofessional behavior was that one employee was shy, so he could come off rude, and the other one, who was mopping over my area and didn't care about my equipment, was due to her not speaking English. When these acts are clearly acts of disrespect and unprofessional work ethics,
MY VOICE WILL BE HEARD, I will not be silenced and overlooked! Here in Virginia, I've had numerous dealings with racism and prejudiced actions and words. But as a business owner, I want to be treated with the same respect and kindness as everyone else. I am telling my story because I do not want other minorities or anyone who is against foul treatment like this to be caught off guard or enter this space. I'm not only doing this to bring awareness to my situation but also to help others. This is my truth, and this is my story.
-- Mimi (Maliyah), owner of
Mimi Crochet Apparel LLC
A Black owned business.
MY VOICE WILL BE HEARD, I will not be silenced and overlooked! Here in Virginia, I've had numerous dealings with racism and prejudiced actions and words. But as a business owner, I want to be treated with the same respect and kindness as everyone else. I am telling my story because I do not want other minorities or anyone who is against foul treatment like this to be caught off guard or enter this space. I'm not only doing this to bring awareness to my situation but also to help others. This is my truth, and this is my story.
-- Mimi (Maliyah), owner of
Mimi Crochet Apparel LLC
A Black owned business.