Twenty-eight years ago, two things happened that changed the trajectory of my life. I signed up for a stint as an AmeriCorps Vista, training to become a community organizer and working in a community on the far North side of Chicago and I found Jesus. I was baptized in Lake Michigan and from that day forward, my life’s work has been to be in service to the larger world. Since that time, I have held a variety of positions in communities in Chicago, Maine and Boston. I spent years working with the unhoused, I later went into low-income housing work, I’ve worked with underserved youth and for the last decade plus, I have been doing anti racism work.

During a hiatus from paid work, when I was a stay-at-home mom, after receiving my master’s degree. It was during that time, I started my blog, Black Girl in Maine in 2008. At that point, I had been writing professionally for several years for local Maine publications, but I wanted to take a deeper dive into matters of race and blogging was taking off.

I had no idea in 2008, that my blog would take off, that it would be a part of changing the conversations or trajectory around race in Maine and beyond. I was one of the first people on social media to talk and write regularly about racism, long before it became a thing. My work has been one of the many seeds planted that have led to a conscience shift around race in Maine. It has been a resource and support for Black, Brown and marginalized people in predominantly white spaces, it has been a source of learning and education and frankly, moving the needle.

However, it has not been a steady source of revenue. In 2015, when my marriage of almost twenty years ended, I had to get real about my income. A lifetime of good work does not pay well, and without a spouse to continue underwriting my work, I needed to create a revenue stream to ensure that my golden years aren’t spent eating kitty chow.

I made the decision to turn the blog into BGIM Media LLC, and to create a comprehensive business, that is made up of my writing, speaking engagements, consulting and training work. I signed up for Patreon in 2015 and decided to see if the love for my work would generate consistent work.

Honestly, it has been a roller coaster, some years were solid, some years were great but the last two years in the aftermath of anti-racism fatigue have been a struggle. Especially this last year, where I have seen a significant drop in patronage at a time when my consulting and speaking engagements have dropped off. While I have reduced expenses by no longer using additional writers because I can’t afford to pay them. The fact is, BGIM Media is not a one-person operation. There’s myself and our back-end editor as well as occasional tech support and various other elements of this work, including my accountant and taxes.

While financial support has dropped, readership has not.  

The demise of traditional media has turned most writers and journalists into hustlers peddling our wares online and the bottom line is that while many will never pay to read anything online, those who do are stretched thin.

Trust me, I know. I pay for subscriptions to access accurate information, it adds up.

However, I find myself needing to ask for support to keep the writing going and keep BGIM Media afloat. Thankfully, there is some great light at the end of the tunnel, requests have picked up for my training and speaking engagements, I have several inquiries, and I am just waiting for groups to make decisions.

 It is my speaking and training work that keeps BGIM Media going when patronage is not steady. Which is why this year’s drop off has been financially brutal, I personally have had to keep things going and well, it has been a challenge.

I also was hit this year by another unexpected tax bill, (yes, I plan quarterly) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I live in Maine, but my day job is based in MA, which means, I file state taxes in both Maine and MA. My state taxes were far higher than estimated.

 Long story short, I have a tax bill that I wasn’t expecting due Oct 25, and some back vendor payments to catch up on, and while I have some good prospects in the hopper, the work isn’t going to be done soon enough to meet my obligations. I have also moved around as many things as possible, but I can’t move anything else around.

Honestly, it pains me to have to do this fall fundraiser because it feels like I am begging, rather than the fact that I have always offered my work freely and trusted that people would support it. I am trying to see this as asking for community support, rather than digital panhandling but, it’s hard. I had to ask for support last year and it was unsettling and it’s even more unsettling this year.

Anyway, this is my very long-winded way of saying that if you have the means and if my work has ever been meaningful to you, please help keep BGIM Media afloat and let me pay off the G-Man, and obligations on the back end of BGIM Media. Your support is deeply appreciated.

All contributions will receive a free digital copy of my new zine that is launching next week.