Global Black Voices: News from around the World
- Ms. Rachel reposted La Bomme-Benson’s comment on Threads, dramatically increasing visibility and followers.
- Shopify alerts signaled the first cookie order, then orders multiplied within an hour after the repost.
- The Bomme Sweets gained 330k+ Threads views and fulfilled 102 cookie orders.
- Revenue from orders covered the next month’s $3,650 rent, providing crucial financial relief.
- The boost inspired La Bomme-Benson to pursue a brick and mortar bakery and a cookie of the month subscription box.
While scrolling through her Threads feed in early August, Ashley La Bomme-Benson found a post from educator and kids’ advocate Ms. Rachel (real name Rachel Accurso). The post, made on August 11, urged Black businesses or entrepreneurs to share their business with her and her community in the replies.
In subsequent weeks, Ms. Rachel made five individual posts about Black-owned businesses on Threads, with posts on race and injustices in America appearing in between the posts. The posts were also meant to highlight works from Black authors, journalists, and content creators.
La Bomme-Benson, a baker and owner of The Bomme Sweets based in California, almost ignored the post. On August 23, Ms. Rachel announced that she would continue to amplify Black-owned businesses with “a lot of cool things planned.”
Seeing that Ms. Rachel’s post had generated 4K+ replies, La Bomme-Benson felt her post in the educator’s comments section wouldn’t be visible, since the section had gathered so many replies.
Still, she commented on the post, introducing herself and her business while sharing pictures of her cookies. La Bomme-Benson, who has been running the business for nine years now, also liked many comments from other Black-owned businesses.
La Bomme-Benson, who is more familiar with TikTok and Facebook, with a decent following on both platforms, made a Threads post the following morning, stating, “ Ms. Rachel posted about Black-owned businesses sharing their business in the comments, and I’ve never so much as had 10 views on Threads, and today I woke up to 60. Thank you Ms. Rachel for standing up for us.”
One hour later, Ms. Rachel reposted La Bomme-Benson’s comment and followed her account. The Black business owner subsequently received another surprise. “ I got an alert from Shopify that I had a cookie order,” La Bomme-Benson said to Inc.com. “I [hadn’t] had a cookie order in over a year.”
This year, she produced custom orders including Rice Krispy treats and fruit for birthday parties, bringing in about $7,000. However, her bakery business has been severely impacted by the economy.
She received 10 more orders 10 minutes later, and after an hour, the number 5x’d.
Two weeks after Ms. Rachel’s shout-out, Bomme Sweets gained 330k+ views on Threads and 102 cookie orders, with one flavor for a dozen priced at $30 and a variety-dozen at $45, according to Inc.com.
She said the orders received in 24 hours covered the following month’s $3,650 rent. “It gave me a boost of confidence that I can do this,” she said. “Even though I had a dry wave, it doesn’t last forever.”
La Bomme-Benson’s plan now is to set up a brick-and-mortar bakery while expanding her offerings. Having already developed a fall-themed box with flavors such as pumpkin spice, La Bomme-Benson said she and her team are thinking about doing a cookie-of-the-month subscription box.
Read the full story from the original publication
