Colourful Conversations Part 1: Asha Wheeldon Of Kula Kitchen

In the first installment of this Instagram TV series we joined woman of WORTH Tolu Aladejebi in conversation with Asha Wheeldon of Kula Kitchen to learn more about Asha’s experience creating a community of plant-based food lovers in Vancouver and the barriers she faced as a BIPOC business owner. 

In this Instagram TV, Tolu and Asha discussed the barriers to Black entrepreneurs as they start to form their business plans and look for investment partners to help bring their visions to life. A study from Guidant Financial in 2019 states a lack of capital and cash flow as the biggest challenge for African – American small business owners, with approved lending amounts lower and interest rates higher than those given to white owned businesses. Almost 44% of African American small business owners use cash to fund their own ventures, vs. 37% of non-African American owned small businesses. This lack of access to investment not only results in less Black owned businesses getting off the ground but can also negatively affect profits and causes the owners to take on larger financial risk. Asha speaks to experiencing this investment barrier firsthand when starting Kula Kitchen.

Over the past months we have all seen many public statements from organizations and individuals around racial justice, but actions on these statements have lost steam since then and many of the statements are now being seen for what they always were, performative. Asha was suddenly inundated with people and companies voicing support, looking for partnerships/collaborations, and education. However, most of these requests came from people who had done no research on her or her company. Asha spoke to this experience and offered some great advice for those who are navigating similar situations.

• Take your time – do not feel like you must rapidly (or ever) respond to every email in your inbox or message in your DM

• Do your research – find out more about the person/company behind the request to ensure the intention behind the request is in line with your values and efforts 

• Ensure they are doing their research – easy to weed out performative allies by looking at how much time they have put in to getting to know your business and your values before reaching out to you 

The community Asha wished to see when she first moved to Vancouver has grown over the years. However, she hopes that the existing companies and people within these spaces will do more to foster and motivate the next wave of entrepreneurs, and offered up some advice for those on both sides of the equation:

Entrepreneurs

• Find a mentor, find your community – it is all about support and diversity of thought when starting a new business

• Do not be afraid to ask for help 

Existing businesses

• Be a mentor! Pay it back to the community where you have found space to thrive 

• Be more open and willing to share your experiences and advice 

• Be more embracing of those who are trying to create spaces and business like yours – the idea of having to be the sole tokenized black owned business in a space is toxic, there is room for all!!

• Sponsor women – keep putting women in your community’s names forward for new opportunities or support

At WORTH we are all about elevating and empowering women. So how can we, as allies, support BIPOC businesses and people create their own spaces without changing their narrative or white washing the initiative?

• Pour money and resources back into the communities that are working so hard to carve out safe spaces for BIPOC people 

• Fund programs and businesses that are representative of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour and their values 

• Carve out space in our existing communities for BIPOC owned businesses 

• Create safe spaces where BIPOC suppliers can see themselves and have an area for sales and visibility 

• Offer your expertise to help break down barriers to Black owned businesses getting their footing – grant writing services, connections to Venture Capitalists or Crowdfunding software, business plan writing services etc.

How can we specifically support Kula Kitchen?

• Follow them on insta @kulakitchen and share their information with your network

• Buy their super yummy and entirely plant-based food on kulakitchen.ca or on their partner websites of Fresh prep (freshprep.ca) or Legends Haul (shop.legendshaul.com)

• Keep your eyes peeled for the Kula Kitchen Holiday catering offering 

Thank you to Tolu Aladejebi for leading the first discussion in our Colourful Conversations series, as well as to Asha Wheeldon from Kula Kitchen for sharing your experience in this industry with our community. 

We look forward to enjoying many delicious meals from Kula Kitchen in the future and can’t wait to highlight more BIPOC owned Vancouver businesses in the months to come!