Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
Is your business serving the residents of Tri-Cities? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 230: Unapologetically Black: How Noir Collective Builds Community
What makes Alexandria Monque with Noir Collective a good neighbor?
Ever wondered what happens when a teenager's vision meets a mother's experience? Alexandria Monque never planned on launching a business during the tumultuous year of 2020, yet today she co-owns Noir Collective, a thriving hub for Black entrepreneurship in Asheville's historic district known as "the Block."
The story unfolds with refreshing candor as Alexandria reveals how her then 19-year-old child Ajax convinced her to create a space that now houses 13 Black entrepreneurs under one roof. Operating as a boutique, art gallery, and bookstore simultaneously, Noir Collective stands in what was once a bustling African-American business district before urban renewal disrupted the community. Alexandria's journey from reluctant partner to passionate advocate showcases the power of intergenerational collaboration and purpose-driven enterprise.
What makes this conversation particularly compelling is Alexandria's thoughtful reflection on creating unapologetically Black spaces in our current society. With the wisdom of someone who moved from New York to experience what she calls "the town of denial" in the South, she articulates why businesses like Noir Collective remain necessary "until we no longer need places like this." Her insights on economic ecosystems, particularly following Hurricane Helene's impact on local artisans, reveal how marginalized communities create resilience when traditional recovery systems fall short. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a conscious consumer, or simply someone interested in how small businesses can honor heritage while building toward a more equitable future, Alexandria's story will inspire you to seek out and support Black-owned businesses in your own community. Visit NoirCollectiveAVL.com to learn more and connect with this remarkable business.
To learn more about Noir Collective go to:
https://noircollectiveavl.com/
Noir Collective
(828) 484-2323
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monty.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am very excited today because we've got a very special guest in the studio with us to tell us all about themselves and their organization. And I'm sure you'll be just as excited to learn all about them because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ms Alexandria Munkiew, who is the co-owner of Noir Collective of Asheville. Alexandria, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you so much. I appreciate being here.
Speaker 2:Well, we're, like I said, thrilled to have you here and want to learn all about you. So if you don't mind, why don't you kick us off by telling us about your business?
Speaker 3:Okay Noir Collective is located in downtown Asheville in an area called the Block, which is a part of the first established African-American neighborhood in Asheville, which is called East End Valley Street. The block is a historic black business district and at the time, before urban renewal, it was teeming with so many different types of black-owned businesses, from attorneys to doctors and dentists to jewelers, piano engineers and tuners you name it. It was here on the block and now we're here on the block, representing about 13 different Black entrepreneurs under one roof. So we're a boutique shop, an art gallery and a bookstore all in one.
Speaker 2:All in one. Wow, a little bit of something for everybody, it sounds like.
Speaker 3:Absolutely yes.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, Alexandria, how did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:I come from a family of entrepreneurs, so that's all I know is to be an entrepreneur. But this particular venture was not my idea. It was the idea of the co-owner, who happens to be my youngest child, Ajax. And Ajax used to work for YMI Cultural Center, which is the oldest operating African American cultural center in the United States. It's here on the block and we happen to be tenants of YMI Cultural Center. So when Ajax is working for YMI, Ajax learned the history of this area and they said Mom, we've got to do something about it. And Ajax, knowing that I've had a retail store before, just thought I'd be a great partner. I did not agree.
Speaker 3:It was 2020. It was the middle of the pandemic. It was also the time of riots and demonstrations and I didn't think it was a really great time to be opening an enterprise. And so Ajax is a clever person. At that time they were 19. And they just kept asking me questions well, how did you do this before and how do you do this? And I'm more of a doer and hands-on person. So I found myself doing and being hands-on with Ajax and creating this business and it was really the right time and the right thing to do, and I think they're super brilliant, and I'm not saying that because I'm their mom, but because they had a really great idea and we're still here five years later.
Speaker 2:That's all, and that's especially. That includes going through the pandemic too, which made it twice as extravagant. Unbelievable that you made it five years.
Speaker 3:I mean more like 10 when you throw the pandemic. That is very true. Thank you for that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. Alexandria are there. I mean, you run a very unique business. Are there any myths or misconceptions that people have that you would like to dispel about your, about what you do?
Speaker 3:that you would like to dispel about what you do? Yeah, I think so. I think you know we say that we unapologetically feature Black entrepreneurs and that is a very clear line that we hold. That's important. I had a customer early on come in and she wanted us to sell her son CDs. She and her son both identify as white and so I recommended other places for her to take the CD. Had something like how would you like it if we had white-only businesses in America?
Speaker 3:And I thought hmm, let's think about that now. You know we're in what was the segregated part of the south of North Carolina, and so Black folks could only be in this area, and the rest of Asheville was not afforded to them. They were not welcome there. So I took her comment with a grain of salt. But I guess what I want to say is that it's important for us to have places like this until we no longer need to have places like this. So at Noir Collective, we do not say we're the first and we do not say we're the only. We expect there to be more places until we truly do have the kind of community that we're looking for and that we envision, which is one that is more connected and integrated and cohesive. But we don't need these labels. So I think when folks are looking for and I hope they're always looking for Black-owned businesses, it's so that we can prosper and not have to identify solely as such, that we can truly be a part of the economic spectrum that is supposedly our America.
Speaker 2:Amen, amen. Well, alexandria, outside of work, what do you like to do for fun?
Speaker 3:You know I do a lot of work, and a lot of things I do for fun has to do with my work, and so for myself, I, my creative self, loves to write and to read and I try to incorporate that into the work that I do here. I love people and so the work that we do here for the entrepreneurs. It's a lot of fun and it's important, and we have gatherings all the time to lift our spirits and stay in right relationship with each other.
Speaker 2:So yeah, awesome Work, is fun, absolutely.
Speaker 3:I love what I do I love what I do.
Speaker 2:Well, you're a very fortunate person, because what is that line? If you love what you do, you don't work a day in your life.
Speaker 3:Yeah there you go.
Speaker 2:Well said, well said, yep. So let's switch gears for a second, alexandra. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge, either professionally or personally, that you've overcome and how it's made you stronger in the end?
Speaker 3:So it'd be lovely to pick something kind of benign, like, you know, mothering, something like that, but I don't know this business, being in the South. I'm a New Yorker, so I have these misconceptions, if you will, of my own, of the South, and I would say that when I moved here to this little town of denial so not Asheville, but a town outside of Asheville I met the kind of racism that my father told me about, and he grew up in the South, got away from the South because he didn't want his children to have to face the same kind of challenges, and so the stories that he told us as I was growing up, growing up, they were just stories, right, they're like okay, stories over the end, move on. When I moved to this little town, it was, it was like stepping into those stories that he told me about, and it was really. It was probably the impetus for creating this store here, recognizing that we are not truly free to move and to breathe, even as we would so imagine, as so my parents told us right, and so I think I don't know if strength comes from that.
Speaker 3:Something does come from that. I wouldn't say that I'm stronger as a result of it, because I still feel very hurt when I think about how we are not unified as races, right, that we still even have to identify as race. So I don't know that I'm stronger, but I'm more aware, I'm more cognizant, I'm more vigilant, you know, in talking with people and having these cross-racial dialogues, because it's the only way that's going to dismantle what is going on in our country, right, like it has to be us, the people who come together and talk about our differences and be okay with those differences and grow through them. And so I would say it's an ongoing hardship, if you will, and the thing, it's not just my hardship, it's all of our hardship, right. So I, that's what I hold most close and dear to my heart and work through on a daily basis and what town was that you said denial was the name of it calling it the town of denial.
Speaker 3:It's actually. It's actually, you know. And the reason why is because I used to say to my neighbors, like I taught school when I was up there, and I would say, oh, this thing happened to me. Like I went to get my tire fixed and the attendant would not speak to me, spoke to everybody else in the place but would not speak to me, went to a restaurant with my child, would not get served, and so I would tell people this is what's happening to me and they're like, oh, not here, this is no, not Burnsville. So so being denied you know my own experience being denied- Wow, denial, the town of.
Speaker 2:Well, hopefully you don't live there anymore.
Speaker 3:I do not.
Speaker 2:Good, good, good, good, good, good, good, awesome. Well, we will make sure to avoid the town of denial for sure. So, alexandria, if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about the Noir Collective, what would that be?
Speaker 3:I think it's beyond Noir Collective. I mean, yes, when you come to Asheville, please come and see us. We are the place where people come to find respite, to find home, to find their wares the things that you're looking for by Black Creative Hand, so please come and visit. I think the greater message, though, is like, wherever you live, wherever you go, look for those Black-owned businesses, keep them in business, keep them on their toes, because one they're going to be the businesses that hire other Black folks without thinking about it. You know not to say that we don't do background checks and all those kind of things. I'm just saying we're more likely to hire, and so I think that's really important. So invest, invest, invest in Black-owned businesses. That's really what I want people to do, wherever it is that you are, and when you come to Asheville, come find us.
Speaker 2:Awesome, very good thing to remember. And for those who are interested in coming and checking out your place and looking for that respite, how can they learn more?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so go to our website. It's NoirCollectiveAVLcom, and you could also find us on Instagram and Facebook. Noir Collective AVL.
Speaker 2:Very good.
Speaker 3:When you're in town.
Speaker 2:We're at 39 south market street, right downtown right downtown and hopefully you guys were not affected too much from the physically from the flood yeah, everybody was pretty much impacted.
Speaker 3:Thankfully, this building that's about 130 some odd years old stood strong and so only flooding here, and we're in the part of downtown that's near our police and fire department. I think we're on some kind of grid, so we didn't lose power.
Speaker 3:Everybody lost power, of course, but we did not lose power. But I think the vendors of the folks who we represent live in the outer regions of Asheville and so they were impacted, and because our store is primarily for local artisans, then we were impacted as well because they're not making things. So therefore, we're not selling things, so we're recovering. You know, we've created our own ecosystem, if you will, so that we're attracting funds here so we can buy raw materials, so folks can get back to making the things that they do. It's one of the things you know after a hurricane, that disaster recovery, it doesn't always get to the people who most need it. I'll say that Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I couldn't agree more Well. I, alexandra, can't tell you how much I appreciate your time today sharing with me and with our listeners and learning all about Noir Collective and moving forward with you and your family and your colleagues. All the best.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Thank you, maybe we can have you back in. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me. Thank you, maybe we can have you back in the future when you've got something going on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that sounds great, thank you.
Speaker 2:All right, thanks so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnptry-citiescom. That's gnptry-Citiescom. That's GNPtry-Citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.