Jamica El, RUNWAY Creative Director
jamica@runway.family
Author, Social Entrepreneur and Financial Activist Jessica Norwood Celebrates First Book Anniversary in Mobile, AL and Philadelphia, PA
(Black PR Wire) Jessica Norwood, renowned author, social entrepreneur, shaman, and financial activist, is proud to celebrate the one-year anniversary of her transformative business book, Believe-In-You Money: What Would It Look Like If the Economy Loved Black People?, published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This milestone will be marked with special events in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and her hometown of Mobile, Alabama. Believe-in-You Money (BIY$) is an alternative to conventional lending to businesses that can come in forms such as gifts, grants, loans, revenue shares, or convertible equity and is explicitly anti-racist. Since its release in 2023, the Believe-In-You Money book has become a powerful catalyst for conversations that are fueling the Believe-in-You Money Movement toward closing the racial wealth gap.
Norwood outlines her bold vision for financial freedom through the lens of justice, calling for new financial systems that are rooted in community care, powerbuilding, and reparations for Black people. Illustrated with examples of reparative capital and BIY$ in practice, the book also redefines the role of an investor and encourages us all to move toward relationships that are restorative, regenerative, and interdependent to repair the impacts of systemic racism.
“This book journey began with a bold and necessary question that came to me: What would it look like if the economy loved Black people?” Jessica Norwood shares/recalls. “As I reflect on this first year, I am humbled and emboldened by the ways readers have brought my vision forward, alchemizing the raw power of their imagination into tangible action. My readers have bought, read, and shared the book; hosted BIY$ Circles; invested in one another; and supported the Believe-in-You Money Movement.
RECENT PRAISE
Norwood’s book has been praised for its unapologetic call to reimagine the economy at individual, community and systemic levels, offering six Guiding Principles for creating long-term, generational wealth for Black communities.
“Jessica Norwood has inspired me to relinquish my trained scarcity around resources and helped me to understand that we must transform our financial systems as we transform our relationship to ourselves and the planet. Community is the pathway to mutual, sustainable abundance.” —adrienne maree brown, Author of Emergent Strategy
“Jessica brings personality, courageous storytelling, and inspiration to the financial space in a way no one ever has before.” —Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research at Harvard University
JOIN THE CELEBRATION
- Purchase your own copy of Believe-In-You Money from a Black-owned bookstore near you or online.
- Host your Believe-in-You Money Circle using the Circles Guide. The Circle is the chosen container of Believe-in-You Money conversations.
- Join Jessica Norwood in Philadelphia, PA and Mobile, Alabama
For more information on Believe-In-You Money, please visit www.jessicanorwood.com or follow the conversation on social media using #believeinyoumoney.
