TINY REPS, YA’LL!
FASHION IS THE ARMOR. EQUALITY & EQUITY FOR ALL IS ALWAYS THE GOAL.
Black women are the realest MVP’s we are ever going to have. Protect, Praise, Pump Up allllllllll of them! Much of my creative work is inspired by Black Women, Black culture, and Queer life…
NOW that’s said HEYO! I’m BRIE KOLE, creator & owner of HOMIE, I ADORE YOU. I am WYT (lame, I know!) and I identify Queer. Like all of us, a constant work in progress. I actively instigate for reparations, anti racism, and honoring of American culture, which is BLACK culture! I think Tshirts, fashion and printed merch allows for the maximum spread of ethos, art, inspo, in the most accessible way for kind to find kind.
Almost every product I create & sell online has a portion of the proceeds going directly to some non profits that work to fight systemic racism. The esteemed Rachel Cargle’s non profit to get Black Women therapy (cause DUH! carrying a nation and it’s culture without getting paid or credit for it will make anybody need some work through) thelovelandfoundation.org/
A local non profit that I co-founded, @youngbloodscollective (you’ll want to follow on insta, the perfection of social media content, provided by Danielle Zimmerer (aka Dbird, Sweet Baby D) my personal constant for all dope shit) started a sustaining grant fund for BIPOC people living in the Yampa Valley. It will provide monetary funds for things like mental health, small business, familial financial need, education, gap money, medical, and any other financial assistance needs. Because SYSTEMIC RACISM RULES EVERYTHING AROUND US! So some proceeds from sales will go to the TINY REPARATIONS GRANT FUND. If you’re into that and want to actively and account-ably contribute sign up for the sustaining monthly donation of $18.65 (nod to Juneteenth/ year slavery “ended”). The fund name and Tiny Reps virtual happy hour (starting Sept. 17 w/ guest artist Alex Sorapuru) we’re solely inspired by the incomparable Phoebe Robinson, aka @dopequeenpheebs. Her humor, insight, and ethos give us so much from her podcasts, books and now her very own imprint, Tiny Reparations! So biting pretty blatantly but worst case we’ll get a cease & desist from YQYQueen herself! Her sentiment behind “tiny reparations” deeply resonates, acknowledging reparations yet with a light humor and a lil’ bit igny (ignorant), ex: buying your Black friend a drink, lip gloss, non occasion gift = tiny reparations.
This is the kickoff for me of a lot of newness & change. The pandemic coupled with the the curtain pull on systemic racism has made me rethink the ways in which I chose to spend my time & money…YA’LL being forced to slow down and see things for what they are… v. illuminating! Hope that’s resonating for a lot of other folx too, because we have the power, let’s teach ourselves how to wield it differently and then collectively rebuild our constitution, government, education, public services, local government of america. REPARATIONS NOW, LEGALIZE WEED NATION WIDE, ABOLISH POL(ICE) as we know it, SUE MCGRAW HILL, HAVE OUR REAL DARK HISTORY IN EDUCATION. PERIOD.
Rally your echo chambers ya’ll, start having coversations. Happy you’re here! Let’s get to know more of each other…
