Black Fridays

black fridays was founded by kanika wellington-jones and her vision was brought to fruition when she introduced the idea to keelah jackson, kim hurley, and erika roberts. this team would later be called the black fridays group. the beginning stages of black fridays would take form through conversations between kanika and demetrus coonrod, councilwoman for the city of chattanooga, tn. the councilwoman would encourage the idea of creating festival-like events for the black community focused on economic equity. she would also provide networking opportunities for sponsorship and exposure. black fridays would be introduced to the public via a series of festival-like events held on fridays at various public spaces. the launch series would began as spring/summer festivals and later transform into seminars, conferences, and workshops. the goal is to raise awareness of black owned businesses, entrepreneurs, and minority artists in the metro chattanooga, tn area through education, entertain