Articles Tagged with: community stories

Black Girl LIVE!: A Community-Rooted Movement for Healing, Resilience, and Hope

At Sacred Fire Creative, we believe that marketing is more than a tool. It’s a vehicle for truth-telling, justice, and impact. We are proud to stand alongside founders who lead with vision and heart.

That’s why we’re honored to support FaithBridge Portland and its founder, Lisa Saunders, in the upcoming Black Girl LIVE!, a transformative event happening on May 23, 2025, in the University of Oregon Portland Campus’ Library and Learning Center.

The Black Girl LIVE! conference is the culminating moment of Community Heals Us, a deeply personal and community-anchored initiative designed to support the mental health and emotional well-being of Black girls and young women, and their families.

It’s an event that comes at a critical time, when suicide rates among Black young women are rising, and conversations about mental health still carry stigma in many communities of color.

What to Expect at Black Girl LIVE!

Black Girl LIVE! brings together youth voices, community leaders, and mental health advocates for a day of healing-centered activities.

It’s an energy-filled day that includes:

Youth-led storytelling and performances
Workshops and interactive sessions on mental health, identity, and self-care
Access to culturally responsive resources
A resource fair with community organizations
Opportunities for intergenerational dialogue and connection

Black Girl LIVE! is more than a conference or a community gathering. It’s a call to action, an invitation to stand up for young Black girls and women who are too often unseen and unheard. It’s a moment to create spaces of belonging, safety, and joy.

A Three-Part Framework for Community Healing

Community Heals Us is a living, breathing model for emotional restoration and empowerment, structured in three interconnected parts:

1. Healing Clubhouse

The Healing Clubhouse is a weekly after-school healing group for girls. It provides a safe and nurturing environment to process emotions, build resilience, and connect through shared experience.

2. Intergenerational MOTHERS

Intergenerational MOTHERS (Moms Overcoming Trauma Healing Everyday and Ready to Serve) is a support circle for mothers who have lost children or loved ones to suicide or community violence. This program offers space for grief, healing, and service.

3. Black Girl LIVE

Black Girl LIVE is the culminating event and media campaign that brings these efforts together in one public and powerful platform of visibility, storytelling, and transformation.

Featured Speakers at Black Girl LIVE!

Black Girl LIVE is honored to feature a lineup of dynamic speakers who bring a wealth of experience, insight, and inspiration to the event. These individuals are leaders in their fields, committed to the empowerment and healing of Black girls and women.

Nike Greene is the founder and executive director of Triple Threat Mentoring PDX. She is a marriage and family therapist, keynote speaker, and coach with over 15 years of experience in violence prevention, education, and social justice.

Qiana Woods is an alumna of FaithBridge Portland’s “Brown Girl Brave Girl” program for young women of color. A passionate slam poet, she won first place at Verselandia in 2024 for her poems “Parallels to the Plantation” and “Song 33.”

Charlene Addy McGee is the director of chronic disease prevention and health promotion at the Multnomah County Health Department. A Liberian-Oregonian and civil war survivor, she is a champion of health equity, policy development, and culturally responsive care.

Canada Taylor Parker is the suicide prevention coordinator for Multnomah County. She specializes in crisis response, grief, and trauma. She trains peer support specialists and leads postvention efforts, serving underserved communities.

Elizabeth Loving is a therapist, care coordinator, mental health coach, consultant, and co-owner of Black Star Athletic Academy. Dedicated to the mental and emotional well-being of young people, she specializes in culturally specific strategies to help young minds navigate challenges.

Zalika Gardner is the co-founder of KairosPDX and a professor at Lewis & Clark’s School of Education. A visionary leader, educator, and coach, she supports communities by offering leadership consulting, coaching, and workshop facilitation.

Sharice Burnett is a dedicated Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She provides training and workshops that enhance workplace well-being, foster effective and restorative communication, and implement person-centered, equitable, and trauma-informed practices and policies.

Libra Forde is the executive director of the Women’s Foundation of Oregon. A former elite athlete and a champion of equity and justice for women and girls, she brings systems thinking and inspiration that encourages others to grow, lead, and dream boldly.

These speakers will contribute to the rich tapestry of experiences and knowledge at Black Girl LIVE, offering attendees a multifaceted view of healing, empowerment, and community engagement.

About FaithBridge Portland

FaithBridge Portland is a community-rooted organization focused on equity, healing, and transformative justice. Through programming, partnerships, and events, it works to bridge gaps in care, especially for Black women and girls.

Its mission is to foster collective belonging, nurture resilience, and promote healing through action, advocacy, and cultural grounding.

FaithBridge founder Lisa Saunders is a pastor, a mother, and a community advocate. She created Community Heals Us from both professional insight and personal grief. Having supported countless families through trauma, she has also witnessed the silencing effects of pain, especially among Black girls and young women navigating systemic inequities, social isolation, and intergenerational loss.

As Lisa puts it, we need to stand together in the face of adversity. In this moment of gathering, we’re not just preventing tragedy. We’re building a future where every young Black woman can thrive.

At Sacred Fire Creative, we champion visionaries who are not only building organizations but reshaping systems. We support them in finding and amplifying their voices because we believe those voices are urgently needed.

If you are a founder with a vision that impacts your community and you need your voice to be heard and amplified, contact us today. Let’s talk about how we can collaborate.

PATTY SFC BLOG BANNER 1 Sacred Fire Creative

Empowering Rural Communities: The Inspiring Journey of MEDP’s Patty Herzog in Economic Development

Sacred Fire Creative is proud to support and highlight women founders, entrepreneurs, and leaders who are making a profound impact on their respective communities.

In this edition, we focus the spotlight on Patty Herzog, Executive Director of the McMinnville Economic Development Partnership.

Patty’s story is one of passion and dedication to rural economic development. With over 20 years of hands-on experience across both public and private sectors, she spent her career building up communities and creating opportunities in often overlooked areas. From her early days as a small business owner to her current role leading MEDP, Patty strives to make an impact with her work.

Today, Patty guides MEDP as the organization focuses on building up and supporting McMinnville’s manufacturing sector. More than 100 manufacturing companies call McMinnville home and contribute significantly to the local economy. By creating more than 2,200 individual jobs and generating $338 million in revenue, McMinnville manufacturing adds substantially to Oregon’s GDP.

MEDP’s efforts to boost local manufacturing are highly visible in the ongoing “Coolest Thing Made in Yamhill County,” a competition designed to showcase the industry’s vibrancy. Of the 32 entries, homegrown companies Applied Physics Technologies and Blue Raeven Pies rise up as finalists.

MEDP also recently hosted its annual awards, where they honored bespoke bar manufacturer EMPWR Nutrition for expanding their facility and creating 200 new jobs, Phenix Solutions for developing their Ultra 2XL aircraft, and HelloCare for building a 100-strong team providing much-needed caregiving services in the region.

To further boost and support McMinnville’s labor force, MEDP is hard at work completing its Sustainable Workforce Training and Resources project. A collaboration with the local government, the project provides skills training and resources, as well as hosts hiring, internship, and training programs.

MEDP is also on the Advisory Board of Launch Mid Valley (LMV), the regional innovation hub for the counties of Polk, Yamhill, and Marion. Through LMV, Patty and MEDP lend their expertise and experience in supporting the region’s startups and entrepreneurs.

Patty extends her dedication to serving the community outside of her professional roles. She is a member of the Chemeketa College Foundation Board and the McMinnville Public Arts Commission. She also recently joined the Willamette Workforce Partnership.

Patty Herzog’s and MEDP’s journey is an inspiring reminder of the power of targeted economic development in building stronger, more connected communities. Her work paves the way for growth, and we’re excited to see how her vision will continue to influence the shaping of McMinnville’s future through MEDP.

SFC Congratulates Pallavi Pande of Dtocs LLC for Placing in SEED SPOT’s Retail Brand Accelerator

Green, sustainable, environment-friendly – these are just some buzzwords that brands often use to market their products to eco-conscious consumers.

Unfortunately, the reality is that not all brands that spout these words actually walk their talk.

Not Pallavi Pande, though – she’s an entrepreneur who really walks her talk. As the founder of Dtocs LLC, she produces disposable tableware that is 100% safe for the environment. The production process itself is sustainable and supports communities in the US and India, Pallavi’s home country.

So, it’s not surprising that Pallavi has secured a place in SEED SPOT’s Retail Brand Accelerator. It’s training that will take her brand far and strengthen Dtocs LLC’s community impact even more.

Congratulations, Pallavi!

SEED SPOT empowers founders to succeed in the mass retail market.

The SEED SPOT Retail Brand Accelerator is a dynamic program designed to nurture established founders looking to scale their business in mass retail. The program focuses on founders in the consumer-packaged goods market and provides them with an intensive 10-week training.

This training helps participants refine their sales approach, expand their supply chain and inventory capacities, comply with regulations, and build a standout brand. Virtual workshops and personalized one-to-one mentorship make up the bulk of this training.

The Retail Brand Accelerator is funded by the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity, Walmart’s philanthropic endeavor to uplift BIPOC communities in education, finance, health, and criminal justice.

Dtocs LLC offers more than just sustainable tableware.

With Pallavi joining the SEED SPOT Retail Brand Accelerator, it’s clear that her Dtocs LLC brand is headed for growth. And if there’s a company that should grow as big as it can and gain as much attention as possible, it’s Dtocs LLC.

Why? It’s because the company greatly impacts the community it serves.

Dtocs LLC manufactures single-use tableware. But they’re nothing like the disposable tableware we see in supermarkets, typically made with plastics and other toxic materials.

Here’s why they’re different:

They’re made using the fallen leaves and shed sheaths of Areca palms. These are usually considered waste materials. Instead, the local farmers in India with whom Dtocs works collect them to be processed into tableware. No part of the living Areca palm is harmed or cut during the process.
They’re processed using an eco-friendly system. From drying to shaping to packaging, the process that these Areca shedding goes through to become single-use tableware poses no harm to the environment. Renewable energy sources power the machines used. The raw materials are cleaned with fresh water. The products are packed with sustainable cardboard.
They’re durable and stylish. Many factors prevent the typical consumer from using eco-friendly disposable tableware. Many consider them not as durable as plastics. People who are conscious of plating and dining table aesthetics may not like how these disposables look. Because they’re made with Areca palms, Dtocs tableware doesn’t crumble easily, even when holding liquids. They also come in stylish shapes and forms.
They’re biodegradable. After you’ve used these palm-leaf dinnerware, you can safely throw them in the bin or even add them to your compost. They will degrade in a few days. So they won’t contribute to the growing garbage problem that the world is facing today.

Their products are not the only things that set Dtocs LLC apart. The company employs women artisans in India to manufacture their products, empowering them to provide for their families and live better lives.

Additionally, Dtocs LLC uses a portion of its earnings to give back to its communities. They’ve partnered with non-profits in India to provide livelihood for women and fund the education of underprivileged children. They also contribute towards equal education opportunities for underrepresented students in Portland.

Pallavi Pande is an inspiration to women entrepreneurs.

Without a doubt, Pallavi embodies the definition of a successful business owner. Her company is thriving and scaling for further growth. Her brand is solid and gaining recognition. And she fulfills her role as a leader by giving back to her communities.

Pallavi’s achievements are more remarkable because she did all of these as a woman from a minority group. While much has been accomplished to secure women’s place in business in the last few decades, it goes without saying that women entrepreneurs still face challenges that men don’t. The stakes get even higher when she is also a woman of color.

Pallavi overcame these challenges. A self-described mompreneur, she also found a way to balance building a successful company and nurturing a family. That’s not an easy feat.

We salute and congratulate Pallavi Pande of Dtocs LLC for her current and future successes. She’s someone we can all admire and emulate, no matter what stage we are in our respective entrepreneurial journeys.

Sacred Fire Creative helps women business owners maximize their entrepreneurial potential through innovative digital marketing strategies and authentic relationship-building with their audiences. Contact us today, and let’s see how we can collaborate.