Photo Credit: Beyonce/Instagram
Today is the birthday of Queen Bey, Beyonce Knowles-Carter who just turned 39. And instead of some self-centered celebrity A list fan fair event, she’s chosen to donate $1 million to black businesses which is especially important in a time where they were hurt the most due to the covid-19 pandemic. The donation for small black businesses was made through her BeyGOOD charity initiative going to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP). The amount will be split into individual $10,000 grants.
A statement was made on her website saying, “Proud to announce $1M in additional funds from Beyonce to help Black-owned small businesses. Round two of funding opens this month with our partner, NAACP.” A seperate statement was made on the NAACP’s website saying, “NAACP Empowerment Programs is delighted to administer a meaningful program in partnership with BeyGOOD’s Black-Owned Small Business Impact Fund to assist our small business communities that have been directly impacted by recent events across the country. The grants in the amount of $10,000 will be offered to Black-owned small businesses in select cities to help sustain businesses during this time. The NAACP is proud to partner with BeyGOOD to help strengthen small businesses and to ensure economic empowerment for Black businesses.”
As for Bey’s birthday, the fact that her birthday was trending the night before shows how serious of an occasion this is. For one, Beyonce is a different type of star. Numbers aside, she’s an artist lauded by all not only for her stage presence but the fact that she decided years ago to run her career on her terms. She stopped trying to do everything and running the regular promo press junkets, award show performances and switched up the rules of the game. She now releases her music on her hubby Jay’s streaming platform and makes appearances when she feels like it. She basically said the hell with her numbers, her career cannot be quantified by normal standards, she became the standard. And no one noticed a single difference and love her even more for doing so.
There was a time in her late 20s that Beyonce said she felt she was going to have a breakdown because she was getting exhausted during promo for her second album B Day and corrected herself, but the sentiment was already out there. We get it. She was everywhere doing everything and as amazing as she was, at the height of stan culture, people were saying they were sick of her. Almost 15 years later, her decision to take control of her image, artistry and wanting to support black culture has allowed her to be authentic and most importantly avoid the artist burnout and breakdowns of the Mariah Careys of the world. We love you, Mimi, but it’s the truth.
During the time of writing this, we’re playing Beyonce’s B Day album, the one where she snuck away and recorded without her father’s knowledge because she had a message she wanted to get out there. And she says she did it all within a 2 week period. With 24 Grammy Awards later making her the second most awarded woman in Grammy history, we’re so glad she made the change.