Paying Homage

THESE HOWARD-ALUM HOTELIERS PAY TRIBUTE TO THE PAST WHILE OPENING THE DOORS FOR FUTURE BLACK BUSINESS.

- Tamara Crockett

“For Us, By Us” businesses were the keys to early black wealth when cities all over the country each claimed their own thriving African American commerce communities, such as Sweet Auburn in Atlanta and Harlem in New York City.

Now there is a black entrepreneur movement leading us back to black wealth. And HBCUs, as they were in the past, are still providing the pivotal inspiration to their black graduates, showing them they have the power and positioning to do anything.

Howard University alums Damon Lawrence and Marcus Carey have taken that inspiration and run with it. They’ve created Homage Hospitality, a hotel company that caters to black travelers.

“We are well aware of our spending power as a community,” Lawrence shares. “[Those consumers] haven’t had their needs tended to in the travel and leisure industry as a whole. So for us, it feels like this is long overdue. The most exciting thing about our effort is to see how many more black hoteliers enter the space.”