The idea for The ROSA Collective was born out of Brittany’s career in community development finance and economic development over the last decade. After working as a CDFI lender and then starting her consulting business, she became fixated on community wealth building strategies tailored to the needs of Black women who are starting businesses at higher rates than any other group while also being woefully underfunded.

Out of that fixation came ROSA — an acronym for Remembering Our Shared Abundance— a collective organization that aims to leverage its members’ collective wisdom and resources to support each other, leaning on principles of solidarity and mutual aid, and remembering that we have all that we need to thrive. This work is critical as programs supporting Black women or other historically marginalized groups are facing legal challenges and investors are deprioritizing the commitments made in the wake of the 2020 racial reckoning.

In 2023, Brittany began sharing an initial vision for ROSA with members of her network in the Triangle region of North Carolina through two intimate gatherings and one-on-one conversations. As a follow up to the initial gatherings, in Spring 2024 a volunteer visioning group responded to Brittany’s call to further develop the vision for ROSA. This group is working towards a full launch of The ROSA Collective in Fall 2024.