Seasoned Delicious and Seasoned Gives: Interview with Tamika Dunkley on the "Good Work Hour"
Listen on Radio Kingston:
On this episode of The Good Work Hour, co-hosts Terri & Susan welcome guest Tamika Dunkley. Tamika is the Owner of Seasoned Delicious Foods, an ambitious and dynamic Gourmet Foods Company, based in Kingston, offering vegan and heart-healthy products that provide people with various medical issues an opportunity to ‘enjoy food again’ in addition to appealing to the mainstream market.
She also founded Seasoned Gives, a non-profit whose mission is simple yet revolutionary: educate, incubate, and promote entrepreneurship for the BIPOC community and women, creating lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice through education, ownership, and self-sufficiency. At the heart of Seasoned Gives is the steadfast belief that economic justice is an essential—and often overlooked—piece of the social justice movement.
If you're looking for some Caribbean yumminess, have entrepreneurial mentorship to offer or want to be an entrepreneurial mentee, are interested in improving your financial literacy, or want to add some social justice spice to your life, connecting with Tamika is a great place to start!
Energizing Black Owned Business
LAKE KATRINE, NY — Non-profit group Seasoned Gives will host the third annual Circulation of Our Dollar Black business expo on Saturday, February 26, from 12 noon to 5 p.m. It takes place at the Seasoned Evolution Center, 11 Lohmaier Lane, in Lake Katrine.
Economic inequality, the organization notes, is a pervasive and persistent issue in the United States. Though small businesses don’t get the tax breaks and government bailouts that massive corporations do, a spokesperson for Seasoned Gives points out that inequality isn’t predicated solely on business size. Black-owned businesses are at a distinct disadvantage compared to their white-owned counterparts.
Tamika Dunkley and her husband Martin are the co-founders of Seasoned Gives. They are also, respectively, the CEO and the marketing/producing manager of Seasoned Delicious Foods in Saugerties, NY, and are members of Black Farmers United NYS.
Circulation of Our Dollar is free of charge to attend. It provides the Black-owned business community an opportunity to display their products, market their brands and services, and receive a wealth of knowledge through network building and keynote addresses from leaders in the industry. Tony Gaddy and Tatianna Cunningham will be among the speakers. Gaddy is the regional executive director for the Black Chamber of Commerce, and Cunningham organizes and hosts the Albany Black Expo.
Additional keynote speakers include Keyvious Avery from THRIVE ON! Kingston, and a speaker from Black Farmers United. As of 2019, New York State has an African American population of just over three million people; as recently as 2012, these Black-owned businesses generated $150.2 billion in gross revenue, Seasoned Gives notes.
Of these owners, 35 percent are Black women who earn significantly less than businesses run by their white counterparts, despite their companies’ contributions to the economy. The expo will also celebrate Black future, culture, and history with traditional African drumming, a fashion show, and a stellar cast of performers in the lineup.
For more information or details regarding this event, call Tamika Dunley at 845/802-3317 or email her at tamikad@seasonedgives.org. For more information about Seasoned Gives, visit https://www.seasonedgives.org.