We Them Media logo We Them Media Support us

Alyssa Vásquez on Supporting Black and Brown-Owned Spaces

In this video? Ask for a change or have it taken down.

Keep up with new releases. Get the newsletter, once a week

To quote this piece: Alyssa Vásquez, “Alyssa Vásquez on Supporting Black and Brown-Owned Spaces,” We Them Media, https://wethem.xyz/watch/alyssa-vasquez-on-supporting-black-and-brown-owned-spaces-philadelphia. Each transcript line links to its second.

Alyssa Vásquez talks about supporting Black and Brown-owned spaces and the books at American Grammar. She found the Cloudy Donut Co. and 7 Streams pop-up on Instagram.

She says the panel was full and they were locked out. She follows the 7 Streams and Cloudy Donuts team on Instagram and wants to support them wherever they pop up. She points to Busboys and Poets, a restaurant, cafe and bookstore for the Black and Brown communities, and hopes Philly gets one. Her closing word: “Just support each other more than ever.”

What is one Black-owned or Brown-owned place you want more people to know about? Tell us in the comments.

Interview by Dante Silver. Filmed by Maceo at American Grammar, Philadelphia, Saturday 7 November 2026, during the 7 Streams event.

Become a supporter

What is in it?

Jump straight to a moment.

Transcript

Skip the transcript ↓

Spotted a wrong word? Tap its timestamp, then tell us.

Transcribed from the original audio and corrected for names. Search every transcript

These are the speaker’s own words. We have not checked their claims.

0:00All right, yeah, how you doing? How you doing? My name is Dante. What’s your name? Alyssa. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice, nice to meet you, Alyssa. What brings you to American Grammar today? Oh, the event, Cloudy Donuts. And I usually [live nearby] so I come here as much as I can to support [name], the owner.

0:17He’s an incredible owner and coffee shop owner. And the books, the collection of books is incredible as well. Okay, okay. Uh, did you get a chance to see the panel by chance, or you just, you just ended up on the back end for the donuts?

0:28Actually, they locked us out. It was at, it was at Cat, and so we was out here, uh, waiting. So I know I did not get to hear the panel. So I’m sorry, I may have been the reason for the cap. I was the last one, I slid right in through the door.

Read the full transcript ▸

0:39So, so my apologies. But this good brother over here, come on, he would definitely be uploading it to YouTube so you can see it. Oh So, so how did you find out about Seven Streams and Cloudy Donuts? Through Instagram and then, uh, just following them.

0:53I know they’re, uh, from the DMV area where I used to live as well, so just want to support wherever they pop up in different cities as well. Yep. Okay, you say you’re from the DMV area. Was that where you were born and raised?

1:05I was raised in Philly but lived in the DMV for like 15 years. Yes. So you were the second person from the DMV that, that she’s actually from the DMV. Yeah, she’s from the DMV. She was putting me on to all the spots.

1:18Would you be able to tell me a couple spots too? Because I’ve never been there. For the people who have also never been there we would like to go there. What are some places that we should hit up? Well, uh, an adjacent situation like American Grammar is Busboy and Poets because it is a mixture of a restaurant, a cafe, as well as, um, uh, books from the Black community, uh, and brown community as well.

1:39So Busboy and Poets is adjacent to like American Grammar as well. Highly recommend it. They need to have one in Philly, but I’m not sure. Let’s, let’s work on that. Let’s get them to Philly. Let’s get them to Philly. So what are some of your, what are some of your hobbies?

1:57Oh yeah, um hobbies would be interior design. So I love learning about, uh, just uh, that aspect, color, uh, design. And then also I’m a, I’m a CEO of a consulting firm, so I’m constantly, uh, trying to look for adjacent Black and brown-owned companies as well, uh, so that we can collaborate.

2:18Okay, yeah, we definitely, we’re gonna have, we’re gonna have to connect. We’re gonna have to connect. We’re gonna have to connect. So we, we, I, I hear you talk about Black and brown, and, and I truly do love that. What, what can we do to help push the community further?

2:34Well, with the politics changing, the blue wave that just happened within politics I feel like we’re getting our voice back. We’re getting our seat at the table as well. And so it’s because of the politics, we have to be, we have to stand up where we can and being able to take charge where we can as well and be the voice at the table at the same time.

2:56Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. One last question. What would you want to leave the people with? A word, a phrase, it doesn’t matter. What would you like to leave the people with? Just support each other more than ever. I mean, now is the time to do that.

3:09We have to, I’m Puerto Rican, but I grew up in the African-American community. So I’m always saying that there’s so much we can learn from one another in our different communities and we do need to stand together ’cause we are, cliché, but we are stronger together as well.

3:24Yeah. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was a pleasure to meet you. It was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you. Oh excuse me.

That was the whole tape.

The We Them Weekly, once a week by email What went up, and what we are asking next.

More from Philadelphia.

The whole project

Same place: Everything filmed in Philadelphia.