Actor Kendrick Sampson Started A Nonprofit To Advocate For The Economic Well-Being Of Marginalized Groups
“Insecure” actor Kendrick Sampson wants to liberate marginalized communities.
The Houston native said that in his foray into Hollywood, he wanted to prioritize securing guidance from Black men in the entertainment industry.
Sampson’s Hollywood pursuit led him to the Los Angeles-based Robey Theatre Company, founded by actors Danny Glover and Ben Guillory. The company is intentional about telling nuanced and complex stories of the Black experience, according to its website.
Within his first year working at the theatre, Sampson was exposed to figures such as Toussaint L’Ouverture, a Haitian general who led the country’s independence movement; civil rights leader Malcolm X, who advocated for Black nationalism; and Paul Robeson, a singer and radical activist.
“These are the stories we need to be telling, and I saw how much resistance there was to get resources to tell those stories and why…[I read ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X’]. So there was no mistake in where I was supposed to be headed,” Sampson told AFROTECH™ at the BLD PWR Day x Juneteenth event held June 18 to June 19.
Sampson channeled his passion for mobilizing marginalized communities to shift power into their hands by launching BLD PWR (Build Power) in 2019. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit operates at the intersection of community building, advocacy, and entertainment, partnering with grassroots organizations in its efforts.
Most recently, BLD PWR touched down in Houston for the two-day event in partnership with SisterSong, the Global Black Economic Forum (GBEF), the Road to ESSENCE Tour, and R&B Jams. The event featured conversations around Black maternal health, Black migrants, futurism and freedom.
Additionally, attendees had access to a range of Black-owned vendors, aligning with BLD PWR’s commitment to advancing economic prosperity. This included Keoshia Middleton, who launched Klassy Trendy Grand, a jewelry business aimed at empowering the Black community, and Olivia Coleman, a 13-year-old baker behind Livy’s Sweet Treats.
Coleman told AFROTECH™ that the support received from being present at the event has been crucial for her motivation and progress in building the business and website. Since attending the event, Coleman has sold out almost all of Livy’s Sweet Treats products each day, adding that she feels grateful for the experience.
“We always have so much pride in people that leave the community and become successful and blow up and go somewhere else and then have this fake idea that once they get rich, they can give back to the community, but that’s not how it’s supposed to work. We’re supposed to be consistently sowing into that community that made us,” Sampson said.
Sampson added that instead of relying on corporations like Target, which are reducing their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, people should seek out and support resources within their communities, particularly Black vendors, to ensure economic sustainability.
