![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788376568844.jpg\")
Source: Courtesy of Jamila Wright<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSource: Courtesy of Jamila Wright<\/p>\n
Jamila Wright had just returned home from her tea shop when she got on the phone. It was a Tuesday in Bed-Stuy, the historic Brooklyn neighborhood where her business, Brooklyn Tea, resides. Since opening in 2019, the beloved neighborhood tea house, co-founded by Jamila and her husband Alfonso \u201cAli\u201d Wright, has been on quite a journey, riding out the global pandemic and surviving (or rather, thriving) to tell the tale. Wright credits a large part of their success story to the vast, yet tight-knit, network made up of her alma mater Spelman College and the broader community of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).<\/p>\n
Today, Brooklyn Tea, proudly born and brewed in Bed-Stuy has grown beyond the borough and is now available nationwide in major retailers including Target and Wegmans. This year, the brand launched<\/a> Brooklyn Tea & Market in New York\u2019s JFK Airport, becoming the first Black-owned beverage brand to operate in a U.S. airport.<\/p>\n The road hasn\u2019t been easy, but it\u2019s brought new friendships, opportunities, and a deeper sense of community. MadameNoire caught up with Wright to discuss the power of her HBCU network, navigating the pandemic, and the beauty of bringing people together.<\/p>\n RELATED CONTENT: Forget NYFW \u2014 HBCU Students Just Won The First-Day-Of-Class 2026 Fashion Olympics<\/a><\/p>\n After graduating from Spelman College with a degree in English, \u201cI went straight to Brooklyn,\u201d said the Atlanta native. \u201cMy older Spelman sister told me about a program she had done, and opened the door and walked me through.\u201d It was an opportunity to teach, which soon became a calling. \u201cI fell in love with education,\u201d said Wright, who went on to earn her master\u2019s degree in early childhood education at Hunter College. From teaching in the classroom, she advanced to Dean of Students. \u201cTeaching is where I became more informed and skilled around how to actively create community and build culture,\u201d she reflected.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tLove MadameNoire? Get more! Join the MadameNoire Newsletter\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\tWe care about your data. See our privacy policy<\/a>.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Wright\u2019s gift for bringing people together proved just as valuable in entrepreneurship. \u201cThat transferred into Brooklyn Tea,\u201d she continued. \u201cThat heartbeat, my husband would say, comes from my teaching background, comes from our HBCU backgrounds, of wanting everyone to feel not only like they belong but like it\u2019s a part of who they are too.\u201d<\/p>\n For Wright, her journey from the classroom to the tea shop came together with purpose. \u201cThere\u2019s a very clear throughline for me,\u201d she affirmed. One chapter flowed into the next. The Wrights, and the business, stayed close to home. \u201cI\u2019m a ten-minute walk from my first school. My first two staff members were students that I taught, who then wanted to go on to HBCUs,\u201d she said. \u201cThey saw that kinship, how people came into the shop to support us because we were HBCU grads.\u201d (Her husband Alfonso graduated from Hampton University.)<\/p>\n There\u2019s real power in being connected to the HBCU legacy, Wright emphasized. \u201cThere is a surgical precision to how we open doors for each other,\u201d she said. \u201cSo many opportunities have come from not only a Spelmanite, not only a Morehouse alum, but from the HBCU community.\u201d<\/p>\n From being gifted $5,000 in ad spend to securing a major wholesale account with Google, Wright credits the HBCU ecosystem with bringing these opportunities to light. \u201cWe all feel the interconnectedness,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know what it means to be counted out and we damn for sure aren\u2019t doing it to each other.\u201d As alumni themselves, the husband-and-wife duo uplifts the next generation with an annual scholarship for high school grads headed to HBCUs.<\/p>\n It was this very community that helped the business stay afloat during the global pandemic. Brooklyn Tea opened in Bed-Stuy in 2019, with COVID-19 just around the corner. Then the shutdown happened. \u201cI thought I was being very casual about how much of a struggle it was, but apparently the fear was written on my face,\u201d said Wright.<\/p>\n In that moment, the community banded together and made sure the business weathered the storm. \u201cThe Spelman and Morehouse community collectively paid our rent for two months,\u201d Wright said. But even amid the hardship, there were unexpected wins. Brooklyn Tea was shouted out by Shonda Rhimes<\/a> and was featured on Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Black Parade<\/a> Black-owned business directory \u2014 \u201call in a span of a week!\u201d Wright recalled.<\/p>\n With new orders rushing in, they got a crash course in scaling the business. \u201cWe had no idea any of these things were coming our way. We were building in real time,\u201d Wright said. \u201cBut as we kept going, we got better at everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Kinship<\/p>\n Raised in West Indian families where tea is a way of life \u2014 a love language \u2014 the Wrights bring that same cultural reverence to their product, prioritizing quality and ethical practices while offering distinctive blends like Cream Earl Grey<\/a>, Kyoto Cherry Rose Sencha, and Vanilla Rooibos.<\/p>\n Seven years since its grand opening, Brooklyn Tea has become a neighborhood fixture, welcoming tea lovers from the block and beyond. Wright enjoys seeing friendships blossom inside her tea shop. \u201cYou came for one thing and left with something far greater than the product or service itself. As an entrepreneur, that\u2019s the goal,\u201d she said. From hosting mixers and tastings, to live music and screenings, Brooklyn Tea keeps the community coming together.<\/p>\n One event that she cherishes to this day was a 2022 screening of The 1619 Project with author and journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. Wright had reached out about doing an event together, and Hannah-Jones responded with an immediate yes. \u201cShe felt a kinship to us,\u201d Wright said. \u201cShe felt moved to collaborate with us. We were on the same mission which was to give back to our people. And for that reason alone, she showed up, having never met us, and did this whole event.\u201d <\/p>\n Ecosystem<\/p>\n One thing Wright treasures most about entrepreneurship is the network of people she\u2019s able to grow alongside, including fellow HBCU grads. \u201cI love the relationships that I get to cultivate with other business owners,\u201d Wright said. \u201cIt\u2019s a tall order to ask your friends to understand the complexities of what you\u2019re going through. So to be able to have this community where you get to truth-tell and commiserate, and plot and plan in a way that makes you feel humanized \u2014 there\u2019s really nothing like it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s this ecosystem that is both social and financial,\u201d Wright added. \u201cWe celebrate each other and go to each other\u2019s events, we share where we get our cups from.\u201d It\u2019s impossible to name just a few, she said: Keishon Warren from Brooklyn Blend, Nicole Nicholas from Aunts et Uncles, Melissa Butler from The Lip Bar, Renae Bluitt from She Did That. \u201cThere are so many. I mean, the list really does go on.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED CONTENT: Back To School! \u2014 \u2018A Different World\u2019 Sequel Set For Fall Premiere On Netflix: Everything We Know So Far<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/17883765189754.jpeg\")
Source: Courtesy of Jamila WrightBrooklyn Tea<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/17883765600126.jpg\")
Source: Courtesy of Jamila WrightHBCU Legacy<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/17883765298003.jpeg\")
Source: Courtesy of Jamila Wright<\/p>\n