As the founder of Addwomxn, I embarked on a journey to create more than just a creative agency—I envisioned a community where all women could come together and see the humanity in each other, where diversity isn’t just celebrated, but woven into the fabric of our shared reality. Since the inception of Addwomxn, one of our foundational values has been to cultivate a culture of inclusivity—one that embraces true diversity, fosters a trusting environment, and upholds individual accountability.  Understanding the Need: In the ever-chan...

What happens when a Black woman and a white woman get into a room with friends and strangers and share their lived experiences of their racism and anti-racism journeys? Really good things. A lot of comments from the audience afterwards of “more please.”  Dawn L. Johnson, a life coach and owner of The Dawn Johnson Experience and myself, Renita Faye, founder and CEO of Addwomxn co-hosted a program titled, “Feeling Our Way Beyond Allyship: A Fireside Chat,” for Twin Cities Startup Week. A sold out crowd was in attendance, made up of mostly women, coming in community to hear about how we – as white women – need to do be...

As we move toward our second anniversary of the launch of Addwomxn, we’re taking time to reflect on what we’ve learned in this incredible two-year journey – from our foundational roots to where we are now.  In the beginning, we spent a great deal of time on our name, Addwomxn. At its core is the very intentional “x” … sometimes misunderstood, often mispronounced. (The “x” is silent in pronunciation, meaning “womxn” is simply pronounced, “women.”). Today, that still feels like a good decision as it’s a visual representation of the intersectionality of a vast number of identities that include gender, sex and ra...

Is the traditional agency model broken? It is, according to a recent Forbes article. For the last decade, clients have been pushing back on big agency fees. The traditional agency-client service model is centered on the agency, not the client. The best talent is leaving the big agencies. The only winners are the agencies and their profits; both the client and the talent suffer. Yes, the traditional agency model is bro...

International Day Of The Girl is a United Nations Holiday acknowledging the state of girls throughout the world.  As I was building my brand, Rocky Robinson Self-Care for Girls, I wanted to put my stake in the ground around a signature event that celebrated and empowered girls. Addwomxn was the perfect agency to bring diverse thinking and great creative design to what will be an annual event. With a thought-out strategy and great creative and PR support provided by the Addwomxn team, we pulled off an amazing event. On Saturday, October 15, with the partnership of Addwomxn, we had a day of celebration to empower girls and give them the tools they need to dream a brighter future an...

Reporter Ethan Nelson’s December 1 article in the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal scored Minnesota companies on DEI initiatives. Last year was the first year the business publication began tracking employer diversity, ranking companies based on the percentage of their employees who don’t identify as white, who are executives, on boards of directors, and who have ownership in the company. The lists cover small, medium, and large public and private companies, nonprofits and government entities. Lots of household names are am...

Dr. Verna Price is a teacher at her core with a heart and passion for humanity. Reinventing her work every five years, she’s transitioned from a teacher in a traditional school setting, to a teacher of educators in her consulting business of 20 years, to a teacher of entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and organizations. Addwomxn penciled in time on Dr. Verna’s calendar outside of the DEI work she’s guiding us through as an organization on a personal and collective level. Her incredible personable style and skill in unpacking historic and modern-day racism has us feeling very fortunate to know her and be her students. From our recent conversation, we bring you a little of our Q & A, ...

Dawn L. Johnson has an armor about her that evokes an athlete, and a deeper emotional side that’s warm and inviting. In 2018, she exited Corporate America and launched her life coaching gift through The Dawn Johnson Experience. Today, she says, “I’m finally at a stage where I know I’m dope. Inside and out. That wasn’t always the case.”

Addwomxn has witnessed the growth of Dawn’s coaching business as we’re often in the same coworking space: ModernWell. It felt overdue to pause and spend time with her to capture the story behind coach Dawn. From that conversation, we bring you a little of our Q & A, lightly edited for clarity.

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For 15 years I’ve had a vision of a bricks and mortar building full of women creative entrepreneur types including designers, illustrators, photographers, writers who would work separately but refer and pitch larger work together. It was just a vision until 2020, when I recognized a unique moment to move a version of this forward into reality. The pandemic isolated us in early 2020, making the bricks and mortar part of my vision seem  ridiculous. Leaving that notion behind opened me up to start working on this vision again from a different angle – it could be virtual. At the same time, I wasn’t finding fulfillment i...

Audra Robinson’s career spans from marketing and events for a mall, to multi-cultural marketing for a  prominent Fortune 500 retailer, to retail marketing strategies for a premier biopharmaceutical company. Brilliantly navigating through it all as a Black woman, she’s been aware and asking questions. Questions that  she’s now boldly answering with the creation of a self-care product line for young Black girls: Rocky Robinson.  Addwomxn recently had the opportunity to ...