BlackMade: Derrick Faulcon on Cloudy Donut Co., entrepreneurship
"You have to love where you want to go in life so that you can push that business," says the founder of Cloudy Donut Co.
The Brooklyn, New York Cloudy Donut Co. has been in the headlines for making history as the first Black-owned business in Brooklyn Heights.
It is the third location of the small donut shop chain, which Derrick Faulcon founded in 2020 in his native Baltimore. It opened in October in Brooklyn. Since then, Faulcon and partner Zewiditu Jewel — partnerships and outreach director at Cloudy Donut Co. — have provided the neighborhood with a variety of tasty vegan donuts (including a couple of dog-friendly options).
Faulcon and his team are proud of providing top-notch customer service and high-quality products to customers. However, for the entrepreneur, it is bigger than selling donuts.
(Photo Credit: Joseph Stancavich on behalf of theGrio)
“My whole goal was how can I build something that’s so dynamic that it can help me change my situation,” says Faulcon. “And then how can I build it up so big and not only change my situation, but change the situation of my family dynamic and other people can fit their goal underneath my goal.“
“I always had a mentality [that] nobody’s going to give me nothing,” Faulcon continues. “I grew up looking up to people like Master P, like Jay-Z, people who built businesses by doing all of the things themselves. Nipsey Hussle was a big influence, too, as well in the sense of vertical integration. Being able to own yourself and own the processes that go into the final result of your product or your service.“
According to the Pew Research Center, more than half of Black business owners are men: “Among all U.S. firms whose ownership is classifiable by gender, 63% were majority-owned by men in 2020, while 22% were owned by women and 15% had equal male-female ownership that year. By comparison, 55% of majority Black- or African American-owned businesses in 2020 had male owners, while 37% were owned by women and 8% had equal male-female ownership.”
Faulcon believes that Black men absolutely must own their own enterprises for some very important reasons. “I think being an entrepreneur in today’s society specifically for a Black man is not an accessory, is a necessity, is essential,” he says. “[It’s] the only way that will bridge the wealth gap in America. It’s the only way that we’ll provide our family with assets to be able to bequeath and leave behind. It’s the only way we’ll be able to employ our people.”
He also believes the moment is right for even more cooperative economics. “For quite some time, I’ve seen Black talent that contribute all their efforts towards white entities who haven’t reciprocated or given them anything in return,” Faulcon adds.
He continues, “Now, we’re in a space where a lot of Black people become astronauts or what I would call a solopreneur. And now the next step after that is a level of unity and collaboration amongst the culture. So that’s the next thing for us. That’s what we’re excited about.”
Check out the full interview to learn more about Derrick Faulcon and the Cloudy Donut Co.
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