A new Birmingham organization is working to empower minority women through professional and personal development.
“Our main thing that we want to do is connect the community to resources and also be a safe space for minority women to feel like they can grow and empower themselves,” said Jermeisha Purdie, co-founder and president of Purposely Rooted Collective.
Purdie, who is a health care consultant with Ontario Systems, said the idea for the organization, founded in July 2021, came during a trip to New Orleans.
“We really started this because of the need that we saw within ourselves as minority women in professional spaces ... If you want to learn a new resource, you want to upskill, you want to pivot your career, you can come to a place that you’re safe, and we can lead you to those resources,” she said.
Kiandrea Hall, co-founder and vice president, said Purposely Rooted Collective’s core audience is women in their 20s and 30s.
“We’re living it too,” Hall said. “I think that’s important for me ... because I’m just now starting out in my career, to be able to reach those who are in the same boat as me and who look like me.”
Hall, a behavioral health consultant with Cahaba Medical Care, said mental health is a factor in what the organization aims to address.
“I think from the mental health side, Purposely Rooted Collective comes into play as that safe space to almost vent,” Hall said. “To say, ‘Hey, girl, this is going on. Is the same thing happening to you?’”
Purdie added that working on oneself professionally shouldn’t mean sacrificing personal and mental health.
“When you’re in the weeds and you’re working every day, head down, you forget about yourself,” Purdie said.
The organization is in its early stages, and Purdie said funding is still in the works, but they have a good support system.
“A lot of people are offering their time. We are building an advisory council,” Purdie said. “So those things are intangible. I feel like that is a part of funding too when you have people that are willing to give the sweat equity to help your organization grow.”
The founders are surveying the community, planning their programming and gaining exposure, Hall said. Though neither founder is originally from Birmingham, they found a home and a place to grow their organization. Purdie said the city’s culture is a draw.
“There’s so much opportunity here,” she said. “Especially with me being in tech, I just foresee it booming and diversifying because where there’s innovation, there’s diversity, and where there’s diversity, there’s innovation.”
Purdie said the support from the community has been strong, and as women and minority professionals, the Purposely Rooted Collective founders have an advantage in Birmingham over places such as Mississippi where there are less resources and more gate-keeping.
“I think we have been fortunate enough because of the attention to Black women and minority women in the city,” Purdie said. “I see things all the time that pertain sometimes only to us, and that just lets me know that the need is so great for us to be able to get assistance and resources.”
The organization has received support from Bradley’s Black-owned business and nonprofit community clinic, which provides pro bono legal services within the Birmingham metro. Bradley then took the organization on as a pro bono client.
