Meet Jasmine T. Jacobs, the creator of the job site BlackRemoteShe.com. Jasmine's job site creation stands out from Indeed, LinkedIn, Zip Recruiter or any other site you may have heard of because it appeals to one specific niche: it gives an opportunity for LGBT Black Womxn to obtain remote jobs.
Gaye Magazine was able to speak with her a bit more about it: "Who is Black Remote She for?"
"Black Remote She is a community for Black queer, trans, nonbinary womxn and allies interested in working remotely. We share new remote job opportunities every week for folks unemployed or unsatisfied, unsafe, and/or uncomfortable in their current positions.
Gaye Tip: a woman (used, especially in intersectional feminism, as an alternative spelling to avoid the suggestion of sexism perceived in the sequences m-a-n and m-e-n, and to be inclusive of trans and nonbinary women) - via Dictionary.com
Jasmine's idea for Blackremoteshe.com originally started as a YouTube Channel to give tips, spirituality, and advice as a black queer woman. "Why create this job site?"
"I remembered my personal struggles searching for jobs and lack of satisfaction and security in bringing my full self to my former work environments. I would search through Indeed, LinkedIn, Monster, Glassdoor - anything hoping to find the perfect role with very few options to spark my interest or pay ranges that didn’t make sense... I realized there wasn’t nearly as much visibility for these roles and very few websites like Indeed, Monster, Glassdoor, etc were namely addressing and catering their list of job openings to the Black LGBTQ+ community, especially Black queer, trans, and nonbinary people.
There were plenty of job sites out there but Jasmine explained that she found them all lacking. I asked her, "What makes your site different?"
As a Black queer woman, I’ve been rejected, denied, overlooked, and harassed in numerous work environments, but I’ve also discovered phenomenal organizations and companies fighting against systemic racism, homophobia, and transphobia. In my work, I’ve made a lot of connections, but I wanted to share those connections with my community so I created blackremoteshe.com to make that happen!...We’ve been left out of opportunities for so long, it’s not familiar to many of us. I want folks to know working remotely, or mostly remote, is an option. This benefits both abled and disabled bodies. There was a huge need for Black Remote She and I didn’t want to wait on anyone else to make space for us - I created it.
"What kind of jobs do you market?"
We typically share a bulk of positions in marketing, communications, development/fundraising, and human resources. However, there isn’t a shortage of industries on the site. Employers typically reach out to me via email or on LinkedIn. These employers want to reach our community. We post 10 or more job openings every week on our website and provide early access to those jobs on our Patreon. There are safe spaces existing for us and those opportunities are shared on our website.
Black Remote She is heavily marketed on social media and has reached across the world to being featured in the U.K. magazine, "Stonewall" thanks to Tonya Compass. The job site has also worked very closely with the Ureeka community for the continued support and mentorship where black and brown entrepreneurs can network and expand their business. I asked, "Is this a hobby for you?"
"It’s definitely not a hobby! I invest a lot of time into outreach, networking, and planning to continue building Black Remote She. Ultimately, the goal is to build Black Remote She into a full job board accompanied with an app to offer more interactive options for employers, candidates, and recruiters to connect with each other. In the next couple months, I’m hoping to launch a crowdsourcing campaign with iFundWomen of Color to help raise funds for the job board. I’m happy to share more about that when I have the campaign on their platform! Stay tuned!"
Black Remote She is partnered with Black Owned and Hiring to collect stories about the Black LGBTQ+ work experience.
In the future, Black Remote She will be launching a directory of safe housing resources for Black queer, trans, and nonbinary womxn looking for safe housing across the globe.
They will also be building a crowdsourcing campaign to raise funds for our job board in the coming months.
In the meantime, folks interested in offering ongoing support to the production of free resources on our website can join their Patreon and check out their website with the 22,000 other world viewers at blackremoteshe.com.