Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration honoring African identity, heritage and culture. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa celebrates a different value of African culture that helps to build and reinforce community. During last year's Kwanzaa celebrations in Rochester, Jessica Lewis moderated a panel during the celebration of Ujamaa, which means "Cooperative Economics." Much of the panel discussion centered on themes of encouraging entrepreneurship in the black community, citing research that black-owned businesses account for just 7% of small businesses (despite making up 13% of the population) and the fact that a dollar stays in the black community for just six hours. Jessica also debuted her show "Ujamaa Rising," which profiles black-owned businesses in Rochester, many of which have a distinct ethos of community engagement, Ujamaa and Conscious Capitalism.

Jessica is the Principal Publicist & Owner of LáLew Public Relations and the ROC the Future Communications Specialist at The Children’s Agenda. She is a 2018 ATHENA Award finalist and a Woman to Watch for the Democrat & Chronicle Newspaper. Jessica is a successful entrepreneur, owning the fastest growing, Black-owned public relations firm in Rochester, New York.

LáLew Public Relations is a full service PR firm specializing in media relations, marketing, branding, web management, social media and community engagement. LáLew serves a variety of clients and has landed client appearances on WROC News 8, WHEC News 10, WHAM News 13, Spectrum News, Democrat and Chronicle Newspaper, City Newspaper and more. Jessica’s success was recognized by the Rochester Business Journal as a Small Business Feature of the Week. Jessica is also the host of Ujamaa Rising, a television show that features Black-owned businesses and real-life stories of entrepreneurs.

Check out Rochester's 2018 Ujamaa Fesitivities here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/277471142914848/

Learn more about Black-Owned Businesses in Rochester here:

http://www.bobrochester.com/