From Self to Solidarity: How Personal Empowerment Fuels Cooperative Economics (Part 1)
InflexionPoint Podcast Series Hosted by Transformation Talk Radio: A Conversation with LaKeisha Wolf, Executive Director Ujamaa Collective
2025 Theme: Community Engagement and the Grassroots of Change
EPISODE AIR DATE: JUNE 4, 2025
From Self to Solidarity: How Personal Empowerment Fuels Cooperative Economics—A Conversation with LaKeisha Wolf, Executive Director of Ujamaa Collective
InflexionPoint Podcast Series: In 2025 we turn our attention towards “Community Engagement and the Grassroots of Change.” Throughout the year we explore the stories, strategies, and successes of community-driven movements making a difference.
In this episode we explore Personal Empowerment and Cooperative Economics through the lens of Ujamaa Collective, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The Ujamaa social mission is to act as a catalyst to advance Africana Women by providing a fair trade marketplace for cultural, artistic and entrepreneurial exchange through cooperative economics.
The Ujamaa Collective stands on these 5 principles:
Fair Trade. Meaningful Work. Community. Creativity. Wellness
Personal Thoughts on Ujamaa Collective: Anita Russell, Creator/Host of InflexionPoint Podcast & Member Ujamaa Collective
Our guest, LaKeisha Wolf, Executive Director of Ujamaa Collective, takes our audience on a deep dive into movement from self to solidarity and how personal empowerment fuels cooperative economics.
Personal empowerment begins with individuals recognizing their inherent worth, capabilities, and power to make choices that impact their life and community. It cultivates self-awareness, responsibility, action, and accountability. Cooperative economics channels that personal power into collective agency by providing structures—like cooperatives, credit unions, and mutual aid networks—that allow individuals to pool resources, share risks, and make collective decisions for mutual benefit.
LaKeisha Walker: Cultural worker, creative entrepreneur, and teaching artist with an emphasis on identity, racial justice, community connection, and whole-body wellness.
As a first-generation Pittsburgher, LaKeisha Wolf has developed her roots across the community, working at the intersection of arts and culture, social entrepreneurship, community development, and wellness for 20 years. She is a founding member of the Ujamaa Collective and has served as Executive Director since 2013.
In this role, LaKeisha focuses on the agency’s business affairs, including the cooperative development of emerging Africana women-owned craft industries, and maintaining an artisans’ retail boutique in conjunction with creative community programming. She initiated the organization’s first direct, fair trade relationship in East Africa.
She has been immersed in the world of cooperative economics for over two decades, learning with organizations such as NASCO (North American Students of Cooperation) Institute’s Emerging Cooperative Leaders Program, and the Eastern Conference on Workplace Democracy and serving as a panelist for the National Cooperative Business Association. She previously served as a board member for the East End Food Co-op’s Federal Credit Union and currently serves on the board for the Hill District Federal Credit Union, the advisory board for the Pittsburgh Black Worker Center, and is a founding member of the National Association of Black Cooperators.
Conversation Highlights
Personal Empowerment begins with an individual recognizing their inherent worth, capabilities, and the power to make choices that impact their life and community. It cultivates self-awareness, responsibility, and action.
Yet personal empowerment alone is not enough: Though it is movement from awareness to collective action; it is also education and skill development; along with economic justice (empowerment plus wealth building and distribution)—this is where cooperative economics enters the equation.
Cooperative Economics channels that personal power into collective agency by providing structures that allow individuals to pool resources, share risks, and make collective decisions for mutual benefit. The relationship between personal empowerment and cooperative economics is dynamic and mutually reinforcing. Both are essential for transforming individuals from passive participants in economic systems to active co-creators of collective well-being.
Shift from individualism to collective agency
Break from dependency on extractive systems
Values-driven participation
Documentary Film: One Man’s Fight to Close the Racial Wealth Gap
“The Barber of Little Rock,” John Hoffman and Christine Turner’s short film, follows Arlo Washington as he helps members of his community escape the hazards of banking while Black. “There has to be economic warriors in the community to create economic justice...my purpose in life is to advance equity, and create opportunities, and build the community.” (People Trust Bank is the only Black-owned bank in the state of Arkansas.)
Why does all of this matter now? Big banks don’t know the community. Economic segregation is a reality. Life happens—people need compassion, restoration, rehabilitation, and love. While cooperative economics is not a utopian dream, it is a proven model rooted in Black history, global movements, and community-led initiatives. From the Freedom Quilting Bee in Alabama to modern-day Black-owned credit unions and worker cooperatives, the blueprint exists.
The Bridge: From Self-Awareness to Collective Action. True personal empowerment is more than self-improvement. It is the recognition that our personal power increases when connected to others through shared values, collective effort, and democratic participation. Empowered individuals begin to ask:
Who benefits from me acting alone?
What would change if I joined forces with others?
How can my personal power multiply through collective action?
In a time of widening wealth gaps, systemic oppression, and political division, reclaiming both personal and collective power is essential.
Call to Action: Building Our Shared Future - Ujamaa Capital Campaign
“The strength of Ujamaa Collective lies in its proven ability to turn vision into reality. Our history of success, coupled with the determination and resilience of our artisans and supporters, assures us that this campaign will establish the foundation for a thriving, innovative home.”
Ujamaa Collective is embarking on a transformative journey to secure a permanent home in the heart of Pittsburgh—a space designed to nurture creativity, sustain cooperative entrepreneurship, and expand opportunities for artisans and the broader community. With your partnership, we are confident in bringing this bold vision to life through our concurrent Capital Campaign, Building the Future.
Resources
Congratulating Our Cooperative Leadership Graduates and Welcoming Our New Cohort
Collective Courage – A History American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice by Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Professor, Political Economist, Author -