[I don’t think there’s a single creative entrepreneur who had a coronavirus contingency plan tucked away somewhere. I certainly didn’t. So, I’ve been so amazed by the women I know who’ve managed to keep their businesses upright and running, even as the world has felt like it’s flipped upside down. It’s exactly the kind of resilience and innovation that I love about Black women. We don’t quit.

So, in this new series, I’ve spoken to some of the incredible Black women in my network to learn how they’ve navigated entrepreneurship during the coronavirus pandemic and their advice for other women trying to figure it all out.]

I will never not be impressed by Camille Dundas, purely because it shouldn’t be possible for a person to accomplish as much as she does. And yet, she does it, and with so much grace. By day, she’s a solutions consultant with social media management giant Hootsuite. And when she clocks out, she somehow juggles being a mother, wife, equity consultant, keynote speaker, and co-founder and editor-in-chief of ByBlacks.com, Canada’s #1 Black online magazine.

I’m tired just thinking about it. But Camille’s ability to do so much—and also decide what she can and will shelve—is one of the many reasons I admire her so much.

Here’s how she’s creating in the time of Corona.

How has the pandemic impacted your business?

The impact was quick and brutal. We lost 80% of our advertising revenue because most of our advertisers were event-based, and of course, all those events are now cancelled. That ad revenue is how we pay our writers, so we’ve had to put all new writing assignments on hold indefinitely. We had to go back to writing all the content ourselves instead of working with our freelancers, which is really unfortunate. Our writers are so talented and we want to keep them employed.

Camille Dundas, co-founder and editor-in-chief of ByBlacks.com, Canada’s #1 Black online magazine.

What strategies are you using to pivot?

We’ve always been a 100% online business, so we won’t be changing anything about what we do at ByBlacks. But it was important for us to step up and be as useful as possible to our readers. Especially in the first couple of weeks when the government was releasing new information every day. There were three stages to how we responded to the lockdown.

First, we went into “vital info” mode and just kept reporting on anything we felt was vital to the Black Canadian community. We did a detailed breakdown of how to apply for CERB, we connected our readers to the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce who conducted a survey on the impacts of COVID-19 on Black business so they could lobby the government for support. We even warned our readers about COVID related scams they should be looking out for. To balance all the serious reporting, we started doing Instagram Live interviews that were informational but also fun. Our first was with a doctor talking about why we should be wearing masks, then we did a live workout with Jully Black and Tameika G as well as a cooking session with Chef Philman.

ByBlacks has the largest Black Canadian business directory, and editorially we focus very heavily on successful Black business and entrepreneurs so the second thing we did was to open up a 50% discount for all Black Canadian businesses to advertise on the site to let people know they were still operational. It’s important that everyone support Black business during these times. We would love to have a list of Black Canadian businesses that are still operational during the lockdown, but we realize the logistics of tracking Black businesses that are open right across the country would be way too complicated. We’re going to try to do this via social media instead.

The third thing we did was to launch our Patreon page. Patreon is a subscription platform for creatives where people can give a monthly donation in exchange for perks. We got a handful of patrons right away, enough to pay for a few articles actually. So that’s been so encouraging. We’ve built this business to be a media platform that Black Canadians can count on - a space that is just for them. So it feels good to know that people value it - and are willing to be there for us too.

Camille, and her husband and co-founder, Roger, recently celebrated ByBlacks’ 7th year in business.

Your business thrives when you do. How are you taking care of your personal well-being?

Not much if I’m being honest. I have a husband and two kids, so most of my energy and thoughts go towards them. I can’t say I’ve done a good job being intentional with my own wellness. I don’t take long baths or walks or whatever. But I am very conscious of how my emotions are affected by the media I consume. I noticed that I would wake up in a very good mood and then as the day went on, the more news I read… the worse my mood got. So I started limiting the volume of media I read and watched.

What advice do you have for Black women creatives who are struggling to manage during this time?

The weird thing about how humans are wired is that we are built to always want more, to want different, to want whatever it is we don’t have. So I’d say, whatever little you have, give thanks for it. Realize that whatever is making you irritable right now, whether it’s your family or whether it’s the fact that you’re alone during the lockdown, realize that there’s someone out there who wants what you have. The person surrounded by family might want to be in a bachelor apartment all alone. While the person living alone might be desperate to be surrounded by family. Don’t be harsh with yourself for whatever feelings you’re having right now, and extend that kindness to others. Whatever people are doing to get themselves through this thing, let them have it, and try not to judge them.

Visit Byblacks on the web, Instagram, and Twitter | Connect with Camille on the web and Twitter