Daily Inspiration: Meet Brielle Wright

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brielle Wright.

Hi Brielle, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
My name is Brielle Wright and I am a farmer, CEO, and jam maker. My sister and I started our business, The Farmers B.A.G., in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. Our goal was to bring our educational backgrounds in agriculture and psychology together to serve our community.

Thus, The Farmers B.A.G (Blessed Abundant Gifted) was born. We started growing produce on our Granny’s land. She is 103 and we are blessed to still have her in her right mind and able body. We used the land to plant produce.

Shortly after we decided to start selling jams and jellies to fund our greater mission to 1. provide underrepresented youth with positive agricultural experiences (2) to close the information and funding gap for underrepresented farmers, and (3) to provide mental and emotional help to farmers and those healing from trauma associated with the land.

In addition to jams and jellies, we host workshops that support farmers, youth, and advocacy. Eventually, our goal is to grow our own produce and fruit to make our jams and run a foundation that supports our mission on a larger scale.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Our biggest obstacles and challenges were finding mentorship, community, and funding. We also needed guidance on how to determine what to grow, how much to grow, and the best way to grow it. Those challenges provided the base for our mission. My sister and I come from a farming background, however finding a community of farmers who looked like us and who were well versed in business processes was a challenge.

Funding was also a struggle because we were new farmers. If you don’t have two to five years of farming under your belt, it’s difficult to obtain the finances to get started. Everyone is seeking funds from the same pots of money and loans are not ideal in the first two years. We have been blessed to have been provided funding because of news articles and the work we do in the community.

These obstacles still remain, but we are doing our part to build community, network, and create solutions to these problems for those to come.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I graduated from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University with a B.S. in Agriculture Business. I completed my M.S. at Virginia Tech in Agriculture Education. I work in the agriculture industry, but my passion is farming and advocacy work. I want to do this full-time. My sister and I have been really focused on how to turn our passion into a full-time profession that meets our needs.

I honestly would do everything we are doing for free, but we can’t barter and trade with the mortgage company. We currently have honey bees. We are in our second year of beekeeping and going into our 3rd. Our focus has been on bee health and we look forward to extracting honey next year! We will be hosting beekeeping workshops in 2022. We will also be increasing our work with the youth in our hometown and surrounding counties.

I’m an active member in Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers, NC Women of Color Farmers, NC Advocacy Coalition, MANRRS, and, my favorite The Black Farmers Market. I also speak to high school students annually about agriculture careers and why they should pursue a career in agriculture.

Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
God has blessed us to be where we are. Earlier this year, I prayed that God would bless us with good press. I was not ready for the blessings He had in store. We were featured in three articles this year that landed us an opportunity to be featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show. We were given $10,000 from Bobcat because they loved our story.

As a result, we have sought out assistance to help us use the funds wisely. We have been good stewards of our funds and built foundational. Our website launches Black Friday and we are excited for what is to come. We have been able to help several farmers, build connections with community organizations, and build a following because of our appearance on the show.

We also had to take a step back and realize what we could accomplish with just the two of us working. We had to take strides and move at the pace of grace to get to where we currently are. Slow and steady wins the race.

Pricing:

• Jams and Jellies $10-$20

Contact Info:

• Email: thefarmersbag@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefarmersb.a.g/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thefarmersbag

Image Credits
John Brown