The Black Business Hub has quickly become a Madison landmark. On any given day, the building is buzzing with activity as people from across Madison and Dane County visit the Hub’s many occupants to eat, drink, learn, fellowship, and conduct everyday business.
But at the heart of the Hub’s mission is entrepreneurship, and Black entrepreneurship specifically. The Hub is dedicated to encouraging Black entrepreneurs to start businesses and support them to scale those businesses to reach their fullest potential.
In November, the Hub deepened its commitment to this mission by hiring two Small Business Development and Events Planning Managers, Daitryanna Mixson and Diamond Black, to work alongside Director of the Black Business Hub, Magugu Davis. Their focus is building out programming to support current business to scale beyond the Hub’s incubation capacity and to bring in new business that will continue the trajectory of Black economic development in Madison.
Let’s meet them!
Meet Daitryanna (Dai) Mixson
Daitryanna (Dai) Mixson is a Madison native with multi-generational roots here. She went to school in Verona and left Madison for the University of Kansas. She made her way back to Madison about 5 years ago with her daughter and partner.
Mixson has a background in business development and finance. “I love people,” she says, and she sees relationships as key to personal and business success. Upon returning to Madison as an adult, she had difficulty finding community. She chose to focus on developing herself and her network. The Urban Leager of Greater Madison Young Professionals has been key to her process of re-establishing herself as a professional in the city.
It is through the Young Professionals that Mixson learned about the work that the Urban League and the Hub do. She sees the great potential that the Hub offers to South Madison and the greater Madison to allow Madison’s long-standing Black community to flourish. And she already sees the effects. “The Starbucks on Park St. is closing,” she observes. “With all of the Black development in this part of town, this is evidence that we are here and we take ownership of our neighborhood.” I really hope that these efforts make the city and the state recognize the power and potential in the Black community while respecting a space that has been built “for us by us.”
When she saw the position that she now occupies, she thought that it was a perfect way to support that businesses that she already patronizes by buying Black and buying local. “It would be a way to see what their needs are and how I can help to bridge that gap.”
Three years ago, a mentor asked Mixson where she saw herself in 3-5 years. She responded with clarity: “I would love to work for a Black organization in the nonprofit sector. I want to be in a position where I can give back to the community.” Fast forward three years and she is posed to reach this goal. Mixson sees this work as more of a passion project than a job.
Mixson encourages those who see her around to talk with her. She loves people and is always looking to expand her circle.
Meet Diamond Black
A native Chicagoan and child of entrepreneurs, Diamond Black has lived all around the country but still considers Chicago home. She came to the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study psychology and political science after high school and worked in Middleton for a few years after graduation in 2022. She focused on diversity and inclusion recruitment in the financial services sector, which led her to do similar work for the City of Aurora, Illinois. Among her range of experience, Black has determined that small business development is her niche.
Black believes that the Hub and the coming Center for Black Excellence show the city of Madison that there are needs that have not been met. She hopes that this activity will cause the city to invest further in economic development for Black Madisonians.
A key issue for Black is helping Black entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs to maximize their capacity in a prime market like Madison. Part of this is connecting with the larger market in Madison to access the high level of discretionary income in the area.
Black sees the Hub as a great start for Black business in Madison, but she is clear that it is not the end. She calls for local government, educational, nonprofit, and other entities to collaborate and invest financial and human capital in the Hub for great mutual benefit. Her goal is to get businesses out of the Hub as they become so successful that the Hub can no longer contain them.
Outside of work, Black is an avid thrift shopper. She loves clothes, so she shops for herself and for resale. She recently adopted a kitten named Prince. She is generally a curious person who loves to learn about people and their experiences. If you meet her, be prepared for questions and great conversation!
Looking Ahead
One of the benefits of moving into a newly-formed position is that you get to decide what the role entails. Both Mixson and Black have great ideas for their role in the Hub. They both are interested in talking with current Hub business owners to determine what support and education they need to scale their businesses to the point where they can move out of the Hub and into permanent spaces. “They are focused on doing the day-to-day work and sometimes don’t really have the opportunity to do the operations work that will secure their future,” Black said.
Mixson sees the gAlpha and gBeta programs that gener8or rubs at the Hub as excellent starting points for entrepreneurs and wants to imagine the next steps to bring their businesses to market. Black is focused on making the Hub more attractive through its business development resources and developing programming in parallel to the gener8or programs for business that may not be ready targets for venture capital as tech companies are.
After planning the Holiday Bazaar, Mixson and Black plan to survey existing Hub businesses to assess their needs to chart their next steps in 2026.
When asked what businesses they would like to see in the Hub, both Mixson and Black had great ideas. Mixson suggests a clothing store while Black would like to see more food options that appeal to diverse palettes along with a bakery.
Another goal that Black and Mixson share is seeing the Hub’s resources utilized to their maximum capacity. Mixson points to the co-working spaces as an opportunity yet to be maximized. She would like to see greater collaboration among businesses in all parts of the Hub to lean on their collective capacity to succeed.
“What we have here is really rare,” Black observes. “There should be a Black Business Hub in every city.”
