Meet Imani Black: A Changemaker Paving Opportunities for Minority Women in Aquaculture
When it comes to building a more diverse, inclusive seafood industry—including in the aquaculture world, we can always use more changemakers! We’re thrilled to interview Imani Black, the founder of Minorities in Aquaculture, an organization she created in 2020 to educate minority women about the environmental benefits provided by local & global aquaculture to expand their opportunities.
We love what you’re doing to increase education around aquaculture for minority women. What made you want to pursue a career in aquaculture?
Because pursuing aquaculture was unexpected, my initial attraction was the fact that I got to work on or near the water and it was an active work environment. I’ve always lived an active lifestyle, playing high competitive sports my entire life and my ADD brain naturally thrives in organized chaos, so it just made sense for me.
You’ve worked as an oyster farmer, which is amazing! Could you share what a typical day looked like for you and what your favorite part was?
The typical day of an oyster farmer really depends on the season and size of your farm. In the summer, I was helping with running a hatchery, broodstock rearing, larvae production, oyster husbandry, and selling seed to other farmers. In the fall, we start closing up the hatchery and getting the last of the oyster seed ready for winter. Luckily, at the oyster company I worked for, I had a year round position, which meant as the seasons changed, I went from the hatchery/nursery in the summer and beginning of fall, and then to the farm for winter until the hatchery opened again in January.
What are you studying in grad school now and what are your plans when you graduate?
I’m currently in my third semester at the Marine Estuarine Environmental Science Program at University of Maryland’s Center of Environmental Science. As I’ve been building Minorities In Aquaculture, I’ve been really interested and focused on the social aspects of marine sciences so for my dissertation, I’m looking to the historic African American involvement and participation in Chesapeake Bay commercial fisheries. My research not only covers the barriers we’re exploring in women of color in aquaculture but also the history that’s not highlighted about minorities in marine spaces especially the Chesapeake Bay.
It’s so inspiring to see you start a non-profit like Minoriites in Aquaculture! Could you share more about the organization? And was there a specific “a-ha!” moment when the light bulb went off that you decided to start MIA?
Thanks so much! Just like my start in aquaculture, MIA was very unexpected. I had been in aquaculture for about 6 years in 2020 and of course, as a person of color, I was really impacted by the Black Lives Matter movement. I realized that I needed to start MIA when I saw the lack of response and support from people in the aquaculture community. As a black woman in aquaculture myself, I knew what it felt like to not see anyone that looked like me in certain roles in aquaculture or even in my work places so I wanted to start a community where women of color didn’t have to feel excluded or like they didn’t belong in aquaculture—a place where they felt supported and empowered as they built their careers.
What are some of the challenges that minorities face in the seafood world? Have you faced any of these personally?
Some of the challenges and barriers minorities face in seafood are an overall reflection of what we face in marine sciences in general. In addition to dealing with racism and misogyny, barriers include exposure to the industry, education within the industry, and viable access to the industry —those have been some of my biggest takeaways. I’ve absolutely dealt with racism and misogyny in all stages of my career and while though those experiences weren’t the greatest, they have allowed me to connect with other women of all ethnicities because we’ve all mostly been through something similar.
What upcoming programs and projects do you have in store for MIA?
There are a lot of exciting things coming up for MIA. We’ll have members going through our internship program, launches of different workforce development projects, and are expanding and strengthening our presence and action. I’m looking forward to engaging more with our members and helping them succeed in any way that we can as an organization.
One of our goals is to also fight nutritional injustice and help get nutritious seafood into food deserts and communities in need. How do you anticipate bringing more women of color into aquaculture will help address these issues?
Bringing more people into aquaculture in general can help us improve that goal. Getting more women of color is a piece of that and it’s a specific demographic that I chose to target because that’s how I fit into aquaculture myself. Getting more people from different backgrounds and increased education about how important aquaculture is will help our industry to continue to improve the perception of our seafood resources and how much we really rely on aquaculture for our food security.
On your site, you discuss how African American communities have been instrumental to the development of the seafood industry, especially in the Chesapeake Bay area. Could you share more about this history that absolutely needs to be talked about more?
Minorities overall have had a huge impact in commercial fisheries. African Americans specifically have always been a part of the fisheries industry since at one point that was one of their main occupations. Being a waterman wasn’t always seen as a glamorous or well-paying job so African Americans made up most of the industry for a very long time. As time went on and law and regulations started prohibiting African Americans from working on the Bay, that’s when the lack of minority engagement really started and is most likely the initial effect of why we see a lack of diversity today.
We have a Women in Aquaculture Scholarship program and are excited to see you have internships coming up for this summer! Could you share more about your internship program?
MIA’s internship program offers fully paid opportunities for our members to get out into the field in areas that they are truly passionate about. As an organization, we don’t believe in a “one size fits all” environmental education and our internship program reflects that. We really give our members the space to help us develop and create these internship positions because we want to give them opportunities that are going to be impactful for them, not just ones that we feel are impactful.
What are ways that people can support MIA and its mission to promote a more diverse, inclusive aquaculture industry?
Yes, spreading our message, supporting our causes/fundraisers and partnering with us if you are a farmer, aquaculture organization, environmental organization, etc. is helpful. We are striving to do impactful things for women of color in aquaculture, and it surely will take a village to accomplish that.
Are there any Black and minority owned seafood restaurants, water farmers, or fishers that you love and recommend supporting?
There’s only a few, but they’re really incredible:
Earnest McIntosh Sr. & Jr. down in Georgia, who are the only African American oyster farm owners in the United States to my knowledge
Scoot Budden at Orchard Point Oyster Co, a minority oyster farmer in Maryland
Gardner Douglass and Gary McCready, nationally recognized oyster shuckers
Chef Jasmine Norton at The Urban Oyster in Baltimore, Maryland, an amazing black women restaurant owner changing the game in seafood and urban dishes
Chef Mashama Bailey at The Grey in Savannah, Georgia, another incredible amazing black women restaurant owner changing the game in seafood and urban dishes
I really gravitate to other minorities in my space because I don’t usually ever get the opportunity to, so I’m always so excited to build those relationships and connections, supporting them and their work.
Education behind the need for sustainable blue foods is critical, so people start to choose more of these foods when grocery shopping or dining out. Part of your mission is to educate minority women about the environmental benefits provided by aquaculture. What would you say to someone who is hesitant to try or support farmed seafood?
Unfortunately, aquaculture has some misconceptions about the industry. I think we can’t expect people to understand or care about something they don’t have all the facts about. What I would say to anyone who is hesitant to try farmed seafood is to do some research about it. Find companies that align with your values, support your local aquaculture companies and learn more about the companies, what they do, and how they are processing their seafood. Then make your own assessments from there. There are a lot of great companies within our industry that are truly dedicated to making sustainable seafood and other products and they need more of our support.
What’s your favorite way to have Kvaroy Arctic salmon?
Omg! I didn’t even know Kvaroy had such a huge variety of products. I love salmon in general so the fillets and smoked salmon were amazing, but I think my top favorite was the hot dogs! I love hot dogs anyway so the salmon hot dogs were a game changer! It’s also been fun to share the products with my friends and family and be able to educate them about Kvaroy and farmed finfish.
What is one bit of advice you have for everyone reading this?
It’s cliche to say, but my biggest piece of advice is to figure out your passions and follow it full throttle. There’s also people that will tell you you’re wrong or you can’t do something, and none of that matters when you know you have goals and plans for yourself.
