Alternative Economies

We Don’t Just Build Businesses — We Build Alternatives

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Much of this is a work-in-progress, as we think and act out loud how we want to do business. 

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At Iman’s House, we’re not just in the business of entrepreneurship. We are in the practice of economic remembrance and reimagination.

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We draw on models far older than capitalism—models where wealth was measured in how well you fed your people, how you honored the land, how you shared power, and how many futures you made possible. Not how efficiently you could exploit people and destroy the planet while doing it. 

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These are the economies of Black women, Indigenous communities, and ancestral societies—where care was currency, and interdependence was infrastructure. 

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Many theorists call this a "feminine economy"—but not because it excludes men. Because it centers care over conquest,  with the added benefit liberation over limitless growth. We don't know yet what we want to call it, but feminine economy works for now.

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Iman’s House exists inside capitalism, as much I as an entrepreneur wanted to escape this reality—but we aren't bound by its logic. We can build within this system so that when it fades away, we are ready for the next iteration.

Other theorist call this business as ceremony. A vessel. A revolution. An essential part of societal interaction. We believe all of these things are true and probably more. 

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Our Work Is Informed By Women Who Dream in Systems

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We stand on the shoulders of thinkers and doers like:

• Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, who documented how Black communities built cooperative economics through mutual aid and credit unions in Collective Courage

• Feminist economies shaped by the work of Angela Glover Blackwell, Adrienne Maree Brown, and Fania Davis, who challenge what we define as value

• Womanist theologians and scholars, like Rev. Dr. Emilie Townes, who taught us that liberation must be economic, emotional, and spiritual

• Consultants like, Clarinda Tivoli who founded the thematriarchalbusiness.com grounded of the idea of “The Ceremony of Business” and Niki Blak, marketing coach for the movement, who launched the bite sized business podcast.

• And everyday Haitian market women (madan sara), who’ve long run complex trade networks based on trust, memory, and grit without the aid of a CRM.​

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Want to Learn More? Start Here:

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1. Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice
   by Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard
   A foundational work that traces Black co-ops from slavery to the present.

2. Emergent Strategy
   by Adrienne Maree Brown
   A guide for organizing, living, and building that mirrors nature, interdependence, and collective power.

3. Black Feminist Thought
   by Patricia Hill Collins
   Offers deep insight into how Black women have shaped alternative knowledge and resistance structures.

4. The Solidarity Economy Movement (via U.S. Solidarity Economy Network)
   A living network of people building economies rooted in democracy, sustainability, equity, and cooperation.

 

We’re not trying to "fix" capitalism since it can't be fixed. We’re co-building what comes after.

 

And if you’re here, so are you!