A woman who inspired tens of thousands of people to mobilize behind Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with ABC7 Thursday at the Chicago Democratic National Convention about how years of well-organized Zoom calls turned into millions of candidate donations.
"Win With Black Women started with 65 friends wanting to take action back in 2020. Now, four years later, those Zoom calls are filled with tens of thousands of Black women inspiring millions more across the county.
"We like to call it a collective love letter from Black women to ourselves," "Win With Black Women" founder Jotaka Eaddy said.
It is a love letter that was small but became mighty.
"On July 21, we thought we would have maybe 1,000, and we ended up with 44,000," Eaddy said.
She said after nearly breaking Zoom to mobilize Black women across the country, others started organizing on their own.
"People who didn't have a lot of money, and that all you had to do was come and bring a prayer and a thought or $3," Eaddy said.
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The July spin-off Zoom calls raised more than $20 million to the Harris campaign. This was apart of the $310 million the campaign raised that month , according to a Harris campaign press release.
To date, "Win With Black Women" has raised more than $2.5 million for the Harris campaign. The $20 million was raised by all of the spin off groups and affiliates together, and the $2.5 million was just what "Win With Black Women" raised, inspiring other groups to do the same.
"We always follow Black women leadership," said Grace Choi with "Korean Americans for Harris." "The week after, we got 220 great American leaders all across the country, including swing states like Georgia."
"Win With Black Women" says they've tracked 104 spin-off calls. Their guidance has helped groups know how to put words into action.
"We're doing deputy registrar training on this coming Monday," Chicago pastor Krista Aoston said. "We're hitting the ground running."
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"We have seen this happen over and over again, but often the work of Black women has not been acknowledged," Eaddy said.
This week, they're getting well-deserved flowers at the DNC. They've spent the week connecting with those they've inspired in places like the sisterhood lounge, engaging them for the long haul with one clear assignment.
"The assignment is get out the vote," Aoston said.
"Win With Black Women" meets on Zoom every Sunday at 7:30 p.m. CT.
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