Husband and wife Derrick and Ramunda Young are the founders of Mahogany Books, two popular Black-owned bookstores in the Washington DC metro area. Together with their 16-year-old daughter, Mahogany, they are helping to meet the literary needs of readers nationwide in search of books written for, by, and about people of African descent.
The Youngs have over 20 years of combined retail book industry experience, but for many years, they did not have a brick-and-mortar store. They were solely online where they engaged authors, book clubs, conferences, and publishers to ensure books were accessible to anyone eager to read about Black culture.
In 2017, however, they opened the doors to their very first physical location in Southeast DC, and in July 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, they opened their second location at the National Harbor in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Over the past six years, they have hosted more than 600 book events throughout the metro area and online via their popular MahoganyBooks Front Row series.
In fact, they have become the go-to bookseller to feature A-List luminaries, new voices, and local authors, and their website proudly boasts one of the deepest inventories of Black-themed books online.
In 2019, their company was named one of the Top 100 Minority Business Enterprises in the DC Capital Region and made the Forbes Next 1000 list in 2021. Their commitment to the community is amplified by their donation of over 1,000 books to youth, numerous story times, financial workshops, author talks, seminars, and a host of other events created to enrich the lives of residents and beyond.
Source: blackbusiness.com