She Built a War Chest With a Skillet. What Are You Waiting For?

She funded a revolution with fried chicken and pound cake.

Not because she had a platform. Not because she had a title. Because she refused to let fear have the last word.

Day 8 of 28: Georgia Gilmore

Most people know Rosa Parks. Almost nobody knows the woman who kept the Montgomery Bus Boycott alive financially — from her kitchen.

Georgia was a cook. A domestic worker. She testified in favor of the boycott in open court, and they fired her for it.

They thought taking her income would shut her up. Instead, she built a new one.

She organized “The Club From Nowhere” — a covert network of Black women who cooked, baked, and sold meals all over Montgomery.

Then delivered the cash in unmarked envelopes to boycott leaders. No names. No records. No trace.

That money kept Black workers moving for 381 days while they refused to ride segregated buses.

And here’s what hit me:

Georgia didn’t wait for permission. She didn’t wait for a title. She didn’t wait for someone to recognize what she brought to the table.

She built the table.

Out of flour, lard, and nerve.

That reminded me of something I see constantly.

Brilliant Black women — credentialed, excellent at what they do — waiting.

Waiting for the right time. Waiting to be “ready.”

Waiting for someone to recognize their genius.

And without realizing it, that waiting doesn’t make you more careful. It makes you shrink.

You shrink the pricing. Shrink the offer. Shrink the ask. Protect yourself in the name of “playing it smart.”

But really… it’s fear dressed up as professionalism.

Georgia didn’t have a sales system or a CRM. She had a skill, a network of women who believed, and the audacity to move money where it mattered.

If she could turn a cast-iron skillet into a war chest for a citywide boycott in the 1950s…

What’s your excuse in 2026?

The gap was never ability. Black women have been the most resourceful operators in every room, every movement, every generation.

The gap is infrastructure. Systems. A room that matches your level.

That’s what Black Women Sell Live is.

It’s NOT a motivation conference where you leave “inspired” and still can’t close.

It’s NOT theory from people who’ve never sold anything.

It’s a three-day sales training experience for Black women experts who are world-class at what they do — and done being the best-kept secret in their industry.

1,000 seats. Three days. Atlanta. September 25–27, 2026.

Georgia innovated with a kitchen and a circle of women who believed. We’re carrying that forward — except now, the revenue engine you’re building is yours.

Stop waiting → https://lnkd.in/gkZuHKJQ

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