Founder's Story

I am LaVita Gunby, a Washington, D.C., native since it truly was "chocolate city". I'm a designer, poet, author, brand development specialist, and entrepreneur. Since childhood, I’ve been a creative spirit marching to the beat of her own drum. As a lifelong learner, Ive always thrived on purpose and spreading positive energy. I mean, there's certainly enough of that other stuff floating around out there. After 10+ years of corporate and non-profit experience, I'd experienced, witnessed, and heard about way too many unfortunate ramifications of discrimination and racial bias. 

Many of those stories and experiences left long-lasting effects that I didn't even know affected me at a cellular level. Despite being a lifelong learner who  anger and frustration started to get the best of me-reminding me that we all have a place in the fight for racial justice and equity. And now that I understood this, I wanted to do express this to the world through my art and creative genius. I want to utilize my art to tell our stories, the right way, and to promote and uplift Black excellence, love, beauty, and truth; this is something I believe we all can take part in through our individual platforms.

I created We Are The Bar to encourage and empower Black people and other communities of color--placing them at the center of their lives as the single most powerful factor in their growth and success despite the constant rejection we often face. My vision is a thriving society of Black people and other communities of color to feel secure, motivated, and inspired to wellness and excellence despite inequities and barriers. I am committed to using my platform to showcase positive representation, and motivating and inspiring Black folks and other communities of color towards enhanced greatness, resiliency and fortitude. The aim is to inspire them beyond limiting beliefs and unjust circumstances, and to block out any and all false stigmas that hold them back from their truest level of greatness.