ABOUT KWANZAA CRAWL

THE LARGEST CELEBRATION OF KWANZAA

Kwanzaa Crawl brings people of the African diaspora together to support Black-owned businesses in their communities. Heading into our 7th annual year, we have hosted over 23,000 crawlers. We’ve expanded from 17 Black-owned businesses in Brooklyn in our inaugural year to over 80 businesses, last year, raising over $500,000 for these businesses.

OUR FOUNDERS

  • Krystal Payne is the owner of Stark White Entertainment, a production and talent management company based in New York City. Krystal specializes in developing and producing comedic content for TV, film digital and live performances. Most recently, she had a development deal with Warner Bros for a half-hour scripted comedy and she has produced a stand-up tv special co-executive produced with Bill Burr and Pete Davidson. She also produces lives shows including entertainment industry and comedy festival showcases.

    Krystal’s clients have appeared on networks including Netflix, Hulu, Comedy Central, BET, MTV, Starz, HBO, FOX, Bravo, VH1, and truTV. Additionally, her clients have been featured in publications including New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Time Out NY, The New York Times, Vulture, Huffington Post, ELLE.com, BuzzFeed and more.

    Prior to embarking on a career in artist management, Krystal worked as a marketing executive for more than 10 years. She developed marketing strategies and executed multi-million dollar advertising campaigns for Fortune 500 companies including American Express, HSBC, Verizon and Pfizer. Krystal received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Virginia.

    Visit www.StarkWhiteEntertainment.com for more information.

  • Kerry Coddett is a producer, writer, actress, and stand-up comedian. She’s currently a Co-Producer, writing on a new show for AppleTV. Previously, she was enrolled in the highly competitive 2023 WGA Showrunner Training program and served as a Co-Executive Producer, Show runner, and Head Writer on Yvonne Orji's variety special for HBO. Before that, she wrote on both seasons of Flatbush Misdemeanors on Showtime and appeared as a recurring guest star in season 1. On screen, Kerry has appeared in Hulu's Ramy, Showtime’s Desus and Mero, and Pause w/Sam Jay on HBO.

    Kerry often uses her comedic platform to bring awareness to the issues that concern her. For The Atlantic, she wrote the first historical account of SNL’s lack of diversity that helped serve as the impetus for the show’s hiring of three new black comediennes. To challenge racial biases perpetuated by the media, Kerry penned an article for The Huffington Post called “White on White Crime” that went viral. She also organized a series of comedy shows at New York City homeless shelters to share the gift of laughter during the holiday season.

    Before turning to comedy as her outlet, Kerry was a fashion designer and stylist who made custom designs for Jay-Z. At 19, Kerry graduated cum laude from CUNY Baruch College with a B.A. in Psychology and English.


    Visit www.KerryCoddett.com for more information.

Kwanzaa crawl embodies all seven principles of kwanzaa:

  • Kwanzaa Crawl® is about bringing people in the community together. 

  • A team of Black and brown creatives use the resources available to them in order to make an event of this scale happen. 

  • Kwanzaa Crawl® creates an opportunity for Black people to harness their buying power.

  • The planning, marketing, writing, and designing demonstrates creativity.

  • Creating an event which focuses on investing in your community to improve your quality of life is purpose.

  • Getting the owners of over 30 bars to open up for business on the day after Christmas, with the hope that the community will show up is faith.