Dear friends:

I woke up on the morning of Wednesday, June 24th, to find my personal Facebook, Instagram, and business Instagram permanently disabled. The last post made on my personal and business Facebook/Instagram pages was one asking people to support my friend at a local Drag Story Time that was happening the next day. I went to sleep and awoke to the permanent ban.

I was eventually able to make contact with a person at Facebook. Facebook stated that they were unable to increase the access of the person with limited access on my page to full admin access, and that Meta does not have the capabilities to fix the issue.

Besides the page supporting my business, I would use the page's reach to help amplify the messages of local community organizations, events, and other small businesses. I was a "steward" of the platform, sharing and tagging other businesses, and also religiously ran paid Facebook ads every 2 weeks. Despite all this, my accounts were permanently suspended without warning or explanation. My account was in good standing. The only thing I received was a message stating my account was removed due to "inauthentic account integrity."

I opened this store 8 years ago. One year later, when my daughter was 4 weeks old, she and I had to return to work in my store, 6 days a week, postpartum C-section. Some summers, I brought all 3 kids to work with me.

3 years ago, when Roe v. Wade was struck down, I stopped being quiet. I was angry, and I took action to give myself purpose. The last 3 years have been a battle and struggle, with myself and the store being targeted on numerous occasions because of my outspoken defense of human rights.

I am tired, and this latest blow feels like a long line of things/people trying to stop me. I don't want to stop taking action. I don't want one less safe space for people in our community because my store is gone.

My blood, sweat, and tears are literally in this business, and I will continue to keep fighting for my store, my customers, and anyone who has been targeted for being "different." Our differences are actually what make America great.

Without being able to access my business Facebook or Instagram, I am having a difficult time marketing my business. For the last 8 years, I have been doing bi-weekly consignment live sales that generate $2-$4,000 in sales a month. Without access to my established Facebook page that has nearly 9,000 followers and a reach of 2 million, my consignment sales have plummeted to $150 per live sale. It has also had a negative effect on store sales.

I love my store, and I love my community. Besides my store and community activism, I am a mom of 3 kiddos aged 14, 13, and 7. I need my business to be able to support my children.

If you want to support my store and what I do, everything on my website www.boldandcurvy.com has FREE SHIPPING, or you can support via this GoFundMe.

All funds raised will go towards outstanding bills and rent for the store.

If you're on TikTok, here is the video I made explaining everything the week it happened - https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT6XwGxPF/

Stay Bold-

Andrea Poole-Sugg, Owner of Bold and Curvy Boutique