Juanita Britton
The Beginnings
An entrepreneurial and energetic spirit has always exuded from engaging and charming businesswoman, Juanita Carol Britton.
As a child, Juanita displayed keen business acumen and a talent for recognizing enterprises with profitable potential, skills that exceeded that of most adults. At the tender age of five, she was given the moniker “Busy Bee,” because she was as industrious as a worker bee.
At age seven, she convinced her 2nd-grade teacher to allow her to sell candy in order to raise funds to purchase an aquarium full of goldfish for her classroom. By the time she was 10, Busy Bee had launched her first business, selling lemonade during summers on the corner located outside of her family’s home in Detroit, Michigan. Within three years, her business had become so successful that Busy Bee farmed out her cookie-cutter operation to six neighborhood corners. Long before franchising became popular, Busy Bee had the street smarts to know that this was the way to go. She shared some of the profits from the lemonade venture to pay for trips to local amusement parks with her friends from the neighborhood. She also purchased records by James Brown, which she would send to more than a dozen of her pen pals who lived in Africa and in the Caribbean.
As she continued to acquire more skills, she stretched her wings, and, at 15, Busy Bee became the business manager for a city-wide high school social club, — planning dances, trips, student-teacher events and even concerts with several national acts. At 16, she was promoted to head cashier at her neighborhood McDonald’s. At 17, as an undergraduate student of political science, Busy Bee coordinated and paid for her first solo international trip as an exchange student to Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea.
A Coming of Age
In 1980, Busy Bee graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Education from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She returned to Detroit, as she had promised her high school principal she would, to teach for a year. She then moved to Washington, D.C., where she attended Howard University and earned a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs. In 2011, she was awarded a Doctorate in Humanities from the Global Oved Dei Seminary University.
Shortly after graduating, she landed a competitive internship in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative during the Reagan Administration. Busy Bee has held positions overseas with the U.S. State Department and was been deployed to handle special political assignments during the Administrations of President George H.W. Bush and President William Clinton. Busy Bee’s exciting career has allowed her to enjoy a wide range of management and consulting positions in the District of Columbia, in the federal government, and with several universities.
BZB Kicks Off
In 1985, Britton incorporated her flagship brand, BZB International, Inc. – an African-American woman-owned, special event coordination, retail development, public relations, marketing and African diaspora travel firm. The firm consults with corporations, national organizations, small businesses and individuals on integrated and targeted plans to stimulate a desired response from targeted audiences.
In 1990, after a visit to the famous Brixton Market in London, England, Britton was inspired to produce the first “BZB Holiday Gift & Art Show, the largest African-American Department Store on the East Coast” (BZB Shop til ya Drop), in Washington, D.C.
The event attracts enthusiastic patrons interested in doing their holiday shopping in November and December with local, national and international artisans, designers and entrepreneurs. Since its inception, Britton has produced 180 ‘BZB Shop til ya Drop’ Shows featuring over 500 small retailers & artisans and hosting more than 165,000 customers.
During the 2024 holiday season, BZB Shop til ya Drop will celebrate its 34th anniversary at the start of the Thanksgiving Weekend. Busy Bee credits the show’s extraordinary success to the loyal support of her mother, Georgiann, her brother, Donald, her three adopted children Robin, Danielle and Telvin, and scores of employees, volunteers and long-time friends.
A driven entrepreneur and passionate community leader, Busy Bee operates several business ventures simultaneously. Britton is Senior Vice President and Managing Partner of Paradies Largardere-BZB, DC, LLC, a company that operates retail stores and food operations with clients that include Brooks Brothers, SAY SI BON Gourmet Market, SPANX, Brighton, Magic Pan, BIG Bowl, U Street Pub, Washington Pour Bar and CNBC stores in airports throughout the Greater Washington Area. Her responsibilities include sourcing and contracting services from local, national and international entrepreneurs and businesses; working closely with over 200 employees on publications and merchandise mix, customer service, team building and community outreach projects.
One of Busy Bee’s recent endeavors is a partnership with Cardinal Resources of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she serves as the Managing Director for Africa. In this position, she delivers the patented Red Bird System, a solar-powered, community-sized drinking water system, to communities and industrial wastewater treatment facilities. Senegal, West Africa has been chosen as the launch site on the African continent, with other sites in additional countries slated to launch throughout 2025.
All Around the World
One of Busy Bee’s recent endeavors is a partnership with Cardinal Resources of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she serves as the Managing Director for Africa. In this position, she delivers the patented Red Bird System, a solar-powered, community-sized drinking water system, to communities and industrial wastewater treatment facilities. Senegal, West Africa has been chosen as the launch site on the African continent, with other sites in additional countries slated to launch throughout 2023.
In spring 2007, Busy Bee debuted her first film, “Random Acts of Kindness: A Documentary of Giving”, based on an emotional dream in which she took her family, friends and a film crew to South Africa, Swaziland and Senegal to randomly “give back” for love. She founded the Random Acts Foundation of Washington, D.C., which is dedicated to conducting random acts of kindness toward women and families through national and international humanitarian projects.
Busy Bee’s communication and public relations expertise is focused on building bridges between corporate and community-based entities. In 2008, she was appointed as Director of Communications at the University of the District of Columbia where she made a ground-breaking impact in relations between the administration and the student body during a crucial period of transition at the University. A consultant, motivational speaker and trainer, Busy Bee enjoys working with aspiring entrepreneurs, rurally-based women on micro-economic development projects and artists and merchants throughout the world.
It Takes a Village
Busy Bee has generously served on various community and economic development boards and commissions including Friends of the Smithsonian Institution Anacostia Community Museum; Literacy, Empowerment Action Project (LEAP for Ghana); Woodland Tigers of Washington, D.C. Foundation; District of Columbia Humanities Council; Thurgood Marshall Center Trust; South Florida Women of Color Empowerment Institute and The Essential Theater of Washington, D.C.
In addition, she has long been a devoted mentor and godmother to several families in her neighborhood. In her “spare time,” Busy Bee enjoys a variety of passions that include scuba diving, spending time in indigenous African villages and leaping small buildings in a single bound.
Busy Bee’s professional and volunteer enterprises have earned her national and international accolades. In October 2011, she was officially honored by being enstooled as Royal Queen Mother Nana Botwe Adobea II of Timber Nwanta Village, in the Eastern Region of Ghana, West Africa. She visits the village four times a year and is responsible for working on economic development projects with its 600+ citizens. The chief objectives for the Village’s supporting foundation, Literacy Empowerment Action Project (LEAP), include: improving literacy standards through teacher support and training; providing higher education scholarships; securing greater access to literacy tools and technology; facilitating leadership skills and an empowerment program for girls; and promoting health and wellness initiatives. Busy Bee encourages those with whom she comes in contact to consider donating to LEAP’s various programs through tax-deductible, financial support. (Please see LeapGlobal.org)
Juanita “Busy Bee” Britton says that she remains grateful that God has blessed her life abundantly and, in turn, she delights in making great and wonderful things happen for others. She enthusiastically ends all her conversations with “ASE’”, a traditional Nigerian concept that means ‘possessing the power to make things happen!’
Partial Client List:
American Bar Association
Baltimore Metro Women’s Business Center
CD Enterprises
City of Detroit
City of Miami, Little Haiti Cultural Center
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton
Council on Legal Education Opportunity
Essence Magazine
Honorable Alcee Hastings
Howard University
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Morgan State
National Arts Festival
National Black Chamber of Commerce
Radio One, Inc.
Smithsonian Institution
The Goree Island – Almadies Memorial
U.S. Department of the Navy
U.S. Marshals Service