Humans of Sweet Water...Meet Patrice Patterson

Patrice Patterson is a local resident, SWF Value-Based Partner, co-founder of Mama Moore’s Smart Garden, and founder of BeYOUtifully Abundant. She has been activating a community garden on Chicago’s South Side since 2018, and has been connected with Sweet Water Foundation since 2019. Sweet Water Foundation is excited to introduce Patrice, her involvement with our Values-Based Partner Network, our connection with Mama Moore’s Smart Garden, and her experience as an entrepreneur. We invite you to read more about Patrice.

Tell us about your background

My name is Patrice Patterson. I am a Co-founder and the Assistant Executive Director of Mama Moore’s Smart Garden at 79th and Dobson. I am also the founder of BeYOUtifully Abundant - a small business dedicated to creating signature skincare and wellness essentials, handcrafted from natural ingredients.

I knew at a young age that I wanted something different. I knew that I wanted to work for myself and that I wanted to own property and businesses. I wanted to create generational wealth and have something to pass along to my children. Supporting Mama Moore’s garden is not only just about love for community and wanting to give back, but also this personal mission, this importance of ownership, this importance of creating wealth, the importance of showing my kids that we can have our own businesses and operate them.

How did you find Sweet Water Foundation?

I found out about Sweet Water Foundation through Blacks in Green. They are an environmental nonprofit organization located on the South Side of Chicago that I was working with in 2019. While I was with them, I helped them install a garden in the back of the organization. One of my teammates mentioned Sweet Water Foundation and their weekly Farmer’s Markets. We visited to get seedlings and produce. Honestly, I had not thought about Sweet Water Foundation since then. 

In early 2021, my godmother, Karen, ran into Emmanuel while she was surveying the sewers nearby The Commonwealth. She mentioned the fact that I had introduced her to Sweet Water Foundation back in 2019, which reignited my conversation with Emmanuel and Sweet Water Foundation. 

What is Mama Moore Smart Garden?

Mama Moore Smart Garden is a nonprofit, community garden located at 79th and Dobson in the Chatham community area on the South Side of Chicago. The garden honors Doris Moore. She owned the lot and the house next to where Mama Moore’s Smart Garden is today. Mama Moore was one of the first women to have moved on the block when it was transitioning from white middle class to black middle class. Her background was in education and she had a love for youth. 

I grew up on 79th and Dobson across the street from Mama Moore Smart Garden (MMSG). I grew up with Mama Moore’s grandson, Collin. When she passed away, she left the lot to him. He donated the lot to us so that we could continue to cultivate it. For me, the space is important in terms of preserving its history and also redeveloping spaces that are familiar to us within a community that became abandoned.

What is the relationship between Sweet Water Foundation and Mama Moore’s Smart Garden? 

At the beginning of 2021, MMSG’s Executive Director, Sherronda, and I were working together to plan out the garden. We really didn't have a blueprint for the year, we just knew that this was going to be the year that we needed to organize and get things going again at MMSG.

When we reconnected with Sweet Water Foundation in early 2021, Emmanuel extended support to help us create our own blueprint to ensure that we are creating a local food system and working collaboratively to engage community, activate the space, and ensure that community feels a sense of ownership.  Even though it's a small space, Mama Moore’s Smart Garden is so plentiful and abundant and we want the community to come out and enjoy the space. We’ve been working with the Sweet Water team and other Values-Based Partners to maintain and manage Mama Moore’s garden so that it can also be activated as a public space, civic space, and creative space.

More specifically, in the spring, the Sweet Water team visited our garden and brought over furniture to help us reactivate the space. We also visited The Commonwealth a couple of times to build garden beds with the Sweet Water team. Then, during the summer, my son, Knowledge, participated in Sweet Water Foundaiton’s 6-week Urban Ecology Apprenticeship Program. He has stayed on to work this fall three days a week. He has wanted to work at Sweet Water to continue to learn and grow more. At Mama Moore’s, we’ve given him the title of Garden Manager. I'm looking for him to learn as much about civic and community engagement from Sweet Water Foundation and also to support the overall maintenance of the garden. 

What do you do as an entrepreneur?

As I mentioned, I grew up on 79th and Dobson. When I reflect on that, I think about how it was dominated by women who owned their homes or who were the head of their households. I grew up in a home with my aunt who was the head of the household. She worked a full time job to take care of her sons, my mother, me, and my uncle.  She didn't have a companion there who would take care of her, but she would make the time to take care of herself. I would admire her for the self care that she did give herself.  She would use moisturizer from head to toe - and she had all her favorite products like Vaseline, Baby Oil, and Mary Kay. As I grew into a teenage girl and a young woman, I started to notice these things, and it became important for me to take care of myself and set aside time to do so. I also gained a love for skincare, beauty care, and bath care products, but more so in the sense of having them in a natural state. 

I was inspired to create handcrafted skincare and wellness to share with others to inspire and promote them to make the time and take care of themselves. My business is called BeYOUtifully Abundant. It is a small business dedicated to creating signature skincare and wellness essentials handcrafted from natural ingredients, while promoting self love, self care, and self awareness. I hand craft turmeric oil, whipped body butters, face masks, and face wash. I'm also a Pacha Soap distributor, so I sell shea butter, soap bars, bath bombs, salt blocks, whipped soap scrubs, and soap slime for kids.

What has been your experience as a vendor at markets, specifically at Sweet Water Foundation’s weekly Farmer’s Market? 

I really enjoy vending at farmer's markets because they bring out such a diverse group of people. I vend at the South Loop Farmer’s Market on Thursdays and Saturdays during the spring and summer and I have vended at Sweet Water Foundation four times - once during the Fourth Annual Juneteenth Celebration and three times during their Friday Farmer’s Market. 

The environments are totally different. The people at both markets are really great, but Sweet Water has a different vibe. At the South Shore Farmer’s Market, I'm promoting my business and telling people the benefits of everything. At Sweet Water Foundation, I don't care what I sell because there are so many other things going on like the drums, music, other vendors, families, and community. I don’t care as much about selling a lot of products because I'm amongst community. 

It’s also been a great way to build up a presence on the South Side of Chicago within the community where I resided. It brings everything 360 degrees for me. Not only am I within my community doing my business and sharing business, but I'm also expanding BeYOUtifully Abundant’s reach and brand. 

What does that mean to you to be part of the Values Based Partner Network?

I'm very humbled to be a part of the Values-Based Partner network. We are very new to this, although we are lifelong students, we don't know it all. So, to have Values-Based Partners, who are willing to genuinely offer support, guidance, and mentorship has been really beneficial. Sweet Water came in and gave us the push that we needed to activate Mama Moore Smart Garden. Sometimes, you need people to give you that extra push to make things happen and get things done. I appreciate all of that in the way that Sweet Water and other Values-Based Partners have embraced Knowledge and the mentorship that he's been receiving. 

Sweet Water has the blueprint to community development, community engagement, collective work/responsibility, and collaborative work. I have no words to describe how I feel about having partners like Sweet Water Foundation.