Web Site Helps Promote ‘Soul’ Searching
By Monica Haynes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mar. 27–Contrary to what some think, there’s a lot of soul in Pittsburgh, and soul sister Donna Baxter has built a virtual community based on its presence.
The 37-year-old entrepreneur and Webmistress is the creator of The Soul Pitt (www.thesoulpitt.com) a site developed in 2002 to give Pittsburgh’s residents of color a place to learn about community and social events, businesses and other topics that may interest them.
“I really didn’t know what direction it was going to go; I just wanted to make a site about Pittsburgh,” she said.
Today, The Soul Pitt receives 300,000 views a month and is read by former Pittsburghers as far away as Australia.
“The Soul Pitt grew to the point that it was overwhelming,” Ms. Baxter said. “There’s a cult following of people.”
Sixty percent of the site’s visitors are women, but more men are beginning to discover it, she said. While most of its visitors are African American, the site is attracting users from other ethnic groups as well. Ms. Baxter plans to develop a segment in Spanish to reach out to Pittsburgh’s growing Latino community.
“That’s why I called it The Soul Pitt. I don’t want to limit myself to just black because there’s a lot of soul out there,” Ms. Baxter said. “The Soul Pitt just offers that other side where there are other ethnicities doing things.”
The site also is helping to erase some misconceptions out-of-towners may have about Pittsburgh’s black community, which is much more vibrant than they’d been led to believe.
That was the case when Ms. Baxter came to Pittsburgh from Johnstown to attend the University of Pittsburgh. She discovered that contrary to what she’d heard, there seemed to be a lot of social events taking place here.
“I thought, ‘Wow. Somebody needs to let people know there’s so much more going on than what you hear on the radio,”" Ms. Baxter said.
Some years later, armed with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a master’s in instructional technology, she decided she would be the funnel for all the things in which Pittsburgh’s black community might be interested.
Folks have told her they were homebodies before they found out what there was to do in the city via her Web site. She’s also heard from people who’ve decided to relocate to Pittsburgh after learning about the city’s lively social scene from the site.
“I think that’s important with the rate of people trying to leave here,” Ms. Baxter said.
Her Web site is not just a glorified bulletin board; it has become a community where people can learn about jobs, leisure travel opportunities and educational resources.
“I go on there every day,” said Melody Haskins, 23, who is African American. “There should be more Web sites like that in other cities.”
A soil conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ms. Haskins transferred here from York in February.
When she conducted an Internet search for African-Americans and Pittsburgh, The Soul Pitt came up.
“I was really shocked because I didn’t think there was going to be anything in the city,” she said.
But the site has become an invaluable resource for her. “Not only is it beneficial because of events, but it’s also beneficial because you make friends,” Ms. Haskins said.
It also has given her a place to express herself by writing poetry on the message boards.
“That Web site helped me out a lot to also understand Pittsburgh,” said Ms. Haskins, who’s originally from Virginia.
Ms. Baxter said the city’s elected officials could learn a thing or two about Pittsburgh’s African-American community by reading the Web site’s message boards. “You can get a sense of what people feel about being black in Pittsburgh.”
The site, which used to be a one-woman operation, now involves about 10 volunteers and a marketing agency, Corporate Planners, headed up by Denise L. Norris.
The two women have been working together for nearly two years. They met when a client of Ms. Norris asked if she knew about The Soul Pitt. Ms. Norris checked out the site and was impressed with its quality.
She called Ms. Baxter.
“I saw that she was giving it her best shot, and she definitely had a passion for the community, but I thought I could help her take it to the next level,” Ms. Norris said.
They agreed to do a small advertising campaign on the site for one of Ms. Norris’ clients. It was a huge success.
After that, the two decided to work together with Ms. Baxter handling the creative aspects of the site and Ms. Norris overseeing the advertising.
“I think we make a very good team. She’s very creative from her perspective and I’m creative from a business perspective,” Ms. Norris said.
For her efforts in creating the site, Ms. Baxter was honored last year during the annual Black Extravaganza and Trailblazers Awards and recognized as one of the 50 Most Influential Women by the New Pittsburgh Courier.
Recently, she listed a local meeting of the National Association of Women Business Owners on her site. It resulted in a number of African-American businesswomen attending the meeting. Many, she said, had not known about the organization.
“I felt really good to be able to bring more diversity to NAWBO,” Baxter said.
When not working on her own site, Ms. Baxter helps develop high school Web sites for Management Science Associates Inc., an information management company.
The site also has opened up opportunities for Ms. Norris. She recently started a travel agency, Corporate Planner Travel, which has several trips advertised on The Soul Pitt, including bus trips to see “The Color Purple” on Broadway.
Ms. Baxter “just filled a niche,” said Ms. Norris. “She had no idea what a phenomenon she was stepping into.”
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