Cloudy with a Chance of Progress: How Cloudy Donut is Flipping Gentrification on Its Head

June 7, 2025 1

When Zewiditu Ruffin and Derrick Faulcon opened Cloudy Donut Co. in Brooklyn Heights in 2022, they weren’t just selling sweets, they were shifting the cultural landscape. “We became the first Black-owned food and beverage business in the neighborhood,” Ruffin says. “A Black woman who’d been living in the neighborhood, she’s in her sixties, asked us if we worked for the company. And when she learned that we were the proprietors, she was completely shocked. She said, ‘In all the years of me living here, I’d never seen a Black-owned business in this neighborhood.’”

That moment sparked deeper research into the neighborhood’s history. Ruffin learned Brooklyn Heights is considered America’s first suburb. “Once I learned that and I did the history, I coined the term ‘reverse gentrification,’ which is not the dictionary’s version — to bring our Black-owned businesses into affluent communities absent of color.” She explained their version of reverse gentrification to mean bringing Blackness into white spaces, loud, proud and customer-facing.

A close-up photo of a baker tieing a ribbon around some sweets in a window.

Photo courtesy of Cloudy Donut.

But what does it take to stay in those spaces? According to Faulcon, it’s more than visibility. It’s about showing up. And spending. “Black businesses don’t only need support, we need consumption,” he says. He emphasizes the difference between casual support and real commitment: regularly buying the product, spreading the word, and even offering your skills when you can. He believes that Black professionals, especially those working in white-led corporate spaces, should consider investing time and expertise in Black-owned ventures. Not for the clout, but for collective progress.

That idea is central to their Seven Streams Strategy, a broader vision that encourages people to have multiple streams of income. For Faulcon and Ruffin, one of those streams is The Brown Collective, a creative platform designed to uplift other businesses and creators of color. “It’s been really beautiful,” Ruffin says. “Seven Streams is all about focusing our intent on the things that we’ve created and really just sharing that education and giving that game.”

Despite featuring over 40 vegan flavors in their bakery, Ruffin and Faulcon are unapologetically not vegans. “I wasn’t looking for vegan donuts. I was looking for donuts,” says Faulcon. “The white boy who owned the Dallas Cowboys, he never played football. But when Black people own some s**t, like a vegan donut shop, they gotta be vegan.”

A close-up photo of good looking donuts with bits of fruit and nuts.

Photo courtesy of Cloudy Donut.

For Faulcon, focusing on donuts was about simplicity, scalability, and joy. “Products are like ideas. They can open up doors that you otherwise couldn’t,” he explains. “Donuts, cupcakes, cookies, ice cream —those particular dessert industries have a high customer retention because they got products that customers fall in love with based off the quality.”

Cloudy Donut is a business built on intention — one that sees presence in white spaces not as aspiration, but as strategy. Faulcon and Ruffin aren’t trying to assimilate; they’re reclaiming space in neighborhoods that have historically excluded Black businesses. “We’ve been authentically Black in a predominantly affluent white neighborhood,” Faulcon says.

Their goal isn’t just to be present in these spaces. It’s to remain their complete selves while doing it. “We not code-switching, we ain’t changing our tone, our energy, or none of that shit,” he affirms. “We’ve been authentically Black in a predominantly affluent white neighborhood.”

So sure, go to Cloudy Donut for the brown butter chocolate chip or the sweet potato cinnamon. But if you really want to support a Black business, follow Faulcon’s advice: “What Black businesses don’t need [is for] you to tag ’em. That’s cool. But what they really need you to do is work for ’em and work with ’em.”