March 15, 2016
Designer Launches Online Space to Showcase Ingenuity of Black Women
Why is it so important for black women to have an exclusive space?
A lot of the convos about maker culture elevate men and diversity convos often revolve around white women. Being not white and not male has its own unique challenges. Often our contributions go unacknowledged and it is important for mechanisms to exist to help us find each other so that we can also offer support as well as celebrate each other.
What is your best marketing tool for attracting an audience and spreading the word about TLB?
It has been by word of mouth. Growth has been organic–we have thousands of subscribers now. People have found the newsletter and shared it with their friends. Folks like, Crissles from The Read, even shouted us out. I had no idea she had subscribed.
How do you receive submissions? Since launching TLB, what have you been surprised to learn?
We have a form on the site that allows people to submit their projects. We also get a fair number of people submitting on behalf of others and tweets from fans who saw something cool they think we might like.
I am surprised by the sheer magnitude of finds. It’s not surprising that black women are creative and industrious, but before starting the newsletter I didn’t realize there were at least five companies out there making underwear/lingerie, and Black women-owned gallery spaces were shaking up the art world.
Any future plans to enhance the newsletter or the TLB platform?
Yes. There are plans to expand the editorial content and to build upon the emerging community beyond the confines of the newsletter. The ultimate goal of TLB is the connective tissue of black women creative entrepreneurs.
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