Mercedes Boykin-Sabalones had it right when, at our recent Black History Month shoot, she said “Black History Month is all year-round.”
While we had a blast talking Black excellence and packing this month’s gift boxes with goods from Black-owned businesses within our community, we’re taking that February energy with us into the rest of the year.
Here’s a look at just a few of the brilliant entrepreneurs we had the privilege of working with this month — and their fabulous creations.
A Year of Black Girl Magic
Eboni Morgan is an author, content creator, and community builder. She started her blog Eboni Curls when she was just 13. What began as a project to inspire other young women to embrace their natural hair journeys soon flourished into an engaged community focused on empowering Black women to love themselves unconditionally.
For years, Eboni has used her blog to express and share experiences of navigating an overwhelmingly white society as a young Black girl. Writing provided an opportunity to uncover the hurt, frustration, and anger that come with living in a world that “constantly puts Black women last,” according to Eboni.
Most recently, this manifested in sharing her self-love journey beyond her online platform. She wrote A Year of Black Girl Magic to remind her community of their magic and ability to inspire. It’s also an opportunity for non-Black folks to learn about and understand the everyday experiences of Black women.
“At its core, A Year of Black Girl Magic is my gifted mirror to my young Black girls and Black women everywhere,” says Eboni.
Tish Jewelry
Lateisha (AKA Tish) is a self taught jewelry designer based in Hamilton, Ontario. When she worked a corporate job (before toggling between full-time entrepreneurship and motherhood) she used to don her own jewelry around the office. It wasn’t long before co-workers approached her with commissions of their own.
Lateisha decided she owed it to herself to give building her own jewelry company a shot — and Tish Jewelry was born. She designs pieces using crystals and semi-precious stones, textured metals, and colored resin.
The nature of the materials she uses means that each piece is truly unique and one-of-a-kind (they’re also nickel-free). “Simply pretty is our motto,” says Lateisha. “Our pieces are meant to be worn everyday. They’re simple in design to complement you as you are.”
Skin at Eleven
When the 2020 pandemic hit, sisters Desiree and Deandra Greco-Thomas took it as a challenge to get creative and inspired. With Desiree’s background in marketing, photography, and entrepreneurship, and Deandra’s background in business and finance, the two came together to launch Skin at Eleven.
Growing up as kids, the sister duo always made a wish at 11:11. It was a time to stop, reflect, and wish for something they wanted. The Black-owned, family-run business offers handmade soaps, bath soaks, bath teas, facial oils, and body butters.
Made in-house and in small batches, their products are made with quality and care. They also strive to create zero-waste products, with transitioning to packaging that can easily be reused for mini-projects or recycled. “Our hope is that as you use our product you, too, continue to wish and dream big,” says Desiree.
Things You Need to Hear Most
Samukele Ncube is an author, poet, yoga instructor, and mindfulness coach whose work centers around self-love. “In a world that constantly tells us who we should be, I am a strong believer that we all have the answers that we seek to live out our life's purpose and strive to help others rediscover their internal guiding voice through my work,” says Samukele.
Things You Need to Hear Most is her debut collection of poetry, which has allowed her to embrace her gift of writing for the first time. It offers healing through words she needed herself on her darkest days.
“This collection serves as a powerful reminder of the fact that you are more powerful than you know,” she says. “You are a gift and your existence helps to shape the world in a way that is so magical and can only be brought about by you alone. All you need to do is be yourself.”