Fostering Community And Connectivity With Cricket Wireless
This article is in partnership with Cricket Wireless.
It’s February, the annual 28-day time-honored tradition where we *officially* engage in celebrating Black History, remembering the sacrifices, and reveling in the innovations from the past. But we high key celebrate Black History 365, knowing we are exploring, evolving, and elevating, right here, right now. As we look at the present contributions by today’s pioneers (hello, first Black and South Asian-American Woman Vice President of the U.S.!), we are watching Black history in the making!
As with history, the modern pioneer hits a fair share of challenges, none more currently top of mind than the COVID-19 pandemic. Since it began, small Black businesses have been hit hardest, according to the Federal Reserve Bank, with ownership dropping by 41%, as compared to 22% of overall small businesses in the U.S. between February and April of 2020 alone.
Yet, where there are challenges, there are also opportunities. Black-owned businesses are showing they can bring in big bank from venture capital funding, and broker deals with major brands. And it’s that access, coupled with connection and community, that’s been the major key to it all. Helping to lead the charge are three Black women entrepreneurs, for whom connection is essential for their businesses.
Cricket Wireless wants to spotlight Tai Beauchamp, Abena Boamah, and Andrea Lewis, who are each focused on inspiring, engaging, and creating change year-round. Read more on how they’re writing the next chapter of Black History now.
Tai Beauchamp
A publishing industry veteran, Tai Beauchamp has experience as an editor at top publications, including Harper’s Bazaar, Good Housekeeping, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Seventeen—where she made history as the magazine's youngest and first African-American beauty and fitness director. In 2006, she launched her media company, Tai Life Media, LLC to holistically connect style and empowerment, and has since worked with consumer brands including P&G, Walmart, Estée Lauder, Christian Dior Cosmetics, and Time Inc.
Tai, on staying connected to her community:
“It’s Black History Month, so I’ve been (reflecting) about what it took for me to get here—but I’m also celebrating where I’m at today… This is our time! I get excited knowing I have amazing women in my corner—especially my two co-founders. Shout out to my partner Malaika who is on speed dial and (who) I speak to at least 8 times a day. We motivate each other, inspire each other, we’ve shared tears, laughs, and smiles, but most importantly we share in the desire to build businesses that mirror our purpose and passion.”
Abena Boamah
Abena Boamah is the Founder and CEO of Hanahana Beauty, a consciously clean, Black-owned skincare, beauty, and wellness brand. Her work has been recognized by Beyoncé and Vogue. She is driven by curating learning experiences focused on holistic wellness and showcasing stories of Black women globally through visual content creation. Abena has presented and partnered with brands/schools like Harvard University, Instagram, Nike, Apple, Glossier, and more.
Abena, on the importance of building online community:
“When I think about my journey of entrepreneurship, honestly, I’ve always been inspired by Black entrepreneurs from the beginning ‘til now. These creators (and) innovators… continue to inspire me to grow. At the end of the day, it's always (about) creating your own community and supporting the people within. Every entrepreneur should have a group chat or a person they feel comfortable sharing their wins, struggles, and reasons to smile.”
Andrea Lewis
Toronto-born Andrea Lewis has acted alongside Hollywood heavyweights like Diahann Carroll, Wesley Snipes, and Dr. Maya Angelou. Lewis spent six seasons as “Hazel” on the hit show Degrassi: The Next Generation, which ranked No. 1 in Canada and the U.S. The role in Degrassi landed her in the pages of Teen People, the New York Times, and Entertainment Weekly. Lewis started Jungle Wild Productions, where she created the hit web series, Black Actressand the fan-favorite relationship drama, Beyond Complicated. Both seasons can be watched at youtube.com/AndreaLewisChannel.
Andrea, on getting advice and inspiration:
“I get to make content, tell positive Black stories and connect with audiences for a living. I’m so fortunate for the community of like-minded artists and entrepreneurs that I have around me who answer my texts at 2 a.m., bounce ideas around with me, and give me the advice I need to help grow my business, support my community and continue to create.”
Whether it be receiving a text from a mentor to “keep going” or a brainstorming thread with one’s closest creative confidantes, it’s these interactions—revealing moments of joy, support, and deep connection—that are small yet powerful reminders that sometimes a simple smile goes a long way.
Cricket’s commitment to fostering connectivity allows Black pioneers and change-makers to not only make meaningful connections—but also impactful decisions—for their businesses now and in the future. These pivotal experiences, by way of our screens, will continue to ensure we elevate their stories, amplify their voices, and continue our legacy during Black History Month and beyond.
Featured image courtesy of Cricket Wireless
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This Black Woman-Owned Creative Agency Shows Us The Art Of Rebranding
Rebranding is an intricate process and very important to the success of businesses that want to change. However, before a business owner makes this decision, they should determine whether it's a rebrand or an evolution.
That's where people like Lola Adewuya come in. Lola is the founder and CEO of The Brand Doula, a brand development studio with a multidisciplinary approach to branding, social media, marketing, and design.
While an evolution is a natural progression that happens as businesses grow, a rebrand is a total change. Lola tells xoNecole, "A total rebrand is necessary when a business’s current reputation/what it’s known for is at odds with the business’s vision or direction.
"For example, if you’ve fundamentally changed what your product is and does, it’s likely that your brand is out of alignment with the business. Or, if you find your company is developing a reputation that doesn’t serve it, it might be time to pump the brakes and figure out what needs to change.
She continues, "Sometimes you’ll see companies (especially startups) announce a name change that comes with updated messaging, visuals, etc. That usually means their vision has changed or expanded, and their previous branding was too narrow/couldn’t encompass everything they planned to do."
Feature image courtesy
The Brand Doula was born in 2019, and its focus is on putting "the experiences, goals, and needs of women of color founders first," as well as brands with "culture-shifting missions."
According to Lola, culture-shifting is "the act of influencing dominant behavior, beliefs, or experiences in a community or group (ideally, for the better)."
"At The Brand Doula, we work with companies and leaders that set out to challenge the status quo in their industries and communities. They’re here to make an impact that sends ripples across the market," she says.
"We help the problem solvers of the world — the ones who aren't satisfied with 'this is how it's always been' and instead ask 'how could this be better?' Our clients build for impact, reimagining tools, systems, and ways of living to move cultures forward."
The Brand Doula has worked with many brands, including Too Collective, to assist with their collaboration with Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Balanced Black Girl for a "refresh," aka rebrand. For businesses looking to rebrand, Lola shares four essential steps.
1. Do an audit of your current brand experience — what’s still relevant and what needs to change? Reflect on why you’re doing the rebrand in the first place and what success would look like after relaunching.
2. Tackle the overall strategy first — before you start redesigning logos and websites, align on a new vision for your brand. How do you want your company to be positioned moving forward? Has your audience changed at all? Will your company have a fresh personality and voice?
3. Bring your audience along the journey — there’s no need to move in secret. Inviting your current audience into the journey can actually help them feel more connected to and invested in your story, enough to stick around as changes are being made.
4. Keep business moving — one of my biggest pet peeves is when companies take down their websites as soon as they have the idea to rebrand, then have a Coming Soon page up for months! You lose a lot of momentum and interest by doing that. If you’re still in business and generating income, continue to operate while you work on your rebrand behind the scenes. You don’t want to cut existing customers off out of the blue, and you also don’t want so much downtime that folks forget your business exists or start looking for other solutions.
While determining whether the rebrand was successful may take a few months, Lola says a clear sign that it is unsuccessful is negative feedback from your target audience. "Customers are typically more vocal about what they don’t like more than what they do like," she says.
But some good signs to look out for are improvements in engagement with your marketing, positive reviews, press and increase in retention, and overall feeling aligned with the new branding.
For more information about Lola and The Brand Doula, visit her website, thebranddoula.com.
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Halle Berry On Aging Like Fine Wine: 'I've Always Known That I've Been More Than This Face'
If "aging like a fine wine" was a person, it'd be Halle Berry.
The 58-year-old Never Let Go star recently donned the cover of Marie Claire magazine and she let it be known that though people have highly regarded her beauty and her body throughout much of her career, she is happy to be at an age now where "people will focus on the other aspects of me that I think are way more interesting."
"I’ve always known that I’ve been more than this face and more than this body," she shares with Marie Claire.
The actress and wellness founder has never felt as defined by her looks as she does by the aspects of herself and her nature that she has carefully cultivated through lived experience, knowledge and wisdom gained, her craft and accolades, her motherhood-- she insists that those are the things about herself that move her the most. "I do take ownership over those things that I’ve worked really hard at, and if somebody finds value in those things that lights me up," she tells them.
With physically demanding roles like her directorial turn in Bruised (where she also played double duty as the film's star) and John Wick 3: Parabellum and the recently-released The Union, it's clear Halle isn't letting age slow her career down or stop her from taking on the types of roles that excite her inner child. She told Marie Claire age ain't nothin but a number:
"Age is just a number that they stick on us at birth. As women, we get defined by it way more than men do and sometimes it can debilitate us. It can trick us into thinking what we’re supposed to do. We have to kick that in the face and say, 'No, I’m going to do what I can do as long as I feel good doing it!' And that will be whatever I want it to be. I get to define that."
For Halle, doing what she can do looks like prioritizing her health which was never for aesthetic reasons as it was for longevity reasons. The actress received a diabetes diagnosis in her 20s and has managed to stay off insulin by staying away from sugar. She tells Marie Claire, "Sugar is the enemy. You couldn’t put anything sweet in front of me right now and pay me to eat it. I’m just not interested."
Halle attributes being at what she calls "the pinnacle" of her life and "feeling better and stronger than I did when I was in my 20s" to a regimen that centers on her health and wellness. This includes non-negotiables like daily workouts, red light therapy, progesterone, and hot and cold therapy, to name a few.
Read more of her Marie Claire cover story here.
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Featured image by Kayla Oaddams/WireImage