Personal care conversations/discussions for black and brown people are still largely dominated by hair care, but now we see more and more conversations about skin care concerns that are specific to people of color.  Today we are focusing on a black-owned skincare brand that uses science-based solutions to address the needs specific to people of color and encourages us to Love Your Brown Skin.  Beauty of the Nile is also a  family business and Jasmine Mobley, my guest today, is a co-founder with her parents in this venture. She is also the host of the brand’s eponymous podcast an ..read more

The idea to create Black Beauty Collective was planted 10 years ago and quickly became a project that was dear to founder and CEO, Leslie Roberson’s heart. The growing ownership and access disparities within the beauty industry posed a deep concern for her. For example, despite spending 9 times more than any other beauty product consumers, black ownership in the space only accounts for 2,5% . Creating a collective to ensure broader impact is Leslie’s solution to this deep-rooted issue. In today’s conversation, Leslie takes us on a journey of how the idea came to her in the first place, how sh ..read more

Today we conclude our fashion conversations by visiting, Changing Narratives  in Maputo, the capital city of Mozambique.  Changing Narratives is the love child of Mozambican business and creative partners, Wacy Zacarias and Djamila DeSousa. These Mozambican textile and accessirues designers are on a mission to preserve traditional Mozambican and more broadly, African craft and knowledge through their brands, Karingana Textiles and Woogui.   Wacy and Djamila started working together in 2015, back when wax print was still the most visible representation of African textile. An ..read more

My guest today is Lydia Endora, Founder, Creative Designer and Buyer at her self-titled fashion label.  The seeds of a love for fashion were planted in Lydia’s heart at a very young age by her grandmother. Combined with education and a work ethic modeled by her mother, she has tapped into her creative spirit and skills to find her own corner in the athleisure space of the fashion market.   With a focus on quality and obsession with the customer, Lydia has created a fashion line that features multifunctional pieces for the busy woman to seamlessly switch between activities during ..read more

SAVING WALLETS AND LANDFILLS We are continuing with our focus on fashion and this week my guest is  Zuhairah Washington, President and COO of Otrium, a Dutch-born  end to end marketplace that she calls, the best kept secret in fashion.  Otrium is a digital platform where you can buy end of season clothing at accessible prices.  What does that mean?  All those clothes that brands were unable to sell for whatever reason, can be discretely uploaded onto the platform and given a second chance at finding their way to being bought and used, rather than ending up in a landfi ..read more

SAVING WALLETS AND LANDFILLS We are continuing with our focus on fashion and this week my guest is  Zuhaira Washington, President and COO of Otrium, a Dutch-born  end to end marketplace that she calls, the best kept secret in fashion.  Otrium is a digital platform where you can buy end of season clothing at accessible prices.  What does that mean?  All those clothes that brands were unable to sell for whatever reason, can be discretely uploaded onto the platform and given a second chance at finding their way to being bought and used, rather than ending up in a landfil ..read more

Noite Rose is an affordable luxury loungewear brand that was founded during the pandemic by digital marketing and branding professional, Diandra Harvin. After graduating with a degree in Arts and Fashion Merchandising and (later earning an MBA), she worked in the fashion industry, but  found herself in a toxic environment that pushed her out of the industry for several years.  Fast forward to 2021 when we were all going loopy with cabin fever, gaining weight and doing some soul searching, Diandra has an aha moment and gets inspired to follow return to her first love.  The outco ..read more

Welcome to Season 6! Shades and Layers is here with a brand new season, featuring fashion and textile designers, as well as other black women crafters and makers shaping culture across the world. In between there will be episodes from beauty, hair and personal care entrepreneurs. The first guest for the season is South Africa's quintessential multi-hyphenate, Maria McCloy. She and I are former business partners and our friendship dates way back to university days. In this conversation, we discuss her path to being a designer of  iconic African-influenced fashion essentials in her hometo ..read more

Orion Brown, founder and CEO of the multicultural lifestyle brand BlackTravelBox. They make travel-size hair and skincare for black and other travelers of color. Their mission is to bring ease to the travel experience.  Heaven knows how many times so many have had their business or even holiday trips ruined by hotel shampoos and lotions.  Orion is a frequent traveler herself and the idea to start BlackTravelBox came to her after being inconvenienced too many times by the act of packing toiletries and also being in hotel rooms where you can’t even look at the products, let alone use t ..read more

At this time of year we are all looking at our bank balances and regretting whatever questionable spending decisions we made over the festive season. And so, we are talking about money today with my guest, Vangile Makwakwa, founder and wealth coach at Wealthy Money and co-founder of Property Magician Stokvel.   Vangile Makwakwa graduated with a finance degree from the prestigious University of Cape Town in her home country South Africa and an MBA from Boston in the USA.  Even after this education and increased earning power, she still found that she was having financial troubles ..read more