- 2 days ago
Shop ESSENCE Live in partnership with New Voices Foundation is LIVE at ESSENCE Festival on the SOKO MRKT Stage! Throughout the weekend, Black-owned brands vending in SOKO MRKT, Beautycon, and the Food & Wine Festival will share their entrepreneurship journeys, product tips, and more. Viewers can ask questions and shop live during the stream! Beautycon and Food & Wine Festival, and allow viewers to get their questions answered and also shop live in stream!
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm head of video here for Essence at Essence Ventures, but I am also host of Shop Essence Live.
00:06It is a weekly show that we do every single week in partnership with the New Voices family.
00:12We shine a light and we spotlight Black-owned brands, not during Black History Month,
00:17not during Black Business Month, but every single week of the year.
00:22So I'm excited to be bringing this to you guys live at Essence Festival of Culture.
00:26We have some incredible Black-owned brands that you can shop.
00:30So y'all can shop here in person at SoCo Market at Essence Festival.
00:35And you guys watching at home can shop at Essence.com and Pinterest.
00:39So, are y'all ready to hear about some Black-owned brands?
00:44That's what I like to hear.
00:46So, we have such incredible products to highlight today.
00:51Up first, I'm going to bring up Melanin Gang.
00:54This is husband and wife, Maisha and Mohamed.
01:00All right, you guys are going to take some mics here.
01:04How y'all doing? We good?
01:07Good, good, good.
01:08So, welcome, welcome to Shop Essence Live.
01:11First, let people know, husband and wife, you have your own business.
01:16Tell us about the roadmap to becoming Melanin Gang.
01:20I'll let you start.
01:21So, the first thing we did, we ended up quitting our jobs in 2017.
01:26We dove straight in.
01:28We only had pin-back buttons to begin with.
01:31And we just kept building from there.
01:32We're from Oakland, California.
01:34And our community in Oakland, California really supported us.
01:37Oakland and the house.
01:38They really supported us.
01:39And they got us to this point where we feel comfortable enough to invest in ourselves
01:43and come out to the Essence Fest and do what we do.
01:45And we found ourselves spending a lot of time at work.
01:50We worked corporate jobs at AT&T.
01:52And I had to leave my babies at home with my mom at three months.
01:55So, we say, you know what, let's work hard for ourselves and create our own business.
01:59Oh, my gosh.
02:00Y'all don't understand.
02:01And I know y'all at home can't see this, but I just have the chills.
02:05Because this woman said that she worked at AT&T and she was able to quit her job.
02:10Can y'all turn around and see what they are looking at on this stage while being highlighted
02:14by Essence as AT&T?
02:16Yeah.
02:17So, stepping out on faith and believing in yourself, you can see where you can go and
02:22where you can accomplish.
02:23So, this is a shopping show.
02:25We got to get into these products.
02:27Tell us what you have that's available to shop at Essence Festival this weekend.
02:32Yes.
02:32So, our brand is called Melanine Gang.
02:34And Melanine Gang is a brand formed to inspire, celebrate, and empower black people.
02:38And we do that through apparel, through motivational t-shirts.
02:42I love it.
02:42So, of course, we had to come out with a Kendrick shirt, not like us, because they're not like us.
02:47You know, we're different.
02:51We're elegant.
02:52And this is what this shirt is about.
02:54We have our Love Notes sweatshirt that, it reminds me of sticky notes where you write
02:59affirmations on there.
03:00And we put it on a hoodie.
03:02And we have hats that says, and I hope you're kind to yourself, because we can be very mean
03:07to ourselves, have negative thoughts and things like that.
03:09And this shirt says, every day is a new opportunity to live your life to the fullest.
03:15And the front says, wake up and live.
03:17So, it's just reminders like that to keep us going and inspired.
03:21Oh, I love that.
03:22Oh, I can't, and I cannot forget this one.
03:25We self-published an ABC affirmation book for children so black children can see themselves,
03:31so they can believe in their self, encourage their self, and love their self.
03:34And I've got to show you the illustrations.
03:39Oh, look at this.
03:42This looks like my daughter.
03:43Yeah, so it starts off with A is for amazing.
03:48Today will be an amazing day.
03:51B is for believe.
03:52I believe in myself and my abilities.
03:54So, it's just positive affirmations for them in the book.
03:57And we self-published that.
03:59Wow, give them a round of applause for that.
04:03I absolutely love that.
04:05There's nothing like, we know life is hard.
04:07We go through our days.
04:08We have to combat problem after problem.
04:11But if you can look at yourself in the mirror and see these affirmations, wear them like
04:15your armor throughout your life and throughout your day, so great.
04:19And then arming our children with these incredible affirmations, reading that as a bedtime story
04:23every single night, it's just so good.
04:27All right.
04:28So, you guys are a part of the New Voices family, which we're in partnership with.
04:32There's a lot of entrepreneurs that don't know all the resources that are available to us.
04:37If you're here or you're watching at home, can you talk a little bit about what it's been like
04:41being a part of that incredible family?
04:44New Voices gave us this opportunity, obviously.
04:46And it's an opportunity that we don't take for granted at all.
04:50They gave us the resources to be able to network and communicate with other brands and other
04:55businesses to be able to build connections with other brands.
04:58And it's been a great help.
04:59And we want to continue to build this relationship with them, too, as well.
05:02We're really excited about that.
05:03And we want to say thank you again for this opportunity, too.
05:06Wow.
05:07Love, love, love.
05:08Okay.
05:09So, tell the people here and the people at home, for the people in here,
05:12if they want to come shop, Melanin Gang, where do they go?
05:16You can find us at the cookout in booth 4017.
05:21That's the theme of our booth, the cookout.
05:23When you come by, you'll see why.
05:25But we're booth 4017, which is this way.
05:29And you can come by.
05:30And we're giving away free wristbands that say, I forgot.
05:35Does it say I forgot?
05:37No.
05:38I forget everything.
05:40It's the...
05:40Trust the process.
05:41Trust the process.
05:43Trust the process.
05:44Trust the process.
05:44Yes.
05:44This is trust of the process.
05:46We're giving them away for free.
05:47So, you can just stop by, say hi, give us a smile.
05:50Any positive words.
05:51You don't have to buy anything.
05:52But if you buy something, that's okay, too.
05:55And if you got any questions about your brand or your business
05:57and you want to know how to get better
05:59and figure out different ways to be able to ship your products
06:02and things of that nature,
06:03please come tap in with us for that, too, as well.
06:05We want to make sure we help and build a community within New Orleans,
06:09but also with the entire world, United States.
06:11There's a lot of people here.
06:12We met somebody from Canada, too, as well.
06:14So, we want to be able to help and put people on, too, as well,
06:17to be able to help them with their businesses.
06:18So, come and have a conversation.
06:20We want to make sure that we help you guys out, too, as well.
06:21Yeah, that's what it's about, helping each other.
06:24How do we help each other evolve?
06:26I love that.
06:28Give Melon and gang a round of applause.
06:31If you're watching at home, we're going to be pinning these products
06:33so you can shop at home, as well.
06:36You guys, y'all got a busy weekend,
06:38and you just announced free giveaways, so you might want to...
06:42Thank you so much.
06:43Appreciate you guys.
06:44Thank you very much.
06:45If you are just tuning in, my name is Noni Donovan.
06:48This is Shop Essence Live in partnership with the New Voices family,
06:52coming to you live from Essence Festivalies.
06:56Who is this?
06:58Oh, my God!
07:01You scared me.
07:03This is Caroline Wonga.
07:04Caroline.
07:04Hey, y'all.
07:05You having a good festival?
07:06I work for Steph.
07:09So, I'm sorry I'm late, but I just came to say hi.
07:12You look good.
07:13Buy some stuff.
07:14Buy some stuff.
07:14Be black as hell.
07:15Have a good weekend.
07:16Yeah!
07:18Our fearless woman king warrior CEO over there.
07:22So, up next, we have another black-owned business to highlight.
07:27Who likes to have their house smelling good?
07:29Raise your hand.
07:31Y'all don't like to have your house smell?
07:33Yes, we all like to have our house smelling good.
07:36And I am so excited to introduce this next brand.
07:40Please welcome Tiffany and Pam from Bright Black.
07:44Come on up, ladies.
07:46They all matching and coordinating and looking beautiful.
07:49Grab these microphones here.
07:51So, another incredible brand to shop here and at home, Shop Essence Live, Bright Black.
07:59Tell us a story about how you guys thought of this idea.
08:03You're the co-founder, creative director.
08:05Tell us about Bright Black.
08:07Yeah.
08:08So, my name is Tiffany.
08:09Nice to see y'all.
08:10I am the co-owner, co-founder of Bright Black.
08:14And we use scent to share positive stories about blackness.
08:17Oh, my gosh.
08:18I'm actually a psychologist by training.
08:20Wow.
08:21Yep.
08:22And I've wanted to use the power of all this psychological training to big up my culture
08:27and to big up black people.
08:30And I thought that using scent would be a beautiful tribute to the culture.
08:34Wow.
08:35Okay.
08:36So, we know when you smell something, doesn't it automatically take you to something, change
08:40your mood?
08:41This is a real psychologist working the magic on the scent.
08:45So, I'm very, very curious and really excited to try these out.
08:48Pam, as creative director, when you guys are even thinking of scents and how to connect
08:53it to our culture, what's that thought process like?
08:57Yeah.
08:58Bright Black is all about community.
09:00And so, we do start with the very practical of like, what smells good?
09:03So, Tiffany is like playing around with scents and just thinking through like, what combinations
09:08that are not typical, that smell good, but then in addition to that, it's about how can
09:13we make an impact not only on your memories and your daily living, but also on our community?
09:18Yes.
09:19So, one of the ones that I brought up with me now is called Tallgrass.
09:21Tallgrass.
09:22And we use this candle to support black farmers.
09:25So, a part of the proceeds of this candle go directly to support black farmers.
09:29Wow.
09:30We're located in Durham, North Carolina.
09:33And so, this candle highlights the scent of a tomato leaf.
09:37Yeah.
09:38Along with some other really delicious, summery, like happy scents.
09:42It's very light.
09:43Yes.
09:44Very, very light.
09:45It smells good.
09:46Very nice.
09:47And the throw on all of our candles, it's going to have your whole area just like lit up.
09:50Wow.
09:51Okay.
09:52It's going to be bright.
09:53I love that.
09:54We also brought for you on display today the stoop.
09:57The stoop.
09:58Just think about being somewhere in Brooklyn on the stoop, blowing, have your candle going
10:04outside.
10:05One of the things that Tiffany was talking about is a lot of people think that people in the
10:08North don't go outside because they don't have a lot of trees and all of these stereotypes.
10:12Yeah.
10:13Well, people be outside in New York.
10:15And so, we got the stoop.
10:16New York.
10:17Yes.
10:18We got some New Yorkers in the house.
10:20Let's go.
10:21Let's go.
10:22We also got, we like to support black women.
10:25We love to highlight the beauty, the brilliance, the everything that we are because we love
10:30us too.
10:31Yes.
10:32So, we have Ida and we have some more scents over in our booth which is straight.
10:37Walk out of here and go straight down.
10:39You'll see it.
10:40It's dope.
10:41And we have a very beautiful pattern in our booth so you can't miss us but we're 5017.
10:46So, you can find Ida there.
10:47Beautiful.
10:48You also can find hip hop.
10:49Hip hop.
10:50Somebody said hip hop smell like a sexy black man.
10:52Oh.
10:53So, ladies.
10:54We got a couple people that want to volunteer.
10:56Listen.
10:57You need you a sexy black man.
10:59Come on down and smell hip hop.
11:01And if you are a sexy black man, we got the body oil.
11:04So, if you need to let the ladies know, throw this on.
11:08This is great.
11:09And then finally we have Afrofuturism here and then we have Kingston as well.
11:15We have some smaller candles that we call our minis which are our discovery sets.
11:20So, if you like a lot but you don't want to commit to a big one today.
11:23Wow.
11:24This will get you a discovery set.
11:26A little tea light.
11:27And then finally I want Tiffany to talk about Rest and Rise which are our new body fragrances.
11:33Yeah.
11:34So, people were rubbing our candles all over their bodies because they smell so good and they
11:39don't smell like your typical candles.
11:40Not like your Nana's sweet potato pie candle.
11:43Right.
11:44Like we designed a bunch of scents that men like, that women like.
11:48And so, we wanted to rethink how scent can be used in ritual.
11:52And so, we're starting with two, Rise and Rest.
11:55So, when you first wake up you put Rise on like before you shower.
11:59Right.
12:00Before your tea, before you meditate to mark the day and to use scent to mark your day.
12:05And then after you've had that long day full of everything and all the things, you put on Rest.
12:12And you mark that moment.
12:14Love that.
12:15You have your night time ritual.
12:16So, as a chronic insomniac myself, I had to figure out some way to sleep again.
12:23And to like take control over my time.
12:26And using scent was a big part of the journey that I'm on.
12:30To sleep again and to just have a healthier lifestyle.
12:34I love this.
12:36Rest and Rise.
12:37So, they got your whole entire mood and your whole entire day taken care of.
12:42With such intentional, intentional products as well as scent.
12:47You guys are new to the New Voices family.
12:49We are.
12:50Who we're in partnership with.
12:51Can you talk about what it's been like thus far for you to join the organization?
12:56Yeah, entrepreneurship is lonely, right?
12:59Like even when you have a team.
13:01Even when your husband is your co-founder.
13:04Like it gets very, very, very lonely.
13:07Because it's hard to know just how challenging it is.
13:11Like Instagram is not real, right?
13:13Like we are not balling out in Benzes and like living the dream, right?
13:17Talk about it.
13:18Yes.
13:19Yes.
13:20So, having a community of people who get it.
13:22Having a community of people who will ride for you.
13:24Having a community of people who will share information.
13:27Like half the time it's just like you just need the information and then you'll roll with it.
13:32Yeah.
13:33Like that's what New Voices is and that's what Essence Fest has been for us.
13:36So, we're so grateful to be here at our first Essence Fest.
13:39Yes!
13:40I love that.
13:41Well, we want y'all to have the most amazing first Essence Festival ever.
13:46So, for anybody in the audience that's here, tell them where they can find your booth once again.
13:51Yeah.
13:52Right past the New Voices Village.
13:54We're 5017.
13:56We have free shipping so you don't have to take it on the plane.
13:59We got free gifts and yes, come smell around.
14:02And also, you can stop by and design your own body fragrance.
14:06Whoa!
14:07So, if you're interested in just giving yourself an experience here, please come see us.
14:11I love.
14:12And then, for the people watching at home, tell them where they can buy your products as well.
14:17Yeah.
14:18BrightBlackCandle.com and also BrightBlackCandle on Instagram, Facebook, all the things.
14:25And if you happen to be in the Bull City, North Carolina, come visit us in real life.
14:31Bull City.
14:32We're in Durham, North Carolina.
14:35I love that.
14:36So, make sure that you guys visit them.
14:39We want them to have the best first year ever.
14:41And then, at home, if you are watching, we'll be tagging the products as well so that you can shop at home.
14:47Thank you guys so much.
14:48I know you guys are going to be busy.
14:50It's your first ever Essence Festival.
14:52And we hope that you have the most prosperous time here and we see you scale time and time again.
14:59I absolutely love you.
15:03Even just to go and test the scent.
15:06It's just so, so great.
15:08So, thank you guys for joining here today.
15:11I am Noni Donovan.
15:12I'll be here every single day at 12 noon.
15:15Tomorrow's segment will be sponsored by Target.
15:18And we will be giving away all the products that I'm talking about.
15:22But it's going to be a little trivial.
15:24So, y'all got to pay attention.
15:26But it's been so, so great.
15:28We want to support our Black-owned brands.
15:30We want to support our Black-owned businesses.
15:32They create all these products with such amazing intentionality.
15:36with you guys in mind.
15:37They're made for us and by us.
15:39So, give them another round of applause.
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