Dear Brands....Sincerely, Black Creators.

The past few weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster, haven’t they? You watched as your audience demanded a response to the Black Lives Matter protests, criticized your virtue-signaling black squares if they weren’t matched with actions, and called out your workplace practices for being racist and noninclusive.

Hopefully, this awakening has sparked some reflection and a desire for change. Maybe you acknowledged your diversity shortcomings and committed to doing better. Maybe you’re still having internal discussions and outlining your next steps. Either way, we are watching.

We see you adding more color to your feed and following the Black creators you might have previously neglected. And it’s a start. We’re grateful for the added visibility, although conflicted about the circumstances that brought us to this moment.

Still, we see this as the start of a new chapter. The oppressive realities we’ve been experiencing finally reached the mainstream in a conversation that is uncomfortable, overwhelming and painful in its complexity.

Now more than ever, we need genuine allies—collaborators who can carry the movement forward and use their resources to help right these historical wrongs. And we’ll be looking to our partnerships to embrace our values and the communities we’re part of.

But as many of you are reaching out to amplify our voices, send us products and make us partnership offers, we’ve noticed patterns that are problematic in that they perpetuate the very issues we’re speaking out against. They make us suspicious of your motives, as if you are trying to capitalize on our newfound attention.

Trust that we want to give you the benefit of the doubt and make these collaborations happen, but we also demand respect for what we bring to the table. Respect means treating us like you treat our white counterparts, adjusting your expectations based on your low or nonexistent budget, making us offers that are at least acceptable by industry standards, and personalizing your emails instead of bcc-ing us into one big monolithic black group.

So before you rush to send us another email and as you contemplate how to make a lasting impact, here’s what the Black creator community wants you to know:

Promote authentic allyship.

“As a Black influencer, my tolerance for performative action, brand insensitivity, and lack of inclusion has been exponentially lowered. It is my responsibility to share and showcase brands to my audience that not only value me, but everything that it encompasses. ”

- Demi Balogun, Fashion & Lifestyle Content Creator.

“Don’t just include black influencers partially or when it’s convenient. Include us wholeheartedly and across the board. Having a Black perspective is imperative and should be involved in all aspects of a campaign and initiatives—from conception to execution.”

Kela Walker, Media Host + Style Influencer

“To be honest, a lot of it feels performative. I honestly hope their intentions are genuine and they are simply not jumping on the bandwagon, only time will tell. I want to see brands reaching out to influencers who they are genuinely a fan of, who are aligned with their brands aesthetic and/or core values...not just trying to check a box and add a black face.

Furthermore hiring POC in executive positions is where they can start facilitating change. In order to promote inclusivity it has to start from within.”

Tania Cascilla, Content Creator & Founder of The Glow Up

“I think it’s really phony when brands claim to stand for inclusivity and diversity but all they have done to “prove” this is by flooding black influencers’ emails with gifting opportunities instead of putting their money where their mouth is and pay us what we deserve. Seeing these brands rush to gift black influencers just looks like they are trying to save face to somehow prove to us that they care when in actuality they truly do not care to do better.

Posting a token black girl on their IG feed, then the next day go back to posting their white washed content is very performative.”

Martina McFarlane, Jamaican Blogger with a passion for sharing stories through imagery & poetry

Stay away from tokenism.

“We should be far past the mindset of there being space for only one black girl—every single one of us comes with our own unique perspective, and brands should be open to exploring, celebrating and highlighting this. I have a good friend who is also an amazing creator in the fashion, beauty and lifestyle space – but one of the things I’ve noticed is that whenever the brands we work with are doing group trips or campaigns, they always hire EITHER her or me. Why can’t it be both of us hired together, the same way other content creators get to work with friends too? ”

Coco Bassey, Fashion & Lifestyle Content Creator.

“I want brands to make an effort to understand Black women. White influencers are allowed to be nuanced and have individualistic points of view: Preppy, artsy, edgy, mommy, classic, trendy etc.

Black women are lumped into one category - Black. So when jobs are being casted, you’re the one black person as if more than one of us can’t coexist because to them we are “the same”.

The other assumption is that we can only promote products and services directly targeting black people when many of us have audiences that are extremely diverse.”

Kellie Brown, Content Creator & Brand Consultant

Know who you’re reaching out to.

“It’s highly offensive when a brand reaches out with a disingenuous attempt to sympathize and advance their own agenda. It reads as tone deaf.

It’s also very disrespectful for a brand to reach out to Black creators whose work is impeccable and offer them pennies, if nothing at all. It’s highly offensive at best.”

Owen Cain, Content Creator & Photographer.

Show a long-term commitment to the cause.

“I have had multiple brands reach out to me for gift exchanges in return for social posts. If this is what brands think is the best approach to supporting and amplifying Black creators, they are missing the mark. We are looking for systemic change. Are you building diversity councils? Are you investing in long-term partnerships with Black creators? That to me is effective, non-performative change and support. ”

Nana Agyemang, Social Editor at The Cut & Founder of EveryStylishGirl.

“Please make sure that if you are approaching a black influencer, to work with, that it is for more than just a product launch. Make sure you genuinely want them for more projects, advertising, panel discussions, etc. Make sure you want an actual ambassador or spokesperson, not just a token black face to tick the box.”

Natasha Ndlovu, Model & Content Creator

Be transparent.

“When reaching out to Black creators now, brands should first and foremost acknowledge their previous oversight and if possible, mention a few ways they are moving forward to be more anti racist internally and externally. And this is good practice for all the time, but especially now: product in exchange for “exposure” is not a viable partnership model.

Brands need Black creators now more than creators need products; our inboxes are full of opportunities. And we’re smart enough to know when we’re being used just to temporarily check off a diversity box.”

Ijeoma Kola, Public Health Historian & Lifestyle Blogger

Hold yourself accountable.

“Brands need to make sure that this is a true Affirmative Action so that by law they are held accountable to make sure that their workers from executive level and down are diverse. Once we see that or anything close to it, we as both the general public and content creators can start to see a difference”

Karen Blanchard, Fashion YouTuber Inspiring you to own your style.

“The main focus of every brand should be amplifying Black voices within their company structure on every level as quickly as possible. I believe that the moment we see true representation and real change will come.””

Rahel Brhane, Content Creator

A few months from now, we will be looking at your new hires, the influencers, photographers, makeup artists and models you work with, to see if you took notes.

Make no mistake though, the work doesn’t stop with a couple diversity hires and campaigns. What we’re here for is honesty, accountability and a radical mindset shift that will reflect in your organizational structure.

Which side of history will you be on? The choice is yours.