We’re not going back to “normal.” Kimani Jones had been happily working in the wedding industry in New York City as a content creator when news about Covid-19 broke. She, like many workers across the country, was sent home with her laptop and work file, assured her job was safe…

‘Never should — in 2021 — a Black woman ever feel uncomfortable going to a store that provides a service or a product that is essential’ — Cleveland-based esthetician and food blogger Mercedes “Dee” Davis created the Black Girls in Trader Joe’s Instagram account last May, just after the pandemic-related shutdown of her beauty shop. Within two days, her following jumped to 10,000. In less than a year, it jumped to 150,000.

Are we close to reconciling the relationship between horrific history, capitalism, weddings, and slavery? — Plantation tourism has an image problem. By evidence of the sheer numbers of plantation bed and breakfasts, wedding locations, and family reunion offerings, these entities are still profiting off of slavery. And to boot, many are not acknowledging either the Atlantic Slave Trade at all or its aftermath. With a…

From Ma Rainey to Beyoncé, here are the ladies who tell it how it is — When Beyoncé released her visual album, Lemonade, in 2016, fans were overtaken by the imagery and odes to Blackness and womanhood, but they were also intrigued by her personal story of Jay-Z’s infidelity during their eight-year marriage. Beyoncé used her music to intentionally share experiences many women face—experiences that can…

Queen Latifah, Vanessa Williams, Angie Stone, Aaliyah, and Joi were among the artists who sang the lead track from 1995’s ‘Panther’ — In May 1995, on the heels of the racially charged Rodney King and O.J. Simpson trials, Panther, a film based on the Black Panther Party and directed by Mario Van Peebles, was introduced and anchored by an all-women’s chorus on the title track, “Freedom.” This groundbreaking single — and the…

Six degrees of separation doesn’t always exist for women of color searching for a mental health professional — After the death of her grandmother, Stacy Jordan considered therapy. Then, when her partner died in 2012, Jordan became convinced she needed to find someone to talk to. Her preference and her hope was to gel with a counselor who was also a Black woman. But the road to the…

My Year of Yes In just a bit, it’ll be a new year. As usual, folks are buzzing about their resolutions, goals and such, reflecting on the last 364 days and what they learned. And I am in that number. For weeks, I’ve been trying to get my hands on…

Two years ago today I was sleeping peacefully in my bed when my eyes popped open sometime around 1 a.m. I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I grabbed my phone and checked Twitter. My timeline was moving at warp speed. All I could make out was Beyonce’ had just…

On Thanksgiving Eve Erykah Badu dropped “Hello,” a collaboration with her old love and artistic spirit animal, Andre 3000, and the Internet (and my phone) basically blew up. Countless texts, tweets and screenshots of the downloaded track on iPhones prefaced with emojis and expletives blanketed social media for hours. …