Anything Can Happen in A Decade 📣
VOL 5 - THURSDAY, JANUARY 9
Happy New Year! We are thrilled to join you in 2020. This last year, this decade has been an amazing blessing to us. One of the highest on our list of blessings is launching Notedd and having the opportunity to gather with you every other week to chat news, perspective and culture.
This time of year encourages reflecting on the past to help influence your goals for the new year. Like Lizzo shared on Twitter, "Anything can happen in a decade." Our goals for Notedd is to continue producing and sharing content on a steady cadence ✍🏾, and to reach all women of color who feel invisible and want to fill the void with good when it comes to what they see and read about their community 👩🏾🤝👩🏽
One week down into 2020 ✔️, and we're excited to share our first issue on a few things we’ve Notedd over the last week, some big news that happened this week, our feature of the week and a quick reflection on the awards season.
Enjoy and always: Stay Notedd!
It Be Your Own People: New Year's Day. It's the start of the “New Year, New Me” for most people, but despite the new year energy, negativity toward Black women and children still continues particularly on Twitter. It all began this year with comments such as "feeling bad about Blue Ivy Carter for her 'father's genes' after a cute photo of Blue Ivy with her mom, Beyonce Knowles-Carter, and Megan Thee Stallion surfaced from a New Year’s Eve party. In the same week, Teyana Taylor and Ari Lennox were referred to as "rottweilers." Ari Lennox decided to address her commenters in an IG video, asking the question: “Why are you [black men] so comfortable tearing down black women, and no other race?” She shares how in her experience she has never witnessed any other community (White, Hispanic, etc.) of men attempt to bring women down by publicly scorning them. Throughout the week, Ari’s message created conversation in this topics, where both Black men and women came to Ari’s defense, but some Black men like Joe Budden are still questioning and discreet with Ari’s response.
Madam C.J. Walker Returns: Photos were recently released of Octavia Spencer who not only is playing the first female self-made millionaire, but Octavia is also executive producing the limited four-part series scheduled to debut in March. The series includes a star-studded cast including Blair Underwood, Tiffany Haddish, Carmen Ejogo and Bill Bellamy. Check it out with us this Spring on Netflix!
Microaggressions. Period: Fortune raceAhead writer Tamara El-Waylly discussed in a late December newsletter microagressions in the workplace, following the Medium post of 12 Facebook employees reporting of alleged incidents of racial discrimination at the company. Tamara includes a recent study from Deloitte stating that 83% of 3,000 employees surveyed have felt "direct and subtle" bias in their workplace. Tamara emphasizes that removing this unconscious bias starts from the top down, primarily senior leadership like many articles and studies recommend. She also emphasizes how inclusiveness must be at the forefront of the company's culture. For women of color who feel like the odds are stacked against them, Tamara recommended a book authored by Minda Harts. Check out the The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table. We are adding this to our reading list for next month!
Affordable Hair Care: Speaking of the great Madam C.J. Walker, Taraji P. Henson is launching a new hair care for ladies like ourselves to take care of our protective hair styles under our wigs and weaves. Taraji's hair care line is available now online and in select stores at Target, ranging from $5-15 per product. The best part of Taraji's line is the applicators, which allows the product to be applied directly to your scalp whether its underneath your wig or within your braids. It’s even color coded for certain hair care needs! We’re grabbing some from our local store and plan to share a review in a next issue.
The Crown Act Continues: We notedd the Crown Act - a law prohibiting the discrimination of hairstyles or hair textures - in an earlier issue. We are excited to report that the Crown Act has now been signed and approved in three states: California, New York and New Jersey. California will be the first state to enact the bill this year!
Creating It and Keeping It Home: Black women entrepreneurs continue to make their mark as minority women businesses, but they are taking their businesses back to their hometowns. In an earlier issue, we featured Lip Bar Founder Melissa Butler who recently opened a brick-a-mortar beauty store in her hometown Detroit. Diva By Cindy Founder Cindy Tawiah launched automated vending machines in Baltimore areas such as Arundel Mills Mall and BWI Airport where you can pick up natural hair care products just like you would grab a snack or drink from the vending machine - how cool! Urban Hang Suite Cafe Owner Kelli Lemon opened her social cafe to celebrate black culture which is creating a new beginning for the Richmond community.
This year, one of our goals is to read more periodically throughout the year. Recently, we joined an alumnae book club, and are now reading Purposeful Hustle by Deanna Singh. The Purposeful Hustle is written to help direct your life towards making a positive impact. The first chapter is centered around purpose, and how being a hustler with purpose clarifies direction, gives you a sense of joy and helps you develop more meaningful relationships. Join us in this discussion and grab a copy to become a Purposeful Hustler too!
Awards Season is Still Lacking Color in 2020
It's one of our favorite times of year, Awards Season! The Golden Globes set the stage this past Friday with Notedd's Best in Fashion going to Laverne Cox, Cynthia Erivo, and Kerry Washington, and many winners’ speeches focused on various topics from a women’s choice to highlighting the horrific fires taking over Australia.
Awkwafina made history by becoming the first Asian American to win in the lead actress category in a drama or comedy for her role in “The Farewell.” The last woman of color to win was Angela Bassett for her phenomenal role as Tina Turner in “What's Love Got to Do With It” in 1994.
While a historic night for Awkwafina, only a few people of color came out as winners with only two actors of color winning that night. Overall, no female directors were nominated for the Golden Globes, shocking given Ava Duvernay’s incredible directing Behind the Netflix series “When They See Us” and many other amazing work by women directors, despite it being one of the most films directed by women in 2019.
The BAFTAs appear to be following suit, as nominations were released without one person of color. This outrage has now led to the popular adapted #BAFTAsSoWhite.
As mentioned, the season has just begun, and honestly it’s not off to a great start for nominations or wins for people of color and specifically women in comparison to recent years. The SAGs, Oscars, Grammys are next, and many more like the ABFF and Film Independent Spirit Awards are showing different signs. We will be staying close to how this season will unfold this year.
We wanna know what you think. Drop us a note and let us know your thoughts!
Be True to Yourself & Stay Notedd ✌🏾
1. Please share your thoughts on what you enjoyed and how we can improve here at Notedd.
2. Share with your friends who want to stay in the know and join the “Stay Notedd” community.
3. Content ideas? Launching a product or service? Major accomplishments to share with the group? Reach out to us and we'll add it to our next issue.