It's our anniversary! 🎉
At Notedd, we're celebrating three years of cultivating a space for Black women to stay informed, connected, and authentically ourselves.
Rise and shine, #NoteddTribe! You all might have been wondering: where is my Notedd newsletter? Thanks for being patient with us, but we intentionally delayed this week’s issue to celebrate our anniversary. We launched our very first newsletter three years ago today!
Our journey began after I found myself reading 20+ newsletters a day; four hours of my day was spent reading and finding newsletters. I was constantly trying to find a full account of the day’s news from my perspective as a Black woman. I couldn’t believe spending half of the workday reading and finding newsletters to be the only solution for myself or other Black women to be informed. I spoke with many of you within this community and more through survey testing, one-on-one interviews, and focus groups. After speaking with over 100 Black women, I realized you all were experiencing similar challenges with the news you, too, were consuming.
You all inspired me to put pen to paper (literally, I wrote the first newsletter in a notebook, yall!) and paused. I scratched out what I wrote the first time and stopped again. I did this repeatedly for weeks until the advice that I was receiving started to click. I shared this in the body of the first newsletter that the only way for Notedd to become anything was to simply send it out and let it be. It’s weird to quote myself, but this stuck out to me from that newsletter: It can only become better when you let it be. And this couldn’t be more true now.
I’m thrilled that we have let Notedd be as it’s grown from a newsletter into a digital media company. We continue to provide a curated weekly newsletter, along with fun and relatable social media content, engaging events, and relevant, topical content on our blog. All of what we create and curate is intentional, as our mission still stands true today: we want to help this community stay informed, connected, and authentically themselves.
None of this would have been possible without each of you tuning into every newsletter, joining our events, reading our new website content, and being a sounding board when we need your help. Thank you for being our community, for being our #NoteddTribe!
Today, we are celebrating with a special issue of 4+9 = 13 celebratory news stories of #BlackGirlMagic and #BlackWomenMagic we’ve notedd for you this week with three of our favorite honorable mentions to celebrate our 3rd anniversary.
— Lauren Strayhorn, Founder/Editor-in-Chief
#StayNotedd
#NoteddNews
April is all about taking a beat and focusing on our well-being throughout this month. Join us April 24-31 as we get together for a week-long series of events focused on all aspects of our well-being!
Each day will feature a special guest speaker and a unique event including a breathwork session, a discussion on the connection between affirmations and our well-being, a chat on the importance of the six dimensions of wellness, an opportunity to work on our physical well-being with a power workout, and a walkthrough of best practices to update our space with positive energy.
RSVP NOW and stay tuned as we’ll be sharing a formal invite to sign up for the events of your interest. Be on the lookout as we’ll continue to share more details throughout the month.
You heard it here first: Notedd journals are back! 😊 We are thrilled to unveil the journal we’ll be dropping first. Drumroll please 🥁🥁🥁
The “Made with Melanin” journal is one of many journals we plan to release this year. Our journals are perfect for jotting down your thoughts, setting goals, or expressing your creativity. Each 5.8” x 8.25” journal has 168 pages filled with lined, warm white paper and sealed with high-quality binding. We’ll start pre-orders soon!
Thank you so much, Nyticia of NK Design Studio, for your brilliance and creative eye! She has done it again with this fantastic design lineup that is entirely representative and authentic to the Notedd brand.
Tell us what you think of our “Made with Melanin” journal?
We all have witnessed history! Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was officially confirmed, making her the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court. Watching Judge Jackson’s confirmation speech at the White House was beautiful and inspiring!
We don’t spotlight the many Black women and women of color who are making tremendous efforts to fight for climate and environmental justice. Learn about 14 women of color who are advocating, shaping policy, and creating solutions for our communities.
“Shoutout to all Black women who are just living their lives, being beautiful!” Multi-talented artist Jazmine Sullivan said these words and honored Black women during her acceptance speech at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Sullivan received a Grammy for Best R&B Album for Heaux Tales. When we say this was well-deserved, we mean it! Heaux Tales is still on repeat.
Learn about professional gamer Jeannail Carter and why she is passionate about creating space for Black women in gaming.
Can we talk about how WWE Superstar Bianca Belair brought out the Texas Southern University Marching Band as her entrance for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship and then defeated her opponent and rival Becky Lynch? It’s a must-see! Congratulations to Bianca Belair!
The legacy of pioneering National Park Service Ranger Betty Reid Soskin will always carry on. Soskin recently retired at the young age of 100 years old. A writer and civil rights activist, Soskin used her platform as a ranger to promote stories of African American people and women of color who contributed to the home front effort during WWII.
Congratulations to Jada Davis, who was recently crowned as Miss Milwaukee 2022, making her the first Black woman ever to win the title in history!
We celebrate Michelle Browder, a Black artist in Alabama who turned scrap metal into three eye-catching sculptures.
Did y’all also collect quarters growing up? How exciting is it that the first Black woman pilot Bessie Coleman will appear on US quarters in 2023? Coleman will be the second Black woman to be featured on the next selection of US quarters.
In 2019, Clark Atlanta University alumna Danielle Mitchell founded the Black Women in Clinical Research network. Learn more about her mission to change the narrative around diversity within the clinical research industry.
Congratulations to the South Carolina Gamecocks and head coach Dawn Staley on winning their second NCAA women’s basketball championship.
We enjoyed reading and learning more about ESPN NBA Today’s hosts Malika Andrews and Chiney Ogwumike, who are among the Black women changing the narrative and representation in sports media.
Three of the University of Pennsylvania’s seven prestigious law journals are being led by Black women. Layla June West, Simone Hunter-Hobson, and Chayla Sherrod share more about their positions as they each make history while highlighting the necessary changes and improvements the university still needs to make.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
We still use this post to find Black-owned companies creating and selling masks. With the rise of the BA.2 subvariant, it’s essential to stay masked up. XoNecole’s list of Black-owned mask companies is always a great start if you’re looking to stock up on new masks. News company BESE also created a list of Hispanic-owned mask companies to support too.
If you know us, you likely know why Netflix’s ‘History of Swear Words’ is one of our favorite shows 🤬. It’s a six-episode docuseries centered around the history behind some of the most popular four and five-letter words. After the release of the series, writer Kisha Forde highlighted two episodes in an Essence article and described the impact Black women have made in our culture by reclaiming certain swear words and how we’re using them to our advantage. We always love these types of perspectives. If you haven’t watched the series or read the article, we highly recommend doing both!
Our Black voices matter! That’s why we are sharing the Black Census Survey again to ensure that you all take some time to complete it. Black Futures Lab launched the Black Census Project in 2018. Over the years, it has become the largest survey of Black people conducted in the US in 157 years. This year is no different, as Black Futures Lab wants to capture the viewpoints of Black America and wants you to share your voice and story with them.
STAY INFORMED | STAY CONNECTED | STAY NOTEDD
Interested in being a Tribe Talk speaker? Have any content ideas? Are you launching a product or service? Have any major accomplishments to share with the group? Reach out to us and we'll add it to our next issue.
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Congrats to you!