When I began my Social Journalism master’s program at the Newmark J-School in August 2019, I knew I wanted to focus on a community I was a part of.
For 16 months, I worked with Black and brown people who are subject to hair discrimination at work, school or society in general.
The Social Journalism program requires students to pick a community of their choosing — it can be geographical or a collective group of people — which they will listen to, engage with and report on for the duration of the program.
My passion for wanting to amplify this community required me to think of how I was going to approach it. One of my third-semester classes, Startup Sprint, with professor Jeremy Caplan, took on an entrepreneurial approach; one I didn’t consider when it came to my community work.
People may think of hair as just an aesthetic but when it comes to Black people and other people of color, it’s their lives. Hair discrimination dates as far back to the transatlantic slave trade, where millions of Africans were forcefully transferred to the Americas and were constantly degraded by their slave owners. Slave masters and colonizers viewed them as animals and often referred to their hair as wool. Since, the notion that Black hair is inferior and problematic was internalized, which puts Black and brown people at mental, emotional, physical and financial risks today.
According to a Dove CROWN Research Study done by the JOY Collective in 2019, Black women are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from work due to their hair. The hair in question is referred to as natural hair, an umbrella term for styles such as afros, braids, locs and twists.
Being that I am already a part of this community, I gained trust early on. I also researched a lot of articles regarding hair discrimination and social media accounts like @thecrownact on Twitter to learn more about the legislation’s efforts.
The CROWN Act is a state law that protects Black people from race-based hair discrimination at work and in schools. The law was first passed on July 3, 2019 in California and was subsequently passed in six other states and three municipalities.
My goal was to just continue engaging with and sharing the stories of my community members via reporting, creating Twitter threads and hosting virtual events.
Last semester, I hosted my first event alongside the CROWN Campaign, an interdisciplinary grassroots organization that supports legal protections like the CROWN Act, where we spoke about the disparities Black and brown women face due to their hair at work, schools and society in general.
But, Jeremy’s class helped put my entrepreneurial brain into motion when he asked us to design a landscape analysis, an assignment that provides detailed context for the product/service students want to create to serve their community.
It took me a year and about three class periods with Jeremy to decide what product I was going to create for my community.
After listening to Jeremy’s examples of products he listed during class, the idea of a newsletter instantly stuck with me. I figured that if I created a newsletter, all the news and resources my audience needs can live in one place. Through my reporting and engagement with this community, I learned that they did not have enough support to address hair discrimination.
I began asking myself questions like, “How might I provide tangible resources for my community?” and solved them by reaching out to the CROWN Campaign, who has samples of advocacy letters handy.
My connections and work with the CROWN Campaign significantly increased my audience, as their network reaches across the U.S. and other countries like South Africa. I began to weigh my advantages and brainstorm on what my newsletter would be like. In the landscape analysis was a section where we had to fill out a value proposition, which was an exercise to weigh what could work and what couldn’t work as a result of our service.
One advantage, or “gains” as deemed in the value prop, was that my community is very tight-knit and they often work collaboratively, allowing opportunity for me to reach them directly. One “pain” I had was that unfortunately, members of my community are still succumbing to European beauty standards so it’s a bit of a challenge to get them to understand that this issue goes deeper than aesthetics.
Speaking of, this inspired me to name my product The Deeper Than Hair Newsletter. The name was adopted from CROWN Campaign co-founder, Dr. Bernice B. Rumala, who wrote a song called “Deeper Than Hair”, which addresses the impacts of hair discrimination. I asked if I could use the name for the newsletter and she agreed. Having the name down early on was important to me because it reminds me to stick to the point of my newsletter.
Before I knew it, it was time to create a product prototype for my service. I created a landing page and a prototype through Substack. On my landing page, I highlighted the services my newsletter will be offering:
- CROWN-related news updates
- Sample advocacy letters for hair discrimination victims to address legislators, schools or employers
- Brother or SiStar of the month; which highlights individual efforts in the community
- A Google Form where hair discrimination victims can submit their stories for a chance to get them published on my personal blog, KarleezysWay.com and on my social media/the CROWN Campaign’s social media to draw awareness.
Another goal of mine with this product is that I want my audience to help me build it. My audience is an integral part of my service, so without their voices, The Deeper Than Hair Newsletter won’t exist.
One of my biggest challenges in this course and about my final product in general is I put a lot of pressure on myself for things to be perfect. But, Jeremy reminded me that things are not going to be in their final form when they are launched. It took me a while to understand that until I began crafting my official first newsletter issue.
I transitioned to Mailchimp, another newsletter platform, because I like that it allows you to choose themes and styles. I found that Substack’s aesthetic was very bland and it wasn’t ideal for a starter who wanted to create a visually engaging newsletter.
Fortunately, I already had preliminary content for my first issue. I had my introduction ready, two featured individuals (Dr.Bernice B. Rumala’s song and LaShawn Hill’s salon in Alabama), and an upcoming virtual town hall event.
I did have leftover content, which gave me a little bit of anxiety because I felt that I had to incorporate it into the first issue. Then, I remembered that having extra content is a luxury and I can space it out each month.
So, my first newsletter issue looked a bit like this:
I launched my newsletter on November 16, 2020 alongside 50 subscribers. Currently, I am at 58. Thanks to my subscribers, I landed a 51.5% open rate, which surpasses the Mailchimp average of 21.33%. Initially, I thought this was a low number but then Jeremy and the statistics assured me I was in good standing.
My newsletter runs every month so I am currently gearing up for my next one. I solicit content by sending out an email blast to my CROWN Campaign network and ask them if they have any content for the newsletter. A lot of the time, the content is offered voluntarily, which I really appreciate. This shows me that my community feels I’m the right person to offer this service so no — imposter syndrome isn’t necessarily a problem here (thankfully).
My biggest challenge with this product (and class) was thinking of my service from a business perspective. Every time I would go over my landscape analysis and think about possible revenue streams, I struggled to think about how I wanted The Deeper Than Hair Newsletter to make money.
As mentioned earlier, I am passionate about this community and I don’t see the newsletter becoming my full time job, so I’m not in it for the money. However, I did learn that it is important to consider revenue streams because this service can possibly be a job.
Some of the revenue streams I considered were donations, premium subscription fees and events. Since the CROWN Campaign is a non-profit organization, donations would be familiar for them — which they may use to fund some of their work. I don’t know what my newsletter will look like in a year, but I’ve considered developing a premium subscription plan that would allow subscribers to have more access to our services. For instance, perhaps a premium subscriber can request that the CROWN Campaign writes a sample advocacy letter for them, since they have experts in the advocacy and legal fields.
If we weren’t in a pandemic, we would host in-person events where we would require entrance fees (for some). However, that won’t be possible for now but we can still possibly charge for virtual webinars.
Ultimately, while these revenue streams are palpable, I am still not ready to dive into them. I think I’d rather continue my newsletter by receiving valuable community feedback and maintain trust before I consider asking for money.
The most valuable thing I learned throughout this course and the creation of my service? Things take time but as long as you have a vision, you will achieve new heights you didn’t even consider.
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