Posted in #30DaysofBlackJoy Series, Celebration, Feature Spotlight, On the Desk...

#30DaysofBlackJoy…Day 25-“Finding Joy in a Brand!”

We are going into the last week of the series and this has been quite a journey! Being able to share all the different ways in which we find #BlackJoy has been an incredible experience. I often find joy in just staying at home cooking a meal, shopping for some new accessories to put in my office, or trying a new product that brightens and enhances my skin! On any given day joy can and does present itself and says “I’m Here, What You Gonna Do With Me?” So why not channel some of that joy into supporting a good cause or family-owned business.

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

Today’s #BlackJoyMoment is about highlighting Black-owned Brands!! Many of these brands I personally support for myself and others!! Whether it’s adding to my bar cart, finding a new sweet treat, or creating my vision for my living space, I am totally in support of the products and brands below!

Food & Drink

  • BLK & Bold Speciality Beverages: “A lifetime friendship, shared values, and an immeasurable love for coffee & tea serve as the foundation for BLK & Bold Specialty Beverages. Co-founders, Pernell & Rod created this company with the desire to unite coffee and tea lovers worldwide through a common interest of investing in community, specifically for the youth.”
  • Trade Street Jam Co.: “Fresh and funky flavor combos meet farm-to-table southern hospitality…Our jam kitchen started in Charlotte, North Carolina, but is based in Brooklyn, New York. Our in-house chef curates all of our jam flavors by pairing her knowledge of great flavor combinations with her fervor for taking risks.”
  • The Spice Suite: “The Spice Suite is the culminating vision of owner Angel Gregorio’s love of good food and people. Staying true to the motto “food is fashion,” Angel mixes spices and herbs to create couture blends and spice ensembles that inspire chefs and home cooks alike.” 
  • Zach & Zoë Sweet Bee Farm: Family-owned business Zach & Zoe Sweet Bee Farm offers a wide array of raw, flavor-infused honey harvested in New Jersey. The flavors include lavender, matcha, beetroot, ginger, and blueberry, which can be used in drinks, on breakfast foods and desserts, and incorporated into savory entrees.
  • Brough Brothers: A family-owned and managed distillery by the three Yarbrough brothers (Victor, Bryson, and Chris), that sell a medium body bourbon produced in the first Black-owned bourbon distillery in Kentucky.

Beauty & Skincare

  • Black Girl Sunscreen: “Black Girl Sunscreen was designed to start the conversation around sun protection and education. BGS took the #1 reason Black women weren’t wearing sunscreen and solved it in a way that connected with them specifically. BGS has you looking good and feeling good by leaving no white cast through incorporating moisturizing ingredients that also protect your skin.
  • BEVEL: “Led by founder and CEO Tristan Walker, Bevel revolutionized the standards of male self-care and continues to cement its position as the most trusted grooming solution for him. On a mission to make products and tools accessible to all men with curly, textured hair, and melanin-rich skin.
  • Solo Noir: “Solo Noir firmly believes that a man’s greatest asset is his confidence. With unfiltered confidence, everything is within your reach, but confidence can be limited by several factors, including personal appearance. The Solo Noir system was created to restore confidence through clear, healthy skin. Solo Noir products take the guesswork out of daily skincare and make it both easy to understand and simple to apply.” 
  • KINLÒ: “Despite growing up on sun-soaked tennis courts, SPF was never top-of-mind for Naomi Osaka because she, like many others, assumed her melanin-rich skin was immune to sun damage. After learning the truth about the damage the sun inflicts on melanated skin, she set out on a mission to dispel old myths and educate others on proper sun protection. KINLÒ starts conversations about health risks for melanated skin tones and provides clean products designed to protect and nourish.”
  • Donna’s Recipe: “Donna’s Recipe was founded by Tabitha Brown and Gina Woods. Together they sought out the mission to exclusively offer vegan, high-quality ingredients that work but also products that you look forward to for a consistent hair care routine.  The entire line is nutrient-rich, clean, vegan ingredients that keep you coming back and staying consistent with your hair care journey.”

Home & Accessories

  • Afro Unicorn: “April Showers is Founder and CEO of Afro Unicorn®️, a brand designed to represent the uniqueness of women and children of color in a truly diverse and inclusive fashion. April is a lead-by-example creator who works to uplift, advocate and inspire women and children of color to achieve greatness. She is focused on fusing her passions with her life’s purpose to help other female entrepreneurs on their journey.”
  • BLK MKT Vintage: “BLK MKT Vintage is a Brooklyn, NY-based antique/vintage concept shop, specializing in collectibles, cast-off’s and curiosities, which represent the richness of Black history and lived experience. Curated by founders Jannah Handy and Kiyanna Stewart, the collection includes found items like vintage literature, vinyl records, clothing, art, housewares/decor, furniture and other goods. By centering black cultural artifacts via thoughtful curation and varying modes of accessibility, we’re communicating very explicitly to black folks that not only do we see you, but we love you as well. You’re worthy. What you’ve created is worthy. You are important here.”
  • Effie’s Paper: Stationary & What Not: “Effie’s Paper :: Stationery&Whatnot is a lifestyle brand presenting cool and on-trend accessories for fun at work, stylish travel and a chic daily life. We believe that from the door to her desk, a woman should be surrounded by pretty things that make her heart leap!   Our products are a unique mix of casual elegance, motivation and social conversation that make using them fun and engaging.” 
  • Pretty Honest Candles: “Pretty Honest Candles is a company born out of the founder Andrea’s desire to find a candle that truly filled my home with its scent, instead of barely filling a room. Her candles provide clean and high quality that look great on your mantle all while helping your space feel more like home.”
  • be rooted: “Jasmin Foster founded Be Rooted to create a space for women of color to see themselves in a place they hadn’t been. Weaving culture into every design and message, Be Rooted inspires customers to explore their inner muse and celebrate self. We want our customers to know, you are seen and you belong here.”

See You All Tomorrow!!

Posted in A Professor's Thoughts..., Dr. G's Weekly Hot Topics, On The Radar

Dr. G’s Weekly Hot Topics!!

It’s a new month and the HOT TOPICS are here!! As always a few goodies for you to put on your calendar, add to your grocery list, cue up in your AirPods, dig into and find some more info about, or to make your coffee table stand out!! Check out this week’s hot topics below:

For all my nature lovers or ones that aspire to be, I got a new book that might just pique your interest. Described as a 192-page visual book, author and “Outdoor Afro” founder Rue Mapp compiled various experiences to highlight “Black joy in nature” via Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors. Nature Swagger includes portraits and personal essays by Black travelers, highlighting their experiences in the outdoors—from breakthroughs had while scaling the highest mountain in Africa, to learning (and teaching) about sustainability through beekeeping, and beyond. Here is a book that is rewriting the script that Black folks not only celebrate nature, but are active participants in discovering it. For Mapp, she was very intentional “about breaking barriers, literacy, and accessibility.” Nature Swagger: Stories and Visions of Black Joy in the Outdoors hit book stands on November 1st.


Leave me a voicemail… New Exhibition to honor Black and Brown lives that were taken at the hands of police brutality. Created by Iranian-American artist, filmmaker and Even/Odd founder, Mohammad Gorjestani, in collaboration with curator Klaudia Ofwona Draber and art director Neil Hamamoto, “1-800 Happy Birthday” sets out “to transcend the subject matter to new channels both physical and digital and have it live in aesthetic and community in places born from the culture it represents”. Originally as an online voicemail project, callers could leave a message for people who were unjustly killed by law enforcement on their birthdays. Wow!! The power of a message. The exhibition will be on view at WORTHLESSSTUDIOS (7 Knickerbocker Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11237) till January 16th, 2023.


Need a morning pick me up or something for your late night study grind?? Well hip-hop artist and entrepreneur Jadakiss is teaming up with his father and son to bring you the Black-owned coffee brand, Kiss Café . Described as “created with honesty and accessibility” Kiss Café seeks to highlight a legacy of three generations that bring you premium coffee. Now this is right up my alley!! Cannot wait to make my purchase!!


A.S. degree program in Cannabis Studies….Soon students at Olive Harvey College (a predominately Black community college) will be able to get an Associate Degree in “Applied Cannabis Studies a first of its kind in the state of Illinois. The degree was designed for students to gain an advantage in the cannabis industry and offer pathways to acquire the proper licensing. As noted by the president of Olive-Harvey College, Dr. Kimberly Hollingsworth, “Olive-Harvey College has always been a leader in the study of cannabis agriculture and operations because of the exponential job growth in the industry and due to its numerous upward mobility opportunities in the mainstream economy.” For more information about the program, see here.

Photo credit: Olive-Harvey College Hemp House

For all my Theater folks…Check out the 20th-anniversay of Suzan-Lori Parks Broadway revival of Topdog/Underdog starring Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Directed by Kenny Leon, Topdog/Underdog is a “play that chronicles the adult lives of two African-American brothers as they cope with poverty, racism, work, women, and their troubled upbringings. Lincoln lives with Booth, his younger brother, after being thrown out by his wife.”

As noted by Parks about the play, “I think the meaning of the play isn’t just confined to a man’s experience… I think it’s about what it means to be family and, in the biggest sense, the family of man, what it means to be connected with somebody else.”  

You can see Topdog/Underdog at the John Golden Theatre (252 W 45th St. New York, NY 10036) till January 15th, 2023. Purchase tickets here.


As we prepare for the much anticipated sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates is giving fans a little taste of the comic book mythos. Set to debut on November 3rd, the “Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast,” hosted by Coates, will bring fans into the making of the larger-than-life sequel.

The podcast will be a 6-episode series that features interviews with director Ryan Coogler, producer Kevin Feige, cast member Angela Bassett, and much more. The first three episodes will premiere on November 3rd (in advance of the film) with the remaining episodes dropping weekly in January 2023 connecting to the 5-year anniversary of the first film, Black Panther.

“Wakanda Forever: The Official Black Panther Podcast,” is a production of Proximity Media in partnership with Marvel Studios, Marvel Entertainment, and The Walt Disney Studios. The series is produced by Paola Mardo. Executive Producers are Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, and Paola Mardo. 

For a quick preview, check it out here:

You can tune into the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, and Pandora!

See you on the next round!! ~Dr. G