The number of black women creating online content is steadily rising, and we couldn’t be more pleased. The black woman’s narrative has been told by people other than black women for far too long. So it’s both refreshing and empowering to read our own stories told in our own voices. Indeed the sites listed below challenge society’s perception of black women by presenting us as multidimensional, instead of the static and stereotypical figures we’ve grown accustomed to seeing.
BeyondClassicallyBeautiful.com is a multimedia destination that celebrates the diverse beauty of black women. They work to inspire, showcase and uplift black women through beauty and style coverage focusing on the everyday woman.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Mo. on a healthy diet of news programming, pop culture, black history and “snark,” Danielle Belton, daughter of loving “regular folk” and wife of no one, examines the irreverent side of American life.
The BougieBlackGirl.com blog, Bougie Black Girl Forum, books and social media aim to provide content that empowers and enriches black women, and pushes against the narrative of black women as mules.
The site’s mission is to highlight underrepresented tightly-coily-haired beauty, provide hair care education to women with type 4 hair and disrupt societal definitions of beauty.
Coined as ‘WorldStarHipHop for smart people’, Blavity is a community of the best multi-cultural creators and influencers in the world. The site partners with diverse content creators and influencers reach a wider audience, amplify their message, and fund their hustles.
According to founder Angie Nwandu; “The Shade Room is really the “truth” room where myself and the readers can express our honest opinions on certain topics. However, after we became more and more popular, the readers that we affectionately labeled ‘roommates’, demanded more than just gossip. They wanted a little bit of community news, trending news, etc. They wanted more positivity and substance as well, and we found that it was important to provide more than just gossip, even though that is our primary focus!”
Evolving from Necole Bitchie, XONecole’s mission is to promote positive images of woman of color, as well as empower, educate, and inspire millennials through beauty, fashion, lifestyle, career and travel features.
For Harriet is an online community for women of African ancestry. The site encourages women, through storytelling and journalism, to engage in candid, revelatory dialogue about the beauty and complexity of Black womanhood.
Since its digital launch in 2007, Clutch has provided up-to-the-minute news and culture coverage on issues concerning black women in America and worldwide.
Created in August 2006 by journalist Claire Sulmers, Fashion Bomb Daily provides daily doses of chic to savvy stylistas. Recognizing there were few print and online sources for multicultural fashion, Claire took her interests in style and writing to create the number one online destination for global chic seekers with a penchant for all things fabulous.
BONUS
Check out some of the blogs run by BGLH staffers:
klassykinks.com for Natural Hair and Lifetsyle.
www.cassandrebeccai.com for Natural Hair.
huneybflyy.com for Beauty, Natural Hair, and Culture
Lisaalamode.com for Beauty, Style, and Entrepreneurism
hairandhealth.blogspot.com for Healthy Hair and Body
Questfortheperfectcurl.com for Curly Hair Tips
If we’ve missed any of your favorites feels free to shout them out below!
Amazing! Thanks bglh!
Love Black Girls In Om (www.blackgirlinom.com), Luvvie (www.awesomelyluvvie.com), and my own site mater mea (www.matermea.com)!
Urban Bush Babes
This list is amazing. Thank you for the great recommendations. Honorable mentions as well for Black Girl Dangerous, run by the magnificent Mia McKenzie [http://www.blackgirldangerous.org/], and Black Vegans Rocks, by Aph and Syl Ko [http://www.blackvegansrock.com/].
Shade room? Really ?
Really, the shade room?