It’s vlog time. In this video, I share with you a month in my life, including living in Accra, co-working at Basecamp Initiative, volunteering at PaGya Literary Festival teaching my blogging business workshop, my sister visiting, and working with manufacturers for my fashion business Bandele Muse. Overall, it was a good and balanced month. What was your favorite part? Please share with me in the comments.
Let’s unpack a little more about my workshop at the PaGya Literary Festival. I’m so grateful for this experience. Really appreciate the opportunity to share and guide. My blogging business workshop covered the basics plus discussed how to leverage future technology and measure success. I also provided content ideas and strategies. My participants left with content topics and secret formulas to last them a couple of months. I’m looking forward to seeing what they create.
We also discussed some pain points that are in need of improvement. Pitching to brands in Ghana requires a unique formula, different from US-focused tutorials, because both brands and content creators are still learning their own value and how to leverage collaboration. Affiliate marketing with global brands is not easily accessible since PayPal is not available in Ghana and no equivalent has become an effective substitute yet. Freelancing is tricky as platforms like Fiverr and UpWork don’t always recognize Ghana-based bank accounts or MoMo wallets.
I don’t see these points as obstacles. I’m sharing this with you to demonstrate what a content creator ecosystem needs. The talent and demand are here. I know some see content creators as only posting simple pretty photos or videos. We might lighten the mood (which is definitely needed now, so put some more respect on our work), but we also contribute a lot more.
This is more than vibes. This is an industry that could generate jobs and income for people in different economic, educational, and cultural demographics. This is how you reclaim your narrative, take back ownership of your soft power, and set your price on your terms.
As bloggers continue to improve, we also need others to fill these voids. You don’t have to be a blogger or influencer to work in the content creator space. Similar to how you don’t need to be a software engineer to work in tech. You just need to be the solution.
What are your thoughts on the content creator industry in Ghana and Africa? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments.
Let’s do something different, ok? In this video, I share with you behind the scenes what my work day looks like when I am producing photos and videos for my business Bandele Muse. In this video, I am focusing on my jewelry collection. From my morning routine, to my production setup, to the end results, here is what a content creator and business owner workday can look like for me.
Would you like to see more content like this? Let me know in the comments what you would like to see.
The makeup I used in this video includes the following:
Let’s go outside and have fun. In this post, I take you with me to dance and paint with Roxanne at Elevent15 Restaurant / Lounge.
This event was hosted by Roxanne, who is the founder of Dance 4 Mental Health. She is a life coach who produces content to demystify mental health and hosts activities to uplift mental health. During this event, we did some dancing, journaling, and painting.
This was also my first time at Eleven15 Restaurant and Lounge. It is located in East Legon and is a really nice spot to enjoy the outdoors and colorful art. They also host different activities.
We started with a short Kizomba dance. I look forward to dancing more next time.
Part of the event included a writing exercise where we wrote about what pivotal moment has happened in our lives recently and what beliefs and consequences came out of that. We read each out loud anonymously.
Overall, the main feeling in the group was deep frustration. There has been a disruption in important parts of their lives within the past year and things are not looking up. It was beautiful to be part of this circle as we shared encouragement and insight.
This reminded me of how the heaviness we are carrying from last year has yet to be released. Rather, it’s being further compounded with the continued heaviness of this year.
For what it’s worth, to those who feel this way and are keeping it bottled up inside, I want you to know I feel it too. This time last year I was also frustrated and sad. Maybe it was a good thing I had to stay home. I cried a lot. But, as time passed, I felt like my tears were part of a transformation. Like, you know how a butterfly turns into a butterfly? It’s not a pleasant experience, but the destination is beautiful.
Just like the butterfly, no one can fix you or take action for you. I made a pivot, took action, and surrendered. Released my grip on control or what I thought was right. Fast forward now, I’m not crying as much and I’m balancing different frustrations. Life happens for you. These waves of feelings happen for you. The growth will happen for you if you take action and surrender. If you can do it alone, go for it. If you can’t, please reach out to the right people.
Take care of yourself. You are worthy.
Lastly, we painted a ballerina dancing. It was nice to see how we all customized our ballerinas at the end.
I enjoyed spending time outside and meeting a lovely group of new people.
Would you attend this type of event? What kind of activities would you like to see more of in Accra and Ghana? Share with me in the comments.
Also, remember to connect with me. I love hearing from you.
It’s a beautiful day in the new normal. In this vlog, I run some errands, bake Oat, Coconut, Chocolate Chip cookies from scratch, dance in the kitchen, and work from home. I talk about what I have been watching and listening to recently. I also share details about the work I am doing with the platform Africans on China.
Regarding skincare, I have been developing a routine since I was in middle school. For the past 3 or 4 years, I have been using Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Formula Skin Therapy Cleansing Oil, Skin Therapy Face Oil, and recently added their Coconut Sugar Facial Scrub. I have seen a great improvement in my skin with these products. My skin tone is more even and my natural glow is brighter. Due to the success of my skin, I have also convinced my mother, sisters, and brother to use these products. They all have different skin types and they all love how these products work on their face.
Like I mentioned in the video, I do recommend using cotton pads. I have been using them for a few years now and I do feel they have made a difference with my cycle. They also feel more comfortable. I use L, which does not only produce a quality organic product, but is also supporting education and access (read more on their website). I also finally got my hands on The Honey Pot, which is Black-owned and the first feminine hygiene care system powered by herbs.
Are you going out a lot these days? I feel uneasy when I do go out for essentials things. It is so worrisome knowing any and all precautions taken carry no guarantees.
The cookies! This is the oatmeal cookie recipe I used. For this batch, I substituted the coconut oil with almond milk and oat flour with almond flour. This is possibly why the texture came out more like a lump than a circle. It did taste delicious. This is a great dessert option if you are looking to cut down on sugar. The whole family liked it and demanded I make more. It was also a fun activity for me. As you may notice, if I continue doing vlogs, I must play music while I cook or bake. The food does not taste right when it is quiet in the kitchen.
I am currently reading the Inheritance Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin. It is so good! I am really enjoying the story. This author is so clever. I will share more about it once I finish it. The music I mentioned in the video are two albums I have been listening to fully back to back. Sauti Sol is a Kenyan Afro-Pop group. Their new album Midnight Train is really nice. I like the vocals and lyrics. It has a positive vibe.
Chloe x Halle are an American R&B sister duet. Their new album Ungodly Hour is really cool. I like the variety in beats and their rich vocals. It has a smooth vibe.
In terms of life in general, I am OK. Kind of feel like I am on a really long roller coaster…and I am not fond of real roller coasters. One week I feel balanced and productive, the next week I am wondering why I bother to thrive. It is weird and surreal. I am grateful.
Like I mentioned in the video, I am now part of the team behind Africans on China. It is a media platform that builds leadership capacity and boosts the agency of Africa in the China-Africa relationship. It is also a consultancy firm that provides strategic advisory services for individuals and businesses in both China and Africa. Currently, I am producing content. Feel free to check out my recent article, “The Surprising Way TikTok is Empowering African Artists.” The website has been up for a few weeks. So, we are working on building the brand voice and position the content to reach people who are interested in learning and contributing. Would you be interested in hearing more about this topic? Let me know in the comments.
Also, I am always looking for new music to listen to. Do you have any suggestions? Open to all genres. Share with me in the comments.
Remember to connect with me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. I love hearing from you.
Are you ready to learn from a boss? Madam C.J. Walker is the first female self made millionaire in American history. Her beauty empire and social activism made an incredible impact on the community and history. Her story is even more inspiring.
In this video, I talk about tips I gained from Self Made: the Netflix series inspired by the life of Madam C.J. Walker, including: the balance between being urgent and greedy, the importance of betting on yourself, and how to succeed in relationships.
Now, let’s dive deeper. Like I said in the video, this series was not a biopic. At first, while watching it, I found the music selection jarring. The aesthetic is early 1900s, but the music is modern. That is what made me think that this might be more of an introduction to Madam C.J. Walker’s life, just like the movie “Like Martin.” However, I gradually realized that was not the case.
Let’s start with the two main characters: Madam C.J. Walker and Addie Munroe. In the series, they are two black women pushing a similar product for black hair. From throwing shade outside of church to throwing punches in a boxing ring, their rivalry is repeatedly illustrated through colorism and sabotage. In reality, Madam C.J. Walker and Annie Malone were business rivals with their own respective empires.
Annie Malone started producing her self made product Wonderful Hair Grower in the early 1900s. When she moved to St. Louis, she hired 3 sales agents, including Madam C.J. Walker, to help her continue sell her product door-to-door. She gave free treatments to attract more customers. Annie Malone continued to expand her business with her company Poro Company and opened a shop to train more women to sell her product. In 1918, she opened the Poro College, a cosmetology school and center that included a manufacturing plant, a retail store, business offices, a 500-seat auditorium, dining and meeting rooms, a roof garden, dormitory, gym, bakery, and chapel. Through its curriculum and businesses, the college created jobs for 75,000 women in North America, South America, Africa, and the Philippines. Annie Malone became a multi-millionaire in the 1920s.
In a sense, Annie Malone mentored Madam C.J. Walker. The glitch in their relationship is up for interpretation, depending on whose story you look at. According to Team Walker, Madam C.J. Walker moved to Denver, Colorado to continue selling Wonderful Hair Grower and develop her own hair-care product. Annie Malone accused her of copying her formula, petroleum jelly and sulfur, which apparently had been used for hundreds of years. According to Team Malone, there was a disagreement between the two and Madam C.J. Walker left the company. She took the formula and made her own brand of it. This caused Annie Malone to copyright her products under the name “Poro” to discourage counterfeit versions.
Madam C.J. Walker marketed herself as an independent hairdresser and retailer, with the help of her then husband and business partner, C.J. Walker. Her daughter remained in Denver to lead the mail-order operation while she and C.J. relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to open a beauty parlor and a training program called the “Walker System” to create a national network of licensed sales agents. Later, she closed the business in Denver, relocated the headquarters in Indianapolis, and established an office and beauty salon in Harlem. The headquarters included a factory, hair salon, beauty school, and laboratory. At the height of her career, the company trained over 20,000 women and increased sales around the US and the Caribbean.
With this information, why did the team behind the Netflix series decide to tell a different story? At first, you might assume the team was disconnected from the true story. Then you might take the time to find out who the team was. This is them talking about making the Netflix series Self Made.
So, a team full of black women, one of which is Madam C.J. Walker great-great-granddaughter, decided to illustrate the story like this. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am all for filling the gap in representation. I love that black history is being illustrated and shared on a bigger platform. It is wonderful and inspiring to see more black women in front of and behind the camera. Let’s continue that. I don’t agree with how they chose to alter history to paint certain people as heroes and others as villains. I don’t like how they diluted the hustle and impact all the characters had in real life.
I understand the series is entitled “inspire by” and “based on a true story,” but this is Black history. Can you honestly produce a movie “inspired by” the life of Abraham Lincoln and depict his wife as a lesbian having a secret affair with the neighbor’s wife? Can you really produce a movie “based on a true story” of the holocaust and depict a Jewish family as the villain? This is tricky. Black history is special because so much of it has been and continues to be erased, hidden, distorted, and destroyed. Children do not learn Black history in school. A lot of adults could learn more about Black history. So, if you have the golden opportunity to illustrate Black history on a mainstream platform, why not keep it 100?
It was a beautiful and high quality production, from cinematography to wardrobe. I feel so many of us are concerned about the content because we understand its impact. This series could be an introduction to this portion of history for a lot of people. Even though it should encourage folks to dig deeper and research on their own, will they? Can you rely on that? If not, this series unfortunately further enhances its audience’s bias against colorism among the Black community, depicting Black men as a liability instead of an asset, and inserting LGBTQ fantasies as if the original story was not enticing enough. There needs to be a balance. Black joy and Black pain can’t always be a form of entertainment.
Now, let’s look into relationships. This is the clip I mentioned in the video:
1968. By the late 1960s, relations btwn Black men and women changed. Women became professionals and asserted their social independence. Black men felt that Black women don't allow them to emerge as Black men and don't sympathize w their struggle. A discussion on the subject: pic.twitter.com/f1Z4IerEip
Has anything changed or evolved? Do we feel the same? Have our priorities changed? Do we still need programming? For me, watching these types of discussions make me feel like I am watching a Tom & Jerry episode where a 3rd character knocks the man and the woman from behind without them seeing, and they both argue with each other assuming it was the other who did it. What if the enemy or perpetrator is not even in the room? Would that change the discussion? Yes, there is a lot we need to take responsibility for. There is a lot more we could to move forward.
The feeling of inadequacy and being attacked is on both sides. This creates the defensive behavior and guarded personality we carry everywhere. How do we balance the need for trust and generosity in our relationships? Fast-forward to now, there is a lot of talk, as well as real participation, about therapy, self-care, and healing. There is more discussions about accountability and acceptance. Is this making a difference in our relationships with others? I hope so.
Overall, I enjoyed the Netflix series as well as researching the characters and history. What did you think about the series and history? What do you think about the clip? Let me know in the comments below.
Also, I always love hearing from you. Feel free to connect on Instagram or Twitter.
It is finally time for me to come back to YouTube. I am so excited to be filming again and to share all my new content. So, first, where in the world I have been?
As of filming this clip, I have been living and working in Accra, Ghana for one whole year. Crazy, right? The growth I have experienced during this journey is really wonderful, which is why now is the perfect time to share my adventures and tips. Check out the video for my life updates, new content coming to my channel, and all that good stuff.
Dagny Zenovia 