This is Part 3 of the 22 Black Women to Watch in 2022 series: Black women in Marketing. If you missed Part 1 and Part 2 read them first.
I’ve heard so many women say they don’t like “selling themselves” online, at expos, or conferences. When it comes to getting to talking about yourself, does it feel like standing on a virtual street corner? It can feel that way to many women. There’s a difference between selling yourself and selling your brand. YOU are the person–the story behind the brand that makes it what it is. Using your story to engage others with your work is brand storytelling. When you use that storied brand to convert your audience into clients . . . that’s marketing.
How do you turn the lived experience that made you the woman you are today into a marketable story? Simple. Find yourself a Melanated Marketing Maven. A Marketing Maven (a.k.a. a Marketing Director, Marketing Consultant, or Marketing Strategist, or the ‘M’ in my CALL’M framework) can help guide you through many steps of your branding and marketing journey: cultivating your brand presence, carving out your social positioning, or curating your social proof. And so much more!
Here are some Black women in marketing doing it for the culture:
Jenell B. Stewart
Who Is She
Jenell B. Stewart is a Brand Coach, Instructor, and Podcast Host. A former teacher, JBS, creates online content to help creators become brands, and it looks like she’s having fun doing it. On her podcast, she covers many topics: from the sex talk to imposter syndrome, to money matters.
How She Is Magnifying Marketing
Through courses and free content, Jenell teaches the solopreneur how to utilize what they have. Guided through simple challenges, you’ll get a feel for trending ways to boost your branding with confidence.
Why She Stands Apart
She has been around y’all. You’ve probably benefited from her wisdom if you are a naturalista or have ever subscribed to a hair beauty box. Founder of the KinkyCurlyCoilyMe blog, Stewart was one of the premier voices for brands when seeking input for new products. She knows how to position herself and her brand to best serve her audience.
Why You Should Follow Her
- you love free courses
- you are seeking great tips for social media
- you’re a mompreneur
- her healthy journey
- motivation
- hair love!
Kendra Bracken-Ferguson
Who Is She
Kendra Bracken-Ferguson is an entrepreneur. Getting her start in public relations, she co-founded the wellness platform Re-Spin. In addition to adding founder and CEO of BrainTrust to her titles, she is also a mom, speaker, host, business architect, and “bicoastal warrior.”
How She Is Magnifying Marketing
Her company, Digital Brand Architects, was the first company to market bloggers as talent. Through BrainTrust Founders Studio, she supports Black beauty and wellness founders by demystifying the path to grants and other resources to sustainable success.
Why She Stands Apart
She creates a space for Black brands to stretch, grow, and be sustainable. Recognizing that delivering a finished product to the customer is only part of the process, Bracken-Ferguson’s Founders Studio educates founders. This incubator teaches Black founders how to scale sustainable businesses in beauty and wellness. It also provides resources and capital from partners like Shopify and JP Morgan Chase.
Why You Should Follow Her
- she’s down to earth
- she creates community
- mentorship
- you like a good business podcast
Candace Junée Armour
Who Is She
Candance Junée is a Digital Marketing and Automation Expert and a Speaker and Business Coach. As CEO of Epic Fab Girl, she helps Christian female entrepreneurs build profitable brands. Making her first six figures out of business school, Candace was unfulfilled working in Corporate America. She walked away from a six-figure corporate job to help women do the same for themselves through marketing. It launched a career, moving from St. Louis to Silicon Valley to side-hustle her way into her first business, making six figures regularly.
How She Is Magnifying Marketing
As a faith-based CEO, Candace Junée created Epic Fab Girl to help Christian women founders excel in digital marketing. With free courses, a blog, and speaking engagements, Armour encourages women to do the work God has set them on the path to do.
Why She Stands Apart
She brings all of herself unapologetically into her business. Her family, sisterhood, and God are fully represented in her social presence. If you have the opportunity to stumble upon (ok, search for) one of her talks, it is like going to church.
Why You Should Follow Her
- powerful videos
- motivation
- inspiration
- community
- sisterhood
- you like a little lifestyle with your marketing tips
XayLi Barclay
Who Is She
XayLi Barclay is an online video coach for creatives. She is a Thinkific expert and the Founder and CEO of TDG Visual Solution LLC. Helping infopreneur and creative business owners, XayLi uses her cultivated experience to guide her clients to create a digital representation of themselves with confidence. Her Start Shoot Grow Academy offers online video and sales coaching focused on video presence.
How She Is Magnifying Marketing
With Thinkific as a partner, Barclay put together the Think in Color 2021 summit focused on underrepresented entrepreneurs that are experts in their fields: marketing, coaching, brandings, finance, content creation, and more.
Why She Stands Apart
How about a structured locs and bold geometric frames? She gives you sneak peeks at her setups with behind-the-scenes videos on social. She pulls you in with relatable videos from her alter ego to provide tips on improving your IG reels.
Why You Should Follow Her
- her energy
- video tips
- funny tips
- the glasses
- the courses
Do you feel like a marketing maven, or do you need a branding boost? Give one of these melanated marketing mavens a try, or let us know your favorite in the comments.
Want to max out your marketing with a few fabulous friends? Connect with more Black women in marketing in our own She Runs It Facebook Group. Or join us on Build it B2B (a Side Hustle learning experience)
