New Beginnings in April
A reflection on Women’s History Month and its positive impact.
As a woman, and someone who has worked as an ambassador and advocate for women for decades, I’ve always loved March as Women’s History Month.
From International Women’s Day to Mother’s Day, the attention paid to the wonder and achievements of women and the fact that it lands right on spring always gives me a sense of optimism just as the season changes.
Here at Black Wall St. media, we weren’t short on trailblazing women in the diaspora of old and new to shine a spotlight on this month and I love the positivity this month bought for women.
I love a good mother and daughter duo and was impressed to see our article on The Beat House Cosmetics, founded by Danielle Pasha and her daughter, Samiah, making waves in the beauty industry.
BWSM reported their hard work has paid off with a major distribution deal with Citi Trends, allowing their products to be sold in 600 stores across the country.
They have also been accepted into Amazon’s Black Business Accelerator program, which supports black entrepreneurs in building sustainable equity and growth.
One of our pieces paid tribute to the shoulders we stand on by delving into the names of astronauts like Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and John Glenn who were celebrated for being America’s first men in space during the 1960’s.
However, their groundbreaking missions were made possible by hundreds of unacknowledged NASA workers, including a group of African American women known as “human computers.”
These women, who manually calculated orbital trajectories, were instrumental in NASA’s early space missions. At a time when women of colour are underrepresented in STEM, this was an inspirational read, especially if you’ve never watched the movie ‘Hidden Figures’.
Black Wall St Media columnist Daniella Maison, fresh back from having her own baby, also paid tribute to the black mothers of gynecology by asking the question ‘The Mothers of Gynecology Were Black Women; So Why Are We Still So Misunderstood?’
We reported on a way overdue victory for a senior Black nurse in the Northwest who has won what has been described as a “landmark” employment tribunal against NHS England and NHS Improvement for racial discrimination.
Michelle Cox had been treated unfavourably by her employer because of her race and because she was willing to speak up.
Throughout the year I host my podcast Tea & Chat and Women’s History Month was a great opportunity to really get stuck into some of the issues most effecting women in the diaspora.
In my last episode I invited two powerhouse women to discuss ‘A Day in the Life of a young, female entrepreneur.’
My guests we’re Shanice Hoo Mills, The Founder and Managing Director of Kallure, a 360 communications agency that delivers services for clients across lifestyle and Dina El Adlani. Dina is a Psychologist and CEO of ESPÉRER, the first Pyschodermatological skincare®️ brand.
Both gave a fascinating insight in to their lives as successful black women.
Other episodes this month have featured Nichole McGill Higgins & Christine Giscombe discussing ‘belonging & healing: the black woman’s experience’.
Also, Eartha Pond & Ayse Bashkal discussing ‘Girls & The Beautiful Game of football’. ,
I was happy to see a new memorial is set to be unveiled in London to honor the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, which London played a key role in.
As Black Wall St Media covered, the memorial will be located outside the Museum of London at West India Quay and is said to be the first of its kind in the UK dedicated to honoring the victims and their resistance to the trade.
The Mayor of London’s office has pledged £500,000 towards the creation of the memorial, which aims to recognize the millions of African people who were enslaved and abused, as well as the lasting impact the trade has had on Black communities. It’s about time!
So, here we are on the cusp of April a Latin word that means “to open [bud],” because plants really begin to grow now. I like to see that as a metaphor for the month of April in general.
April is a great time to focus on new beginnings chapters before the summer arrives and I look forward to sitting down at the end of the month to talk about, yes, our harsher realities, but also the many ways in which we as a global community continued to thrive and grew during the month of April.
