During the Life in 4K: How to Create the Content of Your Dreams panel during the 2021 Girls United Summit, we heard from content strategist Ibukun Oladejo and singer Kaelyn Kastle, two Black women who are blazing trails for global social enthusiasts. Oladejo is the founder of Blk Grl Studios, a management company for Black women who generate online content, while Kastle is a pop musician.
The sit down was moderated by Girls United co-founder Rechelle Dennis.
Oladejo noted that when building out a brand, it’s important to understand the “who” — who your audience is, that is. “I feel like, a lot of people will come into social media content thinking, ‘I want to speak to the Black woman specifically or I want to speak to the LGBTQ community’ and then they’ll get intimidated and feel like they have to change that,” she said. “And I just want to say, you should always ensure you’re sticking to that ‘who.’” She also emphasized the importance of how you’re communicating and knowing what it is you’re talking about.
Kastle then spoke about being a part of Collab Crib, which she referred to as “one of the first Black content creator houses in the United States.” “It’s actually here in Atlanta,” she said, which was also where this year’s Girls United Summit event was held. “What we ended up doing when our numbers were being suppressed, we ended up using each others’ numbers to integrate to pull each other out of having low numbers.”
Video creators across platforms have spoken about having less visibility than their white counterparts, but through cross promotion and co-created videos, the members of Collab Crib are finding success with combating the algorithm — for themselves and one another.
Video content is a part of how the new generations of today communicate, express themselves and share pertinent information. It’s only right that Black women have leading roles in this new digital future.
Watch the full panel above.
The 2021 Girls United Summit is presented by CBS Original The Equalizer and sponsored by American Airlines and McDonald’s.
