“So wait a second, how long did it take you to build this shopping site from start to finish?” I asked costume designer, cloakroom curator and businesswoman Zerina Akers on the phone. She was only out for a day before pushing Black Owned Everything live. “You know what’s crazy? It feels like forever, but it’s only been about six months, Sarah,” Zerina said with a laugh. “It takes people five years to develop things like this.” She is not wrong.
I had already spoken to Zerina in September 2020 when her idea was slowly becoming a reality. The industry powerhouse – who worked with the likes of Beyoncé (you may remember the incredible fashion in Black is king), Normani and Chloe and Halle Bailey – busy, to put it bluntly. But in the middle of the pandemic, she launched the Black Owned Everything Instagram account, which campaigned for black-owned fashion, accessory and beauty companies, and by July she knew she needed to transform her project into a shoppable retail space that she was a designer To sell their products, carefully choose which brands would coexist. Customers can put several items in their shopping cart at the same time using several different labels and check whether they support all companies.
Not to mention that the interface of the website is beautiful, accessible, and clearly colored to suit a stylist’s eye. Personally, I followed the Black Owned Everything Instagram to admire its aesthetics and appreciate its purpose. “Even on the page where you see all of the brands, I still purposely curated where they sit and who sits next to whom, which images lead the pack and things like that. So imagery is the most important thing to me. That makes us really off, “said Zerina.
Six months later, Black Owned Everything was officially launched during Black History Month and is open to business with a number of unique brands that you’ll love and hopefully learn a lot more about them. “It was an uphill battle but I think all good things are worth the wait and something new to do, of course there will be obstacles and hurdles. It’s about going through the moves and saying positive through the process. God saves everything So I think, OK, everything is perfect and I just have to sit back and let things be. “
Read ahead of time about Zerina’s goals as the website’s founder and curator, and shop for some of her favorite selections after the click.
