April 8th

BUSINESS • Madia and Matilda - Madia & Matilda is a unique luxury clothing label, specializing in upcycled and sustainable fabrics. With the upcycled pieces we create clothes from one off, precious garment & textiles. Launched 2013, Madia & Matilda explores all elements of crafts and design to create their unique styles. Madia & Matilda is based in the beautiful Cotswolds, founded by Shalize Nicholas, graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University, after working within the industry for retailers and designers, such as Mary Katrantzou in Paris. Realising her passion for print and vintage fabric, she realised there is nothing that brings more pleasure than breathing new life and creating exclusive designs from limited fabrics. We also supply Madia & Matilda to some of the best international retailers including Silk Fred, ASOS Marketplace & Brighton Fashion Week. Each piece is handcrafted with care, turning old garments and remnants into new designs or designing new garments with sustainable fabrics. The story behind each garment is what Madia & Matilda value and is inspired by. Keeping heritage and craft alive, yet with an innovative twist; Madia & Matilda share a passion for beautifully created clothing, which prolongs the longevity of a garment's lifespan, leading to a less wasteful world. https://www.madiamatilda.co.uk/ • Okiki Skincare- Okiki was founded by mother, Ade, and daughter, Antonia, in 2016 to create beautiful, handcrafted and natural personal and home care products—including candles, soaps and lotions. Okiki literally means prestigious in Yoruba and we were born out of a desire to create high-quality products from the best natural ingredients while paying homage to our rich Nigerian and Ghanaian heritage. https://afroribooks.co.uk/ • Black Wave Productions - Blak Wave was set up by Michael Jenkins and Dr Mena Fombo in 2019, and is the only black-owned television production firm out of 140 in Bristol. in 2020, the company secured four one-off and one mini series commissions with BBC, C4 and ACE, as well as two partnership deals with the British Film Institute to develop more black filmmakers. It was also selected for Channel 4’s Emerging Indie Fund, which is designed to help small, new or emerging independents to break through key stages of growth. https://blakwaveproductions.com/ • The Glowcery - Roshanne Dorsett came up with the idea for her sustainable vegan skincare brand The Glowcery while she was at a local fruit and veg market in her hometown of Luton. A vegan herself, she decided to make her products using fresh, cold-pressed fruit and vegetable ingredients - and launched her business during the first lockdown in March 2020. She currently sells skincare products through her online shop but is hoping to expand to hair care, feminine hygiene, lifestyle items such as natural candles, and superfood supplements in future. https://www.theglowceryshop.com/ •Soul Cap - Friends Michael Chapman and Toks Ahmed-Salawudeen, 31, grew up without learning to swim. In 2017, they joined an adult swimming class together and met a woman with Afro hair who was struggling with the size of her swim cap. The pair said they realised, after speaking to family and friends, there wasn't a solution for swimmers with Afro, dreadlock, or voluminous hair – so decided to create their own. https://soulcap.com/ EVENTS • Lux Afrique Polo Day (30 July 2022, Hurtwood Park Polo Country Club) - “Lux Afrique Polo Day, the only event in Europe dedicated to the celebration of African polo, returns to the UK at the grand grounds of Hurtwood Park Polo Club, Surrey, on Saturday, July 31st, 2021. The prestigious event, now in its fourth year, brings together the very best in African fashion, food and music on one glorious day of sport in the English countryside. https://luxafriquepolo.com/ •Black Love (through April 23, Kiln Theatre) - Meet Aurora and Orion. Sister and brother. Constellations in time. More than blood. More than just fam. Inside their small London flat, memories of their parents’ Black love surrounds them. When that love is threatened, they must first find understanding and connection before they can begin to find a way back to one another. An explosion of form-busting storytelling, Black Love celebrates and investigates the Black experience through music, real-life stories and imagined worlds. This ‘beautiful ode to black society and home’ (The Guardian) is not to be missed. https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/black-love/ African Caribbean Carnival Weekender, Friday, 24 Jun 2022 - Sunday, 26 Jun 2022 @ 16:00, Milton Keynes - Carnival Float Parade – Cultural Carnival Market – Live Reggae, Afrobeat, Soca Concert – Sports Jerk Festival , Family Fun Day Weekender: Carnival Float Parade – Cultural Carnival Market – Live Reggae, Afrobeat, Soca Concert – Sports Jerk Festival , Family Fun Day Day 1, Friday June 24, 2022 Carnival King & Queen Costume Show 5 Pm, Campbell Park Day 2, Saturday June 25, 2022 Carnival Parade From Campbell Park To Mk To Dons Stadium, 12 Pm, All Day Carnival Market. 8 Pm Evening Live Concert @ Marshall Arena, Reggae, Afrobeat, Soca, Featuring Reggae Legend: Alpha Blondy, Top Afrobeat, Reggae, Uk Rap Artists. https://eventseeker.com/oxford/jun-24-2022/404435443-african-caribbean-carnival-weekender • Alicia Keys (13 June, O2 Arena) - https://www.theo2.co.uk/events/detail/alicia-keys •Secrets of Soho, Black History Walk (Sat, 30 April 2022) This special walk delves into an amazing depth of African/Caribbean history between Soho Square and Russell Square: It features:

• Ancient African civilisations

• Black Female entrepreneurs

• The Marcus Garvey connection

• Academia and the white curriculum

• Black British Civil rights activists

• Forgotten African genocide of the 20th century

• Black women broadcasters

• Equality in the military

• Mary Seacole, Walter Rodney, Ivan Van Sertimah

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/secrets-of-soho-black-history-walk-tickets-263680043107 UK Black Business Week - 17th to 22nd October 8 Northumberland Ave, London WC2N 5BY - With events delivered by industry leaders, the UK Black Business Week promises to equip Black Professionals and Entrepreneurs with business insights, new skills and knowledge to navigate the world of work.- N https://www.ukblackbusinessweek.com Ave, London WC2N 5BY8 Northumberland Ave, London WC2N 5BY BOOKS • C.L.R. James: A Life Beyond the Boundaries (John L Williams, March, 2022) -Historian, revolutionary and cricket writer, CLR James was one of the truly radical voices of the twentieth century. Born in Trinidad in the final days of the Victorian era, he debated with Trotsky, played cricket with Constantine, was published by Leonard and Virginia Woolf, inspired Kwame Nkrumah, and was a profound influence on the British Black Power movement. And yet by the late 1970s, CLR James was all but forgotten. The books he had written over the past half century were nearly all out of print. There were a few circles in which his name rang a bell: serious students of Black history; obsessive cricket fans. But that was it. When he died in Brixton in 1989, CLR James was internationally famous - lauded as the greatest of Black British intellectuals: the 'Black Plato', according to The Times. https://www.amazon.co.uk/C-L-R-James-Life-Beyond-Boundaries/dp/1472130138/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=53474988192&gclid=CjwKCAjw0a-SBhBkEiwApljU0rIqBwSLf7gKnetZPFgJMoDyut107GEe3-8H3tGv86pANNdrvFvnXhoCij4QAvD_BwE&hvadid=259007756319&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1006833&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7936017934599446999&hvtargid=kwd-314724897822&hydadcr=10589_1789577&keywords=clr+james+beyond+a+boundary&qid=1649195140&sr=8-1

• Sisters in Arms: A gripping novel of the courageous Black women who made history in World War Two - inspired by true events - They were fighting for freedom everywhere. But the first battle they had to win was at home. Grace Steele and Eliza Jones make history when they join the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, and form the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. Not only are they among the first class of female officers the army has ever seen, they are also the first Black women allowed to serve. Everyone is determined to see this experiment fail and learning to navigate their way through the segregated army is tougher than boot camp. Grace and Eliza may be from completely different backgrounds but they both recognise that to succeed they must be more perfect than everyone else: there is no room for error. They know that what lies overseas in England and France could cause them great personal cost, but nothing is going to stop these courageous women from playing their parts for the country they love. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sisters-Arms-gripping-courageous-inspired-ebook/dp/B093S1BL66/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1649195856&sr=8-1 • The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor- From the award-winning author of Dust comes a magical, sea-saturated, coming-of-age novel that transports readers from Kenya to China and Turkey. On an island in the Lamu Archipelago lives a solitary, stubborn child called Ayaana and her mother, Munira. When a sailor named Muhidin, also an outsider, enters their lives, Ayaana finds something she has never had before: a father. But as she grows into adulthood, forces of nature, history and religion begin to reshape Ayaana's life - leading her overseas where new intimacies offer fraught choices. Told with a glorious, sensual lyricism, The Dragonfly Sea is a transcendent story of passion and adventure; of the inexorable need for loving shelter in a dangerous world. https://afroribooks.co.uk/collections/new-in-store/products/the-dragonfly-sea-by-yvonne-adhiambo-owuor • The Wife of Willesden by Zadie Smith - Zadie Smith's first time writing for the stage, The Wife of Willesden is a riotous twenty-first century translation of Geoffrey Chaucer's classic The Wife of Bath's Prologue, brought to glorious life on the Kilburn High Road. Commissioned to celebrate Brent's year as Borough of Culture 2020, The Wife of Willesden ran at the Kiln Theatre, London from November 2021 to January 2022. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0866FHGP8/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i7 • In Every Mirror She's Black (-by Lola Akinmade Akerstrom) - A timely and arresting debut novel about what it means to be a Black woman in the world. Perfect for fans of Queenie and Americanah. Kemi is ready to change her life. She's sick of being second-guessed in the boardroom; tired of smiling politely while men gaze at her body; bored of dating surveys that tell her Black African women are the least desired in America. Moving across the world, for a new job, certainly things will be different? Brittany-Rae is tired of serving others. She's determined not to struggle like her parents did. As a flight attendant, she's seen the way the super-wealthy float, untouchable and easy, and she envies it. As a model in her twenties, she had a taste of that privilege. Now pushing forty, she knows that to have one kind of freedom, she must sacrifice another. Muna began her treacherous journey two years ago. Then, she was a family of three. Now her mother and younger brother are buried somewhere at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. She's been granted asylum, but she can't shake the feeling that she will never belong. When your only family is a stack of passport photos, it's hard to grow new roots. In search of escape, these three women find themselves in Stockholm, a city that prides itself on being egalitarian and open. Instead of a fresh new start, they find the same problems just wear a different name. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08QX6MGHP/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 PODCASTS • Black Girl Gone: A True Crime Podcast - Join host Amara as she tells the stories of missing and murdered Black women and women of color in America. New Episodes Available on Monday. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/black-girl-gone-a-true-crime-podcast/id1556267741 •Black Diplomats - The world is full of Black people. But when the mainstream media talks about the world, we hardly ever hear from them. Black Diplomats—a podcast dedicated to international politics and culture from the perspective of people of color—is changing that. The weekly interview show takes on domestic issues like immigration, policing, and protest movements through a globalized lens. Host Terrell J. Starr believes there is a right and there is a wrong: Imperialism is bad. Racism is bad.. https://www.blackdiplomats.net/ RADIO • If You Don't Know - There’s been outrage over the way a 15-year-old black girl, known as Child Q, was strip-searched by police while she was at school. A report on what happened says the search was unjustified and it’s likely that racism played a part. We speak to the most senior black female police officer in the UK, Commander Dr Alison Heydari, BBC reporter Celestina Olulode who’s been following the story, and Ebinehita Iyere who’s the founder of Milk Honey Bees, which supports young vulnerable girls. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bs9rlv • Compass (BBC Sounds) - Psychiatrist Henrietta Bowden Jones talks to June Angelides about how she set up Mums In Tech on maternity leave, and how she was inspired by her entrepreneurial family in Nigeria, and particularly by her late grandmother. June reveals why she gave up a good job to set up the first coding academy in the United Kingdom for young mothers. And talks about the stress it caused but also knew that the time was right for her to do this. June followed in the footsteps of her uncle Ben Murray Bruce, who built the first multiplex in Nigeria and went on to become a senator. For her services to women in technology, she received a MBE in 2020. But it was not always easy growing up in Nigeria, with regime changes and sporadic rioting, as well as living with the fear of home invasion.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct3jzk

FILM/TV •#BlackAF(Netflix, 2021) - A man takes an irreverent and honest approach to parenting and relationships. Starring and written by Kenya Barris plus co-star Rashida Jones. https://www.netflix.com/title/81056700 • The Wonder Years (Amazon Prime) - Story of the Williams's family during the late 60's. A coming of age story set in the late 1960s that takes a nostalgic look at a black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama through the point-of-view of imaginative 12 year-old Dean. With the wisdom of his adult years, Dean’s hopeful and humorous recollections show how his family found their “wonder years” in a turbulent time. Inspired by the classic series of the same name. https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/0MX10BIQG9X4H5LN0VKIT0SABD/ref=atv_dl_rdr?tag=thvo0f-20 • Run the World (Amazon Prime) - Run the World is an American comedy television series created by Leigh Davenport, who is co-executive producer with Yvette Lee Bowser. Set in Harlem, it centers on a group of friends (portrayed by Amber Stevens West, Andrea Bordeaux, Bresha Webb, and Corbin Reid) navigating relationships and the professional world. Run the World is produced by Bowser's SisterLee Productions and Lionsgate Television. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Trailer/dp/B094P2YQLX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3AH1G4NV8D80Y&keywords=run+the+world&qid=1649278734&s=instant-video&sprefix=run+the%2Cinstant-video%2C79&sr=1-1 • The Underground Railroad (Limited Series, Amazon Prime) - Barry Jenkins’s adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winning novel tells the story of Cora, a young enslaved woman who travels from Georgia on a bid for freedom https://www.amazon.co.uk/Underground-Railroad-Official-Teaser-Trailer/dp/B08XC74N8D/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2D6RYZI635XFI&keywords=underground+railroad&qid=1649279129&s=instant-video&sprefix=underground+%2Cinstant-video%2C87&sr=1-2 • Big Age (Channel 4, More4) - Bolu Babalola's comedy about four young Black-British friends. Sade's 25th birthday gets off to a rocky start when she quits her job. So her best friend prescribes a day of decadent distraction. https://www.channel4.com/programmes/big-age WHAT AM I PAYING ATTENTION TO? • America's Black upper class - Buy black activists (DW Documentary) - In the United States, African-Americans are more likely to live in poverty than any other ethnic group. But despite the country’s institutional racism, a Black elite has found success, thanks to a combination of entrepreneurial thinking and intensive networking within the Black community. America is home to the biggest group of wealthy, highly successful Black people in the world. One in 50 African-American families are millionaires. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-0NsJ6RgJ0 • BBC bolsters commercial ambition with new-look BBC Commercial Board - Sir Damon Buffini and Lorraine Burgess appointed to new BBC board - https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2022/bbc-new-look-commercial-board WHAT I AM PERSONALLY RECOMMENDING? 1. Brown Estate Wine - Napa Valley's first black owned winery and in my opinion one of the best. Unfortunately their wines are not available in the UK, but if you get the chance to visit the winery in Napa it's a must. An inspiring story and amazing wines. I was a member of their wine club for several years when I lived in the US. https://www.brownestate.com/ 2. Travel Noire - Travel Noire is a digital media company serving millennials of the African Diaspora. Through inspired content, we help discerning travelers, https://travelnoire.com/ https://www.instagram.com/travelnoire/?hl=en 3. The Queen of Katwe - Queen of Katwe is a feel-good movie of uncommon smarts and passion, and outstanding performances by Lupita Nyong'o and David Oyelowo help to elevate the film past its cliches (Rotten Tomatoes). A much underrated inspirational movie for all the family. Have a great weekend!