Hey Glow Gang!

Here’s your weekly reminder that you are deserving of love, joy, success and all the good things in life 💟 

Let's get glowing

-Shilpa

P.S. Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈 Did you know that two transgender women of colour played a prominent role in the establishment of Pride Month and the LGBTQIA+ movement more broadly? You can read all about them here.

News Of The Week

Business, Beauty and … Beyoncé?💃🏽

Entrepreneurship

Un-gender entrepreneurship 👩🏽‍💻 Sarika Kulkarni is asking why we use the word “entrepreneur” for men and refer to female founders as “woman entrepreneurs”? She answers the question, too. Spoiler alert: we need to better support women who in the entrepreneurial space at the local level, at a structural level and at policy level.

Speaking of entrepreneurs: Natasha Menon and Sarah Churchlow, co-founders of Mash, have closed a $2 million pre-series A funding round to help Mash build its professional creative services platform, a virtual creative studio. Yaaaas 👏🏽

Beauty

Living in the Barbie world we’ve always wanted 💅🏽 Have you heard of Barbie Style? It’s the curated shop of exclusive, signature products from leading female-founded brands (we love to see it). In fun news, Barbie Style’s released two new dolls to honour two of our fave beauty founders: Amy Liu, Founder of Tower 28 Beauty and Deepica Mutyala, Founder of Live Tinted.

In more beauty news, Tower 28 and Rhode are helping dismantle gender and racial inequalities in accessing business capital. PLUS, Beyoncé teased a possible new hair brand on Instagram 👀

More News Nuggets

Extra Nuggets 👀

Glowreel Recos

What we’re loving this week:

Read: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. This is an epic multigenerational novel that traces the lineage of two half-sisters in Ghana and their divergent paths - one sold into slavery and the other married to a British officer 👯‍♀️

Watch: Air. Because Viola Davis playing Michael Jordan’s business savvy mum is giving 🤌🏽

Make: Big Mac Tacos by Hajar Larbah. For that classic maccas flavour at home 🍔

Support BIPOC Women Owned Businesses

Shop your favourite BIPOC woman founded brands in Glowreel’s Little Purple Book! This week’s recommended product: Bahari Earrings by Umutoni.

$58 (USD, ships worldwide)

Trailblazing Woman Interview

Umutoni: Changing The Lives Of Kenya’s Artisans Through Luxury Jewellery

Umutoni Thuku-Benzinge is the founder of Umutoni: a luxury jewellery brand taht creates prices for women and men and is dedicated to championing the best artisans from the heart of Kenya.

Her mission? To empower the disenfranchised, promote a spirit of reciprocity, and cultivate a culture of equitable exchange.

With a 360 ethical and sustainable promise, Umutoni is elevating the narrative that jewellery is an agent for social change when we celebrate home craftsmanship.

We caught up with Umutoni to hear more about the journey behind building her luxury jewellery brand and why she is so driven to empower the communities she works with.

Umutoni! I’m so excited to hear more about your beautiful jewellery brand. Before we get into it, I’d love to hear more about you?

Hi! I’m British Kenyan - born and raised in London. My mum is from Kenya, my dad is from London. I've always had a really strong affinity to my East African roots. I spent a lot of my summer holidays as a kid going to Kenya - we’ve got a huge extended family there, and I’ve always loved that side of life with my heritage and family.

I also love travelling and exploring different cultures. I think I've always had quite a curious and inquisitive kind of mind. And fun fact, in my final year of university, I was involved in a pageant called Miss Scuba Kenya, which was part of Miss Scuba International. So it's a pageant that advocates and focusses on marine conservation.

That is a very cool fun fact! Fast forward to now and you’re the founder of Umutoni, a luxury jewellery brand. What led you to creating your own business?

I always knew I wanted to get into business, and I knew it would be something to do with Africa. There are a number of experiences that brought me to really making sure that we do empower communities in a sustainable way.

It started back when I helped to put a young girl through secondary school. I didn't want to go through a traditional charity just because I wanted to be able to build a personal relationship with this young girl. I think over time I've just realized that life is about connection, human connection.

Because I was traveling to Kenya so often, I was able to meet her and we were able to see her excel in class. So it was an amazing experience. But her grandma would then sometimes ask for, additional funding for other things. The experience kind of taught me that sometimes you can create like a give or take a mentality if one person is constantly being the one that's doing the giving. So when it came to the business I knew that I wanted there to be an element of giving back but I wanted it to be sustainable.

How does Umutoni (the brand) operate in a way that gives back sustainably?

Every piece of jewellery is handmade in Kenya, in Kibera, which is the largest urban slum on the African continent, based in Nairobi. Part of our mission as a brand is really to empower the disenfranchised, promote a spirit of reciprocity, and really support the communities that we work with and represent them as best as we can and to tell the story.

We make sure that we are proudly sharing that and showcasing that every piece in handmade in Kenya. I think when it comes to art and fashion sometimes a lot of inspiration is taken from all sorts of cultures across the globe and credit isn’t always given. We’re trying to change that.

What’s your top tip for people who are wanting to blaze their own trail while also giving back?

One of my favourite quotes is start where you are, use what you have and do what you can. I think as women sometimes we overthink the level of perfection we need to be at before we execute.

Also, ask for help, and don’t be afraid to talk to people, to connect. This is something I'm still learning, something I'm still trying to get better at myself.

Finally, show up as yourself. I think sometimes we also feel like we have to show up bigger than we are. We have to show up as somebody other than ourselves. But being yourself is your superpower.

Lioness Thoughts

Nominate A Shoutout

Tell us about someone doing cool shit.

It can be you, your friends or family or someone else you know. Whether you’ve just started a book club, are creating artistic makeup looks for fun, or are doing some research and want to hear from women of colour. We want to share thing cool things you’re doing with a community shoutout!

Please send your nominations to hello@glowreel.co or DM us on our socials :)

This week's email was brought to you by Shilpa Bhim, founder of Glowreel. You can see more of her work at www.shilpabhim.com or follow her on Instagram @shilpa.bhim

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