Happy New Year Ladybrille readers!
Welcome to what we believe will be a great 2013! The year already kicked off with great news! Ladybrille’s Fashion Contributor Elfonnie Inokon is engaged and will be getting married later this 2013. Her beau popped the question on New Year’s day. A hearty congratulations from all of us to her.
When we began Ladybrille five years ago (now on our sixth year), it was all about raising awareness in the West on who Africans really were by using fashion to sell our message. It was about de-stigmatizing and stripping away the stereotypes of Africans as persons who run around buck wild in the bush, or whose children were sure to have flat butts and rotunda like tummies with flies circulating around their butts, a stereotype that has led to the often used word “African booty scratcher,” especially in our local high schools against children of African heritage.
Ladybrille, a nickname given to me by one of my best friends in grade school because of my academic achievements, was about telling my own story, my reality. It was about my reality from courtrooms to offices, my dealings with executives on all levels, my reality in the fashion and entertainment industries, my local and international travels, my love for culture, fashion, music, people, diversity and so much more.
When we started both on and offline, there was a defeaning silence and a need to tell the diverse stories of Africans, especially here in the USA. It has been a remarkable journey to lay a strong foundation and tell this story. Ladybrille is now a brand synonymous with contemporary African fashion and entertainment. It is also a brand that fashion influencers go to for what is hot in Africa’s fashion industry. What is most heartwarming for me is that both my legal and non-legal colleagues, as well as my friends (black, white, asian, indians) all now reference Ladybrille and also share with their loved ones. It feels very good.
With my team and you all, we have forged strong ties with fashion schools here in the USA, we have also forged strong affiliations and partnerships with Western media brands and finally, we have cemented our role as a publication that also celebrates brilliant women, from diverse walks of life. Women who are unapologetic about being leaders in their local and international communities, successful entrepreneurs, intelligent, brilliant, and beautiful (inside and out).
Having set what we believe is a solid foundation, we now turn to making 2013 a year that is punctuated by a clear message, Ladybrille is the brand and the bridge between the USA and Africa when it comes to talking and doing the business of fashion, especially African fashion. To that end, we will increase our coverage of fashion business news stories on Ladybrille. In addition, we will also increase our coverage of fashion law legal news stories. The limited fashion law stories we did in 2012 brought some of America’s influential names both in fashion and law checking us out. We think this is an advantage to the demographic we serve, especially fashion designers of African heritage who make up our reader base. I will be primarily responsible for authoring the fashion law stories/commentary and legal analysis.
Also expect additions to our team throughout the year and finally, we plan to launch an e-book available for purchase on our sixth year anniversary in June 2013. The book is a compilation of some of the most remarkable Ladybrille Women of the Months stories we have shared with you all in the past five years.
We look forward to a great year and once again thank you for your time, visits, engagement and sharing of our content. If there are ways you feel we can better improve our offerings on Ladybrille, please do not hesitate to email your suggestions and feedback to ([email protected]).
Have a great 2013!
Yours truly,
([email protected])
Uduak Oduok, Esq.
Editor-in-Chief
Founded in 2007, Ladybrille® Magazine is a California based pioneer digital publication demystifying the image of Africans in the west through contemporary African fashion and celebrating the brilliant woman in business and leadership, with an emphasis on the African woman in the diaspora. Our coverage includes stories on capital, access to markets, expertise, hiring and retention, sales, marketing, and promotions.
