And So, We Made Lemonade
How The Everyday Lemonade Began
It all began with a hashtag -- that's right! The Everyday Lemonade was born as an idea in June 2017 as I was doing her daily scroll through Instagram and stumbled upon a post of a soon-to-be college freshman expressing her excitement about attending one of the historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), Howard University (HU). The post ended with the hashtag #HU21, representing the HU Class of 2021.
It all began with a hashtag #HU21
Intrigued by the #HU21 hashtag, I clicked on it, discovered a sea of other proud #HU21 students, and became inspired. Post after post, there were young ladies from all walks of life with so much talent - there was a YouTuber, author, ballet dancer, activist, designer, and more. Being a visual storyteller, I immediately knew I wanted to visually capture and share their greatness — their lemonade.
So, I messaged students on Instagram, requesting an interview and photo session with them. Minutes later, my phone notifications started sounding off with messages from them expressing their interest in working with me.
During the student interviews, I found myself thinking of my creative friends who could serve as mentors to them. And then I thought, why not feature those amazing women too.
In that moment, the project was born.
No name, no website, no plan -- it was nothing but a desire to capture, share, inspire, and connect creative and entrepreneurial women of color.
Days later I realized that I needed to get organized and plan out what I just created.
So, I started with a name, The Everyday Lemonade -- learn about how I decided on the name in The Story Behind the Name blog post. I then built a team by tapping on some of my creative friends and a few of the future HU students. Before I knew it, The Everyday Lemonade was ready to be served.
As Beverly Bond, founder of Black Girls Rock, stated during her 2017 awards show, "I recognize that the condition of black girls can only change when we are the authors of our own stories."
And so, it's my desire that this platform serves a daily dose of inspiration, sprinkled with positive images and stories of women of color who are creatives, mountain shakers, and magic makers working in or pursuing careers that are creative, entrepreneurial, or nontraditional.
This is me authoring our stories — because representation matters.
So, pull up a seat to the table and let us serve you a glass of The Everyday Lemonade.
“I recognize that the condition of black girls can only change when we are the authors of our own stories.”
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM FOR YOUR DAILY CUP OF INSPIRATION!
Have you given back in your community, launched a creative business or done something interesting in school? Do you have an interesting career? We'd love to feature you if you're a creative entrepreneur, student, or all-around boss in your field. We seek to inspire young women of color by sharing stories of other amazing women of color.
Let's make lemonade!