It’s a beautiful thing to be creative and paid. Black people drive culture around the globe. I t isn’t a secret. Yet, when it comes to the proper credit and compensation the conversation is strikingly different. In a recent study, MSL Group, a PR firm, revealed that there is a 35% pay gap between white and Black content creators, with the latter group making a significantly lower amount than their white counterparts in the content creation space. Day 2 of the 2024 AFROTECH™ Conference kicked off on Nov. 14 with a discussion between creatives Imani Ellis, founder and CEO of The Creative Collective NYC, known for its annual CultureCon, and Shannae Ingleton Smith, co-creator of influencer agency Kensington Grey, for a discussion called “The Business of Creativity.” As founders, the pair have a firsthand account of life in America as content creators, and they’ve developed platforms that pour into Black creatives. Whether it’s through time and energy, resources, etc., they’re on a...

Alfluence, a Kenya-based influencer marketing platform, has announced that it has secured $1 million in seed funding. TechCrunch is reporting that the company, which was founded by Nelson Aseka, George Issaias, Lamusia Anzaya, and Ankit Jindal in 2019, had the funding led by the Dubai-based company EQ2 Ventures. Other investors include Antler East Africa, Oui Capital, ArabyAds, and an unnamed European family office. “We are at the cusp of a revolution. Globally the way marketing works is changing. We find ourselves at an intersection of advanced technology and the fastest-growing region in the world in terms of digital and social media penetration. It’s an exciting place to be. Africa’s rich tradition for storytelling is alive and kicking,” said Aseka, the CEO of Alfluence, in a statement made to TechCrunch. “People are the new media in today’s digital world, and AIfluence is uniquely positioned to turn this reality into tangible results for advertisers. We’ve been impressed by the...

If there is one celebrity that has had an almost fairytale “rags to riches” come up, it’s Cardi B. Cardi was born Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar to a working-class Dominican father and Trinidadian mother. She became financially independent at 19-years-old when she began working as an exotic dancer. The now 27-year-old rapper from The Bronx, New York built her social currency by sharing entertaining stories about her humble beginnings on Instagram. Around this time she began making sponsored Fashion Nova content where influencers can get paid anywhere between hundreds to thousands of dollars per post . The buzz she garnered from her videos led her to join the cast of “Love & Hip Hop New York” in 2015 where she jump-started her music career. During this time Cardi released a remix of Lady Leshurr’s song “Queen’s Speech 4” called “Cheap Ass Weave,” collaborated with other artists, and dropped her first mixtape “Gangsta B**ch Music Vol. 1.” In 2017, she signed a multi-million dollar deal...

Building an online presence and becoming an influencer is more complicated than it may seem. While many people focus on followers — expecting brands to flood them —engagement is essential to a content creator’s success. One of the most common misconceptions surrounding social media personalities is that their jobs are easy; however, it takes hours of strategizing and planning to create a profitable page and presence. That’s why Taylar Barrington-Booker created Cliquish — which officially launched in August — to train women on how to be more effective influencers on Instagram, Twitter, and other social media platforms. Barrington-Booker’s marketing expertise equipped her with the tools to make a platform that will help aspiring influencers and bloggers make an imprint online. Before creating her platform, she was a communications and marketing teacher in Georgia and a marketing consultant on the side. The founder has intertwined her teaching skills into Cliquish, providing workshops...

Snapchat’s public relations firm is suing Grown-ish actor Luka Sabbat for failing to promote Snap’s Spectacles with Instagram posts of himself wearing the camera sunglasses. The 20-year-old influencer—who has amassed 1.4 million followers on the platform—was paid $45,000 upon signing the agreement that was worth $60,000 total, according to the complaint filed in the Supreme Court of New York on Tuesday. Sabbat signed an influencer marketing deal in September and was supposed to create four “unique” Instagram posts: one Instagram feed post and three Instagram Story posts of him sporting the Spectacles. The deal also included him being photographed wearing them in New York, Paris, and Milan during Fashion Week, according to the suit. The suit alleges Sabbat only posted once to his Instagram feed and Story, and failed to be photographed wearing the product in public. The firm—PR Consulting, Inc.—is suing Sabbat for the $45,000 paid upfront, plus an additional $45,000 in damages....