Evolving with social media is no small feat, yet Rickey Thompson and Denzel Dion have made it look easy. The online world has watched the two influencers and best friends grow up from six-second Vines to becoming YouTubers — because before TikTok, YouTube was where a class of Black content creators entered the space and took the Internet by storm. And things were clearly just beginning, as Thompson and Dion seemingly went on to make even bigger moves in the entertainment industry. In my opinion, their success is marked as wins, especially when up against not being awarded the same level of opportunities as their white counterparts. However, t he two have stayed ten toes down in the game for nearly a decade — even though the way Black content creators get treated hasn’t really improved much. Take, for example, how Black TikTokers are the creative masterminds behind some of the biggest trends on the platform, but still, Forbes’ list of the highest TikTok earners featured no Black...

Things are looking to be headed in the right direction for Black TikTok creators when it comes to getting their long-overdue credit with the platform’s latest team addition. TikTok recently announced Shavone Charles, former director of communications and creative partnerships at VSCO, as the platform’s first-ever head of diversity and inclusion communications. According to Adweek, the multi-hyphenate creative will “lead all diversity and inclusion communications globally, overseeing the video creation platform’s multicultural campaigns in collaboration with media and diverse creators.” Although Charles is stepping into a newly formed role at TikTok, the now Los Angeles-based executive is in familiar territory when it comes to being a trailblazer in major tech companies’ diversity departments. While at VSCO, she led strategic brand partnerships and product campaigns across key consumer interest verticals youth culture, community, diversity/inclusion, entertainment and fashion,...