Blavity
Type of site | New media and lifestyle for African Americans[1][2] |
---|---|
Available in | English |
Created by |
Morgan DeBaun Aaron Samuels |
Website |
blavity |
Alexa rank | 22,363 (Global, January 2017) |
Launched | July 2014 |
Current status | Online |
Blavity is an American Internet media company and website based in Los Angeles, created by and for black millennials.[3][4][2] Their mission is to "economically and creatively support Black millennials across the African disapora, so they can pursue the work they love, and change the world in the process."[5]
Founding
Blavity was founded by Morgan DeBaun (CEO) and co-founded by Jonathan Jackson, Jeff Nelson and Aaron Samuels in 2014;[3][6] DeBaun had worked at Intuit for three years prior but left to found the new company. Blavity's is a combination of the words "black" and "gravity",[3] inspired by DeBaun's experience as a undergraduate at Washington University; she was struck that eating lunch with a few friends at their regular table in the college cafeteria over time attracted more and more black students to their discussions of everything from politics to pop culture, a kind of intellectual "black gravity".[7]
Content, visitors and growth
In Essence, Lihle Z. Mtshali described the site as focused "on sub-cultures, community, and local happenings in different cities rather than covering celebrities and mainstream black culture."[7] The site contains approximately 40% user-generated content.[7]
In September 2016, Blavity reached millions of unique visitors per month.[1] That month, the company closed a one million dollar round of seed funding.[1][4]
In 2016, Blavity launched two conferences: EmpowerHer, a conference in New York City for black women,[8] and Afrotech, a San Francisco summit for black people in technology.[9]
Recognition
In 2016, two of the Blavity founders, DeBaun and Samuels, were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list of "young people transforming the future of America".[10]
References
- 1 2 3 Sarah Buhr (September 12, 2016). "Blavity, the BuzzFeed for black millennials, is raising $1 million and gets a redesign". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- 1 2 Kaya Thomas (September 7, 2015). "Blavity Hopes To Be The Digital Voice of Black Millennials". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- 1 2 3 Mandi Woodruff (February 5, 2016). "5 black business leaders who are changing the face of Silicon Valley". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- 1 2 Dayna Evans (November 9, 2016). "How I Get It Done: Morgan DeBaun, Co-Founder and CEO of Content Platform Blavity". NYmag.com. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
- ↑ "Blavity". www.blavity.com. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
- ↑ Ketchum, John (April 20, 2017). "Blavity's CEO on taking risks and building a community for black millennials". CNN. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
- 1 2 3 Mtshali, Lihle Z. (2017-06-05). "Meet Blavity Co-Founder Morgan DeBaun And The Digital Empire She's Building". Essence. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
- ↑ Cynthia Franciillon (May 14, 2016). "Morgan DeBaun’s Blavity, Talks “EmpowerHer,” Their First Conference for Black Women: EmpowerHer". Black Girl Nerds. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
- ↑ Brooks Jr., Carl (February 15, 2017). "Inside Blavity, the Startup on a Quest to Be the News Source for Black Millennials". Wired. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
- ↑ Emily Inverso (January 4, 2016). "30 Under 30: Meet The Young People Transforming Media". Forbes. Retrieved January 10, 2017.