This Fall, BE HEARD!

Black Public Media
3 min readSep 13, 2024

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by Leslie Fields-Cruz

Happy Fall! If you read last week’s Weekly Dispatch by my colleague Denise Greene, you know that we are in the midst of our latest BE HEARD social media campaign, #ShopLikeNana. Stream it on our TikTok and Instagram channels. You’ll also find it on our YouTube and our website.

#ShopLikeNana aims to build awareness about the impact of fast fashion on the environment and on Black communities. By offering sustainable fashion alternatives, the campaign shows that reducing those detrimental impacts can be fun and economical. What differentiates this year’s BE HEARD from earlier campaigns is its heavy emphasis on collaboration and audience engagement.

Two headshots of Black women filmmakers wearing in black shirts and smiling toward the camera
Sophia Clark (left, photo by Yekaterina Gyadu) and Inuka Bacote-Capiga (right, photo courtesy of the filmmaker)

For #ShopLikeNana, we commissioned Director Sophia Clark and Producer Inuka Bacote-Capiga to create a social media campaign on the topic of sustainable fashion — featuring comedian Katrina Davis. Read more about how and why they accepted our challenge in this month’s newsletter.

Black woman comedian in a polkadot jacket, white blouse and green shirt smiles into the camera leaning against a white wall with dark wainscoting below
Katrina Davis, “#ShopLikeNana” host (photo by Andrew Max Levy)

Expanding Our Influence

Sophia and Inuka also invited three social media personalities — Imani Barbarin, Bailey Bass and Summer Dean — to create posts demonstrating their sustainable fashion practices. To capture a series of conversations with everyday people, our Social Media Manager Kat Walsh and Social Change Strategist Sean A. Watkins hit the streets asking folks how and why they #ShopLikeNana. And now, it’s your turn to BE HEARD! We invite people across the social media landscape to post content outlining their own adventures with sustainable fashion. We can’t wait to hear from you.

Black woman with red and brown dreadlocks wears a mask posing in a rainbow colored t-shirt with a bookshelf in the background
Imani Barbarin, photo by Demilade Omoregie
Headshot of young Black woman with curly brown hair wearing an earth-toned large check shirt and ripped jeans smiles gently looking front left
Bailey Bass, photo by Corinne Louie
Headshot of young Black woman with light brown, curly hair wearing a gray tank top with her right arm raised and bent so her hand rests on her head
Summer Dean, photo courtesy of Jeff Shanes

Our Anthem Award-winning BE HEARD series launched in 2020 to amplify Black voices on topics that matter to and impact our communities. We thank Paramount+ for the grant that made #ShopLikeNana possible. Every little act of sustainable living counts in the movement to ensure that blue skies, fresh water and habitable land remain part of our children’s future, not just a part of Nana’s past.

— Fields-Cruz is the executive director of Black Public Media

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Black Public Media
Black Public Media

Written by Black Public Media

Black Public Media (BPM) develops, produces, funds, and distributes media content about the African American and global Black experience.

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