Featured Business
Caribbean Collective Magazine Celebrating West Indian women around the world
BY SIMONE J. SMITH
“Where are women of colour looking for representation? I started this because I knew that West Indian women needed a platform that highlighted our success, celebrated our icons, and focused on West Indian culture, beauty, and fashion.” Juanita.D
In 2012, there was a longitudinal survey of 396 African and Caucasian preadolescent boys and girls. The survey was to assess the long-term effects of television consumption on their self-esteem. The result of this survey is one of the main reasons that this week we have chosen to feature Caribbean Collective Magazine.
The results highlighted the fact that media exposure (specifically television) predicted a decrease in self-esteem for African and Caucasian girls. On the other hand, there seemed to be an increase in self-esteem among Caucasian boys (Racial and Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Children’s Television Use and Self-Esteem: A Longitudinal Panel Study, Nicole Martins Kristen Harrison, 2012).
I realized that during this time, much of our focus is on the current Coronavirus Pandemic, but there has been a silent epidemic picking away at the self-esteem of young women, specifically young women of colour. This epidemic is self-hate, and more research is starting to expose that it’s a direct result of misrepresentation in the media.
I had the wonderful opportunity of dialoguing with Juanita D, the Chief Editor of Caribbean Collective Magazine. The magazine was created because Juanita recognized that there was a need to celebrate and provide representation for West Indian women, especially those who live with hyphenated identities.
Now, there are publications that represent other cultures, but nothing that serves as a digital anchor for: Afro-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean, Asian-Caribbean, Native-Caribbean, Multi-racial Caribbean, or other women that identified as West Indian.
With the way that media has been positioned, many women of colour grow up feeling inferior, and not up to par with the idolized European standards. Speaking as a woman of colour, I remember how I used to feel about my dark skin tone, and my extra curly hair, which looked nothing like what I was seeing celebrated in magazines like Vogue, or Glamour. Sure, once a year (usually around Black History Month in North America), these magazine publications would have a black model or actress for a photo shoot. In many ways, I think it was to convince consumers that they were diverse. Other than that, one, or two times, women of colour are bombarded with standards of beauty that are impossible to identify with.
What Juanita and her team have done with Caribbean Collective Magazine is produce a digital magazine that represents emigrated West Indian living in: Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Their focus is on empowering and engaging women utilizing the power of storytelling, and they have done so through: interviews, features, creative photography, and digital media.
“I decided to launch this on April 30th, 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic. I had no idea where it would lead to, but I knew I had to do it.”
Juanita was born in Guyana, South America and at two years old immigrated with her family to Brooklyn NY. At a young age, she was drawn to the beauty and fashion world, and at the age of seventeen, she started modelling. Her love for the beauty and fashion industry grew, and she continued her modelling throughout college. She graduated from Loyola University in Maryland with a B.A. in communications, and also holds an MBA from the University of Illinois. Ever the pupil, Juanita is currently completing a Master’s from Harvard University.
Juanita was open with me about the fact that she was not sure what she wanted to do with her life. What she did know is that she wanted to help people.
“I am currently a Wealth Manager on Wall Street,” Juanita shares. “Of course, I wanted that fairy tale life: husband, children, picket fence, and a beautiful home, but there was also something in me that really wanted to give back. Believe me, the financial industry is a male dominated industry, so I knew what it feels like to be underrepresented. This is why representation is so important for me.
As a teenager, and even now, there are very few things that I wanted more than to see myself represented in magazines, and in the fashion industry. This is what started me on my journey five years ago.”
Using the experience that she had gained moving through the beauty industry, she founded her own beauty company. It was only the start for her. She took a step further and began to serve as Editor for Brown Girl Magazine. As a travel blogger, she was able to document travel journeys in over thirty countries. She was also given the opportunity to produce beauty content for bridal magazines.
This takes us up to April 30th, 2020. During a time when many people were still trying to wrap their heads around what was happening in the world, Juanita was working on launching Caribbean Collective Magazine.
“A lot of people had switched to working virtually. I decided to just start utilizing social media to bring awareness to the work that we were doing at Caribbean Collective. There has and continues to be limited representation of West Indian women in media. Did you know that Beyoncé’s publicist is from Grenada? No. Well, that is because no one is talking about it. When I was looking up articles on West Indian women, I found it difficult to find anything online.
I realized that this was how I was going to serve my community. I would create a powerful platform that recognized influential and local West Indian women doing phenomenal work in their industries and communities. We created this magazine to provide fresh content, coverage of trending news, celebration and dialogue surrounding: Caribbean art, icons, beauty, music, and lifestyle.”
On August 1st, 2020, Caribbean Collective Magazine launched their website, and the articles are already creating a buzz.
“Things have moved so quickly for us. Within fifteen days of launching, I already had five writers, and I now have an Assistant Editor. We have teams in New York City, and Toronto. It has been quite an experience. I want the magazine to be Vogue meets Essence, but for us West Indian girls.”
What is inspiring is that Juanita utilized the pandemic as a motivating force to create something that will become part of her legacy. Not only is it important to support this young woman because of her bravery, but also because we now have another place to go, where we as woman of colour can share in stories that we can relate to. Visit Caribbean Collective Magazine at https://www.caribbeancollectivemag.com/ and take a peek at their work on Instagram and Facebook.
If you see an article that you think will interest someone you know, share it with the hashtag #caribbeangirlmagic.