Jewelry made of safety pins, curl definer you’re tempted to nibble, grown and sexy convos and media, a good old-fashioned headband… These are brilliant Black Aunties’ gifts to us for this culture and love season.
The internet rinsed my mixed feelings on Black History Month into the clean slate of excitement I had when it rolled around in school. Then I didn’t discern so many retailers’ commercialization of Black people or brands for profit. Or the onslaught of targeted marketing and “celebration” deals for products unrelated to Black people or culture, unless counting Black actors in their commercials. I’ve agreed with other authors on frustration with many invites in this month but no others, for these invitations to backfire ironically into sense that we don’t belong.
However, internet mags and social media communities inspired and educated me to change. I saw both average posters and popular influencers preserve the month’s meaning in unique and authentic ways, with or without sales on the table. I gained a birds’ eye view into the abundance of special events, large and small, intending to remind people of my ancestors and their contributions. I saw online publications and blogs feature awesome Black professionals beyond show business celebrities.
So in this renewed spirit, I’m gonna make it a Black History Year. I am overjoyed to present indulgences from Black women founders for Valentine’s, Galentine’s or just because gifts. I am most proud they are conscious creators: using non-violent practices in harmony with the planet, striving to eliminate waste and inclusive to all.
African-inspired urban fashion? Get it before you can’t afford it!
I’ve witnessed the meteoric rise of Autumn Adeigbo from a Parson’s School of Design student to one of today’s hottest young names in women’s ready to wear and celebrity styling. This 2022 Neiman Marcus Fashion Award winner is the first Black female designer to raise over a million dollars in venture capital funding, with fashion icons like Gabrielle Union backing her.
Raised in America by influential Nigerian parents, Autumn’s lasting legacy has already cemented as one of the first of few designers to integrate highly recognizable African style fundamentals into mainstream clothing: bold color and line patterns, significant sleeves, cinched waistlines.
As all women featured here, Autumn’s calling is environmentalist entrepreneurship. She purchases in limited quantity and only produces what is ordered to minimize fabric waste, conserve electricity and promote higher wage labor.
None other than Britney Spears, Regina King, Serena Williams and Lupita N’yongo have served as brand ambassadors in her blouses, dresses, sun hats and headbands.
Yes, you read that right. The eye-catching Autumn Adeigbo fabric and jeweled headbands were the first popular creation to put her in demand and on the map, as darling throwbacks to girlhood in a grown-up style. Get on Instagram to see how to stag one of these and follow Autumn’s success HERE.
Safety pins are jewelry? Yes, believe it.
Few have the patience or wherewithal to even find a safety pin when they need it. Yet visual artist and Mixed Media Art Design Founder Tiffany Gholar crafts one-of-a-kind jewelry from stringing safety pins together and sliding tiny beads down the metal in whimsical or neutral color schemes. The results, priced at only $20-$35, will dangle the perfect conversation pieces from your ears and wrists.
Anyone who dons her handmade bracelets and earrings can brag they truly own the only one like it in the world. I am a happy customer, spotlighting a bracelet in gold tones for my very first author unboxing video. They are lightweight, durable and (surprise!) stress relieving. I once found myself just counting the beads in the bracelet to distract from a long, unruly Kennedy Airport TSA line.
She has called this remarkable practice that would drive most of us crazy “calming” and quick to do. It’s her serene break from constructing canvas paintings in a Chicago Fine Arts Building studio or articulating custom spaces for her interior design clients. If you are in Chicago, Tiffany hosts open studios there once a month, The next one is this Friday right before Valentine’s Day in Studio 632F, where Gholar will have more bracelets and you can also purchase $20 mini paintings or collages.
But you don’t have to be in Chicago to own a piece from this local star. Visit Mixed Media Art Design on Etsy.
Little recyclable pouches of yummy… hair products? Yep.
Everyone, and the planet, will thank you after you bless them with a full-sized or mini Ecoslay offering. CEO Adria Marshall founded her brand nearly accidentally. Her exhausted search for toxic-free hair care and expensive pile of fails sent her to her Down South kitchen to make her own products. Marshall’s past life in tech and mom life raising three prepared her for the challenge to take this practice from hobby to sustainable brand with 30 global retailers. Today, Ecoslay is a Georgia-based lighthouse employing the unhoused and others on the margins to farm, harvest and hand-make preservative-free shampoos, conditioners, and styling potions.
These plant-based offerings are great for those looking to peel back on products that hurt our environment, as a sustainable switch for natural beauty enthusiasts. After a bestselling holiday season, Ecoslay readies for a knockout 2026 with its “Little Things, Big Love” launch: Valentine’s Day mini product launch designed for intentional self-care, smart shopping and sustainability – not overconsumption.
After hearing repeated requests from its community, Ecoslay is introducing 2oz refillable sizes of some of its most-loved hair care products, giving shoppers a lower-risk, higher-reward way to build a routine or gift something truly useful. These are only available for order until Saturday, February 14, so get yours today!
You cannot argue with 2 oz for $10 to sample a range of these products, including the Lemon Drop Styling Foam and the complete lineup of Silver Slay, specially formulated for silver and gray tresses. My favorite thusfar is the Amazon bestselling Orange Marmalade Curl Definer. Reviews call it a ‘one and done’ styler, the best conditioner for curls, and giving the best hold ever.
Frank talks, bff advice and cool stories for the 40+ woman? Sign me up.
Often the best gifts are attitude shifts, sister circle convos and experiences that can’t be bought or sold. Enter Felicia Pride, Founder of Honey Chile Entertainment—producing a popular newsletter, podcast, events, novellas and even short films.
Currently Los Angeles-based in her other life as a TV writer and showrunner of the A Different World reboot, Baltimore-born Pride sensed a void in media portrayals and attention to Black women aged 40+. She filled it.
Honey Chile began as a frank and humorous social media presence and newsletter in response to pandemic lockdowns. It really took off with her “Chile, Please” podcast launch in 2022, which nabbed her an NAACP Image Award nomination in 2023. Hosted with corporate strategist and co-producer Ivy Grant, hilarious episode titles like “Chile, You Better Sit Down Somewhere” and “Chile, Can I Get a Witness?” are just the bait. The switch is buoyant, safe space conversation about Black women in America, love, work and more including frequent special guests.
The “Yes, Chile” newsletter is free as an extension of podcast topics and brand news with curated opportunities from elsewhere, with the novella Come Close a hit for its modern-day love story set in Pride’s Baltimore hometown. And Honey Chile Entertainment’s first film “Look Back At It,” a genuinely laugh out loud comedy about a middle-aged mother getting her groove back, took the short film fest world by storm in 2023. Share Honey Chile’s media with Black and allied women over 40 plus shop its books and other merch HERE.
Find all these brands on Instagram at Ecoslay, Autumn Adeigbo, Tiffany Gholar, and Honey Chile Entertainment.
