Breaking Barriers: How Black Girl Digital is Championing Black Content Creators in a Biased Industry
If you missed the award show, you don’t want to miss the movement. This past Sunday, November 5th, Black Girl Digital, an influencer-marketing agency, hosted their 2nd Annual Award show, honoring some of our favorite social media personalities. While their aim to create space for these creators was powerful enough, it was the speech shared by CEO LaToya Shambo, that truly shook the room.
“White creators are evaluated by their potential, while black creators are evaluated based on their proof,” says Shambo as she expresses the significance behind the award ceremony.
Gorgeous women draped in gowns and dolled up in their best fashions, filled the midtown ballroom ready to receive and give flowers to their esteemed peers and fan-favorite creators. From 10-year-plus YouTubers to Viral Tik Tokers, a special brand of excellence was clear all throughout the room. Unfortunately, in the midst of all this talent, many of the creators had been long aware of the pay disparity between themselves and non-black creators who have similar or a lesser number of followers and engagement rates.
In 2021, a communications company, MSL, was able to verify these disparities through a study. The racial pay gap between white and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) influencers is 29%. This gap widens to 35% when comparing white and Black influencers specifically. This disparity is notably larger than pay gaps in many other industries.
The study advises that reasons for this include but are not limited to lack of pay transparency in the industry, more black creators than non-black creators taking up the nano-influencer space of 50K followers or less, and negative financial impacts for black creators who choose to speak on race on their platforms. Shambo, in her closing remarks, underscored the economic efficiencies these companies gain by utilizing creators over traditional advertising mediums like television and radio, arguing that fair compensation for creators should not be a contested issue. However, while an award ceremony can bring awareness to this problem, she emphasizes that it is up to creators and the agencies that represent them to do their part in standing up for the value of black women curated content.
With Atlanta being a hub for so many budding talents and seasoned creators, we’re a great place to start this effort. It is high time that creators stop settling and start speaking up. We are keeping a close eye on Black Girl Digital and can’t wait to see what we can do next to support.
