SJGC alumna Taylar Barrington featured in Essence Magazine, advocates for Black influencers

A tumultuous summer of racial unrest prompted by the deaths of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and more, ignited Taylar Barrington-Booker to create an influencer management company that advocates for Black creators. 

As founder and head of partnerships of Agency Cliquish, Barrington-Booker is making waves within the influencer marketing industry.

The 2011 FAMU School of Journalism & Graphic Communication (SJGC or also known as “J-School”), alumna was recently featured in Essence Magazine for her agency’s work in securing equitable pay and opportunities for Black influencers. This marks the second time she’s been spotlighted in the national publication.

“It’s truly an honor,” Barrington-Booker says of being featured in Essence. 

 “I remember being in J-School on a Saturday morning when nobody was there editing photos for Essence Magazine,” she says, reminiscing of her internship with the publication. “Then being featured in it is truly just a full circle moment. It really brings me to tears.” 

After being inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Barrington-Booker launched Agency Cliquish in 2021. Through negotiating brand deals and partnerships, the agency empowers Black creators by assisting them in “overcoming obstacles and effortlessly reaching their aspirations, while fighting for fair compensation and brand accountability.”

In the marketing and advertising realm, companies utilize influencers for increased visibility to sell their products and services. 

“I wanted to use my business acumen and how I saw the world to be able to influence the creatives in this space. I decided to niche down.” 

Her industry insights and proximity to creators gave her a “strong 360 understanding” of the journey and unique challenges Black influencers faced within their careers. 

“I got to have a lot of transparent conversations about what issues they were facing, especially Black influencers, and understanding the lack of guidance, information, equitable pay, inclusion, and opportunities,” she said. “Knowing the skillset that I had, I felt like I was doing a disservice not moving into this space.”

In what was called a “summer of racial reckoning,” brands rushed to diversify their campaigns in efforts to appear to stand in solidarity with the social, economic, and political movement. 

A 2021 study led by the public relations firm, MSL, in partnership with The Influencer League, revealed that the racial pay gap between white and Black influencers is 35%.  

“Other things we were seeing was performative diversity,” she says. “Brands would include Black talent in a way that checked a box, but wasn’t necessarily inclusive, thoughtful or equitable in some ways.” 

Another aspect of the Agency Cliquish is holding brands accountable as they navigate, for some of them, new relationships with Black talent.

“A lot of what happens in this space is people hire people they know,” she says. “Being able to have a partner like us helps them gain visibility to thought leaders in our space and the verticals they’re looking to cast in.” 

Barrington-Booker says she’s had many proud moments since the agency’s launch, like surpassing their first $1 million in partnership deals, developing a talent roster with a reach of nearly nine million, collaborating with other FAMU alumni for their digital launch on Juneteenth, and ushering in a new generation of Black wealth “through our own creative currency.”

“Now I’m able to do that advocacy every day to make sure they’re included, seen, compensated fairly,” she says.

Barrington-Booker credits much of her career success to the education and experiences she had at FAMU and within SJGC.

“I felt like when I got to school I was completely lost with what my trajectory looked like until I found J-School,” she says. “I walked in and had this experience of ‘this is where I’m supposed to be.’”

She spent time within the theater and business programs, respectively, before landing at SJGC. 

Drawn to the many opportunities available at SJGC, she became a graphic communication major. As she completed courses, she became exposed to the public relations and journalism industries. 

Outside of the classroom, Barrington-Booker was deeply involved in the student media outlets and held editor positions with The Famuan and Journey Magazine. She also interned with Essence, Ebony, and was also one of four students selected to travel to Washington, D.C to cover Barack Obama’s presidential election in 2008.

Her legacy on the Hill transcends the walls of SJGC. She’s a third generation FAMU alumni, served as the 2011 Queen of Orange and Green, and is also a graduate of the School of Business and Industry’s MBA program.

“When I think about the trajectory of my career, J-School did a couple of things,” she says. “It allowed me to not feel fear when it came to doing things outside of my comfort zone. All of the internships, connections and people that I knew within the industry really set me up for success on the front end of my career,” she says. 

She credits former SJGC professors like Dr. Yenela Gordon and Laura Downey for helping her ensure she had a job upon graduation. She worked with Gannett with the The Tennessean, taught graphic communication skills to high school students with special needs. After teaching, she transitioned into entrepreneurship. 

Farmers see unexpected surge in business from COVID-19

Meat, dairy, and produce have been hard to come by as people continue to stay indoors amid the COVID-19 outbreak. As a result, people have been turning directly to their local farmers for support. The surge in demand has some operations wondering how they will sustain the unexpected changes.

 “For small farmers, everything has pretty much exploded,” said Betsy Brown of Longview Farms in Havana, Florida. “We’ve had to adapt quickly.” 

 Brown said that her family farm started selling through an online market for local farmers and opened a contactless drive through “store” to help supplement the demand for fresh meat and produce from Tallahassee-area customers.

 The farm sold out of 100 chickens within 12 hours, and ground beef sales skyrocketed during mid-April as meat departments in traditional stores lay barren and shutdowns were enforced. Before the virus, it was considered an “exceptional week” if farmers made $7,000 to $10,000 through the online market.

 Two weeks after Florida announced statewide closings, the market’s profits jumped to more than $36,000 and had to limit the site to only 400 shoppers.

 The influx of new customers seeking groceries like chicken, beef, and eggs forced the items to sell out quickly, causing a contentious relationship with Longview’s older supporters.

 “It’s been a real transition because the people who have been very faithful used to be able to call or text me and ask if I could set aside two dozen eggs,” Brown said. “But I just can’t do it anymore.”

Between overseeing the online store, managing email subscribers, running the farm with her husband, and packaging orders for pickup, Brown said she’s overwhelmed with the sudden demand. It’s also stressful knowing that the farm can’t feed everyone, as the looming Florida heat threatens the survival rate of the chickens.

 There’s a mix of emotions as small farmers continue to fuel their communities while their own needs go unmet. Brown said that she hasn’t been able to hug her children or significant others in nearly six weeks.

 “It’s been a very stressful time,” Brown said. “{We’re} to figure out how to feed everybody.”

 She’s stuck between feeding customers and reserving enough food for her family, including her nine-month pregnant daughter whose family is having difficulty finding groceries near their Nashville home.

 Brown’s biggest fear? Contracting the virus and not being able to support her daughter and new grandchild.

 The effects of COVID-19 isn’t just limited to farms in Florida. Common Good City Farm in DC is also grappling with limited staff, funding, and having to meet the surging demands of their communities.

 “A lot more people need food that didn’t need it before,” said Sam Wetzel, director of Common Good City Farm. “Or at least need food that they can access at a free or low-cost price.”

 The combination of empty grocery store shelves and a surging unemployment rate has cash-strapped households across the city searching for new sources of food.

 “We’re hearing from all of the food assistance organizations that they’re maxed out at their capacity to distribute food to folks who need it,” said Wetzel.  “We expect that that’s only going to get worse as this situation goes on longer and people exhaust their savings.”

 Perhaps one of the biggest hits for the nonprofit farm comes from the cancellation of large volunteer groups. Instead of having an average group size of 15 volunteers to help with planting, weeding, or composting, social distancing guidelines have limited them to a maximum of four people.

 “We didn’t have enough volunteer support as we were hoping for,” said Josephine Chu, program director at Common Good City Farm. “We didn’t have enough time to turn over the beds as quickly to get some of the spring crops planted.”

 The farm, located in LeDroit Park, grows about 6,000 pounds of produce annually and served more than 1,000 people in 2017. Their crops sustain more than 75 people at the weekly farmer’s market, supports their community supported agriculture (CSA) program, and supplies a few local restaurants.

 They even started a free produce distribution program in mid-March as apart of St. George’s Episcopal Church Kwanzaa Kitchen program.

 However, the uncertainty of funding could put these programs in jeopardy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture rolled out the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to give farmers a way to recuperate from losses dating back to January 2020. The program promised $16 billion in direct payment to farmers and $3 billion to purchase fresh produce, milk, and meat from regional suppliers, according to the USDA.

 Despite this, it is unclear who is actually eligible for these funds, how much each farm would receive, or when the benefits will be disbursed.

 “We’re really not expecting to see a lot of that, or any,” said Wetzel, in relation to the stimulus package. “We’re really afraid that our funders won’t come through for us.”

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Here's the Scoop! serves up more than ice cream

Donned in a black t-shirt and jeans, Karin Sellers proudly digs into a tub of strawberry ice cream as she stands behind the counter of Here’s the Scoop!, an ice-cream parlor she opened on Georgia Avenue this past summer. The shop, she says, is her small part in helping to restore community and love to a once vibrant neighborhood that’s fallen on hard times.

 From the looks on her customers’ faces, she’s been very successful. She carries on small talk with one as she creates his frozen treat. Smiling, the man strolls out of the store, looking down at his milkshake and container of bread pudding.  

Sellers is smiling too, but possibly for a different reason. Maybe it’s because she has a customer on a quiet Monday afternoon, or it could be because serving up ice cream to the Pleasant Plains community is a dream 15 years in the making. 

“I was thinking that it was something that was needed on Georgia Avenue because of the way the community was at that time,” says Sellers . “We didn’t have many family-friendly, enjoyable destinations.” 

Even without culinary experience, Sellers is no stranger to an entrepreneurial mindset. Her parents owned the building where Here’s The Scoop! resides, and used to operate a laundromat out of the location in the 1980s. They later allowed Sellers to use part of space to open a hair salon.

While her dream of opening an ice cream store started to materialize, there were doubts about the viability of the shop. She was a cosmetologist by trade and didn’t have commercial baking experience. The only experience she had with ice cream was eating it. It was also challenging to find enough capital to cover the costs of renovations and other expenses of establishing a new business.  

These challenges may have deterred others, but Sellers says she was fueled by the desire to change her career path and to find a new way to bring joy to customers in the neighborhood. And who doesn’t like ice cream?

“Hand-dipped ice cream wasn’t accessible along this corridor,” she says. “I felt that through ice cream and desserts that people can’t really be anything but happy when experiencing that.”

Her luck started to change once she received $50,000 last year from the District’s Great Streets program, a grant initiative offered through the city for new business owners in certain neighborhoods. 

She drew inspiration from the clientele at the beauty salon, who were primarily bakers or businesswomen and who pushed her to take the idea of opening the establishment seriously. 

 Sellers said that she was “surrounded by a wealth of talents,” and wanted to support her salon regulars by giving them an opportunity to sell their baked goods regularly instead of just during the holiday season.   Sellers began researching how to make her dream a reality in 2005 but didn’t start to invest in the idea until almost two years ago. 

Since opening in June, news of Here’s the Scoop! circulated by word-of-mouth and social media. As a result, the store has built a successful following in the community and has attracted a wide array of patrons.  

For some, its assortment of cookies, cakes, and other treats draws them in, but it’s the convivial atmosphere and wanting to support of a black-owned business that makes them want to stay. 

Such is the case for Tayah Powell, a Howard University sophomore who felt compelled to support the business after learning on Twitter that it was black-owned.  

“D.C. is Chocolate City and D.C. is the epitome of black,” Powell said. “It’s really nice to be able to visit what I would imagine D.C.’s roots to be.”  

A quick visit to the store on a Tuesday evening means more to Powell than just grabbing a scoop of butter pecan ice cream. It means contributing to the success of a black-owned business in a city that has experienced widespread gentrification and demographic shifts. 

In 1980, 70% of DC's population was black, but dwindled to nearly 47% by 2017, according to data from the Urban Institute and the U.S. Census Bureau. The combination of lower property values and skyrocketing housing costs in black neighborhoods forced long term residents out, giving way for developers and more white, affluent neighbors to move in. 

“I was too unlucky to get here when D.C. was actually predominantly black, so any part I can do on supporting whatever black endeavors I can, I try my best to,” said Powell. 

Here’s the Scoop! is also marking its place in history by being the first black woman- owned ice cream shop in the area. Sellers said that the shop has also become a source of pride for the community amidst the changes occurring in the neighborhood. 

Nestled in between Harvard Street and Gresham Place on Georgia Avenue, Sellers said she wanted her store to be a family-friendly establishment and promote a sense of community. Her observations of liquor stores and violent events along the avenue spurred the thought of opening a dessert shop, simply because she wanted to “serve something to make them smile.”

This goal seems to be easily achieved as a mix Howard University students and local families can be heard chattering from the patio on a warm summer night.  

Perhaps it’s the pink and yellow walls, containers of rainbow sprinkles lined atop the ice cream cooler, or the inviting personality of Sellers that offers a relief to the ambulance sirens, boarded up buildings, and bouts of crime that plague the corridor.

 But as much as the community supports her new venture, it seems as if the 48-year-old D.C. native returns the favor with ease. Many of the employees are local students, and the store also serves as a place for other entrepreneurs to showcase their goods. 

 Sellers made it a mission to give back to the city that raised her. She’s made it personal, too, donating half of the proceeds of ice cream sales one day to an employee who had trouble securing funding for tuition.

 Jackie Lassey is that student, an 18-year-old aspiring journalist and a freshman at the University of the District of Columbia. She calls Sellers a “mother-figure” and is inspired by her way of creating bonds with customers.

 “I really appreciate her, and I’m grateful for everything that she’s done for me,” Lassey said. “Especially for someone she’s only known for a few months.”

 She said that working at the store and its family-oriented environment has helped improve her public speaking skills and “come out of her shell.” 

 In between making waffle cones and helping students further their education, it’s clear that Karin Sellers and Here’s the Scoop! is serving up a little bit more than just ice cream.

Black farmers are filling food voids

America has a long history of farming, but Black farmers hold a special place in this story.

90-year-old Curtis Bennett said his grandparents taught him how to farm, and he kept up the tradition.

“They gave you a little spot and that was your’s to plant whatever you want, and that’s your own little garden,” he said. “When I grew older and had children, they also had a spot that they considered their garden.”

But it hasn’t always been so simple. The future of Black farmers has remained in limbo for several decades as they struggled for land ownership and federal assistance. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights predicted that they would cease to exist by 2000, on the account of Black farmers losing their land three times the rate of other groups.

Even with smaller numbers, they’ve seemed to beat the odds and are back on the rise. There were nearly 45,000 Black farmers in 2012, which was a 12 percent increase from 2007, according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture.

The decline in black farming could have serious implications. For some neighborhoods plagued with being in a food desert, local farmers tend to be the primary sources of fresh produce.

"You give away what you can because there was a time when I used to have lots of food that we couldn’t eat for ourselves,” Bennett said. “We would give to our neighbors and anyone that could use it.”

But these issues run deeper than not having access to spinach and grapes. Some Black farmers say they have faced decades of discrimination from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“A lot of farmers that I hear of losing their land, they’re being bullied off of their land,” Mosadi Rondell Pooler, owner of Rooted and Sustained, said. “But also a lot of their children and grandchildren aren’t interested in farming, so those two things coupled together, it’s going to be a decline.”

This has lead to a 14 million acre loss for farmers since the end of the Civil War. Pooler believes this is why land ownership is more important than ever.

“If you don’t have land, you don’t really have anything for your family to own,” he said. “You don’t have anything for your family to own, then you’re not really going to have anything to build a nation.”

The resurgence of farmers and land ownership for agriculture is especially important in Wards 7 and 8, where more than half of the city’s food deserts are located, according to the D.C. Policy Center.

It wasn’t always this way. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968 sparked a 4-day riot where thousands of businesses were set ablaze and rioted in the district. Grocery stores were destroyed and were never rebuilt. Now big box grocery stores, like Walmart, are hesitant to open in these areas due to high crime.

This video project showcases how a church in southeast Washington D.C. is helping to promote food sovereignty and justice in a major food desert.

Usher, Jay-Z Invest In Arlington-based Food Delivery Service

Musicians Jay-Z and Usher are now investors in a Virginia food delivery company.

On Tuesday, Hungry, which is based in Arlington and offers food from independent chefs, announced it had raised $8 million with the help of celebrity backers like the musicians. The company has raised a total of $12.5 million since its launch in 2016.

Company founders Eman and Shy Pahvelani say they grew tired of ordering unhealthy food for office meetings and wanted fresher options. That’s why they launched Hungry.

Jeff Grass, the company’s chief executive, said Hungry was “very fortunate” during its first round of fundraising, which surpassed its initial goal of $4 to 5 million. The startup is among the first ventures supported by Jay-Z’s firm, Marcy Venture Partners.

Grass said the money raised will help Hungry expand along the East Coast while improving its digital infrastructure.

“The expectations have gone up quite a bit, so we really do need to execute well to help take Hungry to the next level,” he said.

Hungry currently operates in D.C. and Philadelphia, and approximately 60 chefs from the region have signed on with the platform. In preparation for next month’s launch in Atlanta, Hungry began researching shared kitchen spaces for their chefs.

When they made a call to J’s Kitchen, a food incubator run by Jonetta Patton in Georgia, they had no clue it would be Usher’s mom answering the phone.

“The synergy between Hungry and J’s Kitchen was just a match made in heaven,” Patton told WAMU.

Chefs are required to prepare food out of licensed, commercial kitchens by law. Food incubators, like the one run by Patton, provide the space and business development advice for professional cooks. Pahlevani said the relationships are mutually beneficial.

“We partner with these kitchens and it’s a really good relationship,” Pahlevani said. “They’re providing where they work, and we provide the sales, marketing and get the chef’s name out there.”

Renting space in shared kitchens also provides flexibility for chefs to create their own schedules, showcase their best meals to clients, and according to Grass, earn up to $30,000 per month.

How hard was it for Patton to convince her Grammy-award-winning son to invest in the startup? She said it “wasn’t a hard sell at all.”