TikTok Unveils Power List, Initiatives for Black History Month (Exclusive)

TikTok’s celebration of Black History Month this year includes its annual Visionary Voices list spotlighting Black creators as well as a number of in-app and in-real-life programs.

A #BlackTikTok hub in the app will feature stories, livestreams and music from Black creators, businesses and nonprofits, such as Black Girl Ventures, which last year received a $1 million investment from the platform. This year, the two are teaming up to launch the Black Girl Ventures Innovate Together TikTok Grant Program, which will award U.S.-based beauty and lifestyle entrepreneurs and content creators out of a grant pool of $50,000. Applications are open starting today.

In addition, for the first time, TikTok users will be able to #ShopBlack in the app, where Black-owned businesses and creators who use the TikTok Shop Affiliate program, such as @patmcgrathreal, @topicals, @iamstormisteele, @forvrmood, @byamicole, @sooslick, @lysbeautyofficial and @sorellafashion, will be featured.

The company will also be bringing its programming into the real world, with a Visionary Voices Black Hollywood Brunch in Los Angeles, as well as partnering with Paramount to host advanced screenings of the studio’s upcoming biopic Bob Marley: One Love for Black TikTokers in L.A. and Atlanta.

The creators on TikTok’s Visionary Voices list (see below) will also be seen in theaters. Thanks to the platform’s Out of Phone: Cinema partnership with Screenvision Media, the Visionary Voices will be spotlighted during Screenvision’s Front + Center onscreen preshow before showtimes across the company’s 1,500 theaters nationwide.

“We’re proud to recognize and celebrate the trendsetting impact of #BlackTikTok with this year’s Visionary Voices list,” TikTok global head of diversity and inclusion communications Shavone Charles said in a statement. “Year-round, we’re dedicated to amplifying the visionary Black voices and creators who continue to shape industries and make Black history.”

The 2024 #BlackTikTok Visionary Voices are:

Creators

@aliyahsinterlude

@accessbytay

@misswondroussoul

@nyane

@onestopchop

Industry Disruptors

@victoriamonet

@cocojones

@doctor.darien

@igobylu

@jordan_the_stallion8

Small-Owned Businesses

@lorvaeeyewear

@pochigoods

@realmcandles.ca

@theskincarebakery

@topicals

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