Zerina Akers has styled the most famous woman in the world (Beyoncé). She's won an Emmy (for her work on Black Is King, Beyoncé's extraordinary visual album). And she's also the proud founder of Black Owned Everything. What started as a page on Instagram, which she began populating in June 2020, quickly snowballed into a shopping platform and a dedicated space where the new vanguard of Black talent - designers like Kingsley Gbadegesin, Sergio Hudson and Brandon Blackwood - was being championed.
Looking back to 2020, Akers remembers a lot of big brands being called out over their behaviour as the fashion industry entered its own reckoning. 'There was a lot of unrest happening in America. And there was a lot of attention drawn to cancel culture, you know, calling out these big brands. At some point, I ended up on a call of, like, 50 Black people working in fashion. I just thought is this what we're doing? What if we spent a percentage of this energy into actually uplifting our own creators?'
And that's exactly what she did. Black Owned Everything now has more than 300,000 followers - and has partnered with Google, Jingle Jangle, a children's film on Netflix, The Chi, a drama series created by Lena Waithe, and Nordstrom. Despite its very early success - 'It just spread like wildfire,' remembers Akers - she always wanted it to be bigger than just Instagram. 'It's been a bit of an uphill battle, I think, because it's not a site that has funding, you know, venture capitalist stuff. So how do we continue to do the work?' Along with technical glitches as part of the plan to turn the page into a marketplace, and an ambition to weave editorial content into the offering so that it becomes a media hub in its own right, Akers is also incredibly busy and working with a small team. What she anticipated from the start, however, was that the movement needed to have longevity. Black Owned Everything's tagline is: 'For when the trend is over.' She thinks back to 2020. 'At the time, it was everyone posting these black squares. And I still think that it can be a bit of a 'trending' move. A lot of people aren't really doing long-term work. You know, it's like, what models can we use? Or what short-term partnerships can we do? But the boards are still the same.' There have, however, been positive changes. 'The fact that it is a conversation. I think has widely changed and has been recognised as a necessary part of business.'
Black Owned Everything speaks to a more sustainable approach to consumption that prizes something that's well-made and even artisanal. 'You can come to the site and find things that are special and collectible. Why not buy a bigger brand? At some point, everyone's selling the same thing in different colorways, you know?' She pauses before listing her current favourites, one of which is Sarah Diouf's Tongoro. 'I feel like she makes things that really make women feel beautiful, you know, of all sizes. I mean, it captivates the room when you wear it. It really does. Not enough people wear her.'
Captivating the room has always appealed to Akers, who grew up in Maryland. The fashion scene in her formative years was 'extremely competitive'. 'I remember walking into high school on the first day of freshman [year] with an outfit that Destiny's Child wore. I knew that my high school career was off to a good start,' she laughs, adding that she had started to design her own clothes out of a desire to look different, which culminated in an end of year fashion show of 70 pieces. 'Everyone loved it.'
After switching from fashion design to marketing, and interning at W Magazine, she knew she wasn't cut out for a traditional 9-5. 'I wanted to, in the end, be in business for myself. But I didn't quite know how that would happen necessarily.' And although she's kept in touch with her high school teachers, and considers June Hayes, who at one time was the senior vice president of retail at Valentino, as a mentor, she's also a self-starter. 'I was always really hungry. There were people to help me along the way. But I also had it instilled in me to actually go out there and get it. Someone can hold open the door for you but they can't go go through it and pull you in as well.'
Akers, as well as Black Owned Everything, has several projects in the pipeline. But for now, she's doing something she doesn't usually do, which is to slow down. 'I'm constantly, you know, getting uncomfortable and pushing myself into new spaces. I feel like this year, I was able to slow down a bit, which was nice, and really prioritise myself.