Cultivating love for black hair across multiple generations—that’s hopefully a positive sign of things to come. If popular media is any indication, promoting self-acceptance of black hair is gaining some serious ground. I caught up with Latashia to talk about the inspiration behind her books, what’s next for her growing company, and what life is like being a mompreneur.
Audiences may remember the animated short entitiled Hair Love by Matthew Cherry. That short took the Oscar at the 92nd Academy Awards earlier this year. And it’s currently being made into an extended animated series running on HBOMax. Side note— animator Carl Jones of Boondocks fame is also set to be attached to the series.
Meanwhile, Latashia Perry’s book series is all over YouTube—there are tons of channels featuring both teachers and kids reading her books aloud receiving thousands of views. And often Perry is not the only black children’s author to be featured.
All of this could be a sign that ethnic hair is becoming far more normalized. But the added element to all of this is of course supporting women and black-owned businesses. The nuances to this are distinct for every particular city and town. I encourage everyone to check out Latshia’s books and to keep an eye out for a bookmobile headed near you. Thanks as well to Adrian and James for sharing the heart and vision for Flint SOUP.
The relationships between emerging entrepreneurs and the organizations that support them can be truly transformational. That’s why coming up on the GigRoots podcast, we’ll look to feature more in-depth interviews like this one that can help provide multiple dimensions to the story of grassroots economics in America.
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