Meet the BeYOU Crew!

The BeYOU Crew is the epitome of girl goals in the 2000’s. They inspire, encourage, motivate, love and cherish their friendships. They are role models, thinkers, doers, leaders and shakers! They are who you want your Beautiful Brown Girlto look up to. They are not just the adorable characters you see on some of our products, they are the characters you can find in our publications (picture books, chapter books, magazines and more). The book series that I am in the process of developing launches in September 2021 following the relaunch of Summer in the City ( a book that I wrote in 2013) this coming July 2021. You see how I did that? I combined my first love- with my passion and purpose and bring to you the The BeYOUtiful Brown Girl Project – Featuring The BeYOU Crew Book Series– it is The Babysitter’s Club meets American Girl Doll meets Girl Scouts meets BLACK GIRL MAGIC! This is the series I wish I had growing up.

The original members  of the BeYOU Crew were a mixture of my nieces, Goddaughter and former students (who are like nieces). But then I had a thought. Wouldn't it be cool to introduce characters that celebrate and represent diversity of all types, not just through cultural differences but also through major social issues? Our first character Black Girl Magic was in celebration of the Black Lives Matter Movement. We wanted to have a character in direct response to all that occurred during the summer of 2020 - there was a major call for social justice and reform. Maybe the largest, most resounding call for change in my lifetime. I wanted to create a character that captured the inner revolutionary spirit that many Beautiful Brown Girls expressed through social media and other avenues- capturing my signature mantra: Dear Beautiful Brown Girl, You are Worthy, You are Powerful,  You are Important, You Matter. 

Then something amazing started to happen. I started to receive messages asking me about characters that I could include that would directly speak to a child experiencing some kind of personal challenge and/or obstacle. And with that, we developed a calendar of characters that would encompass these differences and become more inclusive of not just cultural and social differences but also physical differences as well. 

We have a few new characters launching this year, two of which speak to social and physical differences that many Beautiful Brown Girls may experience. 

The BEYOU Crew is a creative product of theBeYOUtiful Brown Girl Project (BBGP) that was born in 2017. TheBBGP is Dear Beautiful Brown Girl’s flagship initiative. It all started with a subscription box! I started the subscription box because I wanted to provide an authentic experience for girls – our quarterly box was a curated box filled with items designed to encourage and promote positive self-esteem and build cultural pride. I wanted every subscriber to feel special when they received their package in the mail –  I partnered with an amazing illustrator and graphic designer, Diona Murray ofDiona Nicole Design Studio, and she helped me to bring an amazing vision to life. We developed four characters in the likeness of my four oldest nieces:Roslyn, Reighan, Sommer and Marley. I created characters, giving them personality. I wanted the girls who came in contact with them to feel like they knew them. I wanted to embody what every little girl loves and feels. Being a teacher and an Auntie and of course a writer, this came to me naturally. And over time this concept grew into something bigger. First I added t-shirts, and buttons, enamel pins, and other accessories. But something was missing. This box, as cool as it was, was lacking in my opinion, a greater substance. The items were cute but I needed more than “cute”. So I stepped back to reflect. 

And then Diona reached out to me after a few months and brought up a project we discussed over a year ago. She said to me, “Are you ready to start the Summer in the City project?” And just like that – A LIGHTBULB WENT OFF! And that one email changed the trajectory of Dear Beautiful Brown Girl.

I wrote my first children’s book in 2013 – Summer in the City. This book was my first attempt to create representation through vivid storytelling. I LOVE that book. My sophomore publication was the first book in a chapter book series, Ziggie Tales: Ziggie’s Big Adventure. My plan was to immediately follow up with two additional chapter books but was in a car accident that left me immobile for several months. As I recovered from that accident, I was pulled in another creative direction and started a button business – that led to the subscription box- and eventually back to writing through Dear Beautiful Brown Girl. So – as we discussed the relaunch of Summer in the City, I decided that I wanted to use the characters from the BeYOUtiful Brown Girl Project. I knew it was time to introduce 4 new characters and as I developed these characters – The BeYOU Crew was born! I was told by my niece Chloe that it was about time she had her own character, so boom. She was one of the four. I also added Marley’s younger sisters, Tasya and Cori. And Danasia, our fourth character is a former student of mine that has become like my niece to me over the years.

In 2021 we have six new characters that will be added to the crew! Check back often to meet them! 

So why the BeYOU Crew? Why not? 

WE are on an amazing journey and want you to come along for the ride – get to know us, love us and grow with us! Be sure to subscribe to my email list to learn more about our projects and products – we are more than accessories and books – we also host programs and workshops, share educational resources and contribute to our communities through service projects and fundraisers.