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Friday, March 29, 2024

Q&A with Beverly Bond of Black Girls Rock

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DJ turned multi-sector dynamo Beverly Bond is one of the most admired trailblazers of our time. The most commendable aspect of Bond’s success is that she obtained it by uplifting and celebrating other women. Bond created the annual Black Girls Rock award show to highlight the accomplishments of remarkable women of color and formed a youth empowerment company by the same name. Black Girls Rock has earned an NAACP Image Award, and Bond’s accomplishments have been recognized in both Ebony and Essence magazines. 

Bond recently paid Indianapolis a visit to give a lecture as part of the Steward Speakers Series. In an exclusive interview with the Indianapolis Recorder, Bond shows us exactly why Black Girls Rock.

 

Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper: You have worn several different hats over the years. You have worked as a model, DJ, producer and you are soon to be an author, as well. Recently, the hashtag #BlackWomenAtWork really took off. What experiences have empowered your work?

Bond: Building Black Girls Rock has been challenging and incredible. Dare I say miraculous, purposeful and meaningful? I have embraced all of it and all of the challenges. I embraced financial challenges when trying to get off the ground; I embraced being shunned once I started. When I started Black Girls Rock, my DJ career plummeted and it’s really because the industry thought I was just a DJ. I would talk about issues that Black women face, and it was something that people coming from my position were not talking about in that way. It has been extremely rewarding to see the paradigm shift that has happened since I started. As much as I happen to be the messenger of this, all of us Black women have been at the forefront of changing this narrative.

 

I know that you are writing a Black Girls Rock book. Where did the idea to write a book come from? What are your hopes regarding how it will impact people?

This book is a multi-person narrative, and I interviewed a lot of women. I was going to interview 20 or 30 women, and I ended up with over 60. Like the awards show, it’s women from all walks of life sharing their story, their magic, their purpose and why they rock. It will be extremely inspiring to anyone who reads this book. It’s incredible. You reach out to people and think they are not going to be available (for an interview). Two of my surprising ones were Anita Hill and Angela Davis. That exchange was like church; it’s pushing me to another level and challenging me to push myself. 

 

Can you tell me about Black Girls Rock Africa?

We are starting with an awards show and expanding into our nonprofit work, as well. There are so many incredible women in Africa, and the reason I started was because it was so difficult to move people from Africa over here for a show. I was like, you know what, I will go to Africa, because there are so many women over there doing incredible things. It’s a pan-African show, so it’s not focusing on one country. 

 

To keep up with Bond and Black Girls Rock, visit blackgirlsrockinc.com. 

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