Print in a Digital Age: Isha Gaye on Reconnecting Africa and the Diaspora (S9,E10)

In this week's episode, Isha Gaye shares her journey from aspiring lawyer to founder and CEO of Afrique Noire Magazine, a print publication celebrating African creativity and connecting the diaspora to the continent. 

As a 2020 college graduate, nothing unfolded as planned for Isha and so lockdown forced her to reflect on her true wishes for her own future. Isha has always known that she wanted to stay connected to the African continent and to bridge the gap between the continent and the diaspora. That's when she came up with the idea for the Afrique Noire social media platform, which evolved into a recently launched print and digital publication. The magazine fosters dialogue by showcasing African designers, artists, and visionaries. 

Here is a summary of the main topics in our conversation:

• Founded to address the disconnect between African immigrants and Black Americans in the US
• Launched as a social media platform before evolving into a print magazine by popular demand
• Publishes three times annually with a focus on sustainability, inclusivity, and traditional arts
• Self-funded with a creative fund that supports featured artists' projects
• Designed as an art piece meant to be kept and shared rather than quickly consumed
• Creating "Afrique Noire Edits," an e-commerce platform launching soon for African creatives to sell their work
• Committed to never charging creatives to be featured in the publication
• Deeply personal connection to African heritage despite 15 years of separation from her homeland

Isha Gaye also talks about how she's managing her newfound role as an entrepreneur and the leader of an organization. She also speaks more about her mentors and the family dynamics that have led her down this path. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Creating Afrique Noire to Bridge Gaps
• 12:51 From Economics to Creative Publishing
• 19:52 Why Launch a Print Magazine Today?
• 25:41 Building a Publication with Purpose
• 32:39 Sustainability and Inclusivity in African Creativity
• 38:38 Leadership and Personal Connection to Africa

Transcript

Isha Gaye: 0:03

internally, there was this like issue that I saw between, like my black friends and my african friends, and I kind of found myself in the middle because I feel like I grew up in the states for the most part of my life but I still really felt connected to my culture, spoke my language, but I also felt very americanized and so afric. Actually, I created it to bridge that gap.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 0:26

Hello and welcome to Shades and Layers. I'm your host, Kutloano Skosa na Ricci. Today, my guest is Isha Gaye, founder and CEO of a recently launched publication called Afrique Noire Magazine. Yes, it is a print magazine with a mission to drive a different conversation about the African continent and celebrate its creativity. It's a celebration of designers, artists and visionaries who are reshaping the narrative about the African continent. Isha and her team have centered issues like sustainability, inclusion, human rights and respect for traditional arts and craft. Afrique Noire magazine is available in digital format, but I was curious about launching a print magazine in the age of digital, so I had to sit down with Isha and get a look behind the scenes and also find out more about the person behind this project. Here is Isha story.

Isha Gaye: 1:22

My name is Isha, Isha Gaye. I am the founder of Afrique Noire magazine. Afrique Noire came into, I guess, fruition about two years ago, but it was always something that I had grappled with. I didn't really know exactly how I wanted it to, what I wanted to create, but I knew that I wanted to create something. I did not anticipate that it would be a magazine. I honestly don't. I for the longest time I didn't really consider myself a creative person, somebody that very much. I was into my books. I was, you know, studying economics in uni. I wanted to go to law school, so I was never really introduced to. I don't even know how to draw the sun, for example, so I was never really introduced to. I don't even know how to draw the sun, for example.

Isha Gaye: 2:05

So I was never really introduced to anything creative. I didn't draw when I was younger. My father was very into your books, just read. So that was something that I did. But I did realize through reading a lot. I did have a very active imagination.

Isha Gaye: 2:21

I always had all of these ideas about what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to work in the African space, but in my mind, you know, I kind of created this trajectory of I would go to law school, I'd work in international human rights law. That was what I thought I wanted to do, and when I graduated university it was during the pandemic, so I was a 2020 grad. So I didn't get a graduation yes, it was interesting.

Isha Gaye: 2:49

Yeah, yeah, what a strange time, yeah yes, very strange, but I think, like most people, was a time of introspection. So I was able to move back home and during that time nothing was going on right. Like the job offer that I had was rescinded. I kind of felt lost. So I was studying, I had studied for the LSAT, I took the LSAT and I just didn't know what to do.

Isha Gaye: 3:14

And I have a very intentional and spiritual aunt who raised me when I moved to the US and she always asked me why do you want to be a lawyer? And I never had an answer for her. I didn't, you know, I just I would just. So I was like, because I do, or I, you know. There were very surface level answers and I actually realized, even when I was applying for law school, as I started doing these questions and you know it's very rigorous, so they want to make sure that you're going there for the right reasons and I, so they want to make sure that you're going there for the right reasons, of course.

Isha Gaye: 3:45

Of course I couldn't for the life of me figure out what to say, and so I was like, ok, maybe I just need to be honest with myself and just, you know, take a gap year and see what it is that I want to do. And during that gap year I realized that I didn't want to go to law school. You can imagine, yay, auntie. I know she was very, very happy about that. She was like I knew you didn't want to go, but it just seemed. You know, it seemed like the path.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 4:11

But it's the traditional path that you take as an immigrant, for example.

Isha Gaye: 4:16

Exactly, and I think it was either doctor, lawyer, engineer, absolutely so. I think that's just where I found myself and during that time I was, you know, doing a lot of reading, a lot of exploring just Africa, the diaspora, really reading literature. That I felt was just really fascinating. And I think, growing up in the US, something that I realized was this gap between people in the diaspora and people back home.

Isha Gaye: 4:47

I think something that was clear was that, historically, black Americans are marginalized. When we moved to the US as immigrants, we are also marginalized. Right, they don't say you're African, you're Black, we're all lumped into the same category. But internally there was this like issue that I saw between, like my Black friends and my African friends, and I kind of found myself in the middle because I feel like I grew up in the States for the most part of my life but I still really felt connected to my culture, spoke my language, but I also felt very Americanized. And so Afrique Noire actually I created it to bridge that gap between the diaspora and back home and it's Africa and showcase the, you know, different creatives and have these conversations amongst each other. We have current day events. We have, you know, the beautiful, beautiful creatives and artists that are on the continent and the goal was really to bring them on a global stage, to change the narrative of what people felt.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 6:13

About the African continent. This is you translating Africa to the American side. So how?

Isha Gaye: 6:22

are you fostering the echo from this side to the other side? Yeah, I mean, in the beginning I was very intentional, so I knew who my audience was, and my audience was the diaspora to begin. So I so I guess it was twofold the art was coming from Africa and the creatives were coming from Africa, but the audience was the diaspora. So that was what that's how I began. So it was interesting to see the feedback, like people like I didn't know that. Oh, this is so interesting. We have something similar in Haiti, or we have something similar in Brazil and you know, brazil has a huge population of Blacks, and so just that link and constant and, as the page started to evolve, just seeing how interested people were because they don't teach this in school and you know, I schooled here for the better part of my life and you know the things that we learn about Africa is it's just sad.

Isha Gaye: 7:14

You know it's sad and it's wrong, you know, so it's just. It makes me. I think I have empathy for the lack of understanding and there's no anger there, I think sometimes, you know, people get angry. Why do they view us this way? Well, this is what we were talking about. No, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, I have school going children in the.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 7:33

American system and you know I have to drum into them African capitals.

Isha Gaye: 7:41

I love that you're doing that. I love that you're doing that.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 7:45

Yeah, it's an important connection to make, but let's you know, going back to Afrique Noire, why a magazine? Why do you think it's? You know a magazine, not you know a YouTube channel or?

Isha Gaye: 7:57

whatever you know travel channel.

Isha Gaye: 8:01

You know, I think the way that I see it in the work that I do, I try to be forward thinking, I do and I try to be pragmatic. So, yes, I did recognize that nobody was reading magazines anymore, but I also I'm chronically online, unfortunately so I feel like I also saw this wave of people who wanted tangible things, who wanted to connect with art in a different way than how we connect with it now on the screen. So, even if everybody wasn't my target audience, there was the audience there that wanted to feel what they were reading.

Isha Gaye: 8:37

Like the people that read hardcover books, right, like, I still read books. I have my Kindle, exactly. You know, and I did see this. You know, and I'm still seeing it there's this wave of people who almost want to regress back into that age where we were physically holding things and physically having things, because I feel, like the internet and social media and all of these things, it's a great way to connect, but it also, I think, takes away that intimacy behind a lot of things, and so I wanted people to see it digitally. So the magazine is available digitally, but also will be available physically. I wanted people to buy it, I wanted them to feel it, I wanted them to really see it and the way that it's designed. It's designed for longevity. So I want it. You know, you can put it on your table. People come. I want them. So I just felt like that was the best way to really showcase this art, not just. You know our social media. You see all the beautiful photos there.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 9:33

Yeah, then it's grown within and it's gone.

Isha Gaye: 9:36

Yeah, within seconds. So that was really the idea behind that. It was I wanted. I wanted something that felt real.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 9:42

It's kind of like a record, yeah, physical record. Yeah, I hear you. And what's the response been to the printed copy?

Isha Gaye: 9:52

It's been great. I mean, from the beginning, that was the request. Actually, many people were like can I get this in print, can I get this in print? So we continue to build in print, so we'll have the magazines that are released in print and then we're also working on a coffee table book that will be more hardcover, bigger and also feature more creative. So it was from the beginning. So many people were interested in print. Actually, it was funny. I thought more people would want it digitally but, like I said from the beginning, our audience, which is mainly in the diaspora, they all want it in print. So we are still trying to meet the demands.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 10:30

So are all your contributors from the African continent About 95% of them.

Isha Gaye: 10:36

And then we also have, like a poetry and creative writing section of the magazine and those we explored, different creatives that were from the diaspora but had African heritage.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 10:46

Great, that's fantastic. And what's your planned frequency of publication?

Isha Gaye: 10:52

Yeah, so right now we're going three times a year with the potential of a seasonal or extra issue. So my team and I were doing three times a year for now. Eventually I'd love for it to be four times a year, as we get more subscribers, as it becomes necessary. But I also want to be intentional, not just overproduce.

Isha Gaye: 11:12

I want people to really sit with the issue that they have. I mean, it's very it's not just photos, right. Like we do the research, we talk to these creatives so you really get to see their stories on the magazine. So I wanted people to actually sit with it and read through it.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 11:27

Read it again. Sure yeah.

Isha Gaye: 11:30

Yeah, before we come out with, you know, here's more. I think that's just the pace that people are used to with social media. It's next more, next more, yeah, what's next. It's like we just posted this, what's next? So I, I, I want it to, you know, be more sustainable. I want to slow it down. So, even with this issue, this year we'll only because it's our first year, we're only releasing two issues and that's because I really wanted people to sit with this very first issue, because we spent eight months creating it.

Isha Gaye: 11:59

I was like, if we spent eight months creating it, we're not going to release something right after. So that, yeah, so we'll release another issue in the fall and then potentially another one before the year is over, if we have the capacity or if we feel there's a need to, and then next year we'll start with the three um a year need to.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 12:25

And then next year we'll start with the three year. Hey, it's Shades and Layers, and I'm talking to the founder of a new print publication called Afrique Noire, Isha Gaye. She is originally from the Gambia and is now on a mission to connect the diaspora to the African continent through storytelling and sharing African creativity. Up next we get into the nitty-gritty of how the magazine was created, financed and various aspects that have resulted in something beautiful enough to want to keep and to share. So let's get behind the scenes. You come up with this idea for a magazine. What does your research process look like? Your outreach? You know? How did you go about creating?

Isha Gaye: 13:08

it totally. I mean, when I first started, I knew that I needed a platform first, prior to launching the magazine. So the goal was always to have a magazine. But I created the social media page first and that was my way of reaching out to creatives on the continent. So in the beginning I was the one I was just like sending out, you know, dms, like I really like the work that you're doing. Is it okay if I post it on my page? Would you like to sit down for an interview? Can I learn more about the work that you're doing? And so it started like that.

Isha Gaye: 13:36

So gradually, you know, went from five, 10, 15, and then people started reaching out to me and I think that's when I realized, okay, I think I need some help. Yeah, to be very intentional about making sure that there was still that representation and that voice from people that were living actively in the continent. So I didn't want it just to be my ideas and the way that I saw things. So from the beginning, I knew that I would create a team. I just didn't know how or when. But thankfully, honestly and this is why I say I'm very spiritual and I really believe in things aligning as I started to do this work, you know people would reach out to me. I really like the work that you're doing, like, do you need support? Or I'm a creative director, or you know I handle social media and just from there you know my team kind of just grew.

Isha Gaye: 14:33

So I wasn't even necessarily like looking or doing posts trying to find people. It was just my work resonated with people we met, we clicked and I was like okay, like yeah come on, fantastic, yeah, that's great, and traditionally these things take money to make.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 14:51

So what about the funding part? How did you go about raising funds or bootstrapping?

Isha Gaye: 14:59

Yes, so I definitely raised funds in the beginning. I have a team of grant writers who do a lot of grant writing for the creatives that we work with. So essentially, we have something called the Creative Fund and this is the fund that we use to help creatives create projects. So if they want to do a photo shoot, we'll help fund that photo shoot. If they, you know, have a creative endeavor that they're looking to pursue and it aligns with what we're looking for and we have the budget for it, we'll help them. So that's the creative fund, but with grants it's very you know, it's very specific. So for everything else outside of grants, I actually just self-funded, right.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 15:37

Okay, yes, gotta have skin in the game, man just self-funded.

Isha Gaye: 15:41

Right, Okay, yes, Gotta have skin in the game. Man, I have a lot of skin in the game. I'm like, listen, I have a lot of skin in the game. So but I think something that I'm I'm happy about is I'm just surrounded with people who are very much like you're young, Like this is the time you know make mistakes, you know go all in.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 15:58

I think that is the right attitude, yeah.

Isha Gaye: 16:00

Yeah, so I have, I've gone all in, definitely I. You know I manage this. I work full time still. So it really feels like I have two jobs, but it doesn't feel a lot like work because I really just love the work that I'm doing with Noor. But yeah, I'm all in.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 16:15

So at this point, I'm like, I have no choice, I'm all in. So at this point I'm like.

Isha Gaye: 16:19

I have no choice. I'm here. What's your other full-time job? So I'm a communication strategist. I work for a nonprofit.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 16:27

Okay, fantastic. So you've got these grants going for the creatives that you work with Any ambitions to do. You know commercials or you know what's the plan there?

Isha Gaye: 16:38

I definitely think so in the future. We are working on a different endeavor right now. That's taking up a lot of my time, so my team is the one that's kind of communicating with the creatives, kind of holding that creative section of it. We are launching Afrique Noire Edits in about three months.

Isha Gaye: 16:56

Busy yeah it's very busy, and this will be our e-commerce leg of the company that allows creatives, brands, to actually sell their products, their art, their fashion, on our e-commerce site, so really taking it further in terms of connection and actually monetizing it for the creatives. So that is one of the things that we're working on right now. That has been taking up a lot of my time, right.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 17:27

So I mean, how do you position yourself differently or makes it different from other publications?

Isha Gaye: 17:33

Yeah, absolutely. I think for us we're just very intentional about storytelling. I think for us that I'm very intentional about, because that's how I started and I didn't want the momentum or the growth to change the core values of why I started this publication to begin with, and that was really about storytelling. I wanted people to have a platform where they could tell their stories and what brought them to where they are. You know, a lot of the creatives that we work with have such hard lives or have lived hard lives and even within those trials, they still found time to create because the art that they were doing or whatever creative endeavor they were pursuing was their lifeline. And I really want to reposition, you know, creatives in Africa and, honestly, in general, in a way that isn't so shunned or isn't so second class, right.

Isha Gaye: 18:48

Like you know it's not really seen as, and I think, especially in, you know, africa, and a lot of that is due to scarcity, right, like I understand, because the ones that pay our business, our law, like what we're talking about, engineering, which are all great things, but I would dare to say in the work that I me want to be a better person or want to change the world. All of these things are really like art, they're creative things, they're music, they're, and I think, in telling the stories of the creatives that we work with, I hope to really showcase a different side of what it means to be a creative, because it's also a lot of hard work.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 19:37

Yeah, it's a serious pursuit.

Isha Gaye: 19:38

Yeah, it's very serious. So I guess I'm trying to bring that seriousness back into it and really, and you know, the African creative economy is flourishing right.

Isha Gaye: 19:49

And it's booming and it's going to continue to boom and I think it's estimated to be a multi-billion dollar industry within the next couple of years, and I think it's important to have a platform that continues to just show the different creatives that exist and the work that they're doing and why they're doing the work that they're doing, in hopes that for them to they continue that pursuit. I think the feedback that we've gotten from creatives you know your post really helped me gain followers and people were buying my work and it's helped me continue to. You know, and I saw that you also have inclusion sustainability.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 20:42

Can you expand a little bit on those themes and how they are reflected in the publication?

Isha Gaye: 20:47

Absolutely. You know, sustainability is huge for me. One, and it's also all of the creatives that I've worked with. It's never something I've had to say I have. I've never been like you have to be sustainable. Most of the creatives that we work with are sustainable creatives Right.

Isha Gaye: 21:03

Even a lot of the fashion designers that we featured and are now coming on our African edit platform. They're rooted in sustainability because sustainability in Africa is almost a way of life in a lot of the creative pursuits that we see, in a lot of the creative pursuits that we see. So, you know, we interviewed a lady I remember who all of her, the fashion that she created, it's recycled. The intentionality behind the work that she does, it's hours of actually hand-making clothes. You know it's not fast fashion, it's very intentional creation and she's so mindful about the way that she creates the materials that she uses. So most of the creatives, honestly all of the creatives that we work with, are rooted in sustainability, whether they know it or not, and inclusivity. You know, that was more so a mission that I put out because I also recognize that not everyone is on the same playing field, wherever you are. So we accept submissions from various creatives, wherever you are, whatever you're doing. We even have a series where people tag us in their posts and then we have, once a month, we'll repost all of the people that have like, tagged us, and they're not necessarily working with us directly or maybe we weren't able to feature them, but we want to highlight them and we want to make it easy for them to be highlighted.

Isha Gaye: 22:29

So we don't charge a fee to be a part of the publication. We don't charge a fee. I think a lot of pages will charge you a dollar amount to be publicized, but we want to make it inclusive and we want to make it accessible. So that was always. You know how I thought about it and, of course, you know being profitable, it's also profitable. You know it's, it's, we need to be profitable and I think a lot of times in my year, people like you know you need to charge. You need to charge. My goal was never to charge the creatives and that isn't going to change. So we found different ways to monetize and we continue to find different ways to monetize that don't include, you know, take penny pinching or like taking, you know, the money of creatives.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 23:13

The very people you're trying to highlight. Yeah, exactly.

Isha Gaye: 23:16

Yeah, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for me, great.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 23:20

So what magazines did you used to read when you were a young girl? Yeah, and which ones did you return to for inspiration?

Isha Gaye: 23:27

Yes, I mean, I feel like magazines have changed so much since I first came to the States and you know, something that I always noticed was just there was never any Black people anywhere on any of these magazines. And I think as a kid I was highly aware of that and I grew up in a town where I was one of you know maybe two or three, and my sister was the other one of Blacks in my neighborhood and in my school. So it was very, I think, I always noticed when we weren't being represented. So even you know, growing up I read Vogue and we used to have it in our library actually at school and I would go and then I would look through it. Or if I was ever in a waiting room somewhere, hospital, wherever it was doctor's appointment I would read these magazines. And I would never. I just always thought they were very bland, and I don't mean that in any kind of disrespect because I recognize that people really love these magazines and I do think they've evolved now.

Isha Gaye: 24:30

you know, they're more inclusive in a way that they were not inclusive before, when I was growing up. So I do feel like they've adjusted with the times. But I just, even now, sometimes when I look through magazines, I'm just like, okay, like is this? Like? You know, it's not for me, it was just very, it was very bland. So I just always thought that you know magazines or you know publication should be art. You know and you know so, even the way that we create the magazine, it's storytelling. We are telling a story from the beginning to the end. We're connecting with the reader. It feels really personal. It feels like you're taking the journey with us. Every page is unique. Every page is like whoa, I just want to look at this. You know, even when I look at a magazine, I'm like this, it's so beautiful. Other magazines will be really like. I think I was reading a magazine, one of the more prominent magazines, and it was like 200 and something pages and like a hundred of the pages were ads.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 25:26

Oh gosh, it's actually really painful. I mean, actually I'm not buying magazines anymore, honestly, yeah.

Isha Gaye: 25:33

Yeah, and that's fair. I wouldn't buy them either based on how they look like currently. So for me, I like to use the word publication a little bit more than I use magazine because it's not like from what people would expect from a regular magazine. That's not what we have. Ours is very intentional. Ours is a piece of art, really, that you can keep, that people could come over and look at and really learn. It's educational, it's entertaining, and I think that's what it should be like.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 26:06

I think that's what these types of work should be right, yeah, if people are buying it you know, yeah, yeah, I mean I remember reading Vibe magazine Source and what really attracted me to those magazines was the writing, like the really rigorous cultural journalism that went into it. Do you want to expand a little bit about some of the contributors you have and you know what kind of pieces they're bringing to the table?

Isha Gaye: 26:40

into the table? Absolutely, yeah. So currently we have two full-time writing staff and then we accept contributions from writers. So actually, the very first page of our debut issue is a beautiful piece that is written by a woman named Carmel, and she wrote a piece about African designers and how they're reshaping the narrative of what fashion means, and that is how you begin the magazine and that's how you begin the journey with us in the magazine, because fashion is a central part of this specific issue and it was such a beautiful piece. I remember when she submitted it to us I was like wow.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 27:17

Nice.

Isha Gaye: 27:18

So it was well written. She uses some quotes from a very prominent Western movie called the Devil Wears Prada.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 27:26

I love that film actually. Yes, it was great.

Isha Gaye: 27:28

It was great. And she, you know, just talking about how an everyday person that's looking at an outfit or something that's made might not realize how much intention was put behind finding that specific color or sewing and weaving this outfit in a very specific way. And that is what African designers are doing and it's so true. I mean all of the designers that we've spoken to. They are so intentional about the work that they're doing and they're blending their heritage. They're the tailors that they have. They're so intentional about every piece of stitch, everything that's sewn together.

Isha Gaye: 28:07

So that is actually how the magazine starts and I wanted it to start with that piece because I think it then sets the scene for the rest of the pages that a reader would see in the magazine. So writers are integral to our issue. So we do have our full-time staff and I give them a lot of flexibility and freedom in what they want to write about, what feels good. Of course, if there's something that's relevant now, they'll write about that, but for the most part, they're writing about culture, they're writing about history. It's very educational, but it's also entertaining, and you'll see a lot of these on our social media or on our website. But, yeah, writers, I feel like are the backbone of any good magazine.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 28:47

For sure yeah.

Isha Gaye: 28:47

That's where the storytelling is. So even when there's interviews that I do I'll collaborate with our writers to figure out how can we best tell the story. And they're yeah, they're amazing. So we're always taking contributions, and then, of course, we also have our in-house writers as well.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 29:06

My guest today on Shades and Layers is Isha Gaye, founder and CEO of Afrique Noire magazine, a new publication that aims to bring the diaspora closer to the African continent. Well, as the founder of this magazine, Isha threw herself into a leadership role, and that's our next topic of discussion. After that, we get into the Shades and Layers rapid fire. Talk to me about what you like most about leading a team of creatives and what's been some of the challenges you've faced along the way. Yeah, absolutely.

Isha Gaye: 29:43

There's so much that I love and, of course, there's so much that's also hard. But you know, I have a great team and I do think I'm really, really blessed because everyone that has gravitated to this business and everyone who has gravitated to me, it's because they saw what I was putting out there and it really resonated with them and they reached out to me and that's how we built this relationship and it's been built over time. So I have had the same social media manager for the past two years and the same creative director for the past two years and we same creative director for the past two years and we're building. So now we're a team of five officially and it's everyone that's a part of the team is very, very intentional about the work that we do and I appreciate that so much because I don't necessarily have to. I'm not a micromanager, so I hate to micromanage because I hate being micromanaged. Like I said, I'm still working. So it's so funny because I feel like I have a great boss and oftentimes I find myself taking my bosses.

Isha Gaye: 30:45

You know the way that she treats me, and then that just echoes into the way that I treat, you know, my team and the conversations that we have and how our meetings are led. But it's and it's great. Honestly, it's hard to juggle both, but I think because I had I've never been a boss before I kind of just threw myself into this it's great to, you know, work with somebody who I can emulate in my own business. I would say like I'm extremely blessed with my team and I honestly haven't had too many instances where I was like, oh my gosh, this is hard. I mean, sometimes it's like payroll and I'm like, okay, I'm still funneling this by myself. So but they're also just so understanding of where we're at as a business and they know that as we continue to grow, you know they'll grow within the business as well and salaries will go up. But yeah, they're very, very understanding and I really feel blessed to be surrounded by them because, honestly, I would not be able to do this without them.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 31:41

Yeah, absolutely no way.

Isha Gaye: 31:43

Even just from what you see on social media. That is my social media team and they're very intentional about who they source and the work that they do, and that allows me to also just step back and think about bigger picture endeavors for the business.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 31:58

I know you want to connect the diaspora to the African continent, but you know, for the business itself, like, what's your, what's your vision, what do you want to see? Where do you want to take this Afrique Noire concept?

Isha Gaye: 32:10

Yeah, honestly, I mean I have so many, like I said, I have a very active imagination. I mean I have so many, like I said, I have a very active imagination. So I have, I have so many. Like you know, I see the business going in so many different places. Sometimes I have to anchor and just be where I'm at. I'm like you know, this is where I'm at today. So genuinely I can tell you I am taking it day by day. I think if there is a way that I can continue to create this space that is profitable not just for me but also for the creatives that we work with, that really brings them onto a global stage and also really connects the diaspora back to their roots, I think I would be satisfied. And I don't need to have a multi-million dollar company. That's never been my goal, but I think ultimately, what I want is to just continue to bridge the gap and have those conversations and create that space for discourse and to also just remind everyone that we're all the same.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 33:12

And then about you. Yes, you grew up partially in the Gambia and now you're in California. You've got this aunt, but you know who are the other mentors that are helping you to stay grounded and be who you are and so connected to your culture, etc. Thank you.

Isha Gaye: 33:31

It's such an interesting story. So when I moved to the States, I didn't see my mom for about 15 years actually after I moved to the US and I was here with my dad but he was kind of absent. So I really feel like I had to cultivate this inner person, or this inner persona of who I was. And you know, I really my sister and I, we raised ourselves as children growing up here.

Isha Gaye: 33:59

I was very close to my maternal grandmother before I moved to the US and then unfortunately she died while I was in the United States. But she was somebody in my life who I vividly recall was always grounding me in who I was and always grounding me in our culture and in our music and in our language, and I've carried that with me and a lot of what I do I do because of what I've learned from her.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 34:23

And.

Isha Gaye: 34:23

I've really carried that with me and I don't know how. Honestly. I don't know how, because I feel like I have been here for such a long time. I don't know why. I didn't know why I was still so connected to you know Africa, or to you know the Gambia, or to my culture, like I shouldn't have been, because there was nobody in my life who was actively grounding me in that or reaffirming that. So even you know my language. We speak well off in the Gambia, and that was something that I held on to so tight, but even at home nobody was speaking it with me, because they wanted me to really learn.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 34:57

English.

Isha Gaye: 35:03

To speak English absolutely tight, but even at home nobody was speaking it with me because they wanted me to really learn English. So even as I grew up, I remember I found a tutor and then I was working with him behind my dad's back to continue to learn more often. So there was, there was really this gravitational pull that I feel like. I don't know how it's sustained. I don't know where I guess it really came from, but I've always felt like I needed to do this kind of work and I've always found ways, I think, to.

Isha Gaye: 35:25

Even when I was going to be a lawyer, I knew I would want to work in the international space, and specifically in Africa. So I always knew that this is the space that I wanted to be in, and I honestly cannot tell you how or why, because there was really nobody at my after I moved to the US that I wanted to be in, and I honestly cannot tell you how or why, because there was really nobody at my after I moved to the U? S that was reaffirming that for me it was just me. So I genuinely, you know, I every time somebody asks me that question, I don't know how to respond because I genuinely don't know what it is that keeps me so connected or that has pushed me on this path, but the divine. So I just feel.

Isha Gaye: 36:00

I just feel like it's where I was meant to be.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 36:03

What is a piece of advice that was given to you and you continue to live by?

Isha Gaye: 36:09

I think there's so many. I've definitely learned a lot. Like I said, my aunt is a very prominent figure in my life. She's actually from Cameroon, so we're not blood related, but she has. Her and my uncle have taken me and my sister in and our cousins were like siblings.

Isha Gaye: 36:23

So she's a very godly woman, she's a very spiritual woman and I think she's just always taught me the importance of listening to my inner voice and the truth of who I am, and I think that's something. Even and I think we all get lost sometimes she's always taught me the importance of drowning out the noise that is everyone else and the world and really connecting to yourself. So meditation is something that I try to do as often as I can, because I think that allows you to really go deep within yourself, connect to source, connect to God. You know whoever it is that you know people feel personally connected to in their own spiritual life, but I think that relationship is more important than any other relationship, right? So just always being willing to be introspective I think that's something that she's always taught me and to not be afraid to fail and I say all of this because the endeavor that I've embarked on I haven't really seen anyone else do it where I can be, like that's the blueprint, right, it's different and it's not conventional.

Isha Gaye: 37:38

So I say that because I recognize that there's a possibility that I might fail, and I have failed in many different ways, but I think I've mastered the art of failing and I think I'm okay with failing, because I think things that I have failed. I feel like I could say that I failed in going to law school, but now, looking back, I know for a fact that I would have dreaded going to law school because that's not where my heart was calling me to. So I believe that I will end up where I'm meant to end up and I'm just trying to have as much fun as I can in the meantime and impact as many lives as I can doing the work that I'm doing and ultimately, whatever happens will happen.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 38:22

Perfect. So are you a coffee or a tea?

Isha Gaye: 38:24

person. I have tea right now. I've been trying to sneak it into this interview and drink it, but I think it's cold now. I'm not a coffee person I tried to be at one point but then it gives me anxiety. So I'm like why am I doing this?

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 38:39

Fair enough, fair enough. And how do you take your tea With lots of sugar and lots of cream, sweet girl? Yes, and what's a fun fact about you that you would love to share?

Isha Gaye: 38:56

something people don't know about me is that I'm actually a yoga teacher.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 39:00

Oh, wow, yes, oh that's fun.

Isha Gaye: 39:02

Yeah, it was. It was during my, my midlife you know what midlife young girl in my quarter life okay, you're correct. My quarter life price I was about 24. Okay With 23, 24. Okay, yes, my quarter life is I. You know, I was telling my aunt I was like I don't know what I want to do in my life. But I really loved yoga at the time, so, and I was really into mindfulness in that time period, like I was trying to meditate, move my body, be intentional about it. So I became a yoga teacher.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 39:33

Oh, that's great, yeah, so I still teach from here. You still teach. Okay, that's fun, that's great. Nice, nice. And which famous black woman, living or dead, would you invite to dinner tonight? This is so hard. You can only choose one, by the way, I know.

Isha Gaye: 39:51

Tonight only because I have been obsessed with her lately, I would invite Emma Greed. Ah, yeah, and she yes. So she's the founder of Skims and Get American and she's just like a really great businesswoman. I love her story and I love she. Just seems like such a friendly and fun person that I could probably talk business with. So tonight, because of where I am currently, I would invite Emma Fantastic.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 40:16

Great. So if people want to work with you, contribute to the mag, you know, just get in touch. Where can they find you?

Isha Gaye: 40:24

Yeah, so I try not to tell people to find me. I get so many DMs and I feel so bad sometimes because I can't, you know, look at them and respond to them all. So we have a form on our website for creatives and you can submit your form there. We are updating our website so soon. You know. If you want to write for us, if you want to work with us, collaborate with us, all of that will be on the website. But for now, if people are listening to this, very soon they can send us an email at Noire at gmailcom with their request or their proposal and the team will usually look at it, filter through it and whatever is meant to come to me will come to my inbox and I'll respond from there. But we can always be reached via email and we're pretty good about responding to emails.

Kutloano Skosana Ricci: 41:16

That is all from me this time around. Thank you, Isha, for sharing your own personal journey to entrepreneurship and the story of Afrique Noire. Thanks to all of you listeners for joining in this conversation. If you liked this episode, please spread the love and share it with a friend. I'm Kutlonas, kosana Ritchie, and until next time.