Essence Communications, Inc. is now fully Black owned once again. After being part owned in 2000 by Time, Inc. (which owns Time Magazine, People Magazine, Instyle etc) and then fully owned in 2005 by Time, Inc., Essence Communications, through Essence Ventures, LLC is now fully Black Owned. The once fully white owned magazine turns a new leaf. The owner of Essence Ventures, which was founded in 2017, is also the owner of Shea Moisture, Richelieu Dennis.
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Essence president Michelle Ebanks will remain in her position during this new acquisition, but now will have a stake in the company and now sits on the board at Essence. Not only that, but the entire all Black female executive team will too! How amazing is that? With Essence influencing over 15 million homes, people and viewers, and bringing in over 400,000 visitors to New Orleans Essence Festival, Essence is an important part of the culture.
What Happened?
Apparently Time, Inc. was acquired by the Meredith Corporation, and they did not add Essence in the new ownership lineup. Essence searched for a new buyer, and found one in the entrepreneur and successful businessman Richelieu Dennis. Below is A word from Richelieu Dennis about Essence;
“We remain committed to leveraging our resources to provide opportunities for other culturally-rooted entrepreneurs and businesses that further our culture and create economic opportunities for our communities. Our focus here will be on ensuring that Essence reaches its full potential via heightened capabilities, technology, products and touch points that super-serve the interests of Black women locally and globally. We look forward to helping generate new opportunities that create more value across the ESSENCE portfolio with unmatched content, commerce and international access for the millions of women it serves, as well as exceptional value for our advertising partners and content creators.”
Why It’s Important:
It’s important that Essence remain Black owned. The reason why is because when white owned corporations like Time, Inc. or Meredith, Corp. own Black focused products, they control the messaging, agenda, influence, and impact. History has shown when you do not have control over your narrative, the perspective of others becomes the reality of you, so instead, own your business’s that way you can control your narrative, without asking for permission.
When we own our own, we can decide what’s best for us. Would you rather have a doctor make your life decisions or someone in your family that you love?
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