“Twice” GMR Black History Month Social Posts

Project

Create social content that GMR could use on its social channels that spotlights the Black experience of its story makers. In a unique way that can only be told by its employees

GMR reaches out to me in 2022 to do this piece on my experience as an African American through the professiona lens of GMR. As I worked on this project I went through a range of emotion trying to figure out what lens I wanted to tell my story through.

There’s so many great things about growing up as a black person that I wanted to highlighted and share. But there’s also painful moments that I feel like need to be highlighted as well, I was torn in which direction I wanted to go and I was trying to figure out what was what was a story that I could tell professionally. Because this was still through my place of employment? So I didn’t feel that I could really share my personal views on being black in this country? So I chose to highlight my mother’s perspective instead.

The way that I went about highlighting my mom’s perspective was by documenting the message that she told her children very often.That message that she told us growing up was that we would have to work twice as hard as other people to get what we wanted. I didn’t understand what she meant as she was saying but it  was so ingrained in us as children that we just believe that. It became a part of our daily routine. Almost like breathing. 

It took me to till my mid-forties to understand what it was that she was saying and how important that it was for me to literally work twice as hard as others to get what I needed out of corporate America. So the best way to display this meassage was as a crossword puzzle. Because it was so puzzling growing up.

Even though the crossword puzzle is finished, the beauty of the peace is that the viewer still left to figure out what the message says. Once you figure out what the message says, you still, you still have to figure out if it’s something that you relate to if it’s something that you’ve heard before. If it’s something that your parents have said to you as well. So the connection is the audience has to work on different levels decipher the message itself. Hopefully it brings back a level of nostalgia for certain people. That’s the most endearing part.

The second way that I was able to honor my mother with this work was to narrate the post from her own perspective. I was grateful to add her words to the project, which were so meaningful and deep. And I was really good. In a way that did her justice as a black woman in america today.

Design Team

Creative Director
Appolllo Bey

Art Director
Appolllo Bey

Designer
Appolllo Bey

Photographer
Appolllo Bey

Co contributor
Darlene R.

Thank You