In recent years, social media and its growing influence has given young people the opportunity to develop brands and businesses to support each other. We now live in a time where the youth are getting services like hair and nails or products like clothing from others their age. Many people in Black communities have used this growing trend to build and support Black-owned businesses. In fact, there are even some seniors at Monroe-Woodbury high school, who not only want to expand their platforms, but also want to inspire others to take these same steps and change the narratives of African-American youth. Here are a few of those students: 

Tyler Daniel: @superstar.tyy

Tyler Daniel– under his nickname “Superstar Ty” – has established a name for himself in fitness. With almost 4,000 Instagram followers Daniel creates content to inspire people both young and old to get into shape.

Daniel describes that when he was in middle school he struggled with bullying for his weight. In seventh grade he decided that he would revamp his image to help his self-esteem, leading to him getting into exercising and dieting. While this started as a personal initiative, Daniel realized how many people he could help when others were curious about his visible improvement.

“I heard that it ❲his weight loss journey❳ helped a few people locally,’’ said Daniel when asked about what made him start this fitness brand. “Once I actually established the content and started to promote myself a lot more DMs started to come in, a lot more promotions started to come in, and a lot more stories started to come out.”

Daniel uses his Instagram (handle above) and TikTok accounts to market himself with exercise, and aims to create a workout program to help mobility and increase his impact; he even describes helping people as being “addicting”. He has also recently included YouTube content in hopes of becoming an all around media personality.

In regards to the general increase of Black creatives in our generation Daniel describes that he enjoys seeing our youth break the stigmas targeted at Black people through entrepreneurship and content creating. In Monroe-Woodbury High School, however, he wants to see more of this.

“Typically we’re viewed as hoodlums or degenerates and we don’t have that status to us that we want to possess, and now I feel like we’re getting that sense back,’’ said Daniel. “When it comes to the school we’re not even close to where we can be, and when you go to the social media aspect you can definitely see the potential of what we can achieve.”

Amir Shammgod: @stablebeing.co

The future of fashion has been changing under the ideas of Monroe-Woodbury’s Amir Shammgod. The high school senior has begun the process of releasing his new clothing brand called “Stable Being”. The clothing line has been in its planning stage for about a year, and Shammgod feels that it’s time to start putting his work out there.

Shammgod expresses that the idea of starting his own clothing line has stemmed from the way he views his fashion style. Not only does he want to share his visions with others, but he also talked about the feeling that entrepreneurship gives him when looking at his samples.

“I want to wear clothes that I create, because I feel like I have good style and I want other people to represent my style,” said Shammgod. “Now that I have samples and stuff it feels better wearing the clothes that I make”.

Shammgod plans on prioritizing the impact that social media can have on his business’ success, and he specified how using TikTok could help him and others with goals of business ownership; the brand already has an Instagram account (handle above). He also described that he gets good support from multiple groups within the Monroe community, not just students from marginalized groups. When asked about the future of young, Black business owners, he explained that he thinks this increase is positive and very apparent. Shammgod feels that while entrepreneurship may not be for everyone, there’s room for those with these aspirations to be successful.

“If people feel like they can explore their creative path, they should take the chance,” said Shammgod. “At the end of the day, you never know what’s going to happen”.

Alyssa Williams: @dolledbylyssa__

For Monroe’s hair related beauty needs, we have Alyssa Williams. Williams provides hair services ranging from cornrows, faux locs, and natural styling, and promotes her page on Instagram (handle above). As a young brand owner, Williams wants to receive as much background knowledge as possible, while she dives into cosmetology for her career.

“I would characterize my business as something that makes people happy and feel beautiful inside and out,” said Williams when asked how she would describe what she does. “My goal is to expand more in the hair industry and learn all textures and lengths of hair”.

Like many rising talents for people recently, doing hair started during Covid for Williams. After receiving support from her family and friends, Williams decided to branch off into content creation and entrepreneurship. She describes that while she gets support from Monroe-Woodbury students, she still hopes for future clientele from more of them. She wants to find ways to carry out her passion, and get better at the services that she provides.

Williams also feels that young, Black creatives are needed in our communities, and describes many of them– including herself– as self-taught, which makes the efforts even more impressive.

“I would describe it as something that’s nice and creative, and it’s a lot of thinking outside of the box,” said Williams.