I Want to Create for CRWNMAG: Tips and Tricks from Our Senior Editor
Aiyana Glover — or YanSlay, as she is known on the internet — is a motivational speaker, life coach, and entrepreneur based in Atlanta. Last week, she invited our Senior Editor Ashley onto her weekly Instagram Live show to pick her brain about the inspiration behind CRWNMAG, and how you can get involved. Here are the key takeaways:
YanSlay: Tell us a little about what CRWNMAG stands for, what it's all about and your core principles.
Ashley Johnson: We began as a hair magazine. We still tell hair stories, but we always set out to address the whole Black woman. So we also dive into stories told by Black women or by Black folks about the Black experience, from Love, to Money & Power to all sorts of things, written by Black hands and catered to Black folks. Our official Brand Pillars are: Knowledge of Self, Self-Love, Authenticity, Sisterhood and Ownership. Those are the principles that we stand on. We also do a lot with creatives. We’re very interested in fostering relationships with creative folks, and bringing those relationships to the forefront. We’ll talk about that a little bit later, but what we stand for and stand on is the power of Black women and how we can better always tell Black female stories.
YS: And you do a great job of that. I also noticed that you guys write like how we talk. There’s no code-switching. So when I was reading it, I was like, “Okay! Okay!” As I was going through.
AJ: It’s in our voice.
YS: That was awesome. The first one that really spoke to me was the Editor’s Letter in general.
AJ: Yes, Lindsey [laughs]!
YS: What guides the different genres or themes of the different issues?
AJ: Our mantra is: Manifest. Love. Money. Power. Freedom. We’ve used this as a progressive guide to the subject matter in our Journal issues. Issue No.01 being The Manifesto, and laying the blueprint for what was to come. The Love Issue has a focus on self-love (one of our brand pillars) as the starting point for community building and true empowerment. From there, we explored Money & Power (and sometimes the lack thereof) through an honest, very Black lens. The fourth issue of the Volume will be the Freedom Issue, out later this year. The idea is that each of the issues build upon each other thematically, and as a guide and healing tool for our people. The Storytellers Issue, featuring Issa Rae, is a new, more frequent print offering that we’re excited to be rolling out now!
I think what it comes down to is, what are some of the core principles that our people are dealing with? There’s so many different principles that apply to all folks. So it’s like, how do we take Love, for example, and tell those stories to Black folks? About motherhood, about interpersonal communication in relationships? What inspires those is making sure that we take every genre and telling those stories through Black folks. So I think that’s where it begins is like, we see all sorts of stories about love. We see all sorts of studies about finance, money, power. What happens when we take those stories from folks who are prolific in that area? I think there’s a story in the Money & Power issue about Richelieu Dennis, who is huge and impactful in the financial space. How do we mine those stories out of our reality and bring them forward? And that’s really important — representation for every genre. We don’t see a lot of folks in the Fortune 500 space, or in the funding space. With Morgan DeBaun on the cover, for example, she’s made huge strides in the financial area for Blavity. So it’s about, how can we pick up those stories from our people and tell them back to our people? That’s where the largest inspiration comes from when we think about things.
YS: I hear you have some community-facing creative efforts? How can people get involved?
AJ: There’s three ways that people can get involved with us. One is internships, and we kind of roll those internships regularly. That’s available on our website. There are two programs in particular that we’ve talked a little bit about. The CRWNMUSE program used to be a one-week long takeover from one of our creatives, who would just post an image a day from their portfolio of creative work. Now we’ve sort of reshaped that to include the exact same thing, but every Wednesday putting out a creative, and their body of work, hosting that both on our Instagram, on our Facebook, on our website and posting longer-form editorials and content from CRWNMAG. I am the one that’s usually commenting and messaging and looking. I look at every single tag. But it’s what I love, you know? I love images. So I see, look at, like on every single tag. And when you guys tag and I’m able to see it, I’m able to look and say okay, I would really love to bring this person forward as a muse and see them a little bit more closely and get people to know them a bit more closely. And the way to do that is through our website, through our Creators portal. So if you’re interested in being a creator or contributor you can absolutely do that through CRWNMUSE. The other part of that is our Creator’s Program, in which you can submit already created editorials or you can apply to be a part of a team. Sometimes we do activations in different cities all over the place, and if we need folks who are videographers or photographers or set designers or stylists, we are always looking for those folks. And we keep every person who applies. Again, I see every single one of those who pop up. So I’m your gal when it comes to those. So our CRWNMUSE Program and our Creators Program, which are both available on our website for you to apply. Those are the two community-facing programs where we really graft the talents of the people around us to bring them forward. And you don’t have to be a photographer. We did someone who was a makeup artist, we’ve done a stylist, we’ve done someone who makes clothes out of paper. So whatever your discipline is, whatever your calling is, I’m the one who wants to bring that forward.
YS: What inspired you all to do an outreach program instead of doing everything internally?
AJ: I think we’ve realized that magazine staffs are kind of small. And I think what Instagram does specifically in a really great way is show us who’s doing what. People now use their Instagrams as portfolios, and it’s helpful to be able to see all of folks’ work in one place. You know, teams are small, you only have a few minds, but when you invest in collaborating with and bringing forward other creatives and their ideas and images and thoughts, you really can broaden the horizon of what you’re able to create. And by doing that, we’ve put editorials from folks that we’ve been able to find on Instagram and through our programs in our magazines. Or working with graphic designers to bring their imagery and help us bring some of our things to life as well. So it’s about cultivating relationships with creatives, and we’re very passionate about that. Because without people who take pictures, and without people who draw or illustrate, you wouldn’t have magazines. You wouldn’t have print, you wouldn’t have creative. And that’s super important.
YS: You guys don't just take anybody's pictures and post them... what does someone's photos/artwork need to look like or what aspects does it need to have to be reposted?
AJ: That’s the other thing. A lot of people think that people can pay us to get reposted, and I just wanna say for sure that we don’t do that. What I’m looking for is exceptional visual communication. If you look at our timeline, you see representation, for one. We want to make sure we represent all textures, body types – which, by the way, I’m a plus-sized woman, I’m always looking for beautiful, plus-sized representations of women, so please tag. I’m looking for people who have really interesting concepts. We just posted yesterday – again, my days are running together, girl – an editorial by a guy who spoke to Sharon Wilson as a painter and how she constantly or consistently would paint Black figures, or Black fathers back into empty families. We look for work that has a little bit more depth. Not just visual depth, but images that have stories to tell. Bodies of work that have stories to tell. And I would definitely say it’s not a competition. We’re not competing. What I’m looking for all the time is just really honest and beautiful representations of Black women and I would always say to look at our timeline and the types of images that we post. And definitely tag us in work that links to that. We love bright editorials, we don’t have an aesthetic. The aesthetic is just Black women.
YS: That’s what’s up. How important is representation and creativity? How important is it for that little 5-year-old Black girl to look in a magazine and see the older version of her?
AJ: Oh, girl. So important. Even for myself, again, I’m a plus-sized Black girl. So when I see images of plus-sized Black women in editorials — we have a muse that’s coming up who specifically specializes in taking editorial images of plus-sized Black women — whenever I see myself in an image, I mean, I’m just like, sign me up. And all throughout the DMs you see it. We posted Lindsey Chris recently who has very tight 4C hair, but she had it stretched out. I read every comment, it’s like “I never see tight coils!” It’s consistently important. Even though [representation is] kind of a buzzword, it’s never going to stop being important to see images of yourself. Even now since stepping in this role, when I look at commercials. Yesterday I saw a commercial for a dating app. And I was like, so Black people don’t date? There was not a single Black person. It was a Hinge commercial. So, Black people don’t use Hinge? Oh, okay [laughs].
Out this June: The Storytellers Issue with Issa Rae
Ownership, “Representation,” and taking control of your own story in the most beautiful and honest representation of Black women in the history of print.
YS: How does it feel to be a part of something that is changing people’s lives? How does it feel to do that on a daily basis?
AJ: I’m a people person, so this channel lends itself to constant communication. I think that what is helpful for me is being very personable with folks who reach out to us. People often thank us for responding. And I’m just like, I get it. Cause you know, you can reach out to Vogue and Vogue will not respond to you [laughs]. The difference between us and other publications is that there are other people behind-the-scenes who care about what you have to say and care about how to guide you to where you want to be partnered with us. So for me, being responsible for putting images out into the world, or reposting or redistributing out into the world, is so helpful for creatives who need their stuff out there. People tag us not just because they want us to see but because they want other people to experience their work. And it feels really good to be at the forefront of that.
YS: Right. Who needs Vogue when we have you? [Laughs]. With quality articles and all.
AJ: [Laughs] Yeah. Articles about Black people, for Black women. And even investing in Black teams. That’s always on the forefront for us.
YS: How can we get in touch with CRWNMAG?
AJ: I always ask people to tag us (@crwnmag and #crwnmag) in the images you want us to be able to see. And also to go on our website to the Contribute area to submit your editorials, to submit work. When you’re DMing, it’s me. Maybe a couple of other people, but it’s mostly me. My name is Ashley Johnson, you can reach me at ashley@crwnmag.com. If you have any questions about how to get involved with us, email me. You can catch us in our ‘Submissions’ highlight too, which has some of our information.
YS: Is there any other last thing that you wanted to say? Anything you want to leave us off with?
AJ: I want to thank you for having this platform. You reached out to us, and I always tell people: it’s in the ask. It’s not about followership, it’s about what the ask is about. And you reached out to us in such a beautiful and approachable way, and it was really nice to be able to come on and do this. So that’s what it’s all about. I’m thankful to you! Thank you for choosing us.
Main Takeaways:
Tag us in the photos you want us to see.
Visit our Contribute and Intern pages.
We do not take money for reposts.
We’re looking for strong visual communication and meaningful storytelling. Period. (Bonus points for 4C and plus-sized representation!)
Scroll through our feed to get a sense of what we like to post.
It’s all in the ask.
If you have any other questions, reach us through DM or email!
