Celebrating Black History Month with #ShareTheMicUK

Black History month is fast approaching, and with this year being an eye opener for many on the racism that Black people are still subjected to, organisers Vanessa Kingori MBE and Stephanie Phair have started a UK edition of #ShareTheMicNow.

The #ShareTheMicNow initiative started on Instagram in June 2020 and was aimed at amplifying the voices of Black women by partnering them with popular white celebrities who have dominated the entertainment industry. These included celebrities like Kourtney Kardashian, Julia Roberts, and Sophia Bush. The campaign allowed Black women to share their experiences on the Instagram accounts of white women.

On Thursday 1st October 2020, the UK initiative #ShareTheMicUK is continuing the US movement with the desire to put women’s relationships ahead of racial injustice and to stop the silencing of Black women and amplify Black British experiences.

The US campaign had distinct intentions, which the UK initiative also seems to be using as a guideline:

1) To make a social media campaign that magnifies Black women’s lives and stories

2) To form relationships among Black women and white women

3)To create a strong network of people who know and trust each other

4) To create and incite action that could make a change.

Feeling that there is no better time than the present and powered by this year’s events, Vanessa Kingori MBE, a multi award-winning businesswoman and diversity proponent, partners with Stephanie Phair, director at Farfetch and Chairman of the British Fashion Council, to encourage women to tackle race inequality and bring together Black women and White women to #ShareTheMicUK and dismantle systemic racism.

Kingori and Phair invited Black women whose work and voices are shaping a better future to take over the Instagram accounts of prominent White women with strong audiences. A couple of the takeovers include Vanessa Kingori taking over the account of Kourtney Kardashian, June Sarprong (a broadcaster) taking over Victoria Beckham’s account, and Yomi Adegoke (a journalist) taking over Laura Whitmore’s page.

The #ShareTheMicUK is a powerful incentive to create understanding across communities about the systemic racism that lies within the UK and heavily impacts the Black British experience.

#ShareTheMicUK starts on the 1^st October