Hey Glow Gang!

It's Women's History Month. March is all abut highlighting the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. So, basically everyday at Glowreel 🙌🏽

We're kicking off the month on a high note - celebrating women of colour across business and entrepreneurship, sports, politics, entertainment and more! Plus, an interview with the founder of Goldstories: an homage to craftsmanship and heritage.

Let's get glowing

-Shilpa

News Of The Week

Celebrate good times (come on!) 🎉

Changemakers

Women Of The Year, 2023 👏🏽 TIME Magazine released its annual Women Of The Year list. The list recognises leaders who are making the world a better place for you, me and everyone else. This year’s round up includes 12 incredible women across multiple industries. Two-thirds of the women on the list are women of colour. Special shoutouts to climate activist Ayisha Siddiqa, boxing champ Ramla Ali and the fabulous Quinta Brunson.

Business and entrepreneurship

Inclusive brands ftw! 💜 Live Tinted by Deepica Mutyala just closed a Series A fundraising round of $10 million. The brand will use the fresh capital to fuel growth at Ulta Beauty and for product innovation and category expansion. Meanwhile, Ceremonia by Babba Rivera is entering a new stage of growth. The first Latina-owned haircare brand at Sephora is underpinned by including the Latinx community in the haircare industry.

More News Nuggets

Extra Nuggets 👀

• Calling all filmmakers 🎬 Michaela Coel could be your mentor!

• What’s your favourite position? 👩🏽‍💼 Meet Xero’s new CEO.

• A moment for M & M 🏆 Mindy Kaling and Michelle Yeoh made history with their recent wins!

Glowreel Recos

What we’re loving this week:

Read - Ugly: Giving us back our beauty standards by Anita Bhagwandas. A brilliant deep dive into the beauty and magazine industries and how they perpetuate beauty standards.

Listen - SOS the latest album by SZA. Currently obsessing over the track Kill Bill, and no, not just because it's been all over the TikTok fyp.

Support BIPOC Women Owned Businesses

Birthday Cake Cookie Dough with Ashwagandha for Stress Relief, by DEUX

$16.00 (USD)

Trailblazing Woman Interview - Founder Spotlight

Subikksha Balaje: On Honouring Her Heritage And Immigrant Experience Through Jewellery

Subikksha Balaje is the founder of Goldstories: responsibly sourced and ethically made fine jewellery. An homage to craftsmanship and heritage, each piece is ready to carry on your story.

Born and raised in Chennai, India Subikksha now lives in San Francisco with her husband, two kids and their dog Mowgli.

Glowreel caught up with Subikksha to hear how her heritage and experience as an immigrant underpins Goldstories, the highlights and challenges of building her business and her powerful tip for how you can blaze your own trail. Let’s go!

How did your heritage inspire you to create/build Goldstories?

My culture and traditions have always been at the center of everything I create or build. I have been a big advocate of how as an immigrant I should never lose my self-identity, for which I have to hold on to traditions and culture closely.

Creating Goldstories was exactly built from this. I wanted to create pieces that were inspired by rich south Asian heritage but influenced by all the travel that came along the way.

Goldstories is all about heirloom pieces, designed to be worn every day and to last a lifetime. Can you tell me more about the brand’s ethos and its commitment to sustainability and ethically sourced materials?

The stories of our ancestors are just as important as the stories of those who will come after us. For this reason, we are committed to sourcing our materials responsibly because we believe in accountability to the environment and future generations. We use recycled gold whenever possible and all our stones are ethically sourced. We know our makers by name and we see them make it. There are no big factories or machines mass-producing our pieces!

The biggest challenge and highlight of building your business?

Finding the right people to work with. Being an entrepreneur is as lonely as motherhood, but finding your tribe or community makes the journey easier. So finding the right partners, guides, fellow jewelers, etc. has been a challenge and when found, a highlight.

Your top tip for BIPOC women who also want to blaze their own trail, and make a difference in the world?

Be your authentic self. I know this is easier said than done, but we have all been exposed to a world where not many looked like us at the top. So keep pushing and the map is changing.

Shop Goldstories here.

Lioness Thoughts

Nominate A Shoutout

Tell us about someone doing cool shit.

It can be you, your friends or family or someone else you know. Whether you’ve just started a book club, are creating artistic makeup looks for fun, or are doing some research and want to hear from women of colour. We want to share thing cool things you’re doing with a community shoutout!

Please send your nominations to [email protected] or DM us on our socials :)

This week's email was brought to you by Shilpa Bhim, founder of Glowreel. You can see more of her work at www.shilpabhim.com or follow her on Instagram @shilpa.bhim

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