Meet the Fashion and Beauty Founders Spotlighting Afro-Latinx Self-Love

What better way to elevate your community's voice than to create a platform that highlights the diverse talents of its members? Brittany Chavez was inspired to do just that when she noticed how difficult it was to find and buy Latinx brands, despite the Latinx community having over $1.7 trillion in buying power within the United States.

“I saw an opportunity to spotlight the work of Latinx and BIPOC business owners by curating a marketplace that spoke directly to our community,” Chavez tells us about the inspiration to create Shop Latinx (SLX), a marketplace for Latinx-owned and Black-owned brands. 

“My hope is that through real representation and authentic storytelling, SLX empowers people and inspires them to support all the incredible Latinx-owned businesses out there,” the forward-thinking founder shares. “Our marketplace makes it super easy to support these entrepreneurs and creatives regularly.”

In the spirit of storytelling and Black History Month, the brand was inspired to celebrate the Afro-Latinx community with the launch of its Letter to Self, a campaign designed to showcase the many brilliant Afro-Latinx members in the community while also emphasizing the countless forms of love that exist in the world, beginning with self-love. 

“We wanted to use our platform to showcase how sacred and healing Black love is because so much of our culture couldn’t exist without it,” Chavez explains about the campaign. “Our SLX mission is to make our community feel seen, supported, and celebrated in the fullness of their identities. I believe amplifying and supporting Afro-Latinx talent, stories, businesses, and communities as a whole is one of the biggest things we can do to support the Afro-Latinx community.”

With the overall goal of highlighting the depth, multiplicity, and resiliency of Black love, the campaign has been a success. She continues, “To date, this has been one of the most special campaigns SLX has brought to life. We’re so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with so many beautiful minds who were willing to share their love and vulnerability with us.”

Shop Latinx Seen, Supported, Celebrated Shirts $37.00

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In February, Shop Latinx also released two limited-edition Seen, Supported, Celebrated Shirts ($37). As part of the campaign, 20% of proceeds will go towards Vida Afro Latina, an international women's fund that mobilizes resources and connects them with Black and Afro-descendant women's groups addressing sexual violence in Latin America. 

In addition to the Letter to Self campaign, Chavez has also teamed up with Jacq’s Skincare Founder, Barbara Jacques to help further celebrate the Afro-Latinx community. “Her story about what it's like being of Haitian descent and living in Miami really compelled us to continue sharing the stories of Afro-Latinx in our community,” Chavez reveals about using Jacques as inspiration for the campaign. 

Jacques admits that she was a “huge fan” of Shop Latinx before the recent partnership and had been following the brand's journey for a while. She expressed that the relatable content and messaging drew her towards the shopping platform. 

“When I learned they were cultivating a community-powered e-commerce platform that supports makers, I immediately slid into their DM to express my interest,” Jacques exposes. “I was super excited to be selected as one of the brands to collaborate with them.”

Together, the founders hope to make people feel seen and represented well beyond Black History Month. Encouraging Latinx and BIPOC creators to chase their dreams. “You can become anything you want, whether it’s an artist, entrepreneur, creator, etc.,” Chavez concludes. 

We celebrate this initiative and hope to see it succeed year-round.