The Design of Black Business: How Black Creators are Fueling Innovation and the Economy

Around 50 million people now consider themselves creators, ushering a new wave: the “creator economy”. Valued at more than $100 billion, the surge has a growing cohort of women of color pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities in the space Join DesignxRI as two Black creatives discuss their expertise and experiences creating social change, and innovation through entrepreneurship. Topics of discussion will include their entrepreneurial journey, their design praxis, as well as diversity and inclusion.

Ade Osinubi

Ade Osinubi is a documentary filmmaker, photographer, and a fourth-year medical student in Providence, Rhode Island. Her work focuses on sharing the stories of minority populations that often go untold. At the age of 16, Ade travelled to Mekelle, Ethiopia to co-produce her first documentary. Since then, Ade has produced films educating the public about various health topics in an accessible way. In the future, Ade hopes to pursue a career in emergency medicine and medical journalism, using her passion for photography and film to elevate the voices of communities of color.

Isabelle Thenor-Louis

Isabelle Thenor-Louis is the creator of For Black Health – a website focused on building community amongst Black millennials as they “adult” their way to better health. As a first-year medical student at SUNY Upstate Medical University, she noticed a lack of online resources for Black millennials looking for preventative ways to avoid the health pitfalls that plagued previous generations. During her time as a Maynard Fellow at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, she worked with media professionals to create For Black Health. She continues to grow and expand her brand while in medical school. In 2016, she graduated from Brown University with an Anthropology degree with honors. Her honors thesis focused on the emotional labor exerted by Black journalists while covering issues of racism during the tumultuous summer of 2015. In her free time, she loves to collect fiction books by contemporary Black authors, re-watch Inception for the millionth time, and learn new ways to avoid spending money at Starbucks by becoming her own barista.