The past few weeks have put a renewed spotlight on racial inequalities and injustices in the United States. Agathon joined the conversation on social media, but we know real, lasting change will require more than words; it will require action from individuals and organizations. That feels tricky for a relatively small business like ours: what can we do to make a difference in a country of 382 million people?
These are conversations we’re continuing to have internally, and one clear opportunity is to amplify black voices—recognizing and celebrating the incredible work they’re doing. We’re proud to host Black bloggers across a variety of niches, including fashion, travel, marriage, faith, lifestyle, and food.
Today, we want to introduce you to some of them:
Marie Denee, The Curvy Fashionista
Marie Denee is the creator of The Curvy Fashionista, an established and respected voice in the plus size fashion arena. With over eleven years of experience, Marie has made it her mission to continuously show women that they can be Curvy, Confident, and Chic.
Marie launched The Curvy Fashionista in 2008. Armed with MBA in Marketing, fashion experience, and a passion for empowering women of every shape and size, Marie has grown the site from a simple blog to a popular digital platform.
Through The Curvy Fashionista, Marie and her team showcase plus size wardrobe and style options from the industry’s top fashion brands, highlight the work of other plus-size fashion bloggers, share news and events for curvy women, and host their own events, such as the TCFStyle Expo and TCF Cruise.
Lane Bryant x TCFStyle Series
Earlier this year, Marie and her team partnered with Lane Bryant to host a series highlighting the work of other Black women in this space. This unique series not only showcased a variety of dresses from Lane Bryant, but also included interviews with Lissa of I am Plus Blog, Hollie of Haute Glam Hollie, Kenni Powe, and Jess of A Neutral Life. Using the platform she’s built, Marie is not only encouraging plus-size women to embrace their bodies and discover their style but also amplifying the work of other bloggers within this niche.
Tanya Harris, My Forking Life
Tanya Harris is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind My Forking Life. As a mom, wife, attorney, and recipe groupie, she loves easy, delicious, and flavorful meals that require very little effort.
Drawing on her Caribbean heritage, Tanya has turned this obsession for creating and eating great food across an array of flavors into a thriving blog where she shares recipes with a special focus on pressure cooking and air frying.
Instant Pot Jamaican Oxtails Recipe
The Jamaican Oxtails Recipe on Tanya’s blog is one of her favorite posts. It not only highlights the unique perspective she brings to her recipe creation—often combining a traditional Jamaican recipe with her love for quick and easy cooking in a pressure cooker—but was also one of her favorite recipes growing up.
As she shares on the blog:
“If you ever ask me what my favorite Jamaican dish is, I’ll probably say oxtail. It’s a recipe that my mom would make for special occasions. I wish we could have eaten it weekly but oxtail can be so darn expensive. So it became one of those special Sunday dinners or ‘let’s celebrate something’ dinners.”
Terrence & Victoria Yore, Follow Me Away
Terrence and Victoria Yore met at a photoshoot in April 2014. Sharing a mutual love for travel, they found themselves sitting in Europe exactly one year after their first travel conversation. They’ve continued to travel since then and launched Follow Me Away to catalog their travels. With Terrence’s passion for fine art photography and Victoria as a model, they enjoy exploring places and photography together.
Terrence’s love for travel was originally sparked during a family vacation to Tennessee when he first saw actual mountains. He credits travel with allowing him to improve as a photographer and a person: “Experiencing different landscapes and cultures pushes my existing boundaries and helps me achieve things I never thought possible.”
Follow Me Away Project: Fine Art Photography
While Victoria documents much of their travel experience on their shared blog, Terrence runs the Follow Me Away project on Instagram, where he shares his fine art photos with commentary about photography, photo editing, travel, and life. His unique style combines the beauty and romance of epic landscapes to create true works of art.
Tatanisha + Derrick Worthey, This Worthey Life
At This Worthey Life, Tatanisha and Derrick Worthey inspire their readers through food, travel, entertainment, and life adventures (including parenting tween and teen boys!).
Collectively, they’re a family. Individually they’re a mom and wife, a husband and a dad, and three awesome boys who are sons and brothers.
This Worthey Life is where they celebrate the life they’ve built. Together they share their passion for food, travel, entertaining, and living life to the fullest.
Recipe: Aussie Lamb Platter for True Aussie Beef & Lamb
Tatanisha and Derrick recently partnered with True Aussie Beef and Lamb to create this gorgeous Aussie Lamb Platter.
As foodies themselves, they believe lamb doesn’t have to be saved for a special occasion, and this grazing board highlights its versatility, whether you serve it for weeknight meals with the family or while entertaining guest.
As bloggers and influencers, they collaborate with a variety of brands at This Worthey Life to create recipes, showcase products, and inspire conversation among their readers.
Mike & Carlie Kercheval, Christian Marriage Adventures
Mike and Carlie Kercheval are best-selling authors, certified life coaches, certified marriage mentors, podcasters, speakers, and the founders of Christian Marriage Adventures™. They’ve been passionately married for more than 20 years and have three beautiful children whom they homeschool.
Mike served in the U.S. Army for 15 years before getting out due to combat-related injuries. As a Wounded Warrior with several Army awards and accommodations, he is passionate about encouraging and teaching fellow Veterans how to transition into civilian life and is currently earning his Master’s (M.A.) in Pastoral Counseling from Liberty University.
Mike and Carlie launched Christian Marriage Adventures, formerly Fulfilling Your Vows, in 2012. Through this ministry, they’ve served hundreds of thousands of couples around the world through blog posts, podcasts, books, resources, and conferences.
The Marriage Legacy Builders™ Monthly Bible Study Program
Together, Mike and Carlie have launched The Marriage Legacy Builders Monthly Bible Study Program. Using videos, Bible studies, printables, and more, they encourage couples to study God’s Word together, create habits of healthy communication, find deeper connection with God and each other, and create a marriage legacy they can be proud of.
Brandi Crawford, Stay Snatched
Brandi Crawford is the blogger, photographer, and videographer behind Stay Snatched. She loves food and creating new and interesting recipes that are both healthy and indulgently delicious.
Her work has been been featured in Women’s Health Magazine, Shape Magazine, Parade Magazine, Essence Magazine, Country Living Magazine, Southern Living Magazine, BuzzFeed, Delish, The Kansas City Star, Kansas City Spaces, Greatist, and more.
With a background in Corporate Finance and Financial Planning, Brandi spends her days deep diving into numbers, datasets, and Excel spreadsheets. But she also enjoys hip hop music, mimosa-filled brunches, and travel.
The Super Easy Air Fryer Cookbook
Brandi is passionate about easy recipes that support a healthy lifestyle, and especially passionate about air frying for quick, easy, healthy recipes.
Her recipe development work includes this Chick-Fil-A copycat recipe for an easy air fryer chicken sandwich, which she perfected over two years. She’s also the author of The Super Easy Air Fryer Cookbook, which features healthier fried favorites for every occasion!
Chanté Burkett, My Chic Mastermind
Chanté Burkett is the founder of My Chic Mastermind, formerly Everything Curvy & Chic. Since launching her platform in 2011, Chanté has risen to become one of the top digital influencers in the plus-size fashion space.
She uses her platform—both her blog and her social media profiles—to educate, prepare, and empower readers to spark conversations around style, entrepreneurship, and being a woman in the modern digital world.
Chante’s body of work includes collaborative partnerships with major brands such as JCPenney, Rebdolls, Sephora, River Island Plus and more. She’s been featured in the world’s most read and influential news and fashion magazines such Stylecaster, Fashion Bomb Daily, Bustle, Ebony.com, and Refinery29.
JCPenneys #HereIAm campaign
In 2015, Chante became the first plus model featured in Target’s body-positive campaign, “Target Loves Every Body,” which gained national attention. She has since participated in a variety of campaigns celebrating plus-size women and their unique styles, including JCPenney’s #HereIAm campaign. She brings her confidence, style, and inspiration to every campaign!
Davinah Smith, Dr. Davinah’s Eats
Dr. Davinah Smith is the recipe creator behind Dr. Davinah’s Eats. As a hardcore foodie, Davinah has always enjoyed eating restaurant-quality dishes and exploring trendy food spots. Tired of having to choose between eating out and her waistline, she decided to find ways to eat better without sacrificing flavor.
After graduating from Temple University with her Ph.D. in Education, she found herself with a lot more time on her hands. She started Dr. Davinah’s Eats on Instagram as a notebook of sorts where she could store and share her recipes. Along the way, she realized she was passionate about creating and sharing food, so she turned her attention to learning as much as she could about launching and running a food blog.
Low-Carb Bang Bang Shrimp Recipe
Recreating comfort food—the type of food that is attached to memories and nostalgia—with fewer sugar, grains and carbs has become Dr. Davinah’s specialty. This Low-Carb Bang Bang Shrimp Recipe—a remake of the popular dish from BoneFish Grill—has become one of the most popular recipes on her site. It’s a grain-free, refined sugar-free, low-carb alternative to the original dish, providing a healthier alternative that you can make at home without sacrificing flavor.
We’re proud to partner with such creative and talented entrepreneurs, providing hosting and support they can rely on so they can focus on the most important parts of their work!
With 10 years of experience as a professional blogger—and as a former Agathon hosting client herself—Mandi’s passionate about the good work Agathon does and sharing that message with more people.