Toast: To a Noir Year 🍾🍾🍾🍾

I Am Noir TV is approaching a year in existence and I have learned so much over this time. As a leader, I think this experience has made me more aware.

It’s allowed me to see how far I will push myself to have the things I dream of. These trials and triumphs have turned a heart once open and closed at times.
This has been an emotional, fun, crazy, mad, confused, and educational time. First, I want to talk about what has happened, our brand goals, and the overall future of the community.  

In the beginning, like anything fresh and new people were excited. The demand was so high that Marra and I couldn’t even handle it.

We approached then member turned administrator Lovelyn Appiah and she was so gracious to help us. By joining our team in answering requests, building a database, and making general guidelines that made this community more efficient than any other on Facebook. 

Most YouTube communities on this platform are wastelands. Thousands of people with turned-off notifications, dropped links, and Internet tumbleweeds of spam.

I didn’t want that kind of community. I didn’t want that silence for my people. I wanted a place where people like myself could come together, share ideas, and win. 

Man, were we so naive. In our excitement we didn’t account for people not wanting to do the work. The work is what caused the community to change.

As it changed, so did the admins. We bended the rules to make our members happy knowing that these changes may hinder the overall experience.
You know that backfired on us. As I chuckle to myself, I realize that Marra nor I have ever taking on something so big.So we were bound to make mistakes.

We essentially started a free marketing community for African-American channels on YouTube. Isn’t that amazing? Promising growth, promising relationships, and overall care. However, people started to manipulate the perks. 

Using it not to build genuine relationships but for the free promotion. We realized how the thing that made us different was the very thing that made us the same. The watch train is a very attractive feature to a creator who has minimal engagement and a humble amount of subscriptions. 

Due to people not holding their word members started to do exactly what we didn’t want. Turn off their notifications, make occasional tumbleweed spam, and stopped most communication.

I started this thing with the greatest intention. Although we hardly get credit, support, or the overall love from most members. The support for the leadership is minimal. I understand because we are the ones who say no when need be. So I totally get it.

The support won’t be genuine for most as some people are overall wave riders. Whatever is popping they want to be apart of. People will be on you like fly on shit for one new subscription. So in the beginning we were handed out 100 or better so people loved us. 

I also learned that people will yield and lower their expectations to people whom they feel have more than them. More subscribers, sponsorships, etc. These are cool but are not the only selling points to accept good information.

At this point I was lost. I had no answers. So I would pray then cry. Pray then cry a little more until I knew what was next.  

I longed for the days when all I had to do was worry about my own channel. I worried about the situation. How I asked Marra to be apart of what I felt was going to be my internet failure.  

So what’s a leader to do at this point? Give up, right? Not me, I must be some sort of a masochist or an extreme optimist because I can’t just give up. I can’t give up on the people who love Noir.I can’t give up on Marra. She believed when I had a few hundred subscriptions and a handful of comments. 

I couldn’t give up on the people who give credit to Marra and I for how we’ve changed their overall Internet experience. Members past and present channels have grown over 80% under my leadership. Their quality and presentation better because of our education.Whether people call me a bitch, dictator, or whatever my methods have been proven successful. We helped y’all and you know it. 

Marra and I have given so many a platform. Most members came to us with 50 or less subscriptions and now they are well over a 1,000 in subscribers. Why? The weekly tips, the engagement from the watch train, the likes provided, and the shares provided.

So what to do now? We are over 400 strong and I see lots of great things in the near future.

We are currently doing meet-ups in the North Carolina and the New York leg will start in June. These meet-ups will help spread the word in what we are doing for African-American creators. It will catch on and be successful. Why, because I am no FUCKING quitter. 

The overall goal for I AM Noir TV is to be a mega network that our people can trust and thrive under. The coolest story ever told will be that two black women were able to make that happen. 

All the best success stories have bumps in the road. It’s the fight in the hero that keeps people on their feet. So watch us defy these odds. Noir is here to stay. Now and forever. 

Before I close, I want to thank Marra for all she has done. I could not have made a better friend or partner in this business. I appreciate you believing in my crazy ass and coming along this ride. You loyal kid and that’s why you will always have a sister in me. 

I also want to thank Jay my handsome husband for all the technical and marketing his has done behind the scenes. You are amazing for loaning your wife to this art. Living with a creative has to be insane but your push is everything to me. 

Lastly, Lovelyn although you are no longer with the community you were an instrumental piece in helping Marra and I build. Thank you so much for your kindness, will, and dedication towards Noir. 

Cheers to our first year. From here to beyond… 
xoxo 
Jersey