This week we are going to talk with Michiel Perry, Founder of Black Southern Belle and a 28 Black Tastemaker, about how is she managing her business in the new normal and how are Black owned art galleries being impacted by the pandemic.

This week I connected with Michiel Perry Founder of Black Southern Belle, and she is also a part of the 28 Black Tastemakers class of 2017.

I have been a fan of the Michiel’s work for years. Black Southern Belle was the first time I saw a lifestyle brand from the south that fully embraces the experience of a Black women. Now full disclosure I am not a southern belle, and I have lived above the Mason Dixon line my whole life. The farthest south I have ever lived in is DC. But regardless of all that I still have always gravitated towards Michiel’s work; and its even why when I was in the beginning of my interior design business I saved up enough money from my interior design projects to travel to Charleston and be a panelist at the Black Southern Belle Collective in 2016. This week we are going to talk with Michiel about how is she managing her business in the new normal, and how are Black owned art galleries being impacted by the pandemic.

Mrs. Michiel Perry, 32, is a South Carolina girl who loves all things Southern and stylish. With a little inspiration, while planning her wedding in Charleston, S.C., and decorating her first home in Maryland, Mrs. Perry was inspired to develop a lifestyle brand focused on African-American women with a Southern connection called Black Southern Belle.

With her digital lifestyle brand Black Southern Belle, Mrs. Perry wanted to create an online and offline resource of lifestyle inspiration for African-American women in the South. In 2015, Mrs. Perry and her team expanded Black Southern Belle and developed an editorial division, ambassador program, online store, and the Black Southern Belle Collective. Black Southern Belle has been featured in numerous outlets, including HGTV, Essence, Black Enterprise, Draper James, Apartment Therapy, Brides, Today, Levo League, AOL Lifestyle Collective, and more. We have also done marketing campaigns with Pure Leaf, American Express, Gildan, Walmart, and various Fortune 500 companies.