I am Jemia, the creator and founder of BlackWifeLife ™ – a community for Black women who are married, engaged, dating, and single.

In March 2019, BlackWifeLife ™ began as a creative outlet. I was newly engaged to the love of my life, and I was obsessed with healthy, realistic images of Black love. More specifically, images of Black women in love. I had a bookmark folder on my personal Instagram account titled – Black love. I would save inspirational pictures of engagements, weddings, and candids.

One night, the phrase – “black wife life” came to me in a dream. The next morning I woke up and searched it on Instagram, and when I immediately noticed it was available, I snagged it. I also created the Twitter handle. After securing all the social handles, it was time to start searching for photos to post. I did not want to just dedicate this community to my journey to becoming a wife; I wanted to celebrate every black woman who has found their partner. I hid my identity until I hit 10,000 followers. In the beginning, I felt like an imposter – How can you run something called “black wife life,” and you are not a wife yet.

At first, I thought this was going to be a hobby where I re-post other people’s images. But when my following grew from right under 1,000 to 2,000 in one evening, I knew this was something special. I began to get messages from women saying that this page gives them hope to find their true love one day. Or “can’t wait to enter #BlackWifeLife one day.” The messages I love the most come from people who just tell me how much they enjoy the content that I am putting out and how real and authentic it is. Not images that only show the glamour side of love, an image shot for Instagram.

My community is unique for two reasons:

  1. My captions. I create short stories based on the energy and vibe I get from the picture. It’s like bringing the photo alive. I also write love notes to my Husband in some of the captions. I love creating narratives, so this is why my captions become so popular.
  2. Everyone is welcome. Social media has created a place that exploits love and relationships. It puts so much pressure on how relationships are displayed. And I wanted to create a place that all images of love and treated the same.

So what else do I do? I have very high hopes of taking this media publication to the next level and creating something as monumental like Ebony, Jet, and Sister2Sister did years back. Living in a digital world, I am about to reach more people and more writers to share their stories.

But by day, I am a DEI Consultant and I own a creative consulting agency. I help people create and develop online brands and a social media coach. To learn more, visit www.districtvalley.com.
I am CEO & Founder of District Valley, LLC, which BlackWifeLife ™ is a subsidiary of.