Black stories take centre stage at The Mall
Magazine from a West African newcomer shares positive stories from the Black community
When Olumide Ojo moved to New Brunswick from West Africa, he noticed that something was missing. So he set out to correct it.
He started The Mall, a magazine to share positive stories from the Black community, working out of his Dieppe home.
"Malls are a one stop shop for anything, so The Mall magazine is a one stop resource centre for all things Black people," he said.
"It's just to promote Blacks here. We have a lot of Blacks here who are doing well," said Ojo, who owned a brand communication firm in Nigeria before relocating to Canada.
"This mentality that Blacks are all bad gave me the push."
In 2019, Ojo's wife started studying at Crandall University in Moncton, and they moved with their two children from the West African city of Lagos.
Coming from a big city like that, an economic and entertainment hub of more than 20 million people, he experienced culture shock when he arrived in New Brunswick.
Ojo worked as a delivery man to support his family at first, but his dream was to use his experience as a graphic designer, event manager and entertainment writer to start a magazine to bring Black stories to light.
He said he encountered financial challenges and limited support from community members when he started the magazine, but his wife believed in the venture and a friend helped him out financially.
When Ojo started working on the magazine, he said he encountered many rejections.
"I had to practically start begging people to give me their story," he said, because many didn't believe a magazine would help change the negative stereotypes.
The first edition of The Mall, which is free online, was published in January 2022.
It is self-funded and produced, with some hard copies printed which he sends to selected Black-owned businesses.
Due to limited funds, he said does not have a full team yet, but he gets help from contributors and an assistant editor. He often plays the role of graphic designer, writer, editor and proofreader.
The magazine does profiles of Black-owned businesses and people who are making a significant impact, such as Mary Louise McCarthy-Brandt, an educator and historian who, among other things, has been tracking down forgotten gravesites of New Brunswick's Black families.
Gary Weekes, a well-known and respected photographer based in Fredericton and a member of the New Brunswick Black Alliance, said telling Black stories is important.
"It's very important to tell stories from the Black community because they're so often overlooked by everybody," he said.
"The Black community is like every community. They're here to help one another," he said, "and be full participants in the Canadian story and not just the marginalized by the negativity that's often reported."
Ronald Sharpe, founder of the Atlantic Equity and Research Alliance, a group based in Miramichi, says Black entrepreneurs struggle with funding.
"We look for funding to help support us, but if we were doing it right, we would be doing it within our own communities to fund ourselves," he said.
"It's not the government's job to try to figure out where to send the funding. [It's] for us to provide ourselves with the platform."
Sharpe said The Mall's focus is essential to people understanding one another and taking control of the narrative.
"It is very important for us to showcase ourselves. If we don't, others will showcase it for us," said Sharpe.
"That is what history has revealed over and over again."
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