Online Shopping
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Returning online buys to Amazon, Walmart and your favorite brands causes problems

Kristen S. Sykes
A postal worker stands in the back of an open USPS truck full of packages, with a pile of packages partially unloaded onto the ground below him.

A US postal worker prepares to deliver packages on Cyber Monday in 2021. E-commerce buys have a return rate up to five times higher than goods bought in stores.


Getty Images

Record online shopping this holiday season has fueled another record for e-commerce companies: returned goods.

Prompted by a clogged supply chain, millions of shoppers began browsing Amazon, Walmart and other online retailers even before Black Friday, when holiday discounts traditionally start. Cooped up at home because of the pandemic, people didn’t stop clicking. Online sales reached $205 billion in the US, according to Adobe, a new holiday season high. 

Not all of those purchases worked out. Not having been able to see or try products, many people shipped those gifts, as well as their own online purchases, back to retailers. The

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Mindful Shopping
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10 Black-Owned Brands To Shop On Black Friday

Kristen S. Sykes
Black Friday Gift Guide

Black Friday Gift Guide

Source: Courtesy of each brand / Courtesy of each brand

Tis the season for savings!

The market is saturated with amazing Black-owned brands, selling products that are changing the game in makeup, skin care, and beyond. Over the years, we’ve learned the importance of pouring back into our community by supporting business owners that look like us. Keeping our dollars circulating within our community promotes generational wealth, and helps keep Black and Brown-owned businesses afloat.

Everyone supports the Fenty Beauty’s and Pattern Hair Care products of the world, but what about the growing brands that don’t have as much visibility? For those who don’t have Rihanna’s billion dollar marketing team behind them, I’m here to let you know we see you and we support you.

Black Friday and Small Business Saturday are major shopping days for Black-owned businesses. Knowing this, I’ve complied a list my favorite

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Face and Body Spa
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For the beauty and fragrance lover, five Colorado brands to gift this holiday season

Kristen S. Sykes

Most of the fun of gift-giving comes from seeking out or just finding presents that really speak to their recipient. And I find that scents are a cunning way to do it. Just light a candle, take a bath or spritz something before leaving the house, and you’re probably reminded of certain moods, people, places.

As gifts, scents can be tricky, since they’re so personal. Still, I love taking a chance and giving something with a fragrance — who doesn’t love bergamot? — and better still if the products are made locally (which plenty are). Here are five Colorado-based companies that sell lovely, fragrant holiday gifts that you can order online or pick up locally.

1. Zents‘ spa-like scents almost force you to relax for a moment. Ten fragrances — anjou, earth, fig, fresh, mandarin, oolong, ore, petal, sun and water — fill soaps, shampoos, creams and more body

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Fashoin Style
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Lagos Fashion Week Announces Relief Grant for Nigerian Brands

Kristen S. Sykes

Studio 189’s show on the catwalk during last week’s Lagos Fashion Week. LFW

Lagos Fashion Week has announced a 500 million naira ($1.2 million) relief grant to support 30 Nigerian fashion brands, part of a larger government program to ease the impact of Covid-19 on Nigerian businesses while also increasing the country’s export capacity.

“Fundraising for designers on the continent can be an arduous task,” said Omoyemi Akerele, founder of Lagos Fashion Week, which wrapped its latest edition Oct. 30. “Traditional lending models have stringent requirements, and most brands are not necessarily ready to go down the equity route. I believe the Export Expansion Facility grant facilitated by the Nigeria Export Promotion Council [NEPC] will help strengthen the selected beneficiaries’ access to market strategy for the next season,” she added.

According to Akerele, the beneficiaries of the grant, whose names have not yet been made public, have been selected from

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