We first learned about CRWN Magazine through a feature that appeared in Alley’s newsletter, that featured one of its members of the co-work workspace. That member is Lindsey Day, co-founder of CRWN Magazine.
The magazine launched as a zine, and grew to a publication with 20 contributors and advertiser support, according to this 2016 article in Yahoo Beauty. At the time of that article, the magazine’s Instagram had 15K followers. Today it has 44.6K and growing.
Co-founder of CRWN, Nkrumah Farrar, pointed out in that article that there were not many publications catering to women who have chosen to live a natural-hair lifestyle. Farrar pointed out, that publications available like Sophisticates, Hype Hair and Black Hair tend to not be owned by or operated by black women, and lack a focus on beautiful imagery.
CRWN Magazine covers more than just hair, said Lindsey in that article. “We probably have more thought pieces and essays in the issue than we do things that are specifically pertaining to hair. We use natural hair as a pivot point to connect with an audience of African- American women who share similar psychographics that led them to eventually becoming natural.”
Read this amazing interview with Lindsey in Byrdie to learn how and why she and Nkrumah created the brand, how important it is to them to have African- American women in printed pages, how they thought of the name, and much more.
We’'ll sum up with the mission statement as stated on CRWN’s website:
CRWN Magazine exists to create a progressive dialogue around natural hair and the women who wear it. We're reaching beyond trendy clickbait and #BlackGirlMagic to address the whole Black woman; a woman who is more educated, well-traveled and sophisticated than ever before — largely because generations before her have fought to ensure her seat at the table.
Through beautiful content, thoughtful commentary, hair inspiration and resources; we’re telling the world the truth about Black women by showcasing a new standard of beauty — and documenting our story in tangible, print form.