There is no right of passage or sacred, hallowed ground that must be trod in order to gain your Black card. If you are Black, you are born with it. However, friends and family can snatch your card for not knowing answers to quintessential questions related to our shared experiences. You’ve never seen The Color Purple? Black card revoked. You don’t know the names of all the Jacksons? You should be ashamed AND have your Black card revoked.

In 2015, Latesha Williams and her business partner, Jay Bobo, recognized the opportunity to make revoking one’s card a game for ages 13 and up. They co-founded Cards For All People with a focus of bringing the culture to trivia games. Their mission “to create unique and memorable play experiences for diverse and inclusive communities” has made their company a leader in the gaming industry. In addition to family fun, they provide products for women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. 

No matter who’s coming over for game night, Black Card Revoked is a hilarious way to bond, test your knowledge of our history, and create memories that can last a lifetime. It’s a “must-have game for people who love Black people and Black culture.” 

BGN had a video chat with Williams about creating Black Card Revoked, advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, and creating space to bond with others in the midst of the pandemic. 

Can you tell me what gave you the idea for Black Card Revoked?

I’ve been blessed to have a lot of various experiences in the many socio-economic realms of African American people and African American experiences. I started out very young in New York City interning and working with tons of people. I ran Jay Z’s fan club. When I was in college, I had a full time job at Rocawear. I’ve always been in the culture and in the realm of Black people, especially the successful ones within the culture we love, which is hip-hop, which I love.

That led me to working with LeBron when he created LRMR Management and Marketing with his childhood friends. I worked my way up to the Head of Business Development where I introduced a digital arm. There, I met my partner, Jay, and together through our work in digital, we just understood a very clear line of shared experience. Shared experiences are a thing that can be transferred over from digital into products. We always wanted to play within that realm.

One day we were laughing about something we read about Black Twitter and Rachel Dolezal, and it was this really interesting connection of shared experiences. We said, “Hunh, there’s something here.” Then we started data mining and researching and we came up with the game together. We wrote the questions in a conversational tone. We said, “We’re going to create this. Let’s put it in the marketplace and see how it performs.” It went viral. We sold out our first year. It’s been quite a ride since.

Was this your first venture into entrepreneurship?

The unique part of my journey is I’ve never had a traditional job. Working within the realm of hip-hop is never a nine-to-five. All of those job opportunities were so entrepreneurial that this was the same kind of hustle: strategic decision making, relationships. For me, it was my first formal venture into entrepreneurship, but I feel like my whole entire career prepared me for it. Working under moguls like Jay, Puff, LeBron, they beat it into you, so it becomes second nature. But as for my partner, he is a serial entrepreneur.

What advice would you give aspiring entrepreneurs trying to figure out how to get started?

The power of social media creates such an even landscape for everyone. I didn’t have any of that. For me it was beating the ground, standing outside of offices, the old school way of doing it. Digital definitely provides a lot more ease into learning who to know, who can be helpful, growing your network, strategically positioning yourself. Getting into this space, I would definitely recommend a lot of research and really using the internet to your advantage. You can manufacture things quicker, faster now than you ever could previously. Learning your category, right? You want to do card games? Who’s out there? What are they doing? How are they doing it? Can you talk to them? Can you get an informational interview? I do informationals all the time with folks who have strategically figured out how to get to me; how to really make me pay attention to what they’re doing and how they’re doing it. An informational is where you reach out to a target executive or a targeted person of interest for what you want to do. When you reach out, you’re very specific in why you’re reaching out and what you hope to gain. You make it as clear as possible to the person one the other side who you are, what you’ve done, and why you have to talk to them.  

Has being a woman, specifically a Black woman, affected you in this business? Has it helped or hindered you?

You know what? I can’t say it’s hindered me at all. I’ve always been in very male-dominated fields. Hip-hop is obviously super male-dominated and sports is super male-dominated, so it hasn’t hindered me. Again, I think my path has prepared me for this. 

Has it helped? It’s helped in the sense that I am the target audience. My shared experiences with the customer have been a huge help for sure because our target customer is the Black woman. The experiences she has had I’m sure I have had one way or another. That connection to family and creating these amazing experiences, I think, is at the foundation of most Black women.

Do you have an expansion pack or other games that are coming? What’s next for the company?

Every holiday season we introduce a new game. We are in our fifth edition of Black Card Revoked. We have about seven expansion packs. One game I don’t think many people know we have, that I think your audience will love, is Nerd Card Revoked. We just released last holiday season our latest, and I want to say one of our greatest, Saved and Sanctified. Judging by your reaction you already know what that means. [Laughs.] The Black church is an experience. We’re doubling down on the shared experiences of being Black in America. That is our latest product that speaks to it. It’s been doing pretty well. The audience loves it. The audience helped us write it. We have large play sessions across territories because we never want to put a product in the marketplace that is not authentic to the Black experience. 

Has the pandemic affected your momentum with the game?

We’ve been very blessed that the pandemic has brought families together a lot more and in unique ways. Our customers are so innovative in how they play our games that we are always blown away by the ingenuity they use to play. A lot of people play on Zoom and Kahoot and in all of these different programs that they utilize to bring their families together virtually because they can’t see each other in person. We have been very blessed that they’ve been doing that. Sales have gone up as a result of people staying home creating fun game nights. We’ve been trying to keep up with the demand and continuing to develop products that bring families together across generations.

It was a pleasure speaking with Latesha Williams. She’s young, dope, and a great example of the ways in which more members of our community are finding their own paths and trailblazing the way for others to follow. You can purchase Black Card Revoked and other games directly from cardsforallpeople.com or at your local big-box retailers, such as Walmart or Target. I personally own Black Card Revoked, and I can attest that it’s a fun time to be had by all. If you don’t have it, your Black card should be revoked!

These businesses aren’t just game changers in the gaming world, they also use their platforms for positive societal change to uplift the Black community. 

BGN was fortunate enough to interview the creative minds behind Fam Foolery, Brilliant or BS, Verified, Financial IQ, and Black Wall Street.

These are games that are perfect gifts for the holiday season, but honestly great for any occasion. After all, it’s not every day that games are centered on Black history, family bonding, creativity, and finesse all while supporting Black-owned businesses promoting Black excellence. 

We’re excited to introduce these games, as each of them has something unique and exciting that will have us all celebrating their Black excellence. Below, enjoy learning about each game and the visions behind them.

1. Fam Foolery

Fam Foolery is a social enterprise founded by Chris and Rachel M. Gregoire. Rachel shared with BGN what inspired her and her husband to make the game TrapWars:

“Two key events in my life played a role in inspiring us to start Fam Foolery. At the end of 2017, I experienced probably the hands-down worst experience of my life — the first daughter that I was pregnant with was stillborn. That was devastating not only for me, but for Chris. In that moment, I knew that I wanted to do was to somehow bring honor to the life of the daughter who did not live.”

Gregoire shared that the second event that inspired was her 30th birthday. She wanted a new game to play, so she and her family created one on the spot.

“We made what we were calling at the time Trap Taboo. The theme of my party was Dirty 30, so what I did was use loose leaf paper and we just wrote up dirty words on the ends, like words from trap culture and Black culture. In the end, the game basically ended up taking over the party.”

Following a lot of praise for the game, Gregoire and her husband decided to become game creators. 

After the loss of her daughter, Gregoire said, “One time I did feel normal is when I was having a nice game night with my family.” For her, family games were a source of catharsis and fun.

The Gregoires formed Fam Foolery and the game TrapWars, which includes a Black History edition and an Urban Game Night Experience edition.

Fam Foolery also promotes cultural education, healthy communities, and economic opportunities.

• Brilliant or BS

Brilliant or BS was founded by Kimelia Weathers Smith. Smith explains that Brilliant or BS “…is a trivia game, but it’s not really about what you know. It is about what you can make other people think. So, if you’re not good at trivia, don’t worry. It’s really about who’s the most persuasive or who can be who can give the best convincing argument.”

Basically, this game is perfect for brainiacs and big liars alike. 

“I love trivia. I am somewhat of a trivia buff and also love bluffing games when my friends get together. For some reason, we like tricking each other. This was my way of combining two things that I enjoy: trivia and laughing.”

Two Thanksgivings ago, Smith surprised her friends by designing a game to play, and it was a huge success. They encouraged her to start a Kickstarter.

Starting January 2019, the Kickstarter’s received almost 200 backers and raised over $10,000 to pay for its first print order and is on sale now.

• Verified

Verified was founded by Davon Clark and his dad and is a product of ADC Kid. It was inspired by their experiences working with at-risk and incarcerated youth.

Davon Clark shared that he’s the founder ADC Kid, which according to their website is “a multimedia company focused on combating educational inequalities and injustices around literacy and media.”

“I started working with the youth that were incarcerated,” Clark explained. “I would go to the detention center and create an icebreaker for them to play. I noticed that after playing all these games, someone would connect or someone wouldn’t connect. However, it was always a similar conversation happening after the game that circled around social media.”

After hearing youth interest in social media, Clark shared that, “Verified was born from our youth within the detention center after having those conversations and trying to figure out what could be more relatable to them and their age range and also relatable to millennials.”

“The objective of Verified is to get 50 likes and 50 followers and become the first to be verified and get your blue checkmark,” Clark added. No, winning the game won’t actually get people verified on Instagram — but it will get them dope notoriety points from family.

• Financial IQ

Financial IQ  was founded by MaQueba Massey.

“The inspiration behind my game was specifically what I was experiencing as a person,” Massey expressed. “I am an accountant and an internal auditor. I was working for one of the largest accounting firms, and I just got to a point in my life where I just wasn’t walking in my purpose and living my passion.”

“I felt as if I was giving my Black education, my Black expertise experiences to a white company. I really wasn’t doing anything for the community,” she shared.

So, Massey went from working for corporate America to teaching students how to perform the work that she did for corporate America.

As a doctoral student, Massey was teaching a financial literacy workshop to graduate students when she was inspired to create a prototype for a game based on financial literacy.

Although she wasn’t making very much as a student, Massey invested what she could. She tested the game with her students, and they loved it. 

Financial IQ focuses on normalizing discussions about finances. It’s fun and educational as gamers learn facts related “to credit, expenses, income, savings, investing, and other topics.”

• Black Wall Street

The game Black Wall Street was founded by De’Von Truvel. 

“We were in an incubator, and we were the only Black team creating something for Black people in that incubator,” Truvel explained. 

“We would present the results from our focus group, and every week this panel of venture capitalists would ask us, ‘Does the game have to say Black? Does it have to be about Black Wall Street?’” The panelists said, “Wall Street can just be Wall Street and about financial literacy.” But, according to Truvel, they weren’t getting the “whole point of the game and the real history to it.”

Black Wall Street has moved beyond doubtful panelists into its own game on its second edition.

The goal of the game “is to become the best entrepreneur possible by buying different sole proprietorships and then investing in those businesses to make them limited liability companies, to make them corporations.”

This board game is all about increasing knowledge of Tulsa’s Black Wall Street, increasing financial literacy, and celebrating Black excellence.

Check out all of these indie creators games featured in the image below.

Although it was released in store earlier this month, you can now purchase it online for £89. The single-breasted design has already proved a massive hit on Instagram, due to not only the gorgeous wide lapels, the on-trend, oversize fit and super cosy wool texture – but also the fact that Vogue Williams, Holly and fashion blogger Erica Davies have all rocked it. Now if you don’t know who Erica Davies is – let us enlighten you. Erica is a huge fashion influencer and has always been a big fan of M&S, having single-handedly made THAT starry-print constellation dress a sellout last year.

Speaking about how to style the purple coat of dreams, the chic mother-of-two advised: “Do not fear the purple hue. It works SO WELL with navy blue, bright yellow (yes really), orange or red AND emerald green. It’s a completely useful shade if you want to inject some colour into your life. And who doesn’t want that? We couldn’t agree more, E.

She added: “I used to feel like I could only wear a certain type of clothing and I think sometimes you just get stuck in a bit of a rut and wear the same thing over and over again and you create rules for yourself, you think ‘ooh I can’t wear trousers because I’ve got a big bum’ and you create some sort of rule book of your own and sometimes you’ve just got to go ‘right, I’m going to tear up that rule book and I’m going to experiment or I’m going to find my trouser, or I’m going to find my V-neck top or I’m going to find the place that does the perfect T-shirt’. It’s about finding the right things.”

“Anyone can get dressed up and glamorous, but it is how people dress in their days off that are the most intriguing.”

Ali, who gave birth to the couple’s baby daughter Isla in September, looked gorgeous in a black maxi dress that featured an off-the-shoulder neckline. Holly was also her typically stylish self, wearing a white summer dress, while Scarlett looked lovely in a zebra-print number.

MIDDLETON’S BABY’S NAME REVEALED

The gang, who were joined by their other female friends and I’m a Celeb co-host Dec, appeared to be in high spirits as they were pictured chatting and laughing. It’s all go-go-go for the cast as I’m a Celeb returns on Sunday night. This year’s celebrity campmates are expected to be revealed the day before but the various star sightings at Brisbane Airport have already given the game away.

• Presenters Holly and Dec have also been drumming up excitement over on their social media accounts.
• The This Morning star shared a photo of the pair on Instagram.
• Holly and I are looking forward to welcoming you to Australia next Sunday night.

There’s only a week to go before I’m a Celebrity returns to screens, and ahead of the launch, show’s leading ladies have been enjoying some downtime together. Presenter Holly Willoughby, who has stepped in for Ant McPartlin this year, was pictured having a laugh with Scarlett Moffatt, who co-hosts the spin-off show, I’m a Celebrity: Extra Camp. The TV stars were joined by Declan Donnelly’s wife Ali Astall on their day out in New South Wales, Australia. Photographed in a suitably verdant setting alongside her co-presenter, Holly looked ready to take on anything with a retro Cowgirl-esque outfit. Dressed in the supercool Danish brand Ganni, a.k.a the go-to designer for influencers worldwide, Holly wore the ultra cute ‘Salvia’ suede mini skirt in dark camel with frill detailing that buttoned all the way up at the front.