Who are the founders of campusmelanin? Where did the idea of CampusMelanin come from?
The founders are Damien Pinkett and Rae-Ann Steele. Damien brought the idea to me at the end of February after he saw the mini series of UMDMelanin, which exemplified black excellence and beauty on UMD’s campus. Damien wanted to expand this concept to include all universities and colleges across the nation.
What is your mission?
Campus Melanin serves as a platform to represent and illustrate Black and Brown people in higher education throughout the world. Its main mission is to show Black and Brown excellence in every facet of scholarship and achievement. Campus Melanin is an entity that focuses on the advancement of African Americans, Latino Americans, and other Minorities of Color in higher education through scholarships and other forms of donations.
What types of community services do you do?
So far we have participated in Martha’s Table, which is a non-profit located in D.C. that aims to build stronger children, family, and communities through healthy eating, connections, and support. Additionally, we co-sponsored the Shoebox Packing Party for Operation Christmas Child with Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. Operation Christmas Child was a project that focused on aiding underprivileged countries by sending over items packed in shoeboxes to make a world of difference in a young person’s life.
How do you choose who will be featured?
We select individuals that we see are active in some aspect of their institution or giving back to their community. For example, we have featured people who are athletes, are a part of a sorority or fraternity, involved in research, etc.
How do you get people interested?
We get people interested through word of mouth as well as promotion through our Instagram page. We started the campus ambassadors program where we select students who are interested in being ambassadors and designate certain roles and responsibilities accordingly. Currently, there are two director of public relation ambassadors as well as two program coordinators and recruitment ambassadors.
What are your hopes for the brand?
We are planning to expand our brand further by getting more campus ambassadors at schools other than UMD. Additionally, we are planning on creating a Twitter page, and then a website where we will be selling clothing and other items with our logo on it. Moreover, we will continue to participate in community service opportunities to consistently give back to our community.