Studies have shown that Black women often don’t feel seen in the workplace.
A 2018 Harvard Business Review report details the disillusionment some Black women feel when navigating work spaces that fail foster an environment of connectedness, inclusion and respect.
Alexis Kerr’s entire career is dedicated to changing this.
As the Vice President of the Mahogany Brand at Hallmark Cards, Kerr is dedicated to carrying through the brand’s mission to spotlight the voices of Black women through their greeting cards and other products, but also ushering the company into a new era, experiential.
For example, last year the company hosted its first-ever branded experiential activation, Mahogany Moment, an immersive event that featured empowerment workshops, pop-up market featuring Black-owned businesses, and Tabitha Brown as a headliner.
Most recently, Kerr was at the helm of the brand’s awards experience, Mahogany Honors, which is an event dedicated to pouring into the Black women that are both center stage and behind-the-scenes working to better the lives around them. The guest of honor was award-winning actress, singer, and entrepreneur Fantasia.
“So often, we as Black women get the job done, but are rarely applauded for it,” Kerr tells ESSENCE. “This brand and event is the physical manifestation of coming into your sister circle and receiving those affirming words we all need to hear sometimes. We wanted to ensure that the unsung heroes that are quietly moving mountains are seen and celebrated out loud.”
One of the celebrants, Alex Ebanks, Vice President of Communications at ESSENCE, says the event spoke to the corporate titans that often forget to acknowledge their own achievements.
“I was honestly shocked when I found out I was being honored because I’m always engrossed in just getting the work done and keeping it moving,” she tells ESSENCE. “But Alexis Kerr told me that one of her big aims here was to acknowledge the people that are really the ones doing the work and making these things happen that people don’t often recognize, specifically Black women who might not be in an environment where they are seen, appreciated, or even understood through a culturally competent lens.
So, the moment was really special to me because I feel like that does not happen normally. And for a brand like Hallmark mahogany to be the ones to do that, it was even more special.”
Kerr says she is doubling down on creating even more IRL connective moments for Hallmark Mahogany as she continues to lead the brand into a new era.
“For 40 years, Hallmark Mahogany has being intentional in being a gathering place for Black women to connect with each other, celebrate themselves, sisterhood and community, and we are dedicated to expanding those pillars,” Kerr tells ESSENCE, explaining that the company is branching out as a lifestyle bran. “Everybody thinks of us as cards, but now we’re like, ‘No, we’re doing events. No, we have a podcast. No, we have all of these other things. But at our core, we’re still the place where Black women to be seen, truly and wholly. That will never change.”
