Jocelyn Cooper of Afropunk in “Fast Company”

It was one of those pleasant surprises. I’m flipping through Fast Company’s recent “Most Creative People In Business” issue when I come across Jocelyn Cooper who, you may recall from my Forbes post, is a partner in the black alt concern that is Afropunk.  As I noted then, Afropunk has come a long way since the film of the same name launched the movement in 2003

One of the things that I’ve always found exciting and inspiring is the way that Afropunk and the black alt movement generally thwarts “traditional” notions of blackness.  Here’s a great quote from the FC Q&A:

Traditionally, marketers take a very monolithic approach when addressing us. They think black people only listen to hip-hop or only buy a certain type of clothing. But that is not how the real world works. So we have positioned Afropunk as a psychographic segmentation rather than a demographic one, which allows for a richer description of our consumer. We embarked on a seminal study that delved into our community’s attitudes, habits, lifestyle, and opinions. For example, 68% of our community purchase books, 38% have passports, and nearly 40% define their race as multiethnic.

Read the full article here via Fast Company.

For more info on black alternative culture, check out

• My Forbes column, “Afropunk and Black Diversity”
• My Slideshare deck, “The Rise of the Black Alternative”
• Afropunk Fest 2014: Day 1 In Pictures
• Afropunk Fest 2014: Day 2 In Pictures