Let’s Take the Cadillac For a Night of Black Excellence at ABFF Honors
Aaron Pierre, Keke Palmer, Anthony Mackie and more came together for a night of Black joy with Cadillac and ABFF Honors.
Yes “Black Love” is Ending. Let’s Talk About It.
“Black Love” returns one last time for our series finale tomorrow at 10/9c on OWN and the Black Love+ app presented by our friends at Target. As the co-creator and director of “Black Love,” it is a bittersweet day, but overall, I’m thrilled to close this chapter right now. Fam, let me tell you why! My husband Tommy and I film every single interview for the Black Love docuseries together, just the two of us and the couple sitting across from us in their home. We intentionally wanted to create an intimate space for these conversations. We didn’t want a large crew or even a production assistant staring at these two vulnerable people potentially creating a distraction or causing insecurity. We fostered a judgment-free zone where we also offered a glimpse into our own strengths and weaknesses and failures and uncertainties as a couple. After seven years and around 250 interviews, we wanted to bow out while y’all still love the product and while we still love doing it. Related Articles: Meet the Couples of "Black Love" Season 6 “Black Love” Returns July 23rd – Preview the Extended Trailer HERE! On the Couch: The Story of Black Love Codie & Tommy on their wedding day. One month after I met my now husband, Tommy, we discussed this idea I had to create a place where Black love stories live. That was Fall 2013 and we started filming Black Love in Fall 2014. We were engaged. We married in 2015, became parents in 2016, and had twins in 2018 — all while fulfilling this incredible dream of capturing and sharing our stories. Our lives require a lot more now than it did in 2015 when we did that first interview (my close friend’s parents in Novi, Michigan) and now we want to see what other ways we can celebrate Black Love — in all of its forms! Today, we run Black Love, Inc. which started with the docuseries you know and love in 2017 and now includes staging-blacklove.kinsta.cloud, the Black Love Summit, the Black Love+ app housing countless digital series about love and relationships, Black Love Podcast Network with seven unique podcasts. Y’all watch the show — we are committed to challenging the way people think about relationships, unconditional love, and self work! To have a successful romantic partnership, we have to be paying attention to how we love ourselves and even our friends, parents, and children. We are your hub for all of it. As you watch season 6 of Black Love (and then watch "After Love" immediately afterward), we hope you enjoy every second of it and share with a friend. But most of all, we hope you see something that reminds you there is no one way to do this relationship thing. Alignment with yourself and your partner is what matters and that only happens when we lead with love. That sometimes looks like compromise or setting boundaries or being more patient than you thought you could be or just letting go of your lists. Black Love family, over here, we believe that all of us deserve love. That means YOU! Believe it, claim it, and join us on this journey! “Black Love” and our official after show “After Love” is now available on OWN and the Black Love+ App to stream all past seasons to relive the memories and learn from all of these amazing couples! Remember, the show is ending, but Black Love is FOREVER!
On the Couch: The Story of Black Love
We set out to answer questions we had before getting married — and to put a face to the reality that we knew was possible despite the media telling us it wasn’t.
Father Noir Celebrates the Beauty and Fun in Fatherhood
Father Noir is a visual memoir celebrating Black Fatherhood during the month of June, created by Black Love founder and father of three boys, Tommy Oliver.
The Other Side of Mother’s Day: 8 Insights for Mothers Grieving the Loss of a Child (VIDEO)
In 2013, Susan Toler Carr’s son passed suddenly. Now, she has graciously opened up to Black Love about where she finds comfort and her advice to other grieving moms.
Why Birth Stories From Black Women Matter
Based in Columbus, Ohio, birthing doulas Laurel Gourrier and Danielle Jackson of Birth Stories in Color share insightful information for expecting parents on ways to have a peaceful birthing experience.
COVID-19 Childbirth Prep From a Midwife of 40 Years
British-trained midwife of nearly 40 years Jennie Joseph provides her model of care and tips for expecting mothers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sanaa Lathan’s Big Chop
Netflix’s Nappily Ever After did a bold thing by making a movie with a talented, well-loved, veteran actress also known for being drop dead gorgeous....and stripping her of her hair. But, do you know who else was bold? Sanaa Lathan, the film’s star, who actually shaved her head for the film.
And Then There Were 5
I'm about to share with you all what is possibly the greatest news of my life. I am 29 weeks pregnant with twins!
Letter From The Editor: Codie Elaine Oliver
Welcome to staging-blacklove.kinsta.cloud! Two years ago, my husband, Tommy, and I created the Black Love television series which airs on the Oprah Winfrey Network. It has meant the world to me to be able to travel with my husband to city after city talking to married couples about their relationships and their journeys through love. What happens when we do not see ourselves positively represented in entertainment and in the media is that we believe what we are told about who we are. It was so important to me to impact that narrative, that we created the series with our own money and edited the first season at our dining room table –– before OWN picked it up. We will forever be indebted to the couples who told us their stories without knowing what the end result would be. And even through that beautiful journey, we always knew that the show was just one small glimpse into our love stories. With that truth in our heart, my husband and I, along with our incredible team, have now created staging-blacklove.kinsta.cloud, a new space to gather and share even more of our stories. Black Love features married couples talking about what it takes to make a marriage work, but it doesn’t take long to realize that “success” in relationships requires a lot of us. It requires maturity. It requires perspective. It requires patience, forgiveness, compromise, humility, and self-love. If we’re lucky we develop those traits long before we meet “the one” –– but it’s never too late to be the happiest, healthiest version of yourself. Photographer: Christian Adkins II With this in mind, we hope we’ve created staging-blacklove.kinsta.cloud as a place where each of us can explore who we are even more deeply. Our backgrounds, our challenges, our pain, and our lessons connect us, but we are nothing if we do not learn from them. Tommy and I set out to build a place that is “360 degrees of Black love” –– as he puts it. We’ve gathered voices who inspire us and those we admire to share their journeys. Our aim is that these voices empower each of us to be the best version of ourselves and equip us with the tools and information mainstream media doesn’t tell us. Want an example? Start with the myth of the Black Marriage Crisis. You, our Black Love community, have been so generous with your feedback. You talk about Black Love, the series, on your social media, and when we’ve been on the road with Black Love, you have shown up in droves to tell us what it means to you. Please, don’t stop there. Check out staging-blacklove.kinsta.cloud, tell us what you love, what you hate (we can take it), and what you’d like to see. You can even become a contributor by submitting your own story. Together we can provide a healthy foundation for our relationships and our families. With so much love, Codie Elaine Oliver @codieco
