T&P Black History Month: Brands for the Community, by the Community

Above (left to right): Krept (rapper and co-founder, Nala's Baby); Edmund Antwi (co-founder, Soft Life Ski); Clement Ogbonnaya (founder, Prince of Peckham and Queen of the South); Abiola Babarinde (head of brand, Topicals, and chief strategist and lead consultant, The Inner Circle Strategy); Akama Davies (general manager, client services, The Trade Desk)

The first day of Black History Month UK was marked by a packed-out panel event from T&P’s Ethnicity Employee Community Group, &Roots, and WPP's Black Employee Network (BEN).

The discussion was titled ‘Power & Pride: Driving Change and Reshaping Representation in Media’, bouncing off this year’s Black History Month UK theme, ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride’. In her opening address, Victoria Appleby, UK CEO of T&P, elaborated on the significance of this focus: “[It] reminds us that recognising Black history means honouring the past while embracing the resilience, creativity, and leadership shaping our future.”

Major Black British entrepreneurs featured as panellists, whose stories embodied that concept. Among them were:

• Krept, the record-breaking rapper and co-founder of the award-winning baby skincare range, Nala’s Baby;
• Clement Ogbonnaya, who launched South London cultural hubs, Prince of Peckham and Queen of the South;
• Abiola Babarinde, head of brand at inclusive skincare company, Topicals, and chief strategist and lead consultant at The Inner Circle Strategy;
• Edmund Antwi, co-founder of the world’s largest Afro-Caribbean Ski festival bringing culture to the mountains, Soft Life Ski;
• Akama Davies, general manager, client services at The Trade Desk, who was also the co-founder of We Are Stripes, a career progression initiative tackling the ethnic diversity imbalance in the creative industry.

​Bianca Sodala, co-chair of &Roots and senior account executive at T&P’s communications agency, Halpern, led the discussion.

The five panellists weren’t short on wisdom to inspire the crowd. They'd all demonstrated outstanding initiative and self-motivation by identifying the lack of representation that affects their community, as Abiola expressed it, and answering it themselves – despite naysayers assuming the problems didn’t exist, were impossible to solve, or didn’t have a big enough market.

For Krept, that meant realising there was a lack of non-toxic, natural skincare for babies, and not settling until he’d created his own. For Edmund, it was defying the notion that ski resorts are White-only spaces. Clement had set up his own pubs to better represent the cultural vibrancy of today’s Britain, while Abiola helped launch a skincare brand that actually acknowledges the diverse needs of different skin types and caters to them all.

Connecting business strategy with community values in this way, the entrepreneurs had all earned great success. Nala’s Baby now outsells its major competitor, Johnson’s, in Boots stores; Soft Life Ski went from seven people on the slopes in 2022 to selling out 1500 tickets in 10 minutes for 2026, with their second 1,000+ person trip to Norway for 2026 going on sale this October; and Topicals is currently Sephora’s fastest-growing skincare brand. 

Still, said Akama, there’s no single metric for measuring whether a brand has truly engaged with a community authentically. “You know when you see it, and you know when you don’t,” he noted, but what’s usually key is intention and duration. Is an organisation capitalising off a cultural moment, or is it integrating inclusivity end-to-end, beyond just Black History Month?

Edmund drilled down on what that can look like. When he spoke, the idea of creating “a home away from home” for festival-goers repeatedly cropped up – evidence of his genuine love for his community, and his desire to make his peers feel welcome, safe, and celebrated in intimidating or exclusive spaces. Each year, guests are also invited to return feedback forms to help improve the experience for the next, and social films are circulated that help beginners feel comfortable before they’ve even arrived. “Content is the first thing they see before touching snow,” Edmund explained, so he even volunteered to have a pro-athlete teach him how to snowboard to show newbies that they weren’t the only learners.

When a member of the audience asked how the panellists manage failure, Krept chimed, “That word is forbidden.” He simply believes in lessons that teach you how to be better the next time. He amused the crowd with an analogy from Super Mario, and the Piranha Plants that emerge from green pipes to attack the moustachioed plumber: “When the flower nyams you, you just start again. Now you know the flower’s gonna nyam you, you’re gonna jump over it, because you’ve learnt.”

As Clement pointed out, there’s no point operating with fear, while Akama reminded the room that growth’s not linear. “There are going to be ups and downs. That experience is all part of actually getting where you need to go.”

Abiola spoke from her “if not you, then who?” entrepreneurial perspective: “I’d always rather live with the pain of failure than never trying and watching someone else do it, thinking ‘what if?’” She also roused listeners not to wait around for other people’s approval – after all, they might be wrong anyway.

Safe to say the evening was a resounding success, attended by 230 people in-person and online. T&P UK CEO, Victoria Appleby, comments on the evening's success, "It was an honour to introduce the panel at this fantastic Black History Month event, and inspiring to see so many people across WPP come together — both in person and online -- to launch the month in such a meaningful way. The panellists shared powerful insights we can all bring into our work, and I’m incredibly proud of the team for making it happen.” 

Above: Victoria and Krept

Bianca Sodala and Oreoluwa Aofiyebi, co-chairs of &Roots, reflect upon how it came to be: "When we first started talking about this year’s Black History Month, we wanted to create something that went beyond recognition — something that celebrated the voices shaping our future. This panel was born from an idea to bring together entrepreneurs and changemakers whose stories could challenge perceptions, spark new thinking, and show what’s possible when you lead with authenticity."

Shay Okelola, BEN founder, continues, "I’ve seen firsthand how powerful it is when people come together with purpose. This panel was a testament to what collaboration can achieve — when we unite our voices and efforts, we don’t just create events, we spark movements and lasting change."  Ronah Pulle, founder of Cultra Collective and Content Specialist adds, “The most powerful moments reside in community and culture brought to life through storytelling. Hearing these journeys firsthand — the wins, the lessons — reminds us why representation matters."

Above: The panellists with the team behind the event