One of the most prolific life guides for Black women is finally ready to share its own story.
During Juneteenth weekend ESSENCE and OWN convened at the 27th American Black Festival in Miami, Florida to preview the first episode of its five-part docu-series premiering August 18 on the Oprah Winfrey Network. The doc chronicles the 53-year-old publication’s rise to prominence through candid interviews with its founders, editors, and cover stars including Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Regina Hall, Taye Diggs, Gabrielle Union-Wade, and Vanessa Williams among others.
“When you watch the documentary, you will see 50 years of great things and terrible things that almost made the publication close its doors,” Caroline Wanga, President & CEO of ESSENCE Ventures told ESSENCE at the premiere event.
She continued: “The reason I connect those two is because of the way the community owns this artifact. Why, at its highest and its lowest, ESSENCE has never closed its doors. Even at the worst moments, the resiliency of this brand equity is unbelievable. Even at its worst, the way that it just has a clout that’s powered by our community. People will get to see how much of an impact their love for it has driven it forward.”
The docu-series opens at the beginning, when, in 1968 four Black men banded together to launch a publication dedicated to showcasing the beauty of Black women after they’d endured years of oppression and under-appreciation. One of its founders, Ed Lewis, told an audience of ABFF attendees that the magazine was a labor of love.
“I’m, in so many ways, blessed and thankful for the family I came from, the women in my family, my grandmother, my aunts,” Lewis told ESSENCE. “And interacting with them, I saw how hard they worked, was always dressed to the nines, going to church, and yet they were so under-appreciated.”
Lewis continued: “And so to be in a position to help bring something into the world to celebrate Black women and to see now, 53 years later, how Black women are thought of. It’s incredible.”
“Time of Essence ” is produced by 51 Minds and ESSENCE Studios LLC for OWN. Executive producers are Christian Sarabia and Nicole Elliott for 51 Minds, Raymond Garcia for Major TV, and Emmet Dennis, Sidra Smith, Barkue Tubman-Zawolo and Stephanie Hodges-Dunivan for ESSENCE Studios LLC.