business
CAMILLE DUNDAS
Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ByBlacks.com Adding Diversity to the Online World Legendary American poet, writer, memoirist, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou once said, “In diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” Propagating the true essence of these words is Camille Dundas, editor-inchief of the number one Black Canadian online magazine, ByBlacks.com. The former TV news producer for CTV now boasts a career like no other. Dundas went from failing half her classes in high school to being named one of the top 100 accomplished Black women in Canada.
Photo courtesy of Camille Dundas
by Staff Writer ByBlacks.com is ranked the #1 Black Canadian online magazine, having won three national press awards and recognition from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. You started the magazine when diversity was not very rife among business organizations. What initiated the idea of an online magazine, targeting the Black community in Canada? The idea for the site actually started as a business directory. My husband Roger was meeting so many Black business owners who didn’t have a website, so he wanted to offer them all a space to promote their businesses for free or minimal cost. Then, we realized we have to give people a reason to come back to this site. That’s where the business profiles came in, and we quickly expanded to cover all kinds of topics, and it was natural for me to step in as editor-in-chief, given my journalistic background. It was clear to me that people, myself included, are hungry for content that speaks to them, reflects their lives, and is informative, yet entertaining. Black people, especially right now, are looking to have as much positivity as possible shown about their community. What really
motivated us to keep going is knowing that we were filling a need – there just are not enough media outlets focusing on positive Black Canadian stories.
What are your top three core principles for a successful business, and how would someone go about implementing them? Know your strengths, delegate everything else. You should learn as much as you can, but don’t try to become an expert in everything. Hire experts instead, and focus on what you’re good at. Patience is one of the most important principles in business. When you’re passionate about something, you want it all to materialize right away, but that leads to a lot of compromising and mistakes. Does anybody want what you’re offering? I learned a great and simple piece of marketing advice that will help you avoid investing lots of money building a business no one wants. Most people build something and then market it. But what if you reverse the order, market it first and test the demand?
for more info. That will give you a good indication of what the interest level is.
What advice do you have for other entrepreneurs to inculcate more diversity in their workplace? If you want to have a more diverse workforce, then focus on it the way you would [on] any other business issue. You have to be intentional and build out a strategy. If you don’t have the skills to create that strategy, hire an expert who does. There are also lots of things you can do to help amplify Black business voices. For example, there are many companies who are setting targets for themselves to ensure that a certain percentage of their vendors and suppliers are Black-owned. On the flip side, if you are a supplier or a service provider, offer to discount your services to Black-owned businesses. //
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Spring 2023
the EDGE
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