KOL Social - June 2022

100 Pages·2022·79 MB·English

THEKOLSOCIAL.COM

Vol. 12 / Summer Issue

£4.95

Black Food Movement
How glamM@rous PelieAtl ican +> iSspaving the way for
borderless CUISIVG2=ia

~ S
American Spirit 2 -
US-Asian artist Yowshen.Kuo on the false histories of
the Wild West
Schooled into Slavery ;
Lifting the lid on Senegal’s Quranic schools

CHANGING
THE NARRATIVE

ISSN 2 6
9 HIM
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KOLCOSMETICS.COM

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FEATURING 9 STYLES, LUXURY SILK EYELASHES

COSMETICS
Contents. June 2022- Issue 12 thekolsocial

On the cover: On the Cover: photograph: James Fisher; stylist: Harriet Nicolson; hair & makeup using Dior:
Dani Rull; hair assistant: VickiSens Styles; models: Talib Williams @ Models, Leo Jonah @ Profile;
Venue: Stork Mayfair, London

05 Editor's letter

On the advantages of being
an outsider

40 The Wild, Wild South
Photographer James Fisher
captures the dying days of
gaucho culture in Uruguay

09 First Word: Beware
the Glass Cliff

Author and activist Sophie
Williams on the ultimate
workplace peril for Black
leaders

54 Black Food Movement
How the rise of borderless
cuisine marks a major shift
in the food industry - and
pan-African dining

ate

12 Culture
From theatre and
exhibitions to the best in
music - your guide to

making the most of the
summer

79 Travel
Shop 'til you drop in the
Moroccan city of Fez

66 Feature: Schooled
into Slavery
Photojournalist Luca

Vallecillos investigates
Senegal’s Quranic

93 The Diversity
Groups Directory

A curated showcase of
vetted independent
businesses, from
cosmetics to fashion,
job recruitment to
mechanics
Contents.

22 A Secret History

Grammy-winning musician Fantastic Negrito reveals the
influence of his ancestry on his latest album

28 Home on the Range

Artist Yuoshien Kuo challenges America’s false histories
through one of its greatest cultural icons - the cowboy

KOL SOCIAL SPECIALS

11 Subscribe to the Diversity
Groups Directory

Independent business owner?
Reach a wider audience

19 Join KOL Social Members Club

Get exclusive access to events,
discounts and content

39 Subscribe to KOL
Social Magazine
Sign up to get print and
digital issues.

98 KOL Social Beauty

Everything you need to
know about the launch
of our new, FREE hair
and beauty digital
magazine, out on

21 July

53 KOL Social Special Event
Join KOL Social and Stork
Mayfair for an exclusive
luxury dinner party

4 | KOLSOCIAL JUN-AUG 2022
Fditor’s Letter.

SUMMER 2022

was arrested in Birmingham, in the US state

of Alabama, after violating an anti-protest

injunction. King spent eight days in his cell,
kept in solitary confinement. As the campaign raged
on upon the city streets and more peaceful activists
filled the jail, he penned an open letter, known today
as the ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’. It was a tactical
response to a published statement in a local news-
paper by clergymen, who had condemned him as an
outside agitator. Within a month, the local protest
became international news. A perfect illustration of
how outsiders thrive on playing - and succeeding -
against the odds.

0 n Good Friday, 1963, Dr Martin Luther King Jr

The desegregation campaign included mass
meetings, marches, a boycott of downtown

shops and lunch counter sit-ins, during which
African Americans would take seats in ‘white-only’
areas. While often subjected to violence themselves,
in keeping with the nonviolent spirit of the move-
ment they never retaliated. It seems somewhat
fitting that King’s portrait proudly hangs on a wall

at Stork Mayfair, the location of the shoot for this
issue's theme of ‘Outsiders’.

The restaurant itself might be considered an
outsider - the proprietors of which dared to dream,
and launched their modern pan-African restaurant in
London's affluent Mayfair. And somewhat timely too,
with borderless cuisine seeing a significant uptick in
both popularity and status across the food industry.
Read about the rise of the Black food movement in
our feature, Leading the Charge, on page 54.

Want to know what this Black food movement is

all about in person? Join myself and the KOL Social
team for our next event at the very same restaurant
on Thursday 14 July. Enjoy a three-course meal and
wine with 100 fellow KOLs - find out how to book
your tickets on page 53.

Whether by default or by design, outsiders have
always had a role in changing the way we think
about identity, culture, equality and discrimination.
Take the ancestors of Grammy-winning musician
Fantastic Negrito, who were a mixed couple back in
the time of slavery. He reveals how his family’s Secret

History influenced his latest album on page 22. Elsewhere,
artist Yuoshien Kuo challenges America’s false histories
through one of its greatest cultural icons and ultimate
outsider - the cowboy. Read his interview in Home on the
Range, on page 28. Being different is universal, of course:
see how photographer James Fisher captures the dying
days of Uruguay's gaucho culture in The Wild, Wild South,
on page 40.

As for KOL Social, we will always be proud of being the
outsider. After all, who wants to be like everyone else?

Hac

KOL SOCIAL JUN-AUG 2022 |
Volume 12 /
OC Summer Issue
AL

$ 0 ¢ |

Contributors.

PUBLISHING EDITOR EDITORIAL ASSISTANT SUB-EDITOR
Marcia Degia Karen Cameron Catherine Jarvie
[email protected] [email protected]

CREATIVE DIRECTOR HEAD OF DESIGN

Ketan Raval Seb Wals

CONTRIBUTORS

Jo Britto, Karen Cameron, Henryna Chasles, Tsharna Daniel, James Fisher, Sheniqua Francis, Ivanna Golding,
Harriet Nicolson, James Parker, Jamie Parkin, Andria Pereira, Paige Robinson, Dani Rull, VickiSens Styles,
Lucas Vallecillos, Sophie Williams.

KOL SOCIAL EVENTS ARTS & CULTURE FEATURES
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
ADVERTISING SUBSCRIPTION ENQUIRIES PRINT & DESIGN
[email protected] [email protected] The KOL Social Group

[email protected]

PLEASE RECYCLE .¢

The KOL Social magazine is published quarterly (4 times a year) by The KOL Social Ltd, registered office (no deliveries) at 27 Old Gloucester Street,
London WC1N 3AX, United Kingdom. Copyright © The KOL Social Ltd. All rights are reserved. Reproduction, in whole, or in part, without written
permission, is strictly prohibited. Materials are accepted on the understanding that no liability is incurred for safe custody. The publisher cannot be
responsible for unsolicited material. All prices are correct at time of going to press but are subject to change. Whilst every care is taken to ensure
information is correct at time of going to press, it is subject to change and The KOL Social takes no responsibility for omissions or errors.

We are committed to journalism of the highest standards and strive by the Editor's Code of Practice, which is enforced by the Independent Press the
Standards Association (IPSO). If you have a complaint, you can email us at [email protected]. It is our policy to publish clarifications and correc-
tions when necessary and as quickly as possible. However, should you wish to take the matter further you can contact IPSO at Gate House,

1 Farringdon Street, London EC4M 7LG. www.ipso.co.uk or email complaints@ ipso.co.uk or call 0300 123 2220

6 | KOLSOCIAL JUN-AUG 2022
Featured Contributors.

James Fisher

Australian-born James is a London- and
Singapore-based portrait photographer
and film director whose impressive client
list includes 20th Century Fox and
Warner Bros, alongside publications
including Vanity Fair and L'Uomo Vogue.
Tasked with encapsulating the
excitement of the burgeoning Black food
movement, he headed to the London
restaurant leading the charge. Stork
Mayfair has been quietly establishing

a reputation for itself as a celebrity
favourite for modern pan-African food
for some time. Now the secret is out.
Discover how the rise of borderless
cuisine is causing a major shift across

the food industry on page 54

Lucas Vallecillos

An award-winning photojournalist and
author, Luca is a photojournalism
professor at Universitat Autonoma de
Barcelona and a co-director and
founding member of the Barcelona
International Photography Festival on
Human Rights and Global Justice
(BCN-DH). His work has appeared in
publications across the globe, including
National Geographic, The Guardian and
The New York Times. He uncovers the
unscrupulous practices undertaken in a
number of Senegal’s Quranic schools on
page 66, where children are said to be
treated little better than slaves.

Harriet Nicolson

A celebrity stylist with over eight
years’ experience in the
entertainment industry, Harriet

is also fashion editor at Vingt Sept
magazine. Harriet's first job in
fashion was as a receptionist

in a personal shopping
department, where she worked
her way up to lead stylist. In 2015,
she was approached to work on
The X Factor. These days, Harriet
primarily works in London, where
she styles celebrities for TV
appearances, editorial work

and red-carpet events. She

also works on shoots around

the world. Her work has been
featured in various international
publications, including Vogue and
Harper's Bazaar. Harriet applies
her expertise to the sleek imagery
for our Black Food Movement
feature on page 54.

»>

Sophie Williams

The author's first
book, Anti-Racist Ally,
was a pocket-sized
publication to all
things allyship. Its
follow-up goes both
deeper and wider
again. Millennial
Black shines a light
on the many
obstacles for Black
women in the
workplace. It

provides a roadmap to the essential task of building and retaining
inclusive and diverse offices, as well as looking to be effective allies and
leaders in the future of inclusive working. Sophie gives us an exclusive
insight on page 9, where she explores the little-known phenomenon that
is the ‘glass cliff, in which Black professionals - and women, particularly
- are offered leadership roles, only to find their chances of success have
been limited before they've even begun.

Dani Rull

Originally from the Canary Islands,
Dani is an award-winning hair

and makeup artist with 20 years’
experience under his belt, and is
hailed as one of his industry's lead-
ing professionals. More recently,

he has expanded his talents into
creative direction, collaborating with
fashion magazines, such as Vogue,
Harper's Bazaar, LOfficiel and Esquire.
Dani is passionate about making
people feel more comfortable and
conscious of their own beauty - as
revealed in our cover feature (page
54), in which he embraces and
enhances the uniqueness of our
models with his trademark flair.
RICHLY
PIGMENTED

VLOUR

SUITABLE FOR VEGAN, HALAL & GLUTEN FREE
KOLCOSMETICS.COM

KOL

COSMETICS
Beware the Glass Cliff.

IN HER MOST RECENT BOOK, AUTHOR, ANTI-RACISM ADVOCATE AND ACTIVIST SOPHIE WILLIAMS SPEAKS FRANKLY ABOUT THE MULTITUDE OF ISSUES
THAT IMPACT BLACK WOMEN’S EXPERIENCES IN THE WORKPLACE. HERE, SHE SHARES HER THOUGHTS ON A LITTLE-KNOWN PROFESSIONAL
CHALLENGE — WITH ENORMOUS IMPLICATIONS — WITH KOL SOCIAL

ave you ever wondered why
there are so few high-profile,
successful business leaders
who don't fit the ‘traditional’

white and male profile that we've

come to expect from leaders

of Industry?

| know | have. It’s how | first came
across the story of the ‘glass

cliff - the precipice upon which
underrepresented leaders find
themselves when they take on
leadership positions in which their
chances of success have been
limited before they even begin.

I'm aware that for many people, the
conversation about - and even the
term - the glass cliff might be

new. The easiest way into it is by
starting with the glass ceiling:

that invisible but seemingly
impossble-to-break-through

barrier that sits above the heads

of women in business,

stopping them from reaching the
absolute pinnacle of their
professional capabilities.

Despite the odds we do know that
some people do break through

that ceiling. OK, but what happens
when they do? All too often, they
find themselves in a new, dangerous
position: teetering on the edge of
the glass cliff.

In 2003, The Times published an
article headlined: Women on the
Board: A Help or a Hindrance? It
reported that when women take
over businesses at those most
senior levels (think CEO, board
member, and so on), those
businesses often find themselves
in a moment of trouble. Its
conclusion? That women on the

board were, in fact, bad for business.

While research does suggest
that businesses often experience

a degree of set-back when
underrepresented people take on
those leadership roles, the article's
conclusion that women were ‘a
hindrance’ was wholeheartedly
wrong - because the real story
starts long before these
underrepresented leaders are
appointed to leadership positions.

In 2008, researchers from University
of Exeter published a study that
looked at FTSE 100 companies that
had appointed female leaders. What
they found, consistently, was that
those businesses were much more
likely than average to have been ina
consistent period of poor business
performance for five months before

/ FIRST WORD

they brought in their new leadership.

That poor performance could look
like all kinds of things: a reputational
scandal, a hit to market valuations,
or a drop in profit, for example. But
whatever that was, these businesses

KOL SOCIAL JUN-AUG 2022 | 9
/ FIRST WORD

were all much more likely than
average to have already been
in a consistent period of poor
performance before that new,
underrepresented leader

was appointed.

This isn't a single piece of research,
and it’s not even limited to a single
country. Researchers at the
University of Utah conducted a

very similar piece in 2013.

However, instead of only looking

at appointments of women in such
businesses, they also looked at the
appointment of racially marginalised
men in Fortune 500 companies over
a 15-year period, drawing exactly the
same conclusion: businesses that
appointed underrepresented
leaders were much more likely

than average to already be ina
period of poor performance.

We can see, then, that these leaders
are at a disadvantage from the
beginning - but why would that be?
Why do businesses seem to more
inclined to bring underrepresented
groups in when they're in some kind
of marketplace hardship?

IF YOUR BUSINESS ISN'T DOING WELL,
BRINGING IN A FEMALE LEADER COULD BE

VIEWED AS A WIN-WIN SCENARIO

To paraphrase Kristin Anderson,

a psychology professor at the
University of Houston,

businesses might view women as
more disposable and more
expendable, which means they make
really good professional scapegoats.
In that case, if your business isn’t
doing well, bringing in a female
leader could be viewed as a win-win
scenario. If she comes in and is able
to make transformational change,
great - your struggling business is
saved. But if she’s not, in a very short
timeframe, all of the blame is able to
be put onto her shoulders and she

is disposable enough to be pushed
out of the business. Pushed, in other
words, over that glass cliff.

Importantly, research shows that
she is then more likely than not to
be replaced by a white man, a move
known as the ‘saviour effect’ - in that
it signals to shareholders, investors,
employees, that the business is back
in a so-called ‘safe’ pair of hands. It’s
back to business as usual.

It is an issue that only compounds
when we take a more intersectional

10 | KOLSOCIAL JUN-AUG 2022

look - at a group such as Black
women, which has not one, but
two, areas of deviation from the
traditionally held image of a
‘successful leader’.

Drawing on the conclusions outlined
by those studies, it’s fairly safe to
assume that if a new Black woman
takes over the most senior role in
the business, that business might
not be in great shape. It is also fairly
safe to assume that she is going to
be managing a large team of white
men in that leadership layer just
below her - her closest cohort.

In 2019, the Lean In Foundation
reported that white men make up
about 30 percent of that entry-level
junior cohort. But by the time we
get to the C-suite, that’s ballooned
up to 68 percent.

In other words, white men are the
only group whose representation
grows as they become more senior.
Or, to put it a different way: they're
the only group who experienced the
opposite of the glass ceiling. Instead
of looking up and not being able

to see themselves represented

at all, their view is of pretty much

a reflection of themselves at the
most senior levels. That is, of
course, until it isn’t — until their

new boss is somebody like a

Black woman.

In 2017, researchers at the University
of Texas and the University of
Michigan looked at what happens to
those groups of men in the period
directly after they get a new boss
who doesn't mirror both their
whiteness and their maleness after
being so used to seeing ‘themselves’
in those roles. And what they found
was amazing.

According to their findings, men

who find themselves led by
someone who doesn't directly mirror
them in both those ways report
feeling immediately less personally
connected to the business. Less able
to personally identify with it - and
less personally invested in it. As a
result, their work performance
suffered; they did their jobs less well.

If a business is already in trouble,
even the greatest leader is not going

to solve it single-handedly. She needs

her team, particularly her senior
team, to help her. If that team have
stopped working as effectively as
they previously were, that’s going to
continue to push her towards failure,
towards the edge of that cliff.

According to that same research,
those men did something else that's
a crucial part of any manager's job:
they no longer managed their teams
as effectively. They stopped devel-
oping, mentoring, working with the
people who they were tasked to take
care of. And they didn’t stop doing
that equally - they mostly stopped
helping, working with, developing
anyone in their team who was also
racially marginalised.

In a way then, the glass cliff impacts
twice. We're not only pushing exist-
ing leaders closer to the edge, we’re
stopping what could be this new
cohort of underrepresented leaders
from climbing up at all, because
they’re not being given the same
degree of support, guidance,
mentorship and development the
rest of their colleagues receive.

That's why it's so important to be
aware of this issue. Through aware-
ness, we can all decide not to bea
part of pushing anybody else closer
to the edge of their cliff. We can
decide to see the value in everyone,
all of the time - and not only when
we have a problem that we think
they might be able to solve for us,
or there's something we can blame
them for.

As Angela Davis said: ‘You have to
act as if it were possible to radically
transform the world. And you have
to do it all of the time.’ That's what
I'm asking you to do. And | want you
to know that I’m going to be right
alongside you, trying to do the same.

—_
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Lid
—
rome
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Millennial Black, by Sophie Williams
(HQ, £9.99, paperback) is out now.