March is Women’s History Month and it’s the perfect time to acknowledge women paving the way and creating their own history through digital greatness in a time where Black women are leading in entrepreneurship.
Being a “digital diva” requires taking risks, knowing the proper way to brand yourself, and having a strategy for every move you make, and Karen Civil embodies those requirements. The self proclaimed “media maven and cultural artige'” has a fan base of over 300k followers on Instagram and Twitter, while her brand, Live Civil, is an inspiration to a countless amount of Millennials considering taking the leap of faith into entrepreneurship.
The Past:
Karen Civil is an Elizabeth, New Jersey native who started a Backstreet Boys fansite in middle school that resulted in her placing third in a national competition. Fast forward a few years later, Civil became the “super intern” for Hot 97’s Funkmaster Flex. She worked with Dipset after her internship, and later began partnering with Young Money where she created a fan site for Lil Wayne, WeezyThanxYou.com, so he could keep up communication with his fans during time he served in prison. She began KarenCivil.com in October 2008 with intentions of giving upcoming Hip Hop artists the shine they needed to rise to fame. Civil is also hugely responsible for the product placement of rappers wearing Beats By Dre headphones when the brand was on the rise.
The Present:
Karen now has one of the most trusted blogs in Hip Hop, is one of the biggest names in strategic marketing and media and she isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. She frequently visits the White House and has been very vocal about standing with Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Presidential elections, in which she recently hosted the “African Americans with Hillary” grassroots project in Atlanta.
For her past two birthdays, Civil meticulously taken her brand to higher heights by stepping outside of the digital media box. For her 29th birthday, Karen tapped into philanthropy and built the Live Civil playground in her parents’ home country of Haiti to give back to the community. For her 30th birthday, she independently dropped four chapters of her book Be You & Live Civil : Tools For Unlocking Your Purpose, which gives an in-depth intro into her personal trials, her road to success and fighting through adversity while trusting her journey to achieve everything that she was destined for.
We’re not sure what else Ms. Civil has up her sleeve, but she appears to be making the proper moves and inspiring a generation in the process.
